Book 2 Afterword

Another book done, and another stage of Willow's journey complete!

Book 2 felt like an overall smoother project to get done, and I do generally like the shape of it better. I feel a lot more confident in getting chapters put together in a timely manner and I really feel like I've hit my stride, stylistically speaking.

Though there are definitely some issues I want to iron out in the final version. For one I do feel like I underutilized Willow's spirits for large stretches of the book, and I really wanted to show the growth of both them and their friends a little more than I did. Second is that I feel the first arc of the book is a tad bloated for what it ultimately was, and Aunt Jieun deserved a section in the letters home arc.

There were also some issues with timing and characters acting in ways I didn't expect, but I'm ultimately happy with how things wound up so I won't dwell on this aspect too much. But to give an example, the Li clan was supposed to be a lot more aware of Willow having the twins by now. Not still chasing vague descriptions of a child and a couple family members.

The timing issue will largely be resolved with a slightly bigger time skip at the start of book 3, which allows Willow some time to heal from some of their trauma, and for their friends to grow in interesting ways in the meantime. Though don't worry too much as there's plenty of growth still left to show in the book itself. I'm quite happy with what I've written of Book 3 so far and I'm very excited to share it with you all.

It's still so surreal to me that I've gotten this far. I've had stories in my head since I was a child, and finding such lovely people to share them with is truly a dream come true.

I hope you all have a wonderful day/night, and hopefully you'll come back when posting resumes on the 22nd!