red velvet room (m.j.)

Author's Note

On March of 2018, I came up with the idea of a story where the love interest of an MC is actually the bad guy. Now I know there are probably hundreds of stories that have that idea, but I wanted to experiment with this story in particular, especially if this story that I was planning was going to be an MJ fanfic. Going through this, I had to be careful about approaching this kind of story considering Michael had gone through shit himself in real life.

I don't want to get into this MC-is-somewhat-attractive-to-the-antagonist plot the wrong way because believe me, I know that Michael was innocent, and still is. I respect his private life like that. But for the sake of this fantasy, Michael is portrayed as a manipulative, conniving man who is very sick in the head.

But I had a lot of fun writing this romance-psychological thriller story. I get to dive into characters that have a dark side. Looked over case studies of victims of stalking and sexual harassment, and unfortunately, used some of my personal experiences as inspiration. 

When I started writing RVR, the Netflix show You came out, and I remembered thinking to myself, 'Wow, this show is hella similar to this fanfic I'm writing.' However, I have not seen the show, to this day I have not, but I avoid doing so in case I accidentally used some of their ideas to this story and then people will start noticing and be like 'Oh, this fanfic feels a lot like that You show.'

I developed Michael based on past fanfics I've read of him from one of those 18+ stories on Wattpad. Typically from stories that depicted Michael as some sexy CEO with a kinky side (50 shades who?). He is also cocky and very confident, and may I say very rich too.

Samantha Grigio on the other hand reminds me a lot like me. Studious and naive, and a target to people like Michael. Samantha also falls in love easily. She fell for Michael's charms because he's so good with it. With just a snap of his fingers, he can make her do whatever he wants.

My updating schedule, however, was the main factor that let this story down. Honestly, if I was so consistent with updates, this story would've finished AGES ago. Probably on the same year, 2018. But it was because I was in the middle of my senior year in high school, then straight after high school, I went to university.

Another reason for my slow updates was the motivation. Like Michael in real life, I am a perfectionist. I sometimes have to scrap ideas, cut out chapters that are filler, just so the story doesn't lose its pace. Even though I finished RVR and I am glad for its conclusion, a part of me is still not satisfied. But after thinking of how I should wrap up RVR for so long (and that's over a year of thinking lol), I decided to finish it up the way it did.

For the scrapped ideas that I've mentioned just now, I am planning to put out some kind of companion book that tells stories of Samantha and Michael, as well as some of the characters. While I wanted to include them in the main arc, it would slow the story down, but for a wider context, the companion book will be a fun way to explore more of this universe and hopefully answer some questions.

I'm proud of this book. In fact, this is the most fun I've written out of everything I've done so far. I wouldn't have gone this far without you guys. The readers! You are all been really supportive while I was on hiatus with this story for so many times, and it honestly pushes me to keep going. I love reading your comments too! (If you think I didn't read them, well you wrong cuz I read them all! hehe)

From the new to the old, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are the reason that got RVR so many views, and a MJFA award for winning best hidden gem in 2019. I am seriously blown away with the love you have given to this story.

I have so much to say but I have to wrap this one up. Thank you again everyone reading this, if you made it this far. You a real one!

God bless you and stay humble.

Till next time my lovelies

- Alex xoxo