AND THAT IS a wrap for We Smile at the Moon! Writing this book, I had various concerns. One of them being that I was genuinely writing down all my most truthful feelings about some of the things that had happened since I'd started boarding in the UK, and that anyone who was close with me or even simply studied at my school would be able to tell what and who I based parts of this story off of.
So, if you're one of my schoolmates reading this book (of which there is hopefully only one), don't sue me. Thanks. Bits of this book are fabricated and exaggerated. A lot of it is true, but not all of it.
With that out of the way, let's talk about the book itself: the two main Asian female characters of this book, Honoria and Yunji, are both representations of me. I like to think that as the story goes on, Honoria becomes Yunji. It's frustrating, being ignored and forgotten, and it's a journey of gaining confidence and self-acceptance that will eventually lead us all to a better mindset. Honoria isn't quite there yet, not in this story, but her tale will continue in the sequel, A Sun that Never Sets.
I started this story wanting to write a dark academia story featuring a tight-knit group of friends. But somewhere along the line I decided I wanted to make it more realistic. No one had a single group of friends. So I split the group apart, focused more on Honoria's own feelings and the things that happen to her rather than writing about a collective little entourage. I didn't think it felt authentic enough. But I could write about the feelings of Honoria easily because in a way, I was Honoria.
This book could work just the same even if you removed the magical factor. That's not the real focus. There is no Voldemort waiting to take over the world and massacre all the characters. It's just a bunch of kids at school, a private school that's bordering on scandalous and ridiculous and some teens with too much time on their hands. And that's how I like it.
I had great fun working on this book over the summer. I finished it in less than three months and had a blast throughout all of it. I've just started working on the early chapters of the sequel now, and it will hopefully start coming out in the next few weeks.
But before then, have fun, happy reading, and I'm glad you enjoyed this little work of mine :D
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we smile at the moon
Подростковая литератураHonoria Song was at Bridewater College with goals: good academic grades, a strong social network, to improve her magic and to try things she'd never dared to back home. Gone was the obedient, perfect daughter who'd never dared to venture out of her...
