city of stars | minsung

⁕ final author's note

hello, it's me, kai. the author.

you are allowed to skip this little text, but i like sharing the way i feel at the end of my stories, so i'd be happy to know you're reading this.

as i'm writing this sentence it's 00:03 at night, therefore the next day, so i have decided to complete this story.

city of stars was fun to write, despite the lack of motivation i had to go through somewhere in the middle. it might've been frustrating to write such short chapters, as i usually set a minimum of 1000 words, but i'm still quite content with the final outcome of this book.

as you might already know if you read the city of stars entry in my idea book, this story was inspired by the song "city of stars". more specifically, the line "there in the bars / and through the smokescreen of the crowded restaurants / it's love".

throughout the process of writing this book i went through a few different emotions. the first one was simple motivation to turn this idea into an actual story.

then it was eagerness because i wanted to put the story in the world as soon as possible.

during the build up of minsung's relationship i became lonely and desperate. desperate for a partner who is as much of a walking green flag as minho is. and i'm sure i'm not the only one, haha.

then i slowly lost motivation for writing, as my dumbass was too eager to publish and ran out of pre-written chapters. i plan on changing this in the future, sticking strictly to the upload schedule and pre-write most, if not all chapters.

and after a little over a month (i think) i finally got it back. it really wasn't the best time to have my motivation return, as i was supposed to study for the math test the following day (i lost twelve points for sure because i had a blackout lmfao). but i prioritized writing over school and finished writing the other chapters.
those who've seen the "no worries" part, where i announced the short break, might've also noticed i shortened the book. it originally had 23 chapters and an epilogue, but then those last three chapters would have a word count of maybe 150, so i mixed them together. 

finally, the last chapter and the epilogue. when i tell you, i was emotional! i have only ever finished three books in my entire seven years of storytelling: a cringy story i wrote in fifth grade, and the trust-is(n't)-a-lie-duology. the latter, however, are oneshots, therefor it felt more like finishing a chapter rather than a whole book.
so i guess that's why i got emotional. i finished a book i was actually proud of. what a great feeling.

at the end of this message i would like to thank you, the reader. you decided to take your time to read city of stars, even though you really didn't have to and could've done much better things in that time. that might not sound as heartwarming to you, and that's totally understandable (i don't feel that either when reading other people's stories), but to me, as the author, it means a lot. i literally smiled like a maniac every time i saw you vote or comment.

another thing i'll  have to thank you for is the fact you were part of the reason city of stars is completed anyway. i used to never show anyone my work which led to nobody looking forward to how the story develops. but with the knowledge that you were reading this and were expecting more chapters, i could finally finish it.

this led to where we are now. and even though it's now 00:26, i'm not tired. i'm full of joy instead, and you are one of the reasons why.

i will soon (as in in a few months probably) come back with another story and i hope you can enjoy it as much as this one, if not more (if you enjoyed it lol).

with that said, author out.

(sunday, 26/03/2023, 00:29)