Of June

Afterword

(Contains spoilers.)

What. a. ride. 

I can't believe I get to witness the brutal end of my first ever book, though a cheesy fanfiction that managed to run longer than it should have.

5 years.
100k words.

That's how long the idea of this story has tortured me for. And I loved it, every single second of it. I mean... almost.

Though this was just a fanfiction, it taught me a lot about writing and plotting and helped me grow so much as an aspiring writer. This book has seen me progress my abilities in more ways than i can count, and I'm truly thankful to it, because believe it or not, the difference between the first chapter of the original draft and the last chapter of the final draft is poles apart.

As a tribute to my stubborn determination towards this book I'd like to share its awe-inspiring, tear inducing, noodle slurping history in this afterword. You can skip the Timeline part if you want to and directly scroll down to the end. 
             
                                  ~~~

                ✧ Of June: the Origin ✧

It all began 13.8 billion years ago when the universe was created. 3.7 billion years ago, life originated on Earth and nearly 6 million years ago, humans started emerging who learnt how to write 6000 years ago. Finally, some 20 years ago, I the great was born. I definitely did not google all of that.

Fast forward more than a dozen years and somewhere in the third week of February 2019, I discovered the ever so pure world of Wattpad. I started reading random books which piqued my interest, and within the next two weeks decided I'll be writing one on my own. You see, it doesn't take me long to get inspired by a hobby I've never even thought about before.

The primary idea for Of June was simple, and comprised of three parts.

1) The Concept: A fan gets to travel back in time

2) The Plot: She meets her favorite artist and they grow close

3) The Twist

I decided not to include the third part in this book, or it'd have gotten too complicated for its own good. I did include the "Twist" in the first ever draft of this book, though.

Writing the first draft was a completely raw, spontaneous process. I didn't think a lot and kept writing. It was my first time writing something of my own, from the corners of my own mind, but somehow I wasn't pressured to be perfect. I just enjoyed the process.

Naturally, I completed the first draft in two months– with exactly 25 chapters. Yeah right, just two months, even with my high school finals popping up in the middle. (I got an overall A in case you're wondering.)

In May I began uploading the chapters one by one. With each chapter I published in a day I would edit it for the second time (first time being during the writing) and then upload it. It went on for the whole month until I uploaded all chapters in the next 25 days. That was supposed to be the end of my Of June journey and my writing journey altogether. But you know...

For the next few weeks I discovered more books on Wattpad, better books on Wattpad, and kept reading those one by one. As my choice in books improved my understanding of the art of writing also did. So when I casually decided to read my own book one cursed evening few months later, I nearly puked out all my guts.

I was so baffled by the cringe of my own words that I decided right then and there that I will burn the entire thing and edit it once again. It took me a whole hour to edit the first chapter only, and in the meantime the realisation that the editing this time around will be taking more than just a few days hit me like a bus.