A Hero in the Dark: 2nd Edition

Acknowledgements

If you're reading this, congratulations, and thank you for showing so much love for this fanfiction. It's not even a real, original story, and yet, I'm always amazed by the how much people love it and how much I love it.

It's changed so much over the years. People often don't understand how much time it takes to create something "good." They think writers write, edit, edit again perhaps with the help of a professional editor—an outside source—but the truth is writing is an endless process.

I started this story in 2018, some time in the first half of the year. I still have the very first page of it. Stupidly, I didn't put a date. I haven't even really finished that story. I started writing it, then at some point when I was craving nostalgia or had a new idea, I started from scratch and did a rewrite; made it better. And I kept doing that until finally, in 2020, it was complete.

The first edition here on Wattpad is the first time I had ever actually completed the story. It's also the first time I added in Pixie.

But just because the story was finally over didn't mean I was ready to move on from it. Writing is a mysterious thing, to put it lightly. It can make or break you, and you wouldn't see it coming. It can be largely beneficial, therapeutic, and at the same time, sophisticating.

I swore to myself that I wouldn't go back to AHITD after I finished it on Wattpad, but early in 2021, I just had to. I couldn't help but read it over again—nearly every day, before bed, or when I woke up in the morning. It bothered me that there were so many "useless" chapters that didn't add anything to the story other than to keep the timeline linear. So, I decided to do a rewrite, doing away with anything that didn't need to be there, and enhancing what was already there to make it better—again. This was when I added the metamorphisis in Em; when I had her views change so she joined Setrákus Ra. It was the biggest edit I made into the story, and one that effected me in reality too. I was stuck between good and evil. For the first time in my life, I thought I understood (really understood) the other side—the villain's point of view. I had to choose which side I wanted to believe in more. I had to see my way through it—what would Em do? What would the consequences be? I wanted to know, but I had to come up with a plan.

Additionally, this rewrite was also when I added Lola into the story, and I am so glad that I did.

Once I finished it, I felt so much better—for a while.

I read it back less often after that, but still often enough. I still missed being part of that world. So, on June 18th, 2022, I went through it again because I just couldn't stay away, with the sole purpose of trimming the manuscript as much as possible—and of course, I couldn't stop myself from fixing typos, inconsistencies, and other various errors that didn't make sense. I cut it down from 721 pages to 496! I was immensely proud of myself. The document felt the most polished and flushed out than it had ever possibly been. And this, I deemed the end.

Since 2021, I told myself that that first version on Wattpad would stay exactly the way it was. I wanted to keep the history of it, because I had already worked on it for so long. I didn't want to forget how it started or how it went or how it was going. I know many of you may want to see all these changes, but—I'm sorry—that's often not how it works. We show the first draft (or one the many first drafts) and then we show the last, and that's if you're lucky! Most of the time, writers will not even show readers their firsts. But this is Wattpad. Who cares. ;)

Now here we are in 2024. I've moved on from it. I'm not too sure what drew me to upload a AHITD2, but it's crossed my mind a few times before. To put it simply, I gave you this because I wanted to. I wanted to show a before and after. I wanted to show people how much AHITD has changed; grown. And I hope you'll agree: It's changed immensely.

Sure, AHITD is nowhere close to perfect. I'm sure there are still typos in it, and I could've sworn I've seen inconsistencies that made all sense fly out the window. But I'm proud to say, I'm done with it. I'm done with the rewrites, the editing, the rewriting. I'm tired of it, and I'm ready to move on to something else—ready for Picturesque. 

And yes, to this day, I still return to AHITD. Not nearly as often, but I do revisit it on occasion. I  do reread chapters in my spare time, or record it so I can play a poorly-made audiobook before bed. It will always be a part of me, which leads me to my most important piece: my acknowledgements.

I am beyond grateful for James Frey (and his buddy, Pittacus Lore) for creating such a concept in the first place. Since the day I started reading the series on my own, it has just hit home for me. I still have no idea why or what it was that set it apart from every other book on my shelves. I have so much respect for someone who can create such a compelling story like he did.

I want to thank Jordan Katsoulakos for being my very first reader of this story and Fabian Gutierrez for being my second—for being the first two people I trusted enough with this story and with all the emotional truth behind the ideas and words. I hope you know how much that means to me.

Thank you, Chenoa, Vincent, and Mae for being my other three biggest enthusiasts on this story (mostly on Wattpad and Instagram).

A thank-you as well to my Mom for always believing in me and for encouraging me to write more and write well.

And lastly—I'm sure I don't need to say it, but—thank you for all the readers that have read the first edition of AHITD and the second, or just the first, or just the second. Thank you for journeying with me through this long, exhilerating—and at times—scary otherworldly adventure. I hope you enjoyed it as well I did.

I would travel to Lorien and back for all of you if it meant you were in need.

Sincerely,
Em <3