After The Rain✔️

Insight to Molly's story

I wanted to give insight to Molly's story since I'm currently editing it to publish it to Kindle, paperback, and hardcover. I also need to clear up much confusion about this story. The people who have read it will understand where I'm going with it.

When I originally wrote this story, I wanted to write a makeover story. The bad boy takes the unpopular girl and transforms her into a beautiful swan. But that promoted the wrong message. I didn't want my reader's to think they needed to change themselves for people to like them. No one should change who they are to get people to like them. You're fine the way you are.

In the infamous words of Braydon Andrews, if people don't like you for you, fuck 'em.

It wasn't until I was going to bed that the party scene played in my mind. I realized then that I needed to tell Molly's story. Why? Because the same happened to a family member.

A family member attended a party. A guy drug and sexually assaulted her. The assault resulted in an unplanned pregnancy. The family member was a virgin. The aftermath was a mess. My mom couldn't help the family member because she went into labor with my brother and left my dad in charge to explain things. My dad didn't explain it properly. When my mom came home, she clear up the confusion about the situation. The family never received justice for what happened to her, and she kept the baby. We didn't view the child any differently than as family. He was innocent in the situation.

I needed to tell Molly's story and bring light to a serious matter with date rape. It happens more frequently than people realize. Most sexual victims know their attackers.

I also need to handle this story with the utmost care and respect it deserves. I would never glorify sexual assault.

As for why Molly didn't end up with Braydon, Robbie, or Hunter, there are reasons.

Braydon wanted to change Molly instead of accepting her for herself. You don't change someone if you care about them. You accept them for who they are.

Robbie let other people influence his decisions instead of defending his choice. If you care about someone, you don't let other people influence your feelings. You fight for them, not wait.

Hunter judged Molly's choices instead of understanding them. If you care about someone, you don't judge them. You support their decision whether right or wrong.

I had to take a hard look at these three contenders and decide what's best for Molly.

Now, when Raven entered the picture, I saw potential between him and Molly. As I wrote, I realized he was the best choice. Raven defended Molly. He listened to her without judging her. He accepted her for who she was. And he fought for her.

I also had to consider the dynamic of the story between the characters. Molly struggled with her feelings for Raven because of his brother. Raven still chose Molly over his brother. Sometimes, we have to walk away from people even if they're family.

Most people know family is important to me. Family comes first. But in some instances, it's better to walk away even if it's from family members. I wouldn't never tell people to associate with family who hurts them.

Now, because of this story, I found myself in a dark place when I finished it. I needed to lift my mood before I fell down the rabbit hole and wrote more dark material. That's when my mom's idea about my dad's brothers resurfaced. I checked Wattpad to see if anyone had the name Gray in their titles. No one did.

I noticed people wrote several books about brothers. I thought I could write a book about brothers since I had one and grew up across the street from three brothers. My dad and mom had five brothers. Five seemed like a good number. Then, I hunted for names. I liked the name Nash and spotted Nixon next. Nathan seemed promising and so did Noah. Okay, I had four names that started with N. I needed one more. Nolan popped out at me. Hence, The Gray Brothers was born.

Once I started writing The Gray Brothers, my mood lifted tremendously and brought me out of that dark place I had submerged myself in. This was also the first book I self published so my mom could read it.

If you have a chance, revisit After the Rain, or you can wait until the published version hits. You won't regret it.