Breaking Hope (Finding Sky edit)

Questions!

Over the last month or two, the amount of questions that have been coming in from various different social media that I've kind of forgotten to answer (sorry!) so I've kind of decided to add in an extra part/chapter/page at the end to answer all of these questions. It kind of explains some hidden meanings within the book and will also include some photos as well so you can kind of see the people behind the characters I've based it off. I've slightly changed the phrasing of the questions as well so yeah, enjoy!

Did you plan what was going to happen?

Nope, not at all. I'm not going to lie, the only reason I put it up on tumblr first was so it was kept away from my school work, and then on AO3 and Wattpad at roughly the same time after a suggestion. I didn't really realise people would read it on all three. I kind of got a few chapters in and managed to enable email notifications and realised people were actually commenting and sending me messages and so on. I didn't really have a plan but the only thing I wanted was Ella to be a massive part in it, and Hope to be related to the people who kidnapped her. That was it. I was kind of running out of ideas on how to change it. I thought I could get away with it until BenedictBrotherFan said it was a bit too similar. Then I kind of had to think about it as it felt like I was letting people down. So I was doing the usual just before bed social media check and came across an old article of a clown in a town in England just following people until they notice, then stopping and just staring. And i was like "Yeah, that'll do!" and wa-la. Everything else I made up as I went along.

How did you come up with Ella's back story?

Well, it was based off two separate story with some interlinking bits in between. The crash was based off the car crash my friend was in when he was four. It was in very similar circumstances - it was icy and in December on the way to a family event when the car just skidded and crashed into a bridge. The crash my friend, let's call him Harvey, was in killed his step dad and half brother near enough instantly and he was in a very shitty place after. He was a medical train crash (the quote Harvey used to me, and I used in the book) and had all the same things that Ella had. Of course, I asked Harvey if it was okay if I did this, and he said it was fine as he considered it a form of a memorial to his brother and Dad, as long as I didn't joke about it. I never did, and if you've read a part that you think was a joke about it - it wasn't a joke and it was a phrase that Harvey had said to me when we discussed it. So yeah, Ella's crash was based off the crash Harvey was in when he was four.

The next part would be Ella's suicide and that would be roughly based on events that happened to someone very close to me indeed. I have to be careful about how I phrase this as my family and friends may one day be reading this party, so let's say this all happened to Rose. Basically, Rose attempted suicide when she was 13/14 age. She got bullied at school and it was just enough, and much like Ella she overdosed. Only difference is no one noticed, and she just threw up for about a week.

I kind of put the events together so it kind of showed the two people who this was based on that these things are not to be joked about and in a way that we discussed it, it kind of put it all buried it away. Also, the loving comments and things that were said on that chapter in Breaking Hope was shown to them both, and they cried quite a lot and thanked everyone who said something lovely.

Did Lauren like the book?

Lauren hasn't actually read the book yet, but once I've done changing a few of the beginning chapters when I have time I'm getting it printed and giving it to her. I let her off not reading it yet because she has just started university for English Literature and does have a bit of reading elsewhere to do.

Who did you base all of Hope's friends off?

They were actually based off my friends who I love to absolute pieces. Lauren was obviously based off Lauren, then Amy was based off Abi, and then Louis was based off Louis. However, when writing Louis (this is a bit of a change from the book), I knew Louis was gay. So if you ever re-read Breaking Hope, Louis is gay. Okay, firstly, bloody hell it took a while for me to find a way to use my own photos for the header on Wattpad, but the only male in all these photos is Louis. I love Louis to absolute bits and he is my wonderful cupcake. Lauren is the Indian one in all the photos and Abi is the girl with dyed short red hair. I am of course the blonde one if you were wondering. And I kind of based the characters off them without them knowing. Sorry.