The Forest Gods' Reign [Published]

Author's Note *only read after you finish the book*

Hello and welcome to the Author's Note! Exciting, I know. Are you asking yourself why you're even bothering to read this? Well, I thought that after reading this book all the way through, you might want to know some stuff about me or my inspirations and future plans for any other books (a sequel, maybe?), so I decided to answer a bunch of questions I thought you would have, in no particular order. You're all awesome readers, so you deserve it :) Go ahead and give yourselves a round of applause before we start. Don't be shy. And if there are any other questions you want me to answer, just post them in the comments below, and I will get back to you ASAP. If I don't respond within a few days, I am most likely on vacation.

Okay? Here we go:

What is your real name and age? Where are you from? Sorry, not going into detail about that for privacy reasons, but I'll just be general by telling you that I live in the USA, and my real name is NOT Ashley :P However, I will admit that if a guy came up to me (I'm a teenage girl btw, if you didn't figure that out already) and said his name was Alec, I would probably introduce myself as Ashley just cuz that's how I roll. Yeah, I'm that awesome...just kidding. I'm not really that awesome.

***UPDATE: I'm now officially writing under the pseudonym Alexandria Hook! Follow me on Twitter @AlexHook14 and like my page "Alexandria Hook" on Facebook**

Why did you kill off almost all of your main characters? I thought Ashley/Athena explained this in Ch30 pretty well, but in short, that was the ending I thought made the most sense and was the most powerful. Trust me; I don't really like the fact that the gods died and left Alec alone any more than you do. While I was writing the first couple of chapters, I tried to think of any other possible ways the book could have ended, but any other ways I thought of would have left you all hanging, and I didn't really want to do that to you. The "tragic fate" of the gods was set in stone when I decided to introduce Alec in Ch6.

Will there be a sequel??? I'll be honest. When I first started to write this book, I wasn't planning on making a sequel. However, I realize that I left room to make one with the way I ended it, and I do have a vague idea of what I could do for one. Now, I suppose I will consider doing a sequel, but ONLY IF you all really want one (please comment below). Keep in mind that IF I did do a sequel, you shouldn't expect it to be as good, and Alec would definitely be in the book, but I would NOT consider him to be a main character, meaning the book would not be written in his point of view and he wouldn't be in every single chapter. The book would probably be centered around a couple of other teens in the Knowing base camp, so you would still recognize a few other characters, and it would take place about six months to a year after the gods died.

***UPDATE: Ch1 of the sequel (titled The Mighty Ones' Fall) comes out in Aug. 2013***

Link here: http://www.wattpad.com/story/7374636-how-the-mighty-ones-fall

Are you going to publish this book? We'll see. It takes a lot of work to publish a book in print these days, but I might try to publish it on Amazon after I go back and re-edit all of the chapters to make sure I didn't contradict myself anywhere. I will definitely keep you posted, so please "follow" me if you loved the book and want to receive any updates on a possible sequel or publishing details.

***UPDATE June 2015: You can now purchase book 1 of The Forest Gods' Reign in print or e-book format. Links here***

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-forest-gods-reign-alexandria-hook/1121701211?ean=9781630474461

http://www.amazon.com/Forest-Reign-Morgan-James-Fiction/dp/1630474460/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433740383&sr=8-1&keywords=the+forest+gods%27+reign

Are any of your characters based on real people? Appearances of the gods were based solely on the Greek myths and a little bit of how I pictured them in my head (you know, modernized). This is pretty much the same with all of their personalities, but I will admit that the personalities of the members of the Monster Watch (Zach, Luke, Connor, and Ashley) were loosely based on a few of my old friends and I. Alec, Cole, the gods' human parents, and the town itself were created purely by my imagination :)

What surprised you most when you were writing this book? I was definitely surprised by the readers' reactions to Cole. A few people seemed to really hate or despise his character (Not that this is a bad thing. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, after all.), and I wasn't expecting that at all. I tried to portray him just as a confused, simple-minded guy who felt left out, but maybe I didn't execute that very well. Then again, maybe some people just didn't want him to end up with Ashley/Athena. Who knows?

Where do you come up with all your ideas? The first time I became really interested in the Greek myths was after I read the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. One day, I was just like, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if the kids were the gods?" And so the idea was born. I had the complete story and character list lined up in my head for many months before I actually decided to try and write a book about it, but I finally started when a friend introduced me to Wattpad. The other minor events and fights with monsters were based on the myths, or stuff I experienced on TV and in my own life, the kind of stuff that made me think, "Wouldn't it be cool if something like this happened?" The book was originally going to be a lot more complicated, but I think it's much better this way.

Do you have any advice for aspiring authors? Don't give up. Just because it doesn't seem like a lot of people are reading your story, doesn't mean you should stop writing. If you have an idea that you really like, roll with it, even if you're just writing for yourself. That's what I did. I know that when you're starting a book, it's a lot easier to write if you know how it will end, or at least the direction that it's heading in (I'll admit I've scrapped 3 different stories because I didn't like where the plots were going). Also, stories that are too complicated or confusing will turn readers off, but they can't be too predictable either. Good grammar and spelling help as well, since I think bad grammar really bothers some readers.

Well, that's it! Special thanks to the ancient Greeks, for creating the myths on which this book was based, and to ALL of my readers, especially to those who showed their support by voting and/or commenting! You rock! And if you didn't vote for all of your favorite chapters, I would really appreciate if you did that now, but only if you want to, of course. It's been a blast writing this book and interacting with you (Does that sound creepy? Sorry.). If you ever wanted to shoot me a message just to chat about random stuff, that's totally cool! Hearing from any of you brightens my day, no joke. Thanks again! Good luck, and try not to die!!! <3

- @smile4pie