1. The idea of the Academy and Homestead being on an isolated island came from an anime called K, or more commonly known as The K Project. The school on the academy is sorta the same with outdoor malls, restaurants, and little apartments like the boys dorms. I thought it would be good for the book to give it the sense of isolation that I wanted it to have.
2. As mentioned in an early chapter, the island is in the American Midwest. But where? The Great Lakes, where I was born and raised. I mean, I wasn't born on an island in the middle of the Great Lakes, but I was raised in Michigan. It's more in the Up North region by Mackinac Island. There are tons of islands over there, so the idea of an island in a familiar environment, not some faraway, foreignly different place that's overused (like LA or New York) excited me.
3. Michael something about himself that he hasn't exactly said out loud. It's up for you to figure out. I won't be directly telling you anytime soon, but my hints are all throughout the book. Hope you can figure it out!
4. At first, I thought about making this in the way distant future like in The Hunger Games or in the direct present like Flawed Dogs. I thought the close future would be a good middle point, not to mention a lot cooler. A lot of the things are the same, judging that it's only a few years, but the times they are a-changin'.
5. The idea for the story and the grass and carpet security systems came from two separate dreams. One was almost the same story with a few changes, and the other was a lot different, but involved the concept of grass and carpeting taking the body and suffocating on contact.
6. I didn't know exactly how to tell this story at first. It honestly took me two weeks to think of the idea for Michael to be directly telling the story to the reader themselves. My original idea was for it to be third person and alternate between Michael and Lionel, but then I thought that it wouldn't illustrate their personalities enough, especially someone as complicated to write about as Michael.
7. The first chapter was finished on October 23rd, 2016 while the final chapter was finished June 10, 2017. It took me nine months to write this book.
8. I had a dedicated first fan during the writing part of the book. She's been reading since before I've even finished the book. Abbi, how are ya?
9. One of the first people to hear the plot, as per usual, was my cousin Julio. He's always been a dedicated fan of my writing and has always helped me out of a tight spot in plots. What's up, Noonan?
10. You can actually find a playlist I made of all the songs and albums I mentioned in the book on YouTube. (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1TqKGahN1wq1y_wG2GlgtmH4h-XgYX-D)
11. There was originally a different ending. It was going to be some happy ending crap where everyone lived, but later on, I thought this would be the better way to end the story.
12. I almost scrapped the whole project on a couple of occasions. Judging by how difficult things like this are, it was hard to continue at several points. But hey, look where we are now!
13. Ever read a Hemingway story? Also, dragon clouds. That's all I have to say.
14. My dad was a very big supporter of this book. He's heard me explain it to him about a billion times and let me do so about a billion times, which is awesome. Love ya, dad!
YOU ARE READING
The Company
Science Fiction(The cover art is mine) Things aren't what they seem when a scientific research company comes to the Fitzgerald Academy For The Gifted and asks for volunteers to "join" them. They're especially strange when it begins to change some of the students...
