The Phoenix People

Author's Note

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this book! You are not at all obligated to read the author's note :)

At the time when I am beginning to upload this, my story is completely written, it just isn't fully edited. I was going to upload it later, but wanted to have the minimum five chapters published to enter it into the 2017 Wattys! (I doubt I'll win, but that's neither here nor there.)

I was inspired by several things as I was writing this book. First off, I was inspired by a book I read entitled The Glass Arrow. In it, women are incredibly oppressed. The story follows the journey of one girl as she battles to free herself from the horrific treatment and forge her own path. The story really resonated with me, even more so because of the fact that I had recently had almost the exact same idea for a story! In fact, I wrote down the prompt in my phone under the title - you guessed it - The Phoenix Women.

However, once I read The Glass Arrow, I worried that writing a book with a similar plot line would just end up being too close to its inspiration. Since I love writing fantasy anyway, I decided to twist my story idea into something a little more fantastical and different.

Thus, The Phoenix People was born!

I was also inspired to write this story by real-life racism, both that I have read about and personally witnessed. While I know that a completely fictional fantasy book might not be the best way to make us examine our prejudices, you'll notice as you read that several viewpoints on both sides of the conflict closely mirror real-life opinions! This was orchestrated completely on purpose, of course, so that you can be subconsciously thinking of these things as you read.

Last, I was inspired by a scene that I had stuck in my head for weeks before beginning this book. If you've read The Forsaken Prophecy's (one of my novellas that is also on Wattpad) deleted scenes chapter, you'll know that I also based that work off of one scene I got lodged in my head. It's how I write!

The scene that I had stuck in my head was a few seconds long at most. A woman with long black hair braided down her back was flying through the air, two knives clutched in her hands, preparing to stab a wagon she was flying toward. Once you've read this book, I'm sure that you'll instantly be able to recognize this scene. This scene helped me shape the mood of the story and even the characters I created for it!

If you've read this far, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy life to do so. I just have one last thing, and then you can get to reading!

I created a playlist for the book based on the music I was listening to while I wrote it! The songs are listed below, along with the people who sang them and why they relate to the book (without spoiling anything, of course).

"The Greatest" by Sia: it is a wonderful anthem of never giving up and continuing to pursue your goals no matter what, a message I hope I expressed in this book

"Emperor's New Clothes" by Panic! At the Disco: a more modern take on Alexia's idea of her kingdom

"Battle Cry" by Imagine Dragons: if the book had a movie trailer, this would be the background song

"Miss Jackson (feat. LOLO)" by Panic! At the Disco: this was the song that I associated very powerfully with several scenes in the book, especially the one I discussed above

"Way Down we Go" by Kaleo: this would be my preferred song, in fact, if the book had a trailer

"Far Too Young to Die" by Panic! At the Disco: the book originally had a very different ending (as I'm sure you can guess by the song, it involved a major character's death). I changed this because I knew I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I wrote the original ending into the final book.

"House of Memories" by Panic! At the Disco: yet another contender for the movie trailer music!

"Breath of Life" by Florence + the Machine: a fantasy song that truly matches the feeling of taking back what is rightfully yours

Okay, that's all I've got, folks. Without further ado, I give you...

The Phoenix People.