The Wild Ones Rebellion // Black Veil Brides Fanfiction

To My Devoted Readers (A/N)

Hey guys, it's me again (obviously, who else would it be?)

I'm here to announce some exciting news! Just yesterday, it was announced that this story won Second Place in the 2018 BVB Fanfic Awards! I'm so excited and proud that of over 50 entires, this story stood out and placed so well! But when it comes down to it, you, my amazing, dedicated readers, are the people I should be thanking.

When I started this story almost five years ago (holy crap I'm a slow writer), I was only writing to satisfy my own fantasies and provide myself with an outlet to explore new ideas and adventures that I control.  I hadn't expected to gain any sort of readership, but it's that readership that pushed me to keep writing and keep inspiring myself.  Because even when I was completely uninspired, when I was lazy, when I just wanted to give up and pull myself into my little hole in the corner of the world, you guys were there, asking for new chapters, praising my writing, and inspiring me to keep going.  It's because of you that I kept working to improve my skills, and that I came to claim writing as one of my passions.

I was never somebody who enjoyed English as a subject in school.  I liked reading (commercial literature only though, lol.  Miss me with that higher level literature bs), but I very much despised writing.  Essays, poetry, speeches... yikes.  But then, in the very early days of my first fascination with BVB, I discovered the world of fanfiction.  Before long, I was inspired, and I wanted to create my own world.  But if you've been with me since the beginning, you know that my early writing wasn't all that great.  It was a million times better than my writing from 5th grade (*cough* Fire Demon I Am *cough*), but it wasn't very original or polished.

If I hadn't suddenly gained readers and fans of my work, I doubt I would've ever continued the story.  I probably would've stopped in the early chapters, fed up with my lackluster skills and lack of inspiration.  But because I had people wanting more, I pushed through.  I kept writing, and, I started other stories.  It's Death Or Victory, Forbidden, and Haunted all exist because i came to love writing, and I came to love writing because of you.

I have come to believe that as a writer, my stories should be just as interesting and exciting to myself as it is to my readers.  I want to take you all on that same adventure that I'm going on in my mind, that is my mission, my obligation, my promise as a writer.  I was a fanfic reader once, I know what it's like to be on the other end of the spectrum, to be lead on fantastic adventures, to be disappointed by a book's direction/outcome, or to even be left with an unfinished product.  It's my goal to leave you as breathless, excited, terrified, heartbroken, and satisfied as I am/will be with this story throughout every plot twist and battle.

My dedication to you, my readers, is what kept this story, and my other stories, going.  And without readers, there would be nothing there to hold me to that obligation.

I started this story as a freshman in high school.  I was 14 years old.  I'm now a first year in college at the number one public university in the country, and I'm 19 years old now.  "Aren't you a little old to be writing fanfic?  Isn't that a little weird?  Should you have grown out of that fangirl phase by now?" Those are the general reactions people have when they find out one of my major hobbies is writing fanfic for bands.  I don't go around advertising it by any means, but not everyone gets it.  But regardless of the reactions, I'm incredibly proud of what I do.  I love talking about my stories, describing the characters and the plots, telling people my ideas and concepts.  All of my close friends know about my writing, and most of them are rather supportive of it, but even the ones that aren't so much, the ones that find it a little strange, even they understand what it means to me.  They've heard my crazy tangent rants about the complicated backstory between Skylar and Gerard in IDOV or the concept behind the IDOV world, the inspiration behind the magic used in WOR and the connection between the characters, and even the slightly cliche take on Forbidden's world of vampires, shaped by one girl who is literally impossible.  One of my best friends, who admittedly doesn't understand the draw of fanfiction (he finds it kind creepy lol), straight up told me that he finds it really interesting how much thought I put into my concepts, and how creative he thinks they are.  My other best guy friend has actually convinced me to write a spin off AND a sequel for IDOV (surprise!!! IDOV readers) once I finish the main story (although he only wants the spin off because he inspired the character Blood Blaster and he wants a story when he's one of the main character lmfao). I am passionate about this, even if it's something I would never dream of pursuing as a career. 

So the simple truth of the matter is that I owe this to you.  Without you, I wouldn't be writing still, and I wouldn't have had the opportunity to place my story in a Fanfic Award.  This Second Place, it's for you guys.  Thank you for making me the writer that I am today and for sticking with me for so long.

If you want to read any of the other stories that placed in the Fanfic Awards, you can check out my reading list for it (it's at the bottom of my profile).  I hope you all have an amazing day (and the next chapter is coming soon).

xoBri