All the Extras

Trivia: The Step Series

The Series

1. When I first decided that this would be a series, I compiled a list of thirteen or more common quotes and sayings that featured the word "Step." I was able to narrow it down to eight, finally.

Every Step of the Way

1. I was inspired to write "Every Step of the Way" soon after watching S1E8 of Tangled: the Series. ("Great Expotations." Still a favorite episode to this day). Since I was on vacation at the time, I spent my time in the car writing like crazy...

2. According to numerous Google searches done while still on vacation and starting this book, "Every Step of the Way" is the sixth or seventh "Tangled: the Series" fanfiction around- and only the second one available on Wattpad.

3. In a follow-up to number two, I do believe "Every Step of the Way" is the first story to heavily feature Co-Ladies-In-Waiting (Varian x Cassandra).

4. This story has gone through roughly five drafts before arriving on Wattpad as you see it. (Yes, part of that was because I had nothing but time in that stupid car).

5. I nearly forgot! I actually got started on this the night I first saw "Great Expotations." That episode is one of only three that I caught when it first aired. So, yeah, this story- the drafts especially- are about as old as the episode itself.

6. I meant to give the captain of the guard a name in this book, but eventually forgot to do so.

7. In every single draft of this story, no matter how hard I tried, the entire plotline of Trystan, Vince, and Cass... It always came back.

8. In original drafts, Varian's book ("On Amateur Alchemy and Idiotic Inventions") was already published.

9. Also originally, Cassandra was going to be part of a little clique of sorts, kind of inspired by the Heathers. (Yes, I need some help... But I don't at the same time). They were called the "Three C's" and it consisted of Cassandra, Clara, and Caroline- mostly original characters. Both Clara and Caroline come back in a majority of my stories, but just as friends.

10. This book used to be called "More Than a Crush." Then I wrote a chapter where the line "every step of the way" was repeated over and over... And it kind of stuck.

11. The averages? 1.77777777778 chapters per day and 504.40625 words per chapter. (I'm still pretty proud about 32 chapters in 18 days, though).

12. If you wanted to know the day that I published the most chapters on, that would be October 18, 2017, when I wrote four chapters in one day.

13. There were two original prologues (well, three if you count the discarded draft I used when starting the same story on Quotev). In one, Cass freaks out for whatever reason when Varian asks her to dance, and she shatters her glass cup- an element that I ended up keeping- and, embarrassed, runs from the room. In that version, Varian- confused- stays in the ballroom, helping clean up the mess. The other prologue is the one you will find today.

One Step at a Time

1. More on my name for the captain of the guard. I do believe it's mentioned a few times here... Either way, his name was originally going to be Jeremy- and he was going to have a relative/friend/something named Jordan (hint, hint)- but then I decided against it. I realized a bit of a pattern with the names we've been given already on November 15, 2017: P-E-T-E. Four letters. S-T-A-N. Four letters. And, if you wanted, you could even do C-A-S-S. Also four letters. And so I chose a four-letter name for the captain: Kade.

2. Some more facts about naming: the names I selected for the twins, Jax and Journey, have a special sort of significance to me. Jackson/Jax was- you guessed it- named after a TV show character. I had to name a character after Jax Gardner from Backstage, just because. The name Journey belongs to a girl a few years older than me who befriended me one night when everyone else just ignored me. She kind of took me under her wing, and... I'm grateful for that.

Watch Your Step

1. 

Step Into the Future

1. I wrote the first chapter/prologue/whatever-I-ended-up-calling-it back before I had settled on the names of all of the Vatter children. So if you go and look at it, you'll see the name "Brooklyn." Brooklyn later became Katia Constance.

On Amateur Alchemy and Idiotic Inventions

1. There was actually one night in August 2017- I think August 15 or 17, I don't know- when I just couldn't get any sleep. I ended up writing plenty of drafts for "Every Step of the Way" while listening to "Let Me Make You Proud" (or whatever you call it), deciding it would be best to make myself useful if I couldn't sleep. In the haze of sleeplessness, I ended up writing about "On Amateur Alchemy and Idiotic Inventions" and later, when I had adequate amounts of sleep, realized that it was a perfect idea for a new story.