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        Thank you for reading Count To Three!


I really enjoyed writing this book as it evolved from a small spark, a small yet simple idea into a story. Furthermore, he's some behind-the-scenes while writing the story.


i. IDEA

The idea first came out while I was sitting on a bus, thinking of possible story ideas until it came to me. I wanted to write a story where A survives after attempting suicide, believing that if they were to survive through this 'Russian Roulette'. At the same time, I wanted to write a switch-up with B. The switch-up here was that the 'older sibling would take care of the younger'.

Art- though were done by two separate artists. Liu Jiahao is based on Haruto Shime from Bright Light Sprout ( ブライトライトスプラウト )by Ichikawa Kei while Xiang Yuhan was based on Yashiro from Saezuru Tori Wa Habatakanai (The Songbird Doesn't Fly) by Yoneda Kou.

Both manga is of the BL genre- meaning Boy's Love...


ii. CHARACTERS

[翔御韩 ]

Xiang Yuhan is my outlook of an adult that would always follow directions. The way society works in schools is that children are supposed to do what they're told to do and memorize things until the very end when- they would forget.

His parents would stress him about his grades and tell him not to involve himself in any further outside distractions, sheltering Yuhan from discovering his dreams and passions. I imagine him to be some kind of man that ought to be living his life because he's living.

Xiang Yuhan is a twenty-two-year-old Chinese-American. He is the type to do as told without asking anything of the matter. Moreover, Yuhan likes reading fantasy novels and dislikes being judged upon.


[刘家豪 ]

Liu Jiahao is based on my cousin. I took the "older sibling always has to take care of their little sibling" but swapped it around where it's interesting to see the younger take care of the older.

The younger sibling, Hong-Fei, receives the most attention and care, while Liu Jiahao is an outcast. Instead of feeling jealousy, he felt bad for his sister, thinking that their parents were pressuring her too much to become a doctor although it was her wish to become so.

Liu Jiahao is a twenty-nine-year-old. He often volunteers to help out in the hospital, besides so, he's a job-hopper. He likes talking to people and dislikes it when people don't agree with him.


Hong-Fei is a little switch up of Fei-Hong... Just a little fact.

The ending may have been a little anti-climatic as it was just a play-off of the translation of her name.

She is the younger sister of Liu Jiahao, but more successful. Now that I'm looking back on it, I remember about wanting to write a chapter as Hong-Fei's perspective, but I ended up pushing it away as she ended up 'being there' at the end.

I was hoping to, maybe involve the slightest bit of dialogue from her, but, I wanted to focus the story more on Jiahao and Yuhan.

Funny story, I went to my relative's wedding party, and there were so many doctors in the room, I felt trapped. Something about it was amazing, but just thinking about how many parents talk to their children about becoming doctors is just a little... you know.

Hong-Fei is a twenty-five-year-old. She's the younger sister of Liu Jiahao and a self-inspiring doctor. She doesn't know how to write in Chinese- which may sound weird.


iiii. TRANSLATOR NOTES

At the start of both character introductions which are from Count One and Two, the first Chinese sentence is of them introducing themselves. The difference between Yuhan was that he introduced himself as "My name is..." while Jiahao's introduction was more like "I'm called/The name's..."

Starting with Count Four, there is a bolded date. The first character means month, while the second means day.

Almost every single chapter starts off with a different perspective with "[ Name ]". Count Seven, however, starts off with [ tāmen - 他们 ]. Tamen means them- which explains why the writing has suddenly changed from the first-person perspective to third.

Count Eight and Count Nine both have conclusion sentences that aren't linked to any translations, however. It's weird, isn't it??

" 对不起, 御韩。" From Count Eight, this means "Sorry, Yuhan."

" 谢谢你。" From Count Nine, this means "Thank you."


iv. CONCLUSION

Remember, this is just a work of fiction.

If you know a friend, relative, or just anyone in trouble, please do help them out.

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