Igniting Sparks

A/N The end!

December 23rd, 2018. The day I published the first chapter of Igniting Sparks.

July 13th, 2019. The day I published chapter 53 of Igniting Sparks. The last chapter of this book.

First of all:
can we just all marvel at the amazing song posted above! This song was my inspiration for the last chapter and it symbolizes Azura's transformation for me. It is her internal struggle with the Phoenix while she may not even have a clue what is happening. When I found that song it just clicked and it was the reason chapter 53 came to existence.

Second of all:
It has been a wild ride for sure! It all started with a dream, and then a daydream. An idea about a young woman surviving a hostage situation by killing them and how he would cope with that.

From there the idea grew of it being at college and thus the characters around that woman slowly grew. But I could never release the other idea present in my head. That or a werecat story. And thus I tried to put the two ideas together and started writing.

The first story I tried to write was different than what Igniting Sparks has become. It was meant to follow Azura from the first moment she arrived at Greenwood to the point of the Phoenix fight. It would focus on her and Nora, on the bond they shared and how she finally started to feel at home at college and in a werewolf pack as a snow leopard.

But I got stuck writing it. It wasn't what I wanted to write. After some thinking, I wanted to show Azura's struggles with what had happened. I wanted to show her coming to terms with that past and thus the idea formed to start the story more than a year after the Phoenix fight with Azura being at her mental lowest point.

Lucas, at first, was meant to become and stay a very close friend. Azura was never meant to fall in love with him and they were never meant to come together. While I was writing I had the idea of her seeing love and sex as 2 separate things. Love died with her as Charlie and Nora died and she would engage in several one-night stands during the second half of the book. Lucas on the other hand, was supposed to end up with Nina who now only appeared in only 1 chapter. Maybe after editing, she will receive a slightly bigger role.

That was the plan until a crazy night where this idea popped up in my head. The idea of Lucas killing Azura. And for that to work and have the impact that I wanted it to have, they needed to be together. A choice which I at first had to get used to but in the end, I'm glad I went with it.

I loved watching Azura grow during the course of this story. I loved seeing her become the strong independent woman she is now but she isn't without her flaws. She's turning dark, enjoys hurting and killing those who deserve it. She is walking a thin line between staying sane and losing herself. I love writing about her inner conflict she often herself has no idea of it going on.

It's going to be one of the things I can't wait to explore further in the sequel. Yes, there will be a sequel and it will be named Raging Fire.

It's going to be darker, more action-packed and crazy than this story. A lot will happen and I can't wait to write down my ideas and see them evolve into a whole new book!

Igniting Sparks itself will get a revamp though! Now that I read my first couple of chapters I'm really cringing at a lot of things. Now that it's finished I have so much more insight in the characters and their motives, I really need to edit and or partly rewrite the earlier chapters. I've asked for some feedback on the forums and been given exactly that so it gives me a lot of material to work with!

After that has been done I will start entering it in contests again. I have participated in several, often with no results and I can see why now haha. I hope after editing and rewriting I will get more results.

So.. that's that!

A couple of stupid little facts:

First chapter: December 23rd, 2018
Last chapter: July 13th, 2019
Wordcount unedited version: 141.407 words.
Shortest chapter: Chapter 9 with 1665 words.
Longest chapter: Chapter 51 with 3989 words

I really hope you guys enjoyed the story! Please let me know by comments, votes or general messages! I really appreciate it and will always try to reply!

Nova_Zura