Hello! It is I, Kruos, appearing where you least expect me - at the end of a book! Specifically my book, so maybe it’s not as unexpected as I thought. Hm. Author friends, please insert me into your books so it’ll be more surprising.

Thank you so much for reading Villager Three. To those who’ve been here all along (you patient, forgiving souls), to those who picked it up at some point partway through, to those who got here at the end, and even to those who picked it up after it was already done. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Book One of Villager Three, First Steps, is the first book I really completed (without rushing/forcing an ending which only happened once but I’m still bothered by it). I’m proud of how much I’ve learned, how far I’ve come from the initial chapters to the epilogue. Personally I feel like you can see a lot of growth in characterization and storytelling, particularly pacing, as the story goes on. There’s a lot of flaws (and trust me, I am VERY AWARE OF THEM), but overall the end product is something I’m happy to have had people enjoy.

Things are about to get heavy in here, so if you want to end things on a lovely note you can leave now and I won’t blame you. Thank you again, I deeply appreciate every single view and rating and comment and review, even the ones that point out my flaws or make fun of me, because they show me what I’ve done wrong (and the positive ones show me what I’m doing right).

I don’t know if I’ll do Book Two/Three, but I’ll explain why later because it involves my Dark Lore. Just know that I -want- them to happen, but may not be able to. This may be the very end of Villager Three, and I’m sorry about that since I know there’s a lot of loose threads still (the Fae? A letter from her family? HELLO?). There’s a bit of a TL;DR at the bottom if you wanna scroll past the heavy stuff.

I’m so, so glad you enjoyed it so far and so much.

You’re all wonderful, and this is your last chance to escape before the floodgates open.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

Still here? Ah, morbid curiosity, I understand. Okay, here goes. Buckle in.

Villager Three started as a comfort fic. There, I admitted it. I unloaded some (only some!) of my personal experiences and trauma onto an OC, one who acted and spoke and thought in many ways I did when I was her age. I gave her powers, created a situation that would force her to face her trauma and problems, and gave her what I wished I had at her age: people to help her. Friends, kind adults, people who would truly be concerned about her well-being and in positions to actually help.

Kira was similar to my inner child, and I wanted her to be happy.

And then people started reading it, and I kind of… Panicked. A lot. I did post it publicly because I’ve always liked sharing my ideas/stories and I’m interested in getting people’s feedback in order to improve my writing technique, but at the same time, this story was very personal. So getting more and more views and comments and reviews, even though the majority was positive, was very scary even while being really cool. I felt like I didn’t deserve the attention, and I felt really vulnerable.

And embarrassed, because as I said - it’s a comfort fic. Kira’s not directly a self-insert in the strictest sense, but she does have a lot of me in her. There’s a lot of stigma against that kind of thing in the author/reader/internet fic community, which I think is dumb. Do you know how many classical literature involves self-inserts and wish-fulfillment? So many. Writing can be therapeutic, and if you want to make a self-insert power fantasy harem fic, I say more power to you. Have fun with it! I’m in your corner!

Anyway, the point. This story was a journey for me. Not just comforting my inner child, but exploring Kira’s thoughts and motivations and developing her into her own character while the world slowly unfolds around her. Facing my own traumas via Kira’s reactions and memories. And then having people read it, even enjoy it sometimes! I wanted to make it enjoyable, I wanted it to be good, because like Kira I crave that sweet, sweet validation (don’t we all? Or most of us, at least). I didn’t want empty praise, I wanted to -earn- it, and it didn’t feel like I was.

Herein lied the problem, because not only am I a perfectionist, but I also have very poor health. So… I stressed myself into being sick quite a few times. And the longer it took to put out a chapter, the worse I felt about it. Things often turned into a feedback loop of stress and suffering, which is why it always took me so long to put anything out.

Sorry about that, truly.

Villager Three’s Book One has taught me a lot. Not just about writing, or the writing community, or how to handle reader criticism (most of which was very valid), but about myself and my habits. It also taught me to freakin' simplify my Systems, goddamn. V3's is too complex for my smooth little brain.

I have plans for Book Two and Three. I have extensive outlines, and I even have the ending planned out in detail (it’s a very happy ending, it makes me smile every time I read the outline). However, I don’t know if I’m going to write them out. I want to, don’t get me wrong! I just don’t know if I’ll be able to, because of all the emotional hubbub I accidentally tied into the story - not the character Kira, but the act of writing it specifically. I’m still going to try, but it’ll probably be under the radar. I’m gonna try writing Book Two in its entirety BEFORE posting any of it, and if things go sideways no one will ever see it.

Except Patrons, I guess? Since they give me money to fail a bunch in order to support me into succeeding. I know, it doesn’t make sense to me either. They’re baffling, lovely people. I might post stuff there for them specifically. BUT NO PROMISES, so don't go subscribing thinking you'll get the juicy stuff.

In the meantime, I’m working on another project. I’ll post chapters 1-5 on Patreon as a sort of sampler for people who’re interested in my work, and from there I’ll decide if I want to finish the story first, or if I wanna try live updates again. I’m honestly not sure which would be best for me. Should I try to face my perfectionist traits/fears head-on, or work on them first and put my best foot forward with the story later? I dunno, I need to think about it more.

If you slogged through this entire thing, thank you again. I appreciate you taking the time to listen to me, and to hopefully understand where I’m coming from, with a little insight into the story itself.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

TL;DR:

Book Two/Three exist in theory but I dunno if I’ll finish them or post them due to mental shenanigans, though I’ll try my best in that regard.

I’m working on another story in the meantime that folks can check out the first 5 chapters of. It’s a LitRPG about a necromancer who hates her class, in a world where dungeons and monsters appeared on Earth 10 years ago and things have started to settle into a new normal, which you lovely readers of Villager Three may enjoy. The System is different so it’s not an AU or anything, I just like writing alternate-Earth-System scenarios. The MC is an adult (26), she has a younger brother (16) who’s also an important character, and there’s shenanigans afoot. (Yes, there’s trauma. I can’t not write trauma into my MCs. I’m not sorry, and if you’re being honest neither are you.) The MC is overpowered for plot reasons (and because I find it funny), and I’ve been told by beta readers with inside knowledge that the first book’s villain(s) is(are) horrifying (no spoilers).

I’ll be bundling Villager Three’s Book One into an e-book eventually (I have to sync up my rough draft version with the slightly edited RR version so it’ll be a Project). I’ll throw that on Amazon (probably?) and offer it for free to Patrons because they already give me money and it’s only fair.

And again, thank you SO much for reading and being here for Villager Three. It really means a lot to me.

Have a good one, take care of yourselves. Until next time, and remember to feed your local Voidcat, because it’s me (and I Hunger).