The Night Children

Authors Remarks

At the age of 14 I came up with the idea of this book. When I was 15 I published the Prologue of The Night Children. When I was 17, I finished the Epilogue of the Night Children for its first draft.

Long story short – It's been a long journey.

I was familiar with Wattpad werewolf books, being a fan when I first joined this app. But it didn't take me long to realise the general trend of that particular genre.

They were full with rape, abuse, dominance, domestic violence and incredibly stereotyped characters. I couldn't find one popular book that didn't have any of these traits, and it soon hit me that I needed to do something to change this. I was sick of reading rape stories that were sexualised in a way that readers agreed that this treatment to girls was of the ordinary. At the age of 14, I shouldn't have been reading those types of books.

I have nothing against those writers who put time and effort into this books, I just wanted to see a change.

So I began to plan The Night Children. I am not a huge fan of planning, so I only listed my characters and the four main plot lines. Everything in-between I made up while I was writing. I am not a believer that you need to plan every single sentence of the chapter – I believe in creativity and imagination. That I think is what makes you a good writer.

This book is not perfect; in fact it is far from it. But for someone who began to write this at the age of 15, and having stuck with this book for three years, I am proud to say I have done my best.

For those fans who have stuck with me from day dot...thank you. You all mean the world to me and I couldn't have completed this book without you guys by my side. I love to hear your responses on my chapters and your thoughts and opinions. Thank you for every individual read, comment and vote. It truly means the world to me.

A little insight into my book.

Every single character represents someone in my life. Renee, the middle name of my sister holds traits that I see in my sister and some of my friends. I wanted her to display the stereotypical traits of the books I despised in the beginning of the book only to develop into the resilient character much like the idol character of Clary from Cassandra Clares books where I based most of my writing techniques from.

Aleena, also the middle name of my other sister is sharp tongued but has a soft centre – much like my sisters. Although she is only a minor character in this book, she still holds a unique purpose.

Fin, similar to the name of my very close friend

Aaron, the name of my brother who passed away at birth

Brookefield (aka Brooke), the name of my close friend who first encouraged me to publish my books on Wattpad

Every character has a purpose, even if they only appear a few times. I do agree that a lot of characters have been killed off, but this was always part of the plot line.

What is in store next:

Depending on whether I can balance Wattpad and school, I will be going through and creating a second draft to erase errors and also establish better character development particularly between Aaron, Renee and Isaac. I feel sometimes that Isaac and Aaron are too similar, and I want to bring out Isaac's sarcastic side more often than not. As for Renee, she doesn't show some key traits that I would like her too, so I will work on this.

Some of you have asked about a second book and my answer is... we will see. 

1,400 reads is a hell of a lot and I do appreciate all of them. If others find The Night Children and add more reads and also ask for a second book, I may take it into consideration. If I was being honest, I have already done up a plan for the second book before I was even half way finishing this one, but it really depends on if you guys want to read another one or not.