Intro:

These are some of the notes from very early development of the book, things have changed and tables have turned. Most of these ideas are inconsistent with the current themes and going-ons of the final product. The model used to represent them are not the same anymore and quite honestly, it's embarrassing to put this out there. My initial description of Skylar is laughable.

First iteration of the idea:

I started the planning of the story in early November, and the idea was completely different. It would be named 'shadows' as it is centred around one half of a pair of twins. Their names would be Skylar and Ryland (that's the begging and end of similarities)

My plans were a two book series, one half being the younger twin who is a silent, sarcastic, intuitive (good with art and music) and introverted person who gets together with a club bouncer that is very similar to Roman's character mixed with Jameson from book 2 but I'm not going to give away too much because that'd be a MASSIVE spoiler.

My style was very lacking in personality and monotonous in that iteration, it didn't show who I am as an author and it had no characterisation to my writing style at all.

The dynamic and I guess 'niche' of the story would be the twins would look identical but one of them would be the bottom of a relationship and the other would be the top.

Ryland was portrayed to be the 'it boy' of their university. Sporty, outgoing, excitable and a little too perfect of a person. He would get together with a little man called Owen (again, names are recycled because I am about as creative as my non-existent pet dog.)

I scrapped this idea because it was quite honestly not what I wanted to write, and I needed to vent at the time because I was in a bad place. It didn't have the poems, it didn't have the one liners that make me shiver or cry. It was just a love story.

Other iterations of the idea:

'Single in Style' is the name of the second iteration, from there it bounces between the first and second versions, sometimes coercing into one thing, and that happened for another 2 or 3 versions.

Around the 3rd version, I started thinking about the idea of a guessing game for the readers, at the time I was reading some book that had the main character choose from 2 different men. I was going to go for 3 different people (Felix, Aaron and Roman) because let's be honest, who doesn't want to be fought over by a bunch of hot people. That idea kind of stuck, and I had full intentions that the end game would be Skylar choosing one of them. That idea stuck for a little while.

As I started toying around with the idea, I figured, hey, why not pair 2 of the men together and then get the third to date the other twin. Hence the name 'Single in Style', because Skylar (who would be desperate for love), was going to learn that being single isn't bad.

By now, if you have watched the movie 'How to be Single' you would know where I am coming from, (spoiler alert for that movie) the ending is much like the epilogue of this book, and the main character would remain single in the end and a Skylar would meet the love of his life and that would be an open ending of the book.

(Spoiler ends here)

I loved the idea and the values it placed on love as a topic, sometimes you don't need to be in love to be complete, sometimes you just need yourself. And that is the part were the 'Pretentious Game' comes in, oh shocker, 19 year old university boy that likes to play games, yeah I get it. Anyway, it's a cool little game with a deep message, and it quotes from H.D. Lawrence (quote from beginning of epilogue). That just further enhances the idea, when you aren't looking for love, it comes to you, thus, came the entrance of that mysterious man at the end of the epilogue.

Ideas for the first portion of this book:

Let's throw it back a little, and talk about that 'guessing game' idea. That became cannon in the final version of the book, people were kind of torn between Felix, Roman and Aaron as I introduced them. They had their reasons for being in love with the ever charismatic Skylar, some even had a shock when I didn't pair Skylar with anyone.

Maybe I am being a little mean here, but none of them are special enough to be with my Canadian Cookie, he deserves someone that is tailored specially for him.

In a way, I am cheating the system with this book and placing more than one dynamic of relationship in here. I have always liked the 'best friend turn boyfriend' kind of deal and that's portrayed through Felix and Skylar, they were cute together but obviously not meant to be in the end.

I also like the 'stoic giant', which is how Roman is characterised. Fun fact, I was going to let Cookie get together with Roman by the end of the book at first. Again, not meant to be. Roman was supposed to start and end stoic, not changing the slightest but he learns how to make small gestures to be loving. And at the time I didn't have a good enough reason for why he is so traumatised that he has to be an asshole for the rest of his life. Some of his initial character traits is passed onto one of the characters in book 2.

Aaron was my version of the 'rich CEO', he was supposed to be arrogant and the 'antagonist' of the group of 3 candidates. But the more I thought, the more I felt bad for shoving him into such a bad position, he's rich, but he doesn't have to be arrogant. Which is why I placed him as the 'stigma magnet' in the final version. It is very unfair to assume someone is a bad person when they are rich, and I have to plead guilty to that as well.

'Over achiever' is my idea for Ryland at first, and it still kind of is. He has high expectations for himself and he maintains that façade until he reaches a breaking point. Some of those traits transfers to another character in book two. His breaking point would be towards the end of the book, and he would be forced to commit suicide because of the pain and pressure. That would lead into some sort of future development that I didn't have time to think about because...

Ideas for second portion of the book:

Because, I had ideas to add two more people into the book. Sebastien and Owen. The 'guilt ridden father' and the 'bank vault nerd', to rephrase, it would be shittiest father in the history of fathers turned good, and a fragile feeble soul that gets gobbled up by his past experiences and locks it all up inside of his brain like a bank vault.

These two people were only there as a reason for drama and the consequential peak of the second half, both couples (Roman and Aaron, Felix and Ryland) were set to be broken apart for a duration of time due to the appearance of these two new people.

Ties with the twins' mother would resurface and Ryland would bring Skylar home for a holiday of some sort behind Felix's back and they would have a nuclear explosion because Skylar gets into some sort of mental depression or down point.

Roman would accuse Aaron for his lack of time for their relationship, and compare that to how he had time for Skylar before but not anymore once the two men started dating. Owen would be the rebound for Roman and everything was set to fall to shit after that.

Some description of reconciliation would happen and bam, problem solved, crises averted, the four of them get to have sex in the master bedroom... separately. I can barely write a normal sex scene, don't count on a foursome... ever.

In the end, I decided that Felix can't be a grumpy ass forever, so their breakup didn't happen. I didn't want both the couples to break up because that would be very coincidental and I didn't like having similar issues in two completely different circumstances. So I changed the idea, and had both the twins smack their mother in the face with words.

Aaron and Roman, as a result, received the shit end of the stick and they got shat all over by either their emotions (or lack thereof) and the other party would get really upset because of insecurities. Now, I for Aaron's part of the breakup, I was thinking back and I really should have placed him at fault in some form. It feels like I am putting him on a pedestal while Roman gets to gobble up all the consequences and cry.

Ideas for future development:

This part didn't happen until I started writing the final 2 cycles of the book. The reconciliation and the sappy dates. Both the characters added halfway through have their own characteristics that are oh so interesting, and feels like leaving the book with an open ending would be a bitch move.

So I decided to extend this universe. To make the three single men get their own lovers in "Love Overcast". It was a big decision to make and I was terrified when the idea even came into my head, this book was supposed to be a passion project that would last me a whole year, and it didn't even last half a year in the end.

But as I thought more and more, I realised that I am capable of conjuring up dynamics that are not presented in the first book and I started putting down ideas for it. By the end of writing book 1, I am left with a completed book, empty heart, PESD (post epilogue stress disorder) and a bunch of potential sequel notes.

People were getting shit pissed at me for leaving Skylar single, I was getting shit pissed at myself for leaving Skylar single. And so, I made the decision to continue my book. I even foolishly decided that a third book or spin off may happen. But don't count on it, even though I am pretty sure it will happen because I just love writing so much.

Conclusion:

The above note is edited minimally, please don't kill me for any inconsistencies of tenses, grammar, spelling etc.

In other news, thanks for reading this and I hope you enjoyed a little bit of behind the scenes. This story is something I hold dear to myself and I hope it made you feel a certain way with my words. 

If anyone thinks stealing ideas from above is smart. I have lost hope in humanity.