I know I mentioned there are major parts of this book that are very personal to me, so I've decided to include what I feel comfortable sharing in hopes of being more authentic with you all and really closing this book for myself.

I hope you read the end notes if you're interested as completing a book is not only hard to do, but hard to actually leave; these final notes are usually my favorite way of signing out!!

1. THE REWRITE

Firstly, yes, this was VERY VERY LOOSELY inspired by Teen Beach Movie and the amount of comments I got about it even after stating it in the profile chap... I know it's the same biker/surfer concept :') I did that on purpose!!

In terms of the original, I began the story when I was fifteen and ended it when I was seventeen. The rewrite began when I was seventeen and I ended it at eighteen.

From starting the original in my second year of high school, to finishing the rewrite while I'm in college, I really saw this story change with my growing maturity and growth throughout three years of writing and practice.

Many people loved the original, and some hated it. I personally was somewhere in the middle. I liked my plan and the general plot, but it had so much more potential that I felt was wasted in the outcome of the original B&B.

The thought always lingered through my head after I started Priceless, DGU, and other projects while we dealt with the start of covid, and it wasn't until six months later in November 2020 that I actually decided to just go for it and give the book another try.

Rewriting was honestly difficult as well as fun for different reasons. During the time of rewriting, some things happened to me in my personal life that made the story extremely real to me (will be elaborated later). In terms of the comparison from the original, it was difficult to follow a plan and change issues while keeping my favorite parts (aka cliff chap hehe).

The biggest changes from the original were the unfolding and cause of their main fight and argument, the increase in impact of Yoongi's character, and the pace of Taehyung's and Jeongguk's relationship + secrets unveiling— the original was much faster and unrealistic imo.

So many rereaders sent me messages of how they didn't think it could get better, and then the rewrite somehow did— and if that didn't make the struggle worth it, I don't know what did.

Despite how much mental strain it took to relive certain points of my life that this book connects to, I'm so glad B&B was revamped and redone and reloved.

And on that point, thank you to all of you.

From rereaders to new readers, the support you've given this story will always be something I think about.

Plus I gained SO many new readers!! The book was at 5k when I first completed it, spiking to 100k in the six months following the original completion and it has been getting super close to 200k by the end of the rewrite!

Writing is my hobby and yes, I do it for fun, but I also like to teach something through it and give my characters meaning and flaws to show growth. I hope that comes across in all my works and that you can take away the main points of each story!

I did have a crap ton of fun with B&B's rewrite though— which was evident in the crazy doubling of the story's word count and getting to write that much more of biker jk ;) (not to mention the crazy amount of times biker jk came to life)

2. ACHIEVEMENTS

I don't care for read counts or ranking as much as the quality of the work I put out for you guys, but it's still pretty exciting when cool shit happens and your book somehow finesses the crappy wattpad algorithm.

The original B&B achieved:
#1 in jungkook
#1 in jeon jungkook
#1 in vkook
100k reads
5k votes

The rewritten B&B achieved:
#2 in vkook
#2 in jungkook
200k reads (almost)
11K votes
5+ mentions in recommendation books,
a total word count of over 280k words,
and a lot of love on its ao3 upload :)

Once again, none of these big achievements would have been possible without all the love and support you guys have both the original and rewritten versions of Bikers & Beaches!

3. ARTWORK

I know I said I was going to do a drawing of Taehyung's painting and I might insert that later, but I didn't get the chance to do it yet.

Here's Jeongguk's tattoo: (working with ink is SO HARD :') I TRIED)

I got some incredible fanart from one of b&b's readers (for the first time which is SO exciting!!) and also wanted to share that with you guys :)

4. MY PERSONAL CONNECTIONS

Before I get to Taehyung and Jeongguk, Yoongi's backstory was inspired by a Criminal Minds episode.

There's three big things that happened in my life that heavily affected parts of this story and all the warnings for the book apply to this!! PLEASE BE MINDFUL OF YOUR OWN BOUNDARIES.

Taehyung:

If you guys didn't already know, I love drawing and art in general. I have an older art book here on wattpad, but art has been one of the biggest parts of my life since I was 12 and self taught myself drawing.

Obviously, this love of art inspired Taehyung's profession and studies as a painter.

The part of how unsupportive his parents were wasn't something that happened to me, however, when my parents were extremely supportive of my artistic endeavors. I actually read an article about an artist's fight with common Asian culture and the lack of diversity in their aspirations. Art is traditionally looked down upon as a career in Asian cultures; something more stable/profitable like medical jobs, law or engineering are honorable. This article really inspired me to explore a side of my passion that I never experienced and how hard it must have been to deal with.

However, in the summer of 2020, during quarantine, I really struggled with my love of drawing and art. It wasn't just an art block, but a total disinterest in drawing for almost six months on end. I generally forced myself to pick up a pencil and make something.

To say I was scared of losing my love for drawing is an understatement. Drawing had become such a big part of me and my entire childhood such that I was associated with art by everyone I knew.

It's still a work in progress in terms of loving it again, but I really came to understand the backstory I'd written for Taehyung and how scary it is to leave something you love behind and make the pressure of holding onto his scholarship and opportunity in university vital.

Jeongguk:

This part of my life happened before B&B was even being planned, so it truly did inspire Jeongguk's original backstory with Hwan (which stayed the same from the original to the rewrite).

During the second half of my first year of high school (when I was fourteen years old), I lost one of my classmates to suicide by overdose.

The structure of the class I had with him, with a really chill teacher and only fifteen students, allowed everyone to get to know each other and become friends.

One day, everyone was present except for him.

We found out before anyone else in the building, because my high school didn't do announcements until second period and this was the first class of my day, so being the only ones in the entire building to know made that class one of the worst hours of my life.

My classmate who overdosed and passed away was trans and bullied throughout his transition and the only funeral service I have ever been to was his so it really impacted my life.

A month later, a guy from our rival school jumped from a parking garage. The combination of these two things and coping lead to the basis of Jeongguk's backstory— making the emotions he felt really real to write about for me.

Both:

The third instance that occurred is one I am still recovering from and is the main reason for why my updates were vary sparse throughout the summer and fall.

In this past summer of 2021, when I was more than halfway through the B&B rewrite, a family friend of mine passed away in a fatal car accident. In stormy, rainy weather, where she lost control and passed on impact.

I remember I completely logged out of my wattpad for a few weeks, partly because of how coincidentally significant rain and storms were in B&B and in the event that had occurred. It was a big hit to my mental state.

At one point, I was terrified at how I'd written Taehyung nearly dying in a storm just for that exact thing to happen to my friend. It took me a long time to find the will to work this story after that mentality came to me.

Personally, I couldn't sit in a car while it was pouring out without not being able to breathe properly, getting incredibly anxious, and nearly crying for a few months after the accident.

Things are a lot better now, but for very clear reasons, I connected to B&B twice as much through this and all their connections to rain and storms. I wasn't able to go to her service because of covid and I truly started to associate rain with her memory— like Jeongguk's view of rain was also a reminder of someone he lost (another coincidence that rattled me).

B&B has taken a lot more effort and time because of this personal challenge compared to a year ago when I started the rewrite (struggled a lot with how similar my book and my life became when the book came first).

Knowing this, I really am proud of myself for finishing this story that I love and is so dear to my heart in more ways than one.

Painful things happen to everyone and I feel that writing is my best and healthiest way of coping with the things that happen to me. Yes, this book is a romance, but it's also so much deeper than just a fanfic; being able to turn my personal experiences into stories that you all connect to/learn from is the reason I love writing so much.

Bikers & Beaches was my first BTS fanfiction ever and honestly the start of a huge amazing change in my Wattpad/writing journey.

This book has a place in my heart and I think it will always be my favorite fic that this brain has written. I know for a fact that will never change.

Thank you for supporting B&B to the very end!! I hope you now understand how much the love you guys give this story means to me.

with so so much love,
— neeto♡