Hi, it means so much to me that you care enough to read this page. I promise it will be worth it.

Also. I AM SO SORRY. In case you didnt't notice, I write stories with layers of meaning. And I'm sure you may have a lottttt of questions. So, here are some that may help you understand what just happened.

What's up with ending?

💛What Sunset experiences in the last paragraphs of the epilogue, is what a character goes through when his/her book is opened and they materialize in the real world.

Is Sunset trapped in a physical book?

💛 Yes. She is trapped in Book Boyfriends.  Whether that is a paperback or a digital version, we'll see in the second book. 💔

When did she get trapped?

💛 The specific moment in which this happens is when she asks Harry Potter to help her with the Wattpad publication to bring changes to the characters.  Harry warned her that this could be dangerous because they were also blurring the limits between fiction and reality, not only for the characters but for herself.

Does Dean know about this?

💛 Not yet. Neither him nor Lukah or any of the other characters know that they are characters. Elizabeth Bennet opened Book Boyfriends on the first chapter of Book Boyfriends, which is why she appears with Jason, her ex-boyfriend from chapter 1 before she moves to Toronto.

Why does Sunset switch costumes with Camille?

💛 I haven't revealed this yet, but that's Sunset rebelling against what was written for her, even though she hasn't realized yet.

Let me be honest here, I love Lukah, but she wanted to go dressed as Ashy. Since she couldn't manage to do that, switching costumes has two ways of rebelling:

1. She rebells against Lukah because he technically chose the Hermione costume for her.

2. She rebels against her own story, and the love triangle in which the author framed her (Harry/Hermione/Draco). By dressing up as Alice, she becomes her own choice. Also, Alice (from Alice in Wonderland) goes on a journey of discovery when she falls down that hole. Sunset will go on a similar journey in the second book of Book Boyfriends.

How did you come up with the story?

My life basically. I suffer from anxiety. I hate sunsets because they make me sad. And I have lamely been in love with two brothers *face palm*.

Aside from that source of inspiration, this story was born out of my love for books and literature, and some of the items listed below.

💛Originally, it was meant for a contest so it was based on this prompt: "A job application results in you becoming embroiled in the very real lives of the characters of your favorite fandom."

Then, when I lost, I decided to turn it into a blend of things I love and hate. One of the things that fueled this story has been my anxiety and the feeling of being trapped, like feeling claustrophobic in my own body. And I quote Sunset, "how do you escape yourself?" I have no answer for that one yet.

💛 I always cared a lot about fictional characters. They always felt real to me. For some reason, I have this feeling they are alive in some parallel universe. I'm crazy, btw. Please, ignore me.

💛 I grew up surrounded by people with tragic stories, and it has always shocked me how some family members repeat their parents' mistakes. And I always wonder, why? Why do we repeat our family's history if we can make our own decisions?

I am a story-repeater myself. So, I wrote this to remind me that I can change. I am not a closed book. This is a message I wanted to share with the world, even if the world is not reading me.

💛 Someone once gave me for my birthday a bag that had this quote: "Perfect Boys only exist in Books." I guess that that quote always bothered me for some reason.

💛 Bad boy characters are my favorite ones, however I have noticed that in fiction people write guys who are very toxic for girls under the premise that love conquers all. Yeah. No. In my short life experience I know that that doesn't happen in real life. Guys who cheat on you, or are addicted to some substance, and/or mistreat girls they will also do the same to you. 

Maybe someone can change, but that's the exception not the rule. Will Dean be the exception?
One can only hope.

Why did you choose those names for the characters?

Well, the names sound fictional. I wanted to make a point that it was an author who gave them the names. That somehow the names were crafted and not natural. Notice that I state from the very beginning that Sunset's mother is an author by the way.

Sunset.

Sunsets are "the end" of the day. I thought it was cool that her own name hints at that part of stories.

The word "end" is important for this book and the next one because she will end her own story.

Personally speaking, sunsets are the saddest part of the day for me. I'm trying to befriend the concept and see how that helps me work with my anxiety when the sun sinks.

Also, Raiden, Dawn, Sunset...those are names connected somehow to the weather, and they have one constant variable: change. Which, in case you haven't noticed, it's a big word in the story.

Lukah means the one that brings light. And Dean is just a hot name to me. Lol.

What's the symbolism of this story?

💛 Sunset's clothing

Sunset usually is dressed like a rebel, wearing orange (wattpad's brand color) and combat boots because she is fighting against stereotypes in literature.

By the last chapters other people dress her, foreshadowing how she -as a character- is being manipulated by some higher force.

However, she will find a way to rebel against the words that were written for her.

💛 Dust

There are a lot of references to dust, because, for this story, I came up with the concept that characters are made of dust particles.

Did it ever happen to you that you opened a book and you sneezed? Well that's because small particles of dust are formed inside books. So my belief is that, within this story, dust is the trace the characters left in the book after materializing in the real world.

That's why we have the StarDust cafe. Dust Library. And even when Sunset and Lukah hug, dust particles spark from the contact. Sunset describes herself in that first party having dust on her clothes, and everytime she goes downstairs she keeps sneezing because of all the dust in there.

Let me go and cry under my bed now.

💛 Mirrors

Every time I refer to mirrors in the story, there is a hint towards the fact that Sunset is trapped in a reflection and that she is not herself. Mirrors are creepy and magical. Like we see a repetition of ourselves, but are we that what we see?

Also, mirrors in literature hold so many layers of meaning. They usually foreshadow death, though this is not the case I promise, but they are also use to show character development and in this specific case I am trying to put together two puzzles: Sunset's book character and Sunset's real person.

💛 Repetition

There are certain hints that point at thr fact that she is trapped in repeating the same story. For example, when she is in the car, after finding out that Lukah and Dean are two different people, she keeps repeating this phrase:

"I always repeat the same story." This has a literal and a metaphorical meaning because she is literally repeating the story since she is trapped in a book. While within the story she also feels this way because of her anxiety and her past.

She is always mad at things that are repeated around her and she also feels suspicious. When she is in the car with Raiden, she wonders if car stereos know about your feelings...because the song playing is sad...and the truth is that an author created that atmosphere for her. And right there she realized that something was happening, but the books needed to be freed so that she could be freed.

💛 Locked doors

I also make a point of making her stare at locked doors. For example when she is in that bathroom with Lukah, after drunk jenga, and she stares at the locked door of the cabinet.

Or when she says, "sometimes I say stuff and no one hears me." Well, literally no one hears her, because she is a character from a book.

💛 Why do Lukah, Dean and Raiden own the same car model?

Dean and Lukah's father owns a car dealership. They made a deal with him to get the cars at a cheaper prize, but they had to be the same. Don't mind me repeating objects in the story...or using number three, which is a magical number in literature convention.

We will learn more about Dean and Lukah's family in the next book.

💛 Was Sunset always trapped in a book?

Tricky question. Magnus, Bonnie and Harry Potter warned her that reality could be altered if she carried out with the Wattpad publication. So as from the moment in which she publishes that story, her whole life became a book. But... There are layers here to be analysed, let's see if you figure it out.

Let me say that Harry Potter allowed this to happen because he knew it was unavoidable. It would have happened on way or another, because it had already happened.  And the only way out of a book...is to go in. 💀

So the question remains... Was Sunset always trapped or just when she posted that? 🤔   You help me guys cuz I killed all my brain cells in the process of writing this story.

💛 Is there going to be a second book?

Like the story ends in chapter 1, because she is kind of stuck chapter 1. And I simply can't do that to her.

So...Yes! Book Girlfriends is going to be the second book of the story.

I promise I'll free Sunset. But please be patient. Writing this kind of stories that have secrets and paralel rules to the normal world, take a lot of thinking (and ranting with my besties).

Here's Book Girlfriends' cover...

AAhsusisiskns I am sooo excited btw.

If you have any other questions, I'll gladly answer them. Just leave them in a comment.

Thank you so much for being here for me and for this story.

I love you all so much.

And remember...

Change!

Love,

Nise - LayersOfPlanes