Hello and welcome to my story.

To new readers:  Wattpad is where I tell my stories to myself; they are very much first drafts. As such, they are full of typos, plot holes and other assorted errors. I am aware rogue is spelled wrong, I'm not going through all 55 chapters to change it. Read at your own risk.

To rereaders: Good news is, I am working on edits and will be releasing Finding Home both in ebook and print format. It has better pacing, world building and character descriptions, as well as some new scenes and expansions of old ones (I'm trying to add in spice but it's hard and idk if they'll make the final cut). These edits will not be released on Wattpad.

Bad news is self publishing expensive. Yes, it's much more affordable these days but between editors, cover and book designers, and other various expenses I'm looking at about $4,000-$5,000 out of pocket. I don't have that kind of money on hand so I will be doing a Kickstarter campaign sometime in the near future. Follow me here and on TikTok and Instagram to get the latest updates. (at)AEBennetBooks

And now for the fun part. The A's to your Q's.

WARNING!! 

SPOILERS AHEAD!

STOP READING NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT SOPILERS!

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Q: What inspired you to write Finding Home?

A: Spite. Pure and simple. Also a bit of avoidance of what I was supposed to be doing.

At the end of last summer (2023) I was reading a lot of werewolf stories and I found them all to be incredibly sexist and toxic without calling out the toxicity and resolving it. Everything from controlling men being excused because they're an Alpha or whatever to literal children making life changing forever decisions, to the infusion of purity culture had appropriation of pagan culture (seriously, they worship the Moon Goddess and celebrate the Wheel of the Year but in it's execution, it's all basically repurposed Christianity. It's like they took 'God' and swapped it with 'Goddess' and did nothing else even though the way other deities in both ancient and modern religions, interact with their believers is nothing like the way the Christian god interacts with theirs but I digress). I started writing Finding Home thinking it's just be a few hundred words to get rid of the itch and it bloomed into what it is today.

Q: Will you write a bonus scene of _______?

A: Maybe. I'm writing new stuff for the second draft and I'm not sure how much of it will make it into the final version but I might release the stuff that doesn't make it here.

Q: Are you a currently writing a new story?

A: Kind of. I'm working on my next one and the first few chapters are released now but I work full time and go to school full time. It's a lot. I wasn't working full time when I wrote Finding Home so I had more time to devote to it. I graduate in May so hopefully more will come soon.

Q: Are you planning on staying in fantasy or writing in a different genre?

A: I have some other WIP's that have been WIP's for a loooooong time. None of them are related to this world I've written. One's about a lavender relationship, ones about healing from mental health issues and others are really more or less loose collections of scenes that vaguely relate to each other. I do have one that's true fantasy (not urban fantasy, so completely new world building) but again, it's more of a few ideas and a loose collection of scenes. I'm not sure when (if ever) they will be published.

Q:What are your writing plans for 2024?

A: I want to publish Finding Home in print and ebook. I really just want a print copy of my book that I've spent months working on now and I want to give that to you all too. There have been books I've read here and other online readers that I've wanted physical copies of to read whenever I want and not on a device. I want that to be a reality for me and you. I'm also enjoying the world I've created with Paige and Nathan. I'm looking forward to getting back into it in once I graduate next month. I'd like to expand it a bit more and explore some other characters.

Q: How old are you?

A: I'm in my 30's.

Q: Are any of your characters Swifties like you?

A: Yes. Nathan is a level 13 Swiftie. He was converted by Allen who has always loved Taylor. Patrick is a secret Swiftie; if you ask him outright, he'll deny it but you can catch him singing along to every song under his breath. Paige is less of a Swiftie, but will still sing along to the well known songs. She would be secretly pleased she'd "had to" go to the Eras Tour with Nathan and afterwards she would become a level 13 Swiftie. Also, the ten minute version of "All Too Well" is her jam. She was belting eating chocolate ice cream and the Nilla Wafers her mom had sent in a care package  3am. After getting chewed out for it by Lennette she would still eat ice cream and Nilla Wafers at 3am but she would sing "All Too Well" quietly to herself. Over the next five years Lennette would know to stock up on chocolate ice cream if she heard Paige listening to it. (I'm aware it hasn't been out for all that long but time is fluid. I tried not to specify what year it is for a reason.)

Q: Why is Patrick such a dick?

A: Okay, so it wasn't well written or explained (something I'm fixing in edits) but Patrick is terrified of losing Nathan to the depression he went into after leaving Paige. Granted it was a lot of other things going on then too but Patrick literally had to stop Nathan from killing himself. In my lore, the beta's job is to keep the pack safe by keeping the Alpha safe. Nathan is his number one priority. He sees Paige as a threat to Nathan's stability. It isn't until he sees Paige help Nathan through his panic attack that Patrick accepts that Paige is what's best for Nathan.

Q: If they worship a Goddess, why are the packs patriarchal?

A: Like many ancient societies the werewolves started out as a very equitable society. They worshipped a goddess but males and females were equal in power and responsibility. Labor was divided up on the strengths and weakness of the individual pack members and would change over time as the pack changed. Over time inner-pack and inner-species warfare decimated the packs and there simply weren't enough wolves to fill all the positions and packs were small enough that they could get by with out them. Before that both the Alpha and Luna had their own officers. Separate but complimentary to each other. Just as the Alpha and Luna were separate but complimentary to each other. 

As the packs began to rebuild, roles and responsibilities became solidified and split along gender norms instead of being fluid like before. During the wartime the females were kept protected because they became concerned about their species dying out. Because power had been consolidated in the Alphas during the wars, they wanted to keep that power as they moved forward. They thought it was the males that were the source of that power. They started becoming obsessed with bloodlines and preserving Alpha power through those bloodlines; because of this females lost some of their autonomy as males wanted to keep their power. Luna's became figure heads and in some packs, the beta and gamma had even more control and power than the Luna.

Q: Why do you use 'male' and 'female' instead of 'man' and 'woman'?

A: Man and woman only refer to the human part of the werewolf. It's impolite to leave out the wolf when referring to the whole werewolf.

Q: Why did Paige sleep with Nathan and then leave? Isn't that rather selfish?

A: Yes, it is. She gave in to her desires and in a moment of weakness did something that she knew would end up hurting him. But in a way it was necessary. Paige needed Nathan to follow her to London. It wasn't a conscious decision but she needed to see that he actually would do as he said he would this time. Talk is cheap and he had given her plenty of talk before he left her in Bali. Subconsciously she needed him to prove to her through his actions, that he really would give up everything for her. If she stayed in the pack she would have been giving up a lot for him, she needed to see that he was willing to give up just as much for her. Also it was the sex that finally gave her wolf strength to wake up. The intimacy of sex between two people that already had and emotional connection was what finally drove Odette to come forth.

Q: What can't Nathan mark Paige to wake her wolf?

A: Again this is something in explain better in edits but without the healing abilities of a wolf marking someone can be fatal. It's why humans and werewolves are never fated mates. Marking also has to be done simultaneously in order for it to take, otherwise it's seen as a forced marking and the mark will be rejected.

Q: Why is there no spice?

A: Listen, spice is hard to write well. The spice I tried to write was awkward and felt forced so I cut it out. I'm also a purity culture survivor and demisexual so like anything sex is awkward for me. I'm trying to polish the stuff I wrote to put in the final book but idk.

I honestly can't thank you all for all the love you have given Finding Home. It seriously blows my mind that something I did just for fun has been so well received. Y'all have given me the confidence to actually pursue publication. Thank you all so much!!

All my love,

AE Bennet.