I don't even fully know where to begin with my thoughts on this story to be honest. It has meant so much to me, mostly because it has turned into my most popular series I've done!

That was something I never expected to happen and I am still so honored that it did so well.

One of the first ever stories I read on Wattpad was 'Promise' by JinJin0309 -- As many of you know, she is now one of my best friends, and really she is more like a sister to me even though we've never met in person. She also introduced me to my other best friend and sister squidster97 and I will always be eternally thankful for that <3<3

That being said, I can't even tell you why I decided to read promise. I had never heard of omegaverse before and I had never read anything boyxboy related. Crazy right?? I mean, if I'm being honest, I don't really think I understood what I was getting myself in to XD but I ended up falling in love with her story!!

For awhile she kept telling me that I should write one of my own and the idea was suuuuuuuper intimidating to me. I had tried writing a little boyxboy in 'Kingdom of Twilight' and felt ok with it, but at the time the vibe I got from omegaverse stories was that it's kind of sacred ground haha a lot of authors and readers took it very seriously and I was honestly scared to even touch it. 

Buuuuuut she kept insisting and really she was a huge help when it came to plot planning with me too.

I knew right away that I wanted the story to be one about them having to bond together after a huge struggle, so that's where the Pack War came into place. Picking the ships was probably the first struggle for me.

I may or may not have been nudged in the direction of Mingi and Seonghwa (yes I'm calling you out JinJin hehe), but honestly I'm so glad I decided to do it because I think they ended up being one of the favorite ships in the story! Wooyoung and San felt natural to me too, so then it was just picking the last two that I struggled with. I had read another story that had Hongjoong and Yeosang hinting at a relationship, and I had never seen them anywhere else, so I'm pretty sure I decided on them because I figured I was already challenging myself so why not add more to my plate XD, which then of course left Jongho and Yunho.

For me, the most natural thing to do was have one alpha in each pair. I've always liked the idea of one person in the relationship being more dominant than the other and I spent a lot of time talking with JinJin about the dynamics of each rank. Those ended up being really easy for me to chose. I think Yeosang was the hardest for me. I almost made him an omega, but I was already set on having Seonghwa be a head-strong omega and Wooyoung is just an omega in my mind (if you haven't already noticed lol) so I didn't want there to be three omegas in the story. I wanted a little balance.

When I actually got into writing, the intro chapters came really naturally to me, which was surprising. I knew I needed variation, which is why Hongjoong and Yeosang were already mated. Having one stable relationship to start with felt necessary so that there was a foundation to the group of eight, and with Hongjoong being the leader, that felt the most natural.

If anything, I know the biggest stretch was Jongho and Yunho. Looking back, I know I rushed their mating a little bit haha, so we can blame that on their wolves because, well... apparently they just really needed to mate right there. If I were to reach a little, to me it would make sense for Yunho because he had never been attracted to anyone else before and he did want to have a family one day. 

And that is the exact reason why I had him and Wooyoung from the same pack. When I was watching Ateez videos, the two of them just hit a little differently with how they interact, and I know Wooyoung has said that Yunho is  his home, so the idea of them already having a close relationship stems from that.

One of the biggest shocks early on was the fact that Jongho and Wooyoung mated. Now this may surprise some of you, but this was actually before I became a big Jongho x Wooyoung shipper. I still wanted to have that variety throughout my story, and it was something I had never seen done before, so I thought, why not?? I had planned from the beginning for something to happen so that Wooyoung and San could mate, but there needed to be a few kinks in the chain first. 

Now, the way I write seems to surprise a lot of people. I made most of this story up as I went along. I went into it knowing the ships and that there had been a war and that there was going to be a big enemy pack that would be the main antagonists of the story. And that was it O.O

I let the characters take me where they wanted to go. 

Having Lance and Alpha Pack show up when they did felt natural and needed to progress the story, and then after that I just kind of built on top of it. I still surprise myself with how dark my mind can be sometimes... so the idea of omegas and betas being collected to become breeders was just the twisted thing I needed, so that's where Yeosang and Seonghwa being taken came in.

Since Hongjoong and Yeosang had such a strong bond, it was only natural for me to rip them apart, right? Right. 

And having Yunho and Wooyoung separated from the rest of them was the perfect excuse I needed for Wooyoung to go through his heat without his alphas and take away his mating mark again. 

I really liked what I did with Seonghwa in the fortress. He is such a strong person to me, and if I'm being honest I really see him as more of a dom than a sub anymore, but having him melt at the hands of Mingi was just so perfect for their relationship. I didn't want that to stop me from having him be a more independent omega though. 

I know some of you are wondering about my thought process with Wooyoung, and as I have been tagged in a few other books, it's not a flamewhipper book without making him suffer. This statement both makes me laugh and want to cry because it's true lol. I've tried to explain it before, and it's always hard for me to find the words... but since he is my bias, I just connect with him a little more, so it's easier for me to throw him into more main roles in my books. I don't know if that makes sense, but the other thing I want to say is that when I write my stories, to me, I don't fully picture the members of Ateez as who they are. To me... it's kind of like I'm writing them as actors, if that makes sense? They are filling a role in my story and I have cast them in their parts. 

Anyways, with Wooyoung, the idea of him not being able to have a pup was something that I knew would bring a lot of angst into the story. In some ways, I relate to his character so it was easy for me to get inside his head and portray how he was feeling. I wanted him to start out as weak and feeling unwanted and grow into someone who could love himself and be an important part of the pack. 

Now, without writing any spoilers (and be warned that there may be some in the comments for this particular section), I did not have what happened with his character in two sequels planned. And really, I didn't intend for this to be more than one book. Like I said, I wanted him to be stronger than he thought he was and be able to prove himself. It just so happened that I was able to tie it all together nicely haha but none of that was actually planned out! Surprising right??? 

So with talking about him, bringing Chan back was another spur of the moment decision. (and to answer the question everyone has wanted to know... I did not have a particular Chan in mind when I wrote the character. I'm sorryyyyyyyyy. But at the time I had only been listening to Ateez, I hadn't even given BTS a chance yet, so Ateez was the only group I knew. So! He can be whatever Chan you want him to be lol.) I liked the idea of bringing him in to surprise my readers, which I have loved the reactions I get! But I never intended for him to be a major role in the story, hence why he died saving Wooyoung's life.

The mating scene for Wooyoung and San is probably one of my favorite scenes in the entire book. I wanted it to be a huge, monumental portion of the story because there was so much build up to it, so I hope that I did it justice. 

Man, this note is at 1600 words and there is still so much I want to say haha. If you're still reading thank you, I love you so much T^T

Moving on!

Speaking of mating, I wanted Seonghwa and Mingi's official mating to be big but kind of unconventional too, just like how they met. I'm not exactly sure why it happened, but I really liked the idea of Seonghwa just getting so mad at Mingi but then having some heated hate sex (they are the sex couple. I think if I were to go back and tally all three books they probably have the most smut scenes XD You're welcome JinJin :p).

For those of you wondering, the scene where they are yelling about holding someone and forcing them to drink, and then ending with 'He's mine'? Yeah that was Mingi and his father forcing him to drink the potion that warped his mind.

After all that happened, I knew there needed to be some down time where there weren't any major scenes or bad things happening. I had always intended on making them run from Alpha Pack. 

The next big surprise for the story is actually Lizbeth! She was never originally in the story and she just kind of hit me out of nowhere one day. I must say, I LOVED the mixed reactions I got with her! I wanted her to be kind of mysterious since she's about 900 years old, so kind of like that crazy old lady who is creepy but ends up knowing a lot? Yeah, that's Lizbeth. 

A lot of people had been mentioning in the comments that they wanted Wooyoung to have a pup, or they wondered if there was a cure for him, so that's where I got the idea to have Lizbeth be unable to have pups as well and have that connection with him. At the time I had nooooooo idea what the hell the cure would be lol but I knew I needed to plant the seed. Which is also why I said she never found it to give myself more time to think of what it could be XD

Around this time is when someone commented something about San's family. They were curious as to where they were. I think it was when Lizbeth was reading the prophecy. Originally they were never going to be a part of this story, so thank you to the person who commented this!! You brought us Caius and Jasper hehehe (Another thing some of you may have noticed... I do pay attention to the comments and they actually help me get ideas sometimes... JennlyT is a huuuuge contributor to this, which I have already thanked her for, but thank you again!!)

So yes! This is how the pack came to be kidnapped and my dark and twisted mind started coming out again. Since they had abandoned San, I wanted his family to be just awful, horrible people. The idea of the collars came about because I knew they needed a way to easily get everyone back to Alpha Pack, and suppressing their wolf was just the kind of cruel and unusual punishment that I like.

This also brings me to the small scene with Lizbeth. I know there were a lot of mixed emotions when she told San's family what direction the pack went in. The only thing I will say in her defense was that this was probably one of the extremely rare times in her life where she was truly afraid she was going to die. She had been cut off from her wolf, her other half, that she had been bonded with for 900 years. That kind of pain was unbearable for her... so that's why she couldn't resist their demands.

Now the Hunters and one of the most popular characters!!

Colonel Gregson was someone I kiiiiind already had the idea that I wanted to do? But he was never fully fleshed out until now. I had made Alpha Pack so big and powerful, the idea of two enemies coming together as one is definitely cliche, buuuuuuut what isn't cliche in writing anymore?

While the Hunters are inherently evil because they do hunt and kill wolves, I've always been a fan of people being able to change their ways. That's why I had Yeosang give the big speech that you all loved so much.

When it came to all the final battles, I couldn't make it easy, of course. I wanted there to be some risk, which is why I had both Hongjoong and Jongho set up as a trap to draw their mates in because Alistar is an evil man who isn't afraid to hurt others to get what he wants. Except for Seonghwa, but that would only last long enough for him to see his grandpup... Or at least that was his plan.

The whole part with Wooyoung and Caius and Jasper... That was sick twisted me coming out again and wanting to make San suffer. Really, I wanted Caius and Jasper to be more despised than Mingi's father so that their death was extra satisfying. 

Ever since the prophecy, though, I wanted Wooyoung to be the one to take down Alistar. It was my way of showing the realization that he was strong and he would do anything for the family that accepted him for who he was. 

It was at about this point that I realized this book was getting really long, like, I hardly ever see books with 70 chapters on Wattpad lol so it was when I started tossing around the idea of splitting this into 2 books. I wanted the search for the cure to be a challenge for Wooyoung, and I really didn't want to just cram it in at the end and turn it into an after thought. Plus this seemed like a good place to start winding down the story after the main climax of the story arch.

Time for my next big challenge!!

JinJin can attest to this. I was soooooooooo so so nervous about writing Seonghwa's labor. Like... I had nooooo idea what I was doing. This entire story was a learning curve for me (side note.. I'm sure some of you caught on to the fact that I didn't mention slick like at all during this?? Yeah, didn't realize that was a thing for omegas until Our Way.......). 

But I think I did pretty ok with it! JinJin helped me find the name Avayla and I just fell in love with it. She was the first girl of the pack, so she needed to be our special girl.

When it came to Theo, this is another one where I don't really remember the exact reason as to why I decided to make him deaf. I think it was a combination of me wanting variety in the story and someone starting my one shot book and liking that the first story I posted there was deaf, if I'm being honest. I kind of had an, 'Oh! This would be interesting!' moment. 

And so this is where the story ends. I definitely teared up when writing the good-bye scene. I hated breaking up the family, but as much as I hate them, I'm also a sucker for cliff-hangers so again this just felt natural. Who know I would have ended this story with a line that would have everyone quoting a Frozen song in the comments XD (although my stories are scarily linked with a lot of things Ateez does......). 

This is also the end of my notes for the thought process of this story too! I hope you enjoyed getting a little insight into my creative mind. If there was anything pertaining to this book that I didn't answer for you please don't hesitate to ask!! I know there has to have been something haha at over 3,000 words I definitely just spent the last hour word vomiting onto this page so I could share this with everyone.

I am going to try and do this for all my stories just when I have the time so I hope you look forward to those too <3

Once more I want to thank all of my amazing Flamies for all the support you have shown me for the past year. My Way was written before I really had a following, so the title 'Flamies' wasn't even an idea in the back of my mind. I never expected to have this big of a following on here, honestly, it was just a dream when I first started writing. 

You all mean so much to me. Thank you. Thank you for everything <3

I love you, Flamies, with every fiber of my being.

I promise to keep working hard for you for as long as I possibly can, and I hope that I continue to have your support, love, kindness, and generosity with your time. 

~Forever you are my heart~

**Flamewhipper**