Chapter 17

So here we are~

As I said way back when I started this story, this version of Ghost of a Rose sprouted out of an older, incomplete idea from when I was younger, just like Wander did. Unlike Wander, though, this version has changed largely from its original. I actually found the first chapter of that original version way back in my files, which in part helped to inspire this revival! The core of the plot remains the same: Markus is a bratty, immature noble’s son (in the original version Azura was named Queen Regent after the previous King’s passing, which happened -after- Lucius’s death and Scheherazade’s reclamation of the throne in another story) engaged to be married to someone he neither knows nor likes, & at his own engagement ball he meets a strange, charismatic otter who later turns out to be the deposed prince of a monarchy that no longer exists. In that original story Markus still did the whole Zorro-style highwayman dress-up thing, too, but I never got that far into it.

But! Now it’s become a bigger, fuller, lovelier story, and I’m so proud of it and happy of where it’s gone. I’d say that at its heart, it’s still a story about maturing, and learning responsibility and perspective: Markus is childish and immature, right up until the point he realizes that Rhea cares for him, and his actions affect her as well as everyone else around him in ways he had never before considered. I’m a bit worried that that transition is a bit too sudden, but then again, this -is- only the first draft – and overall I’m satisfied with the Markus at the end of the story compared to the Markus in the beginning.

Which then brings us to the next obvious point: while Ghost prominently features a poly relationship, I wouldn’t say it’s -about- one. There’s a lot to dig into in a threeway relationship, and I do have plans to explore and break that down in a future project, but for here at least it mostly just provides a comfortable background process for Markus to help figure himself out, and what’s going on. His interest to dive into it contrasted against his hesitation to do so for fear of overstepping boundaries and missing communication was an intentional point, to further bring out the development of his sense of responsibility. It’s been a lot of fun looking back over my past projects (all the way back in the now-released Taste Of Something Else, through Unexpected, Undeserved, and then especially in Heart of the Forest) and seeing those lil breadcrumbs throughout everything, all the signs & hints in my own writing that, ~hey, I’m poly,~ and just hadn’t realized it until a few years ago. And it’s been a lot of fun going out of my way to work those themes into my stories and characters as well.

Though as much fun as I had working on this story and playing around with all these beautiful characters, I’m definitely looking forward to getting back to other personal work as well! I wanna get back to my Weekly Worldbuilding posts over on SubscribeStar, and I’ll be chewing through my own personal to-do list for shorter stories as well.

Thanks for coming along with me & Markus on this adventure. Looking forward to seeing y’all in the next one. <3