Hey! Thanks for all your dedication shown for this book! I'd like to return favours given I have the time! :)
Anyway, this is like a "behind the scenes" chapter where you learn the development of this story and it explains some of the things that you come to read. I do this for all my stories usually, well, in my first account at least. Anyway, here we go!
•The book title was inspired by Batman Vs Superman Dawn Of Justice, because it was kind of the trending movie at the time I decided to full-on write out this story.
•This is the first story (not including the one-shot) that I wrote in third person perspectives, and to be honest I was really frightened that my writing would not be as good if I changed my writing style, but I'm glad I changed it up for this story!
•The story idea of Jeanette having a secret admirer and having it be Simon was inspired by Pictures On The Wall one-shot here on 抖阴社区, also Simonette. I read that years ago, and I thought of creating a story with her secret admirer being revealed at a school dance. The CGI series then prompted me to pursue writing this story.
•The thought of having competition between Alvin and Simon then began when I realised I shipped Alvinette sometime this year in 2016 after watching the two featured episodes in this story that inspired the fanfiction behind them.
•Jeanette Enchanted and My Sister The Weirdo were the chosen episodes because Jeanette is the central character in them. Saving Simon was going to be included during the brainstorming of this plot idea, but left out as Alvin actually wants Simon around rather than keep him away, which is kind of ironic in this story since they quarrel for the same girl.
•Saving Simon was again considered after seeing comments of suggestions, and if I were to write it, my plot behind the episode was that since Simon aced the Physics test and was top in the class, he qualifies for the camp. Then Simon talks Jeanette into applying so they could spend more time together, and when Alvin learns of this, all the more he wants to prevent Simon from leaving, so he negotiates with them all at the meeting that it would clash with their music career outside of school during the summer(but the ending is a problem again haha because it ends in the summer with them giving Simon a home summer camp). Alvin adds that Simon is only being selfish prioritising a camp over their tour, influencing Jeanette to agree easily. Jeanette volunteers to distract Simon but Alvin is against the idea, and reluctantly agrees when everyone else suggests so since Jeanette is Simon's best friend. So when Simon is crushed at not going to science camp, Jeanette consoles Simon and later on has a chat with Alvin, and they both come up with the idea of Seville Science Camp. In the aftermath, Simon feels cheated about Jeanette spending the time with him and continues to bicker with Alvin.
•Okay about that prequel chapter, it explained the "you and I are different" hint between Ammon and Jeanette, didn't it? At first this was going to be chapter 37, just before the school dance, and I hadn't thought about the current Chapter 37 in the story and it just felt as if there was a big gap jumping from the book to Simon helping Jeanette get a dress. That was when Chapter 37, Brittany taking the book from Jeanette, came in.
•It was also scrapped off the storyline because Chapter 39 and Chapter 40 were initially morphed into one last ending chapter, but were later separated for the sake of cliffhanger, and also because it was too long. And hey, I like multiples of 2 and 5. Ending on a Chapter 41 just seemed really weird to me.
•Nonetheless, I'm glad to have revealed this one-shot prequel from a chapter that was meant to be in the story xD, because at Simon's dialogue "you have no idea" in response to Jeanette commenting that she never knew Simon could be romantic, we all know the joke's on Jeanette. Besides, I just could not resist putting in Simon's explanation about Miss Miller being older than Miss Croner, because hey, it's true 😂 Miss Miller was all along in the series since the 80s, and Miss Croner just appeared now.
•Actually before publishing this book, I had a separate book which was the first draft of this plot, consisting of ten written parts, but it seemed really rushed into the problem, so I started again from scratch on a new book, keeping the title and story details the same.
•The first interaction between Alvin and Jeanette was initially written in Chapter 1 of the first draft, where Alvin approaches Jeanette nearing the end of lunch break to help him with Biology after Simon helps her with Mathematics, and then they both show up in class late much to Simon's surprise. And from there, Jeanette rubbed off a good influence on Alvin's attitude towards his studies, irritating Simon in the process.
•The name Ammon was chosen because it was similar to both Alvin's and Simon's names, okay obviously 😂
And also, because Ammon in Hebrew means 'secret'. (Oh yeah, Simon revealed that, didn't he? Darn it!)
•The name meaning was finally chosen to be revealed in the last chapter just to make the mystery more meaningful(I was conflicted whether to put it in the story or to just reveal it behind the scenes, but I'm glad I was able to include it in the actual plot because dang, I touched my own heart when I put myself in Jeanette's shoes). And yeah, I did search names that meant 'secret' when I was brainstorming this plot.
•Every chapter you read went through lots of editing before it was being published. There were many, many minor changes made, especially sequences of occurrences in the last few chapters. Namely, Simon telling Jeanette the meaning of Ammon was going to happen at the bench, but boy I'm glad I changed it to at the dance because having it told at the very ending seemed better.
•The part in the last chapter where Simon pours out his feelings was inspired by the court scene in 17 Again, so was the scene where Simon "pretended to be Ammon", being inspired by Simone in Chipwrecked.
•What prompted me to pursue writing this story was the fact that I read a very unsatisfying ending on a Simonette story, with Simon watching Jeanette get married to another chipmunk with only a last minute acceptance. Like, he still had doubts about letting her go, but his possibly second love interest in the story gave him the look to move on, and he forced himself to stay silent throughout the wedding without objecting. So I was very unsatisfied that he moved on in the very last chapter feeling forced to do so. You don't just get over someone at another's orders.
So I decided to do him justice 😂
So, that's how you came to read this story. I'm truly thankful that my story appeals to others, I have to thank those other writers who inspired me with their stories, even stories from my readers supporting this book!
I won't be publishing any stories for now, due to my final year exams, but this has been really fun! Just to clear up, there are no more bonus chapters, as much as I'd like to make one, because all good things come to an end! I might just write another fanfiction sometime, perhaps from this fandom or another ;)
Once again, thank you! And you've officially finished this story! Bye for now!
~DisneyLovey💜