Book 1 Afterword
To start with, thank you for reading Clara Casewell, Attorney to the Villainess. It’s been an amazing joy to share this story with so many readers, and I never expected it to grow like it did.
Clara’s story began as a side project after finishing another novel (which I’m in the process of trying to traditionally publish), making this the very first piece of fiction I’ve shared with an audience bigger than a few (mostly unwilling) friends. That novel is a dark political thriller/speculative historical fantasy with no magic, no isekai, no progression or reincarnation of any kind, so I thought I would challenge myself to write something completely different to ‘reset’ my writing mind after spending years immersed in that world. It was more of a way to practice than anything else, and when I first posted on NovelFire, I figured I’d consider it a success if it reached a couple hundred followers.
Suffice to say, the response I’ve gotten has blown me away. So again, thank you for giving this story a chance. Thank you to everyone who viewed, followed, favorited, commented on, and reviewed it. And thank you to all of you who thought this journey was fun enough to want to read ahead on Patreon.
The writing process for a web serial is a very different beast compared to the writing process for traditional fiction. There are a lot of habits that make a work ‘good’ in the traditional world that are hindrances for web serials, and vice versa, so exploring these contrasts has been very interesting for me. In the end, I’m satisfied with how the overall plot of book one turned out. I already had the major pieces outlined before I started—the trial at the high court, the mystery behind Stella and Leofric (if you reread the first few chapters, you will probably notice some clues you missed), the conspiracy against House von Rhenia, and so on—but I think I discovered a lot about these characters as I went, and I’ve grown to love them in ways I didn’t expect to.
I wanted to take this chance to share answers to some questions I’ve gotten along the way, in the comments, via DMs, or on Discord. If you're not interested in FAQs, feel free to skip this section.