A VERY LONG AUTHOR’S NOTE:
WARNING! MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD. READ THE BOOK FIRST BEFORE THIS ONE. NO, SERIOUSLY. DON'T READ THIS FIRT!
•The plot wasn't supposed to revolve around romance... nor even had a werewolf in it. The initial plot was a literal horror story about a girl being stalked by some supernatural creature ahem sLeNdEr MaN ahem until he eats her–but I felt it was too predictable, too boring–so let's add Greek mythology and a bunch of other monsters to the blender because I am too done with life for a complicated plot right now and just wanted someone to suffer.

•Let's be real, though: the story only happened because I was bored and hungry when I was home-quarantined for two weeks WITHOUT INTERNET.

•The first draft was a scene of Winters and William escaping Roman's dungeon, haunted house–whatever it was called–but I scraped it all up since I like the final scene in Prologue. I think it has more thrill than a bunch of kids hiding and running away from a vampire.

•The overall plot was inspired from Rick Riordan's Trials of Apollo. I just finished reading the last book when I started to write Descent series for real!

•The title when this was still a draft was actually ‘Can’t Help Falling (In Love With You)’ because I was listening to the same song only the dark version at the time. But I got annoyed because I felt it was too freaking long to be a title. For a time, I settled calling the story "Fall from Grace" in my head but it still felt wrong... so when I searched for a synonym, the meaning of the word descent.. clicked; it feels like it perfectly sums up the entire plot.

•Proserpina wasn't supposed to have a romantic interest (unless you count the King of Vampires) which means Alastor Nyx didn't originally exist. He was kind of added as a reason for Proserpina to break her promise to Hades.

Did You Know?

•Proserpina does not personally refer or consider herself as Winters anymore–only Alastor and William does.
•Let me clear up the bonus chapter: Winona is actually the last reincarnation of Winters Veil. Here’s another clue: in the story, William never mentioned Winona because Winters is his only sister; Winters may have been relieving her past lives that has fallen victim to Roman and her mind simply filled in the gaps to suit her since she was having a major break down in prologue.
•Proserpina and Roman’s perspectives are specially meant to be confusing. They are both unreliable narrators.
•Throughout the story, Proserpina shows signs of having PTSD (post-traumatic-stress disorder) and is implied to suffer from DID (dissociative identity disorder), i.e. Winona. She also has a mild aversion to other people's touch which is why she was usually seen wearing gloves in order to cope with it other than covering up her markings. Ironically enough, she has no qualms invading other people's spaces as means of intimidation… now that I think about it, she only does this to people (Nick, for example) she knows who couldn't win against her.
•Whenever I'm writing a heavy scene, I was listening to Team Cherry's Hollow Knight OST: Welcome to Hollownest by Christopher Larkin for inspiration.
•Harry Silvers and Sean White was the easiest characters to write for me; Alastor Nyx was probably the hardest.
•Proserpina actually has a cell phone... she probably just uses it to watch cat/dog videos most of the time though.
•Most of the characters never found out that William and Proserpina are actually half siblings since they never bothered to clarify their relationship to anyone which is why it was generally assumed that they were lovers or close friends; Alastor kind of forgot to tell his friends when they talk and they all simply assumed that William was just a favorite of Proserpina. Nick came close to finding out what is the nature of their relationship though. RIP, NICK.
•I think the real reason why Hades abandoned Proserpina when she was a kid was because he was afraid that once his wife finds out about his infidelity, she will take revenge on his daughter similar to what Hera did to her husband's many illegitimate children.
•If it wasn’t obvious enough yes, Righteous Purge happened because of Hera.
•Proserpina is literally Persephone’s name but in Latin.
•Hades naming Proserpina after Persephone was a move meant to pacify his wife since he's bringing his kid to their home.
•I don't think I had the time to explain it more in the story but the tattoo that Alastor mentioned "peeking on the back of Proserpina's neck" is actually a swirling petal of a black spider lily that reaches down to her spine. It turns red whenever she fails a mission or misses a kill. The book cover is what I imaged it looks like.
•Red spider lilies symbolize death. They are associated with final goodbyes, and legend has it that these flowers grow wherever people part ways for good. In old Buddhist writings, the red spider lily is said to guide the dead through samsara, the cycle of rebirth. In Japanese, "Manjushage" for red spider lily means "flower of the heavens.
•Remember when William mentioned that Proserpina's veins glows red in Chapter Ten? It was because of the tattoo as well–her marking literally burns her skin and nerves which is actually the same curse Hades gave her in the Prologue.
•Proserpina's trust issues were a major factor to William's paranoia.
•Thanatos had known from the start that Alastor is Proserpina's soul mate–which is why he was adamant for her to leave or not get involved.
•Proserpina realized much later on that she couldn't tell if Alastor is lying or not because he was literally the other half of her soul. She couldn't judge herself fairly.
•While he was drunk, Alistair Nyx was actually telling the story of how he had rescued William and Winters from Roman to the pretty bartender at Chapter Fifteen–and his twin didn't even realize.
•Proserpina might have subconsciously known Alastor was her soul mate. If you read Chapter two more closely, you'd notice that she was specifically drawn to him out of everyone in the place even before he had been aware of her presence.
•William suspected Alistair Nyx had disappeared because of Roman that’s why he was guilty and felt like he owes the Northern Pack.
•In the Prologue, Winters was literally staring face to face with the residents of the underworld (the dead) before they tore the remnants of her life for themselves when she was merged with Thanatos.
•In the LAST OFFICIAL CHAPTER of Descent (same title), I’m not sure if it was clear enough but Proserpina was thinking of how she has become the literal embodiment of Winters Veil's shadow, a husk of her former self which is why they keep saying ‘Winters Veil is dead’.
•It wasn’t stated but in the last chapter, Thanatos and Proserpina are actually having a conversation in the River Styx which is a location in Greek mythology. Located in the Underworld, it is a river that serves as a barrier separating the world of the living from the world of the dead… that’s why Thanatos can physically manifest himself to talk to Proserpina face to face.
Spoiler alert:
BOOK TWO IS WAVING!!