Fun facts about this story Final note

                                    

                                          
So, I did promise a little 'Making of' style chapter, so the first part of this are fun facts about how this story came to be what it finished up as. The art at the end however is a little dedication of what it's meant to me, and how this has impacted my life, which I urge you to read. There's a lil thank you note to you guys in there as well, so I hope you enjoy this!
1. I often alluded to things in my real life in this fic. Some of Lyanna's thoughts and emotions reflected how I felt in my own life at the time I wrote the specific chapters (e.g. I wrote the chapter where Lyanna found out about Eryk and Alize after a break up) and certain bits of dialogue mirror stuff I've read elsewhere or have said in drama productions (I know some of you have already noticed my Harry Potter reference when Lyanna confront's Baelish, but a more covert reference is when Lyanna is asking Olenna for her approval of the Willanna engagement; her little speech is a direct quote from a pantomime I performed in, the line I said as Aladdin when asking to marry the princess (also Willas' dialogue before is what the princess said, since that scene was my favourite)). 
2. In a plan for the book's ending back from 2016, Lyanna was going to marry Loras. I didn't know Willas existed, so I planned for a very different Tyrell wedding! 
3. Following the Loras marriage, the original epilogue would have been Daenerys arriving in Winterfell after taking the Iron Throne and meeting Loranna's (Loras/Lyanna's) children. I can't remember all of what I planned for that, but I remember that they had a son called Renly. 
4. Going back to my habit of referencing, Willanna's first daughter is named after my best friend, hence why Ayrella Stark is constantly shortened to Ella. In fact, I invented that Targaryen name just to have a nod to my friend for Lyanna's mother,way before I planned to have Lyanna call her daughter the name too. 
5. The rest of their children's names are references to other GOT characters. Brandon Jon (obviously Brandon Stark and Jon Snow), Ayrella Robbyn (Ayrella Targaryen and a female version of Robb Stark), Eddard Luthor (again, pretty obviously Ned Stark, though Ed's name is shortened differently, and Luthor Tyrell), Opheliarra Daenerys (a combination of Ophelia (meant to not directly reference Olenna Tyrell as well as Hamlet) and Arya, and Daenerys Targaryen), Maeya Alinsa (combining Margaery and Arya for first name and Alize and Sansa for middle name). Gotta admit though, Willanna's youngest, Ernest Benjen, only references GOT through the middle name, as the name Ernest was inspired by Prince Ernest from Victoria. 
6. Speaking of Victoria, the actors portraying Willas and Garlan also play brothers in the form of Princes Albert and Ernest in the show. Victoria is my favourite show, and since Garlan and Willas appear very little in the set canon, I decided to base their characters on Albert and Ernest. It felt only right to cast the actors in the fic! 
7. The Commanders of Lyanna's Unsullied are all named after the conspirators of Julius Caesar. Brutus, Casca and Cassius are named after Shakespeare characters. 
8. Speaking of Cassius, the character in Shakespeare is historically a male role (played famously by Sir Patrick Stewart). In my version I made her a woman, not only to give more representation, but to mirror recent theatre trends of a woman playing Cassius (most recently by the gal who played Catelyn Stark). 
9. Keeping on the trend of Cassius, her character was originally a male Unsullied. In original drafts the role Cassius plays was that of an Unsullied called Scar, shortened from Scarlet Weasel. Later on I changed Scar to be a Second Son, though this time she was a woman. Scar and Lyanna were going to have an affair (like Dany and Dario) and I was going to make Lyanna bi through this storyline. Eventually I changed her name to Cassius and decided against Cassanna, though I kept Cass as an LGBT character.
10. I've met quite a few members of the cast! A few I've met at cons but others at theatre things, and often my meetings with them shape the way their character affects the story. For example when I met Conlith Hill at LFCC I was running late since I'd just got out of a talk (it was Benedict Cumberbatch's, no biggie) and my mum had been holding my place in line for ages to the extent I was the last one and even though it was really bad, he was so so nice and legit unfazed by the fact I was out of breath from running across the entire con hall (not to mention star struck). He gave me a hug and we took the best picture ever, and cause I was last we had a good chat. It was so amazing, to the extent I wrote a few Varys interactions. Similarly, Lyanna married into House Tyrell because of how nice both Finn Jones and Natalie Dormer were (I got a Finn hug and a Natalie handshake), but I considered somehow pairing Lyanna with Euron Greyjoy, just because of how hot he is in person (and utterly hilarious, anyone that was in the LFCC 17 GOT Panel will know exactly what I'm talking about). Honourable mentions are also Mark Addy, Rose Leslie, David Bradley, Hannah Waddingham, Ian Beatie, Kerry Ingram, Ian Whyte, Daniel Portman (vv hot in person) and Gemma Whelan.