These behind-the-scenes notes were all once on my profile page, updated alongside the chapters. I moved them all here to free up my profile page for anything else I'd want to do with it.

Original text:

Here's where I'll discuss behind the scenes stuff, whenever it becomes relevant. Thus, here there be spoilers for the latest chapters of Dissonance.

An important thing to note is that I don't waste any words in this story. Every sentence has importance, whether for foreshadowing, establishing the setting, red herring, straight-up exposition, or action. (I encourage you to do the same whenever you write; if it's in the story, it has to be important for something.)My main point being, none of my story is meaningless. I leave tons of foreshadowing in there for the wary reader to find, so keep an eye out! Having the whole story planned in advance makes this possible, not to mention very, very fun.

Chapter 1

Shoutout to Danielle Judovits.

Chapter 3

This chapter's a breath of fresh air compared to the last two, huh? Not as emotional, finally coming through on the sitcom-ish promise… Don't get too comfortable though, because it's not always going to be this upbeat.

There's a surprising number of pro-polygamy reviews I'm getting. I'm pretty sure that would be frowned upon in a pseudo-medieval society, so I don't think it's much of a spoiler to say that's not a feasible option. (Plus that's not really how romance stories work most of the time… Plus, how would Nah or Sumia feel? I doubt they'd want to share their object of affection.) Also, Robin isn't entitled to anything; even he, as a hero, wouldn't be safe from the taboos of normal Ylissean society. The masses are fickle, and they'd turn against him just as soon as throw a parade for him.
I guess I can't totally rule polygamy out though, because that would be a spoiler.

Also, I absolutely didn't mean anything by what Morgan says toward the end about a family needing two parents. She was just trying to guilt Robin, and her opinions don't reflect my own.

I was considering putting this chapter off a little while, because, though I have roughly a five-chapter buffer and this chapter has been sitting on my hard drive for almost a month, I realized there were some things that needed to be said that I had left out. The entire last scene (in the hallway) was written today and yesterday, meaning I pretty much overhauled the chapter over a day. That's a delay-worthy reason if I've ever heard of one. I obviously decided against it, though; putting the chapter off for another week was a disconcerting idea to me.

Speaking of which, the next chapter (Chapter 4) will be up next Friday (next week). In case you couldn't tell from the title of the chapter, it'll be very important. (Spoiler alert?)

Give yourself one of Gaius's candies if you caught Cynthia's reference to the Archanea series.

Chapter 4

…Yep. I'm using 'wacky' ironically.

In hindsight, this chapter is a lot shorter than I thought it was. It used to be even shorter before I added the part with Sumia and Cordelia about a week ago (since I actually wrote the rest of it in mid-April). Still—told you it was important.

Yay, finals week is over, so now I can finish up this story instead of relying on my buffer. I was so happy about this that I uploaded this chapter a day early. I might—might—make updates more frequent now that I have more free time. I'll mention it whenever Chapter 5 uploads, which is currently planned to be next Friday but may come out sooner.

Now, I know what you're all thinking: "Was that a Sacred Stones reference Cordelia made?" Well, I'm here to enlighten that truth: yes indeed. That's a reference to Neimi/Colm. Sharp eye! What was that about choking? I don't know what you're talking about. See you next week!

(Real talk: discussing anything here would be a spoiler, so just wait and see. Please respond to this chapter with some variation of 'holy crap' instead.)

Chapter 5

Remember those times in grade school when you would suddenly think of something really funny in the middle of class, and had to really stifle your laughter in an attempt to not look like an idiot (and in my case, still look like an idiot anyway)? That's how I felt reading some of the reviews written prior to Chapter 4. Especially since I intended the "whose team" thing as a rhetorical question so I could make an "or nah" pun. Some of them did make me feel bad about the deception, though, so, uh, sorry about that.

Grima!Robin's not above raping Nah, by the way. It just wouldn't have served his purposes, and he doesn't have a sex drive (at most, he'd get satisfaction from his power over her and her emotional reaction, but she was unconscious and, again, it wouldn't help him at all). So by 'what a vile thought,' he probably means 'ew, why would I touch an inferior being, gross.' (Shoutout to the Desians.)

It's easy to miss, and it's something that won't be apparent to future readers (because of the rather limited format of this website), but as a symbolic reminder of the drastic change in the story's tone and genre, the thumbnail has changed from the Brand of the Exalt to the Mark of Grima.

I underestimated how busy I'd be now that I'm home for the summer. Yesterday (being Thursday at the time of writing, though this is posted on a Saturday) was the first time I've really had time alone with my laptop since finals week. That's why the update schedule is staying the same—every Friday—for the foreseeable future. If, at some point, I have tons of free time for week(s) on end, I might speed up the update schedule, but I don't really see that happening this summer.

I'm really, really sorry about updating late. It's a silly thing to do, and it was avoidable, but I just couldn't bring myself to upload this chapter without rereading it a million times, which ate up all my time today before I went to a party thing that gobbled up the remainder of my afternoon. So, in summation, sorry. It won't happen again.

On that note, see you all next Friday! I look forward to it. Things are heating up, and these cliffhangers are just as hard for me as you. Please leave reviews, I love 'em, whether it's constructive criticism, response to these behind-the-scenes things, speculation, or just comments on the chapter, such as the aforementioned 'holy crap.'

Chapter 6

Gonna keep this one relatively brief. First of all, as I said in the document, Chapter 7 is coming on Wednesday, and then I'm taking a hiatus for a week; i.e. Chapter 8'll be posted three weeks from today (the 19th). The reason is because I'm going on vacation, and while I will bring my laptop with me, its internet... thing... is broken, meaning it's on life support, tethered to a wall by an annoyingly short Ethernet cable. So I won't be able to post anything, but I will be able to write some more (finally!), meaning I'll finally get to stop relying on my buffer. Yay.

While writing this chapter, I was tempted to use the classic Krillin line ("He can kill Naga? Is he really that powerful?!"), but instead I decided I actually wanted to be taken seriously.

Robin's last words to Nah were carefully picked. Prior to Chapter 4, Grima!Robin wasn't supposed to be entirely unlikable, but Nah and Sumia both made it pretty clear that they only liked Robin because of the real Robin's past deeds; you don't get to magically become a chick magnet like that. So both of them were only in love with the real Robin, not this one, which Nah failed to realize until Grima points it out to her.

Neat little trivia: this was the last chapter I completed before I uploaded Chapter 1.

See you Wednesday.

Chapter 7

Sumia confirmed Falcoknight!

...B...Because of the staves. She uses staves. Yeah.

This chapter was super fun to write. Thinking of questions, and lies, and more questions, and counter-lies... it was just awesome.

For some reason, I specifically remember finishing this chapter on April 26th. I use 'finished' loosely, of course, since I went back and redrafted swaths of it (in particular, I rewrote Maribelle's and Robin's conversation several times, and touched up parts of the chapter as a whole up to this day, not to mention any edits I might make after posting), so I suppose you could say I finished the 'first draft' on April 26th. (Friendly reminder that I uploaded Chapter 1 on April 24th.) It was after this chapter that I started really relying on how ahead of schedule I was (i.e. my buffer), since I didn't finish Chapter 8 until early-mid May, and I just finished Chapter 9 a few days before the day this chapter is uploaded.

Wow that was a mouthful.

Well anyway, taking a brief hiatus, see ya in two weeks. With all the time I'll have, it's possible the entire story will be complete by the time I upload Chapter 8!

...Ah, who am I kidding. I'll probably still have no free time somehow.

Chapter 8

I'm back! The break turned out to be hugely productive. I did, indeed, finish the story, so I'm really gonna accelerate the update schedule: next week will have three (!) updates.

One thing I've (re)learned from writing this chapter: it's really hard to write action. I'll have the whole scene visualized in my mind, but it's really hard to try to put it in words without diving into tension-breaking exposition, or constantly reusing phrases to convey similar points. It took forever before I was finally satisfied with how I described the chasm opening; furthermore, it's only a chasm because I didn't trust myself to capture in words the wonder of the time gate from the game. I also considered making the chasm spew lava, as with the one in the same cutscene as the time gate, but that proved to just be unnecessary.

Sorry about Sully's language. I just thought it'd be good to ease the tension back.

Next chapter Tuesday probably, Wednesday otherwise.

Chapter 9

It was Tuesday.

There's a direct, in-game inspiration for why Falchion doesn't harm Grima. I'll elaborate on that more in Chapter 10's commentary, because spoilers.

I'm extremely proud of how the fight turned out. I didn't overuse too many phrases, and I kept things fresh and, I think, exciting. The fact that Robin could change his weapons at will made for interesting situations that were fun to write, and I really hope you enjoyed reading it.

Speaking of Robin, his weapon-summoning ability and mild telekinesis is directly inspired by Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS, which also shows in how he uses Elwind. Robin's fighting is so cool in that game, and I especially like how they incorporated the inventory system of Fire Emblem. (I don't get why Robin suddenly has telekinetic powers there, but eh. Wait, maybe Smash Bros. Robin is Grima? SOMEONE WRITE ABOUT THIS)

Anyway, next up is Chapter 10, which is indeed the Final Chapter. I'd be interested to hear your predictions for how it turns out; I've already finished the story, so it's not a poll or anything, but I'd just like to know.

See you Friday.

Chapter 10

Cynthia also confirmed Falcoknight, since she can use Fortify. I'm just forcing my own headcanons on you now, aren't I? I should really have tagged Dissonance with "Cynthia and Sumia are Falcoknights in this story, don't like, don't read!1!"

My favorite part is when Nah hits Z or R twice. (#starfoxjokes) (not actually my favorite part)

Once I hit my stride, this chapter was freaking fun to write. Hitting that stride, though… that was the hard part. I actually had to step aside and plan out the whole fight, action by action, up to the point where Robin defeats Sumia, because I kept doing things wrong. I don't usually change giant parts of stories, I just edit things in and out, but at one point I actually deleted almost two pages worth of text so I could start over and do things right again. Dedication, I suppose.

Speaking of "this chapter is freaking long," this chapter is freaking long, clocking in at almost 7500 words! You could fit three Chapter 4s in here! Chapter 9 and 10 together are about as long as Morgan, which is a standalone story! That makes up more than a third of Dissonance!

I always tend to break Mjolnir in these stories, don't I? It broke in Morgan, too. At a much more convenient time for the heroes, but still. Oh wow, and Morgan suffers eye wounds in both stories, too! Wow, I must be, uh, really good at tying these stories together, um, thematically, yeah… (that's the ticket…)

As for the cliffhanger from last chapter's commentary, Falchion's ineffectiveness against Grima was inspired by a 71-Defense (seventy-freaking-one) StreetPass Nah, who could even tank several hits from both Chrom and Lucina; RIP in peace. (My point being, like this story's Grima, the Falchion was still effective against her, but it was almost a moot point due to their crazy-ass Defense stat.) Coincidentally, she was also blonde if I recall correctly, though I suspect her father was actually Vaike, not Libra.

Speaking of Libra! That twist was so ridiculously heavily foreshadowed. From Nah's very first appearance, I established that Nah was blonde, and in Chapter 2, I revealed that Vaike is married to Lissa, eliminating him as a possible father for Nah. And Chapter 7, just… Chapter 7. Such foreshadow, very wow. Something cool about Fire Emblem Awakening is how this twist is not only possible, but easy to foreshadow awesomely if the reader's familiar with the game mechanics.

Epilogue commentary coming… now!

Epilogue

Epilogue no jutsu! (why do i reference naruto if i've never watched it)

Remember that two-week hiatus I took? I was able to finish the story in that time, as I mentioned in Chapter 8's commentary. I finished the Epilogue on June 12th ('finished,' of course). Talk about productivity!

I intended, at first, for Nah's and Chrom's conversation to end on a much more cheerful note. Then I thought, "nah." (I'M SO FREAKING HILARIOUS)

In fact, it did use to end more cheerily, back when it ended at "you still have the best teeth" and then immediately transitioned to his conversation with Morgan & Maribelle. Then I eventually added the rest of their conversation, and added the one with Cynthia too. (Shame on me and my descendants for almost forgetting to tie in the opening scene of Chapter 10 to Cynthia's motivations.)

Something weird I've learned is how apparently undersaturated the Fire Emblem fanfiction archive is. From beginning to end, I got reviews saying things like 'wow, Sumia and Nah together in a fic, that never happens' or 'there need to be more polygamous pairings' or 'does Grima finally win for once?' I had immense fun destroying all of those expectations, but it got me thinking, why don't those kinds of stories exist? There are thousands and thousands of stories in the Fire Emblem archive, but half of them are Robin/Lucina and very few are subversive or unique, even if they have a relatively engaging premise. I mean, I can't be the only one who's thought about this. This is fanfiction dot freaking net! It's literally designed around writing the kind of story you'd want to read, so I figure, if people want polygamous pairings ('pair' being in quotes, I suppose), why don't they write one? If people want Grima to win, why not write that? Why not use unique groups of characters, instead of Chrom and Robin every time? You never see, I dunno, Cordelia and Inigo in a story together; something, something, interesting could come from that. (I suppose that's a little hypocritical of me, since both of my FE13 stories star Chrom and Robin, and my next one will at least star Chrom, but that's not the point.) But anyway, people want a certain kind of story, so why don't people write them? It's weird to me. It literally takes like five minutes to make an account, and this website is a breeding ground for writing talent before people move on to original works, so why is Fire Emblem fanfiction so unsaturated? I'm legitimately confused.

…So uh, that's my rant, I suppose. Get to writing, people!

This truly has been an eye-opening experience, and I want to thank all my readers, especially those who actually cared enough to read the behind-the-scenes stuff on my profile page. As stated on the Epilogue page, you guys do indeed rock. (Even the filthy Grimleal among you.)

Into the Outrealms is definitely a thing that will happen, don't you worry. Sequel hype!

Until then, though, this is goodbye. Good luck with all your future endeavors, and read some good fanfiction while you're at it! Writers, you heard the rant above, get crackin'.

So on that note… see you. This has been fun.