All I Need ✔️

Author's Note Part 2

Hello lovely readers!

First of all, thank you for reading this far! I know this is a bit of a longer book...but it's a lot of action from here to the end so I feel like it goes by quickly. And don't worry, I'm not cheating you out of a chapter by posting this - there's still one coming tonight.

Second, this is a warning that it's going to get pretty dark for a while. Violence, especially sexual violence, is obviously present throughout the book, but the next part is particularly difficult.

If all you need is a warning, then feel free to skip the rest of this. But if you're wondering why you are reading yet another book that includes sexual violence, I'd like to explain myself. Why?

1. Because I feel like it's important to be open and honest with you, my readers

2. Because I recognize glamorizing sexual assault is harmful, as is including it in gratuitous ways. That is absolutely not my intention here.

So why include it?

Well, to answer that question I need to give a little background. I'm a lawyer. Not the kind that makes enormous sums of money and drives a luxury sports car. The kind that prosecutes violent crime, particularly criminal sexual conduct and child abuse cases.

It's 1000% worth it.

(Though some days it would be nice to have the money and the sports car...)

But it's also a lot. There's something in my field called vicarious trauma, or compassion fatigue. Interviewing survivors about their experiences, viewing crime scene photos/videos, and having to retraumatize survivors by putting them through the legal system...like I said - it's a lot. Especially when the legal system doesn't always work the way you want it to. Compound that with any personal experiences with violent crime, and you end up with a recipe for rapid burnout

All I Need started as a way for me to process this immense weight. Sexual violence isn't a plot device; it's an integral part of the plot, because it's an integral part of my life. At its core, this is a novel about finding and creating safety in a world that feels inherently unsafe. Or, alternatively, it's a novel about survival following trauma. This didn't start as a story I wanted to tell the world. It started as a story I needed to tell myself.

All I Need has become my version of therapy - in the real world I can't always give survivors the justice they deserve. But in my fantasy world, I can.

Does this all make it okay for me to write about sexual assault without contributing to the over-saturation of sexual assault plot lines problem? I have no idea. I'll let you all be the judge of that. All I know is that I have found the story cathartic, despite its darkness. I hope you will too, but I understand if you don't.

Again, thank you so much for reading. I would still be writing even if none of you were reading because it's how I maintain my sanity, but hearing that other people are enjoying it means the world.

Much love (and please forgive me),

Amber

*disclaimer (I did warn you I was a lawyer)* 

Amber is not my real name, so if there is coincidentally an attorney named Amber Teri out there, I'm not her. I don't want my colleagues somehow finding out that I do this, so I'm trying to be discreet. Also, any similarities to any real cases is entirely unintentional (and partly why this is a fantasy story, not a modern one).