Foothills Fae Academy — FAQ

Readers often ask why the characters age quickly across four books. I originally planned to write ten to fifteen short books for the series, but when I decided to condense the story into four, I removed a lot of filler chapters. Many scenes from the end of their JS Year One to the start of JS Year Two—mostly of them hanging out—were taken out because I wanted them to be sixteen when they faced their enemies again. I initially wrote this story during the first COVID lock down to keep myself busy. I wasn’t taking it seriously as it was a way to pass time.

These characters have existed in various stories since I first created them at age ten. I’ve often used them to try out new story lines. For this story, I wanted them to be gifted with elemental powers. They were originally Elemental Mages at the beginning of the lock down before I changed them to fae. Since I wasn’t taking the story seriously at first, I didn’t worry about including many filler chapters of them simply hanging out.

After speaking with several people in a writers’ group who encouraged me to publish, I had to rewrite and remove certain chapters. As a result, the story jumps from when the characters are thirteen to sixteen. There’s also a similar time gap between Books Two and Three due to the removal of filler chapters.

I have included many of these chapters in bonus book because there’s a lot of extra content. The bonus book doesn't even scratch the surface of what was taken out, and it's already long. This series was once a whopping 2.5 million words. I reduced it to 500k. The bonus book has over 400k words. I lost most of the other chapters.

Originally, when they were Elemental Mages, the story began when they were ten, meeting at camp, and continued each year until Amber’s second chapter in this book. Those chapters now make the characters exist in an alternate universe since their meeting in the books has been changed.

I’ve had this brought up. It’s not really been a question I’ve been asked, but something I feel is valid enough to address. People have brought up that things were convenient with Amber, like her new family’s acceptance.

Growing up, I always felt alone. I had a sister who resented me and spent my whole life doing her best to make me feel like crap about myself. She’s one of those people who will be as harsh as possible, but if you give it back to her, she acts like the biggest victim. My mother was pretty similar. She hated my dad, and when she looked at me, she didn’t see me—she saw him. She often encouraged my sister (who has a different dad) to treat me that way.

That’s why you’ll notice a theme of found families in these books. I love books, movies, or shows with happy families or ones that focus on found family. Most books you see from me will probably have that theme, even if it’s subconscious. Foothills, for example, ended up with that theme without me even realizing it at first, especially with Amber in the first book. Originally, I planned for her to take more than one book to earn her father’s acceptance, but I couldn’t do it.

The chapters I wrote around that were already hard enough, so I couldn’t draw it out any further. That’s why her family accepted her, even if it’s unrealistic to some. But this is a book where people can control the elements or change into animals/mythical beings. So, I think the new family accepting her isn’t the most unrealistic.

The Campbells were always meant to meet Amber, but I hadn’t expected more than Mason to get close to her—yet all four boys did. So, if you’ve ever wondered why it might seem convenient, like in Amber’s case, that’s why. I’ve lived the unhappy family without a happy ending. So I give my characters the opposite. My characters will always get a better treatment, even if it takes some time to get there. However, Amber, or even Michael, don’t get over that trauma easily. It takes the rest of these books for them to heal.

Which territories line up to Hogwarts Houses? Are Fire students Gryffindors?

None of the territories or elements correlate with a Hogwarts House. They don’t have meanings behind them. If someone is in Fire Territory, it’s because they demonstrated their fire element really well. There are times when I regret dividing them up by elements, however.

Initially, I was going to divide them by their grades, and maybe I should have stuck with that. I was watching Sky High when I was still working out the world-building, and I wanted to do something similar with students showcasing their elemental powers. I thought it would be fun to write.

Plus, I really wanted Amber and Ellen to end up with their dormitory near the water and to have a section of the lake be warm, so the fire and water dorms were born. It made it easier for people with just one element, anyway. There used to be a time when people lived separately depending on their elements—kind of like in that Pixar movie, Elemental. When most people only had one element in ancient times, they lived in communities representing their elements. Some still do—mainly air elementals, who face the worst discrimination. There’s a lot of backstory and history that didn’t make it into the books.

It wasn’t until I rewrote Book One and read it over that I realized people would probably make connections to Harry Potter, a series I haven’t read (and never really finished except to watch the final movie) since I was a teen, and I likely subconsciously added aspects of it to my books.

It happened with quite a few books I read on KU during the COVID lock downs. I seriously considered changing it when I rewrote the series to fit into four books, but after seeking advice in several writers’ groups, most people told me readers might appreciate the familiarity and I should leave it. They also mentioned that many books similar to mine exist and that Hogwarts wasn’t the first to use house dorms. Several reassured me that they had similar systems. Sometimes, though, I still wonder if I should have changed it to work another way, especially after some of the questions I’ve been asked privately.

But to answer the question—no, your personality or traits have nothing to do with the dorms. There are also no ‘house points.’ There are demerits, but they only affect the individual, not the territory. So, if Michael loses 20 demerits, it doesn’t affect anyone but him. It affects Ben in a way because if Michael’s score goes below 0, Ben can’t have friends over in their dorm, as Michael is grounded there. Demerits are a system my school had, except if you were minus demerits, you couldn’t participate in extracurriculars or go to school dances/activities.

Dark magic wielders have also existed in my stories since I was into Sabrina the Teenage Witch as a kid. I’ve always liked the idea of different branches of magic existing. I got the idea of another realm from that show. Plus alternate universes have also fascinated me. The Zartoto series, my other series, revolves around alternate universes. The dark magic wielders were never meant to be like Death Eaters or evil; most are actually good guys as you saw in the book. They were created in 1996 while I watched Sabrina on TGIF nights. I didn’t read Harry Potter until 2001.

There’s a chance I subconsciously took elements from Harry Potter, however. But these characters have existed since I was 10, and they’ve been in quite a few story lines, including ones inspired by Sabrina, Charmed, Degrassi, Goosebumps, and The Babysitters Club. In that case, it was The Odd Jobs Club, a series I wrote with three of my friends in grade seven. They appeared in a similar story to The Animorphs and many more. Mostly, it was a magical Degrassi-type story, as I was obsessed with the original from the ’80s and then Next Generation. The way I picture the Foothills school building is a big white Degrassi building from Next Generation. The characters finally found their place in Foothills Fae Academy, influenced by many books, movies, and TV shows I’ve enjoyed since childhood, especially Degrassi, which you might notice in a lot of the teen drama.

I’m glad I did find a true home for these characters. Recently, I ran into one of my high school English teachers at a coffee shop, and we decided to sit and catch up. She was excited to hear that I’d decided to publish, as she used to read my stories all the time back then.

However, I asked her why she hadn’t given me more constructive criticism about the different POVs. She loved my multiple POV stories the most when I first showed them to her when I was a teen. I explained that one of the most common complaints about these books is that readers struggle to identify who’s narrating, something I didn’t realize until after I published when the complaints started to come in. I told her I wished someone had pointed this out earlier so I could have worked on it. She looked at me with confusion and asked what I was talking about, saying she’d never had that problem. So, I suggested she read the reviews for these books.

She read the books on KU along with the reviews and got back to me a couple of weeks later. She told me that, for these books, the complaints were valid. She struggled with everyone’s chapters except Amber’s, which she found strange, as she still has stories I gifted her as a teen with multiple POVs, where the characterization for each was much stronger. She advised me to read both the books and my old stories, and I did.

I was surprised because she was right. There’s a stark contrast between how I wrote the characters as a teen and now. I always assumed my writing had improved over time. So, I asked her why she thought this was, as she noted that my world-building skills and other aspects had improved significantly.

She suggested that I may have been writing these characters for too long. She explained that I know their personalities so well that I might be writing them without considering how they come across to readers, and she wished she’d known I was going to publish, as she would have helped me refine them. She observed that Ellen and Ben had become stereotypes of themselves, losing their true personalities over time. Apparently, she thinks Ben used to stand out to her the most.

So, I apologize to my readers. I genuinely didn’t realize. I truly believed that, given my long experience writing these specific characters and the extensive information I have on each, I was portraying them effectively. I’ve been writing all four since I was ten, and I received only praise when I shared my stories as a kid from adults and people my age. Many people thought Ellen was funny and quirky, relating to her strict parents and annoying little brothers.

If I can offer some advice—advice I wish I’d known before writing these specific books—it’s to remember that writing characters for a long time doesn’t mean they have distinct voices. It’s too late to change this for this book and the next three because they’re already published. However, it’s something I’ll be mindful of from now on. My former teacher has also promised to review any new books before I publish or send to an editor and give feedback. She believes I have the talent to continue, but said I just need more people to beta read the books before getting it edited. She thinks I should continue to do multiple POVs, as well. I planned to quit writing them after this series because it’s the most common complaint, but she thinks that’s a bad idea because I can’t improve if I quit, and she thinks with fresh characters, I’ll be fine.

Any new books I decide to write, will feature new characters, not just Amber, Ellen, Michael, and Ben. I hope that with new characters, I won’t have that problem again.

Recently, I did a freebie deal for these books, and something that was brought up to me privately a lot was Amber’s acceptance of Bernice or even the Campbell boys’ acceptance of Patricia.

In real life, a spell will not be responsible for a person’s actions, and someone who has been abusive in the past probably will be again. It is not a good idea just to accept their apologies and have everything be all OK. If you do choose to meet up with your abuser, it’s best not to do it alone or go off with them.

Amber’s acceptance of her mother or even sisters was meant to show someone so desperate for someone to love her that she forgives them, but the later books show her still dealing with her insecurities from all that. She often still questions whether people love her.

Even adults can struggle with this. I still deal with it with my own family. I’m glad there are people out there who don’t understand what it’s like to want love so badly that you might accept love from those you shouldn’t. I’ve always admired people who do know what that’s like but have put a stop to it.

Amber’s situation was lucky as it truly was a spell that caused the mothers to act like that, but it’s important to remember abusers do not have spells put on them, and you shouldn’t let them back in your life to continue it—even if that’s easier said than done. I struggle with this all the time with my own family.

Despite these books starting the protagonists at a young age, these were never meant to be seen as children’s books, so I didn’t expect to explain these things or for people to message me and ask why such a thing is in a kids book. But I can see why they’re viewed like that. Most books that start with young characters are. However, when I wrote them, I was thinking of VC Andrews books, which start with young kids. Flowers in the Attic is not a kid’s book series (even if many of us probably read it young), even though the protagonist starts at age 7 or 8 in the prologue, and most of the book is told from when Cathy is 12 to 15. At one time, there was even a prologue in this book from adult Amber reflecting on her childhood, but I took it out when I learned that most people skip the prologue. It’s now in The Lost Moments. I was also thinking of Summer Sisters by Judy Blume when I wrote this book. Vix starts as a young girl but grows up in one book instead of four. That book was written for adults.

It’s why the Amazon page, or even the front of this book, advises people to read these books before letting kids read them. The characters sound young because they are. I wanted them to act their ages, but there are some inappropriate things for kids in this book and even themes such as abuse that should be explained to kids. When people first messaged me over a year ago asking me questions, I realized I made a mistake when marketing these books, which is why this book and the Amazon page (and the front of this book) are now full of warnings. It could also be that things were different when I was growing up. Back then, just because a movie or book had kids, it doesn’t mean it’s aimed at kids. Maybe things have changed since back then, because even when I tell people directly it’s not a YA series, people still say it’s a YA series. Just because the kids are 13 or act like kids, doesn’t mean it is since this series is too dark for kids. It just means the protagonists are kids. The only one I can think that comes close is Stranger Things. Kids star in it, but it doesn’t mean it’s a kids show. I did not want to write adult 13-year-olds. I wanted them to act their ages, so even though the characters act their ages, it does not mean it is a children’s book series. It just means I wanted the characters to be realistic to their age group.

As Amber grows up, she learns who she should and shouldn’t let in her life. Other characters mention this and even use Bernice and Patricia as examples.

Some of the stuff in the FAQ is featured on my website and social media, but not everyone follows me. I want to be careful about adding too much to this book to avoid making it longer, but I feel the stuff I’ve added should be addressed. If you let your kids read these books, please have conversations about some of this stuff, such as allowing your abuser back in your life. It is not a spell! I watch many true crimes, and sometimes it does not end well.

Thank you sincerely for reading this to the end, despite the POVs and themes, and I hope you’ll still give the next three books a chance. After the upcoming book, the last two are primarily from Amber’s POV.

Another thing that was brought up is that the bullying seems random. Bullying generally is random. I was the shy kid at school who never talked to anyone, but I was bullied for that, for how my hair looked, (When Lydia makes fun of Amber’s hair on their first night at Foothills, this is something that happened to me on my first day, when I was a new student when I was eleven.) for my clothes, for not being attractive enough, and when I did interact, I was bullied for being socially awkward. I rarely spoke to anyone except a friend or two. It still happens as an adult. I just started at a new job, and some people have already commented about me being too quiet and that they think it’s weird. Most people who have said this are probably in their 30s and older.

The truth is, bullying often isn’t about the target—it’s about the bully. Bullies don’t need a legitimate reason to single someone out; they look for any perceived “difference” or vulnerability to exploit. It could be as small as how someone talks, walks, dresses, or even their hobbies. I know someone who gets made fun of for watching children’s movies despite not having kids. I know many people who like kid’s movies, so I am not sure why she gets criticized for it. For me, being quiet has always made me a target. For others, it could be excelling in something, struggling with something like math, or even just enjoying something people think is too young for them.

To me, suggesting that bullying shouldn’t be random implies the person is doing something to bring it on themselves, which is both harmful and untrue. It places the responsibility on the victim rather than addressing the bully’s behaviour. It’s important to recognize that bullying isn’t about what the target does or doesn’t do—it’s a choice made by the bully to exert power or control, often as a way to cope with their own insecurities or issues.

By framing bullying as “random,” we can better understand that it’s not something the victim causes but something they’re unfairly subjected to. This perspective shifts the focus away from asking what the victim could have done differently to how we can better address and prevent the behaviour itself.

Lastly, one more question I was asked: While the attacks on the characters by their enemies might seem random, they are not. Clues about the timing of these attacks are subtly dropped throughout the book, including in the epilogue. They’re also dropped during chapters when people see the same scene again through another POV. Everything will be fully revealed in the next book.

If you have questions, feel free to message me on social media or email me at calliewoodridge@yahoo.com