Hello everyone! Today's my birthday, so I wanted to share how this story came to be and hear your thoughts on the first four chapters.

  I've had this idea brewing in my mind since 2008. I finally finished writing the full novel in 2021, but it turned out to be a behemoth at 315k words! I love serialized fiction—being part of a fandom, theorizing, looking forward to the next fight and twist—so putting my work here on Royal Road was a no-brainer.

  The first book is 56 chapters and interludes total, and by publishing one chapter a week, the whole novel should be out in a year. Book 2 should be ready by the time I finish posting this one.

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  Now, I've rewritten and edited the first chapter over a hundred times, and I'd love your feedback now that you've read this far. Skye loses all his relationships after the bell manifests, so I needed to show what those relationships meant to him first, to make losing them sting. Do you think the first chapter succeeded in that? Does it work as an opening for this story?

  Oh, and by the way, if something stands out to you in this story, good or bad, please let me know. I'm here for feedback.

  Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy The Forgotten Hopes, the first book in my StarMoire series.