Thank you for reading Rue’s Games ^_^

Whether you read the whole thing or just one chapter, it means a lot to me when people read things I’ve written. Getting compliments makes me even warmer inside. So thank you for all the nice support and comments, whether it was on Wattpad, on Facebook, Goodreads, or when I showed it to you on the bus to school.

Originally, this was going to be a short fanfic (probably about the length of “The Faction Games”). When I actually started writing, I realised that it was impossible to make that short. I started thinking the plot up last summer, just after I’d finished the trilogy and watched the movie. After crying at Rue’s death in the movie, my mother suggested I write fanfiction about her staying alive (she’s been trying to get me to write fanfic since I was about 10, and I never had before this). I thought out most of the plot over the summer, but never put pen to paper (or fingers to keys. You know what I mean).

Then one day in December when I was texting my amazing friend, Libby Morris, about the Hunger Games, I sent her a short passage about what would have happened if the mutts had had rabies. It went something like:

“We’ve won, Peeta!” I exclaim. “Cato is dead, so we’ve won!”

“Why hasn’t our victory been announced?” Peeta asks. He starts foaming at the mouth. It must be because of the mutt’s bite; he must have rabies!

I back away, but Peeta jumps on me and sinks his teeth into my shoulder. I run a few metres before shooting an arrow at his head.

“The victor of the 74th Hunger Games is Katniss Everdeen from District 12!

What use is winning if I am going to die of rabies?”

It was crazy and weird and I texted her it because I was bored, but she replied saying, jokily, “OMG. Rewrite all the books.”

I suppose, in a way, I have rewritten them. I missed out most of Mockingjay because that was my least favourite out of the books. At first I was just going to write up to the point where Rue wins the Games, but I realised that there is a lot that happens after the first book so I added in the revolution stuff as well. In the end, not only did I achieve my goal of bringing Rue back to life, but I managed to save Prim and Finnick, and even Katniss. In the Sara Games, everyone lives :D (Except Peeta, I forgot about him. Oops.)

I had never written any fanfiction before, so I was reluctant to start writing. Libby and I talked some more and I told her about what I was planning, and she persuaded me to start writing.

So I did, and now I have this fanfiction that I am very proud of though it isn’t much. I wrote about 16 chapters within a few weeks, then got writer’s block. I almost gave up, but then a few months later I started adminning. I started posting the chapters I had written. Jessica Roseann Palmer and Audrey Kennedy gave me a lot of encouragement on Facebook; enough encouragement for me to finish.

Finishing this fanfiction feels like finishing school; I feel sad to finish and leave it behind while working on it for so long, but at the same time I am glad to move on and I feel a sense of achievement.

So.

Thank you to Suzanne Collins for creating this amazing world for me to work in and these amazing characters to work with. She owns the copyright for this, I think (I’m not very good at figuring out who owns copyright but I’m pretty sure it’s her).

Thank you to my mother for sparking the idea in the first place.

Thank you to Libby Morris, for giving me the courage to start writing.

Thank you to Maddie and Hannah, who were probably the first ones to read this fanfic.

Thank you to Audrey Kennedy and Jessica Roseann Palmer for helping me to finish.

And thank you Rue, for being so well behaved when I told you what to do.