Once

The world Carey created feels both familiar and terrifying—I'm curious what sparked her vision of this future and how much of it was mapped out from the start.

The relationship between the characters grew intense fast, which made me wonder if that was intentional to mirror their desperation or just a storytelling choice.

The story swings between bleakness and resilience, and I wonder whether this contrast was planned to keep the emotional stakes high or evolved naturally during writing.