Gris secret

The pacing felt just right, but I was curious how much planning went into weaving these elements together from the start. Did the magic system evolve as the plot developed?

There were so many twists, and I loved trying to piece everything together. Was there a reveal that surprised even the author during writing?

The atmosphere really drew me in, and I wonder if the author based it on a real place or created it entirely from imagination. How much of the world was mapped out before writing?