The plot took about 2 years to find. Then in January 2018, I've discovered it, but then it took another 3 years to complete the story.
Originally, the slumber party Alyssa held was going to be a pool party. But that was boring to write. Thanks to the movie, "Sleepover" (which did very poorly, even though I thought it was fine), I've gained inspiration to change the end-of-middle-school celebration for Alyssa and her friends.
Simon, Alyssa's English marble figure magic mentor, was originally going to be absent from this installment. But that did not work out. So, now he's in it.
There was also going to be a character who seemed bad, but was actually good-hearted, named Mr. Hyman. He was going to mentor Alyssa in place of Simon. But he didn't make it into the published story.
Zachary, Alyssa's school crush, was also going to be in this story. But I couldn't fit the romantic element into this installment. So, I cut Zachary out.
Alyssa's new magic mentor, Mr. Reuber, was inspired by Hagrid from "Harry Potter." He's got some similar traits, but also a good number of different ones.
The college dropout, Lunette, who ends up mentoring Alyssa, was originally going to be named "Marion." But I liked the name, Lunette, better.
Mistress Margaret's (a powerful sorceress and villain) four-eyed wolf, Seymour, was given that name since it sounds like, "See more," an essential skill for his character.
Regulus the marshakeet (half rainbow lorikeet and half kangaroo, the size of a horse) returns after helping Alyssa in "The Frights of Fiji." He was not in the sequel, "A Curse of Mayhem."
Tridusa, one of the villains, was inspired by Medusa from Greek mythology. I wrote out her curse without thinking about Medusa's hex, but it ended up being similar.
The wicked, jackal-headed ape-man, Theseus, was originally going to have his brother, Montu, help him and the main antagonist, Boo-Champ Corey. However, due to having too many characters in earlier drafts, I killed off Montu.
The chapter where Alyssa's friends, Claudia and Grace (not in either of the previous installments), escape a fire from Mistress Margaret's house gave me goosebumps - literally.