Author's Notes!
Here we go. Author's notes time. This is the place where I explain how everything happened… Everything from when I had writer's block, to how I came up with the names of my characters. Let's start with chapter 1, shall we?
Oh, by the way, this may contain some spoilers for the story. But you should've read through it before coming here, anyway.
Ah, yes. I'm pretty sure this isn't allowed, but I'm not sure I care all that much. So if someone could kindly tell me… Oh, fine. I'll just check the guidelines.
Chapter 1- Sapphire:
Ah, yes. The first chapter I had ever written in any proper 'story'. This was pretty corny, in my opinion. Especially how I tried to make Sapphire hate the sound of Kiko's voice… But I rewrote that part, now. Now she doesn't care how he sounds.
With all the names in this chapter, I just made it all up. However, Torres' name was at first going to be Torrens… I think that's a girl's name, isn't it? Oh well. Torres sucks. Heh.
But back onto that rewriting part… In the first version of the hunt scene, Sapphire killed the wildebeest Elder with "a swift, yet strong movement of her right paw." Soulbound kindly spoke to me awhile after I had posted this chapter, saying that it wasn't possible for any lion, however large or strong, to do that. She threatened to "explode and shower me in blood." So I changed it.
I remember putting down many wildebeest Elder names here. I think that I was going to do something more in-depth with them… At least, that's what I had planned. But if you've read my story, then you'll know that I didn't.
Chapter 2- Judgment:
Judgment indeed. Despite the fact that it was painfully obvious that Sapphire, Orion and Coyle would be exiled, I reconsidered naming the chapter "Exile", as I didn't want to make it any more obvious than it was already.
I chose Timon to do the quote. You see, Timon's happy, joking; lighthearted attitude contrasted quite a lot with the mood of the chapter, yet, what he says (and did actually say in the motion picture), describes Torres perfectly.
By the way, I do quite like the way Torres killed Kiko… But that's only my opinion. According to the little map that I drew up (as reference… See how I sometimes say that something is north, south, east or west of something else?), the Dark Lands are miles away from Sapphire's den, and would take her until the next morning to get to… Oh, well. None of you have seen the map, have you? Ha!
It was stupid of me to make Sapphire follow Torres to the Dark Lands… Especially since she's apparently "too afraid" to tell anyone else about it. Shyeah, right.
And here I introduce Daeon, Gharah, and Taruwa… At first, they were going to be as unimportant as my wildebeest Elders turned out to be… But, they took on a much bigger role than I had intended them to, in the end. And maybe it was for the best.
Name origins? 'Daeon' was a name used by my friend for one of her characters in a 'fallen angel' story. Sounded nice, so I used it. Gharah was just made up… Well, actually, I was remembering the herd leader of the wildebeests that I had made up (his name was Garahn). But he doesn't appear until the prequel…
Taruwa's name came from the Cirque Du Soliel song, "Taruka". I was listening to it when I was writing, you see.
Chapter 3- Those of the Savannah:
Too many characters introduced here. I looked back at this just a minute ago, and slapped myself. Literally.
All names were made up out of scratch, except for the following:
Maloumba: From the Cirque Du Soliel song, "Malioumba"
Kyomaraju: From the legendary Pokemon Kyogre, from Nintendo's "Pokemon: Sapphire"
Diego: The name of a friend of a friend of mine.
Meerca" A lame Neopet. The concept of Neopets… Alright, I won't.
Jasmine: The name of the wild girl character in Emily Rodda's adventure/fantasy series, Deltora Quest (which I now find boring to read).
Robert: The name of Raymond Burone's (sp?) brother in the TV sitcom, "Everybody Loves Raymond".
Hiero: From the word 'hierophant', which is used to refer to a priest of some sort… I'm not entirely sure, though.
Domin: From the word 'dominatrix', which is used to refer to a dominating woman in a relationship. Meh? Check the dictionary for yourself.
Gopher: This was the actual name of the little gopher creature from the motion picture that brought Zazu news from the underground, about hyenas in the Pridelands.
Levi, Julia, Stella, and Troy are all based on real characters. Levi… He's my best friend. Though, he's not that annoying. He's actually quite funny, when you get used to him. Julia is Juli Anne. Yes, she does actually tease me about this girl whose name is Della… Annoys the hell outta me. Stella, is of course, based on the Della in question (Della hates to be called Stella XD!). And, Troy is based on me. The troy you see in that story is exactly like me. No joke.
Chapter 4- Endless Night:
Sapphire's first pictured prophetic dream… I remember that well. However, it turns out to be quite the opposite, in the end. You'd know. You've read the whole story, haven't you?
I looked at this chapter, and I thought to myself, 'Crap! That was unbelievably cheesy!' – Especially the part where Orion and Sapphire get together, and the end where Juli Anne and I start dancing around crazily… See that little comedy act that the meerkat Troy was doing? I did the same opposable thumb thing with dogs… No, I didn't perform it to dogs. I said that if dogs had opposable thumbs, they'd… Yeah.
The song "Endless Night" was chosen for the quote because it was exactly like the story. Everyone's sad in the night, just like the song is, when the lyrics talk about the night, and things get better in the morning, just like the song does when the lyrics begin to speak of the morning.
I just remembered! At first, it was going to be full off unbearable mushiness, and romance! The quote was going to be from "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" But seeing as I'm hopeless at romance, I changed my mind in the end. Heh.
Chapter 5- Dawn, Day, Dusk:
The thing is… When Orion gets caved-in on, at the beginning of the story, he was supposed to come back about a day later… But knowing me and my random storylines, he didn't, until Sapphire and Coyle reached Shadowland. I had decided at one point that he was going to be dead, and gone for good, but then I said, "It's a fantasy. Come on. Bring him back to life!" So I did… But, with a twist! WoOoOoOoOo!
This is where the quotes start to be a little strange. This one doesn't even have anything to do with the chapter. I remember that the chapter was going to be about something completely different at first… Perhaps that's why…
People seemed to like the way I told this chapter, jumping back and forth through time. Honestly, I was afraid that I was going to make a mistake. See, the prophecy of Metutu says that they will travel for six days and seven nights, right? So I had to work within those boundaries. I was worried about forgetting to carry the one when taking away or subtracting, you know? But it doesn't seem to be so important.
Chapter 6- Spirits:
What can I say? What can I blame it on? Writer's block? Lack of inspiration? The dreaded writer's block, lack of inspiration combination?
I guess that's what caused this very random, very short chapter to come to pass.
The voice that talks to Coyle in the caves is in fact Coyle's conscience. He was going to be a schizophrenic at first, like Scar, but I got too lazy. No schizophrenia for you, Coyle! When Rafiki speaks to him in a dream, later on, the shaman gets rid of the voice, seeing as it'd cause him trouble in the future, if it were allowed to live on.
The mysterious, cliffie-ish line I ended on, "They were being watched." isn't really such a big deal. It's meant to create that element of mystery to make the reader want to read on, yes, but when you consider that they're only being watched by hyenas, who do not attack them, it's not as dramatic.
Ah, yes. And the bird, possessed by the spirit… Read through the story? Haven't pieced it together? Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. It was Scar possessing the bird. It was a maribu (sp?) stork, if you must know.
When Sapphire finds herself in that white emptiness, the spirit that speaks to her and saves her life is Mufasa. The black liquid that engulfs and threatens to drown her is Scar.
How did they find themselves in a cave after all that? I dunno. Don't ask me. It's not like I sat down and carefully planned all of this. In fact, most of it was made up while I was sitting right here, at my computer desk.
Chapter 7- Meerkat Manner:
This was meant to be a comic relief chapter that was there to break up the drama, and lift the spirits. It was also made because my friends who had not yet been turned into meerkats were requesting for them to be put in my 'meerkat story'. So I did. Please note that the digging groups listed in the first scene would not be the same if the same situation were to happen in real life- in real life, we would choose others to group up with. I would most certainly not choose to join up with Juli Anne and hear her "BLAHBLAHBLAHYOULIKEDELLAOMGLOL!11!1" the whole time.
Joshie is based on a guy named Joshua. He's a little weird… He likes to take pictures of himself and make them his MSN chat display picture… Yes. I already told you he's weird.
Matt is another strange friend of mine… Let's just say that he likes crumpets and tea, and we'll leave it at that.
Tino is Tiernan. I meant to give him a bigger role than he had, as he's not only one of my very good friends, but a very interesting character on his own. Oh, well. Shadowland's over. I guess I can't do anything much about that. And no, I'm not rewriting anything unless someone threatens to explode…
Samuel was my best friend. Now he's just a friend. Sam is based on Blessed Samson. Samson is a very talented rapper. I'm not joking when I say that he could make it big in the music industry one day.
Ah, yes. Stella and her little outburst. Her friends call her a homicidal maniac. And she does have a very bad temper… And she once gave someone a black eye without even using her strength. Maybe I've exaggerated here (not maybe, yes), but this chapter is all about exaggeration, in a way (no, it isn't).
I unfortunately ruined the fun atmosphere when I called the wild dogs in to attack my little rodents. Oh, well. I couldn't resist, and I felt that the chapter had to be longer. However, the part where Sapphire and Coyle awake to see the hyenas staring at them was necessary.
Chapter 8- Cornerstones Shattered:
Simply put, this chapter emphasizes that without Sapphire, Orion and Coyle, Torres' pride cannot survive, as they are weak. In other words, those three lions that have been exiled were their cornerstones. Now they're all falling apart.
My loyal reader, Nala5 told me that I was very intense in this chapter. Seriously, I wasn't aiming to be intense… Just trying to exercise my supposed 'skills' here. But when you think of it, a wildebeest having a seizure, wild dogs attacking lions, and two kinds of creatures that have never seen anything like the other before meeting would normally be quite intense. So, I guess I did a good job, eh?
You ask for a clearer back-story as to why there are nothing but warthogs, mandrills and a few other creatures in Shadowland? Not telling! Wait until the sequel's released.
By the way, the name 'Shadowland' wasn't just something I came up with, on the spot. I had planned to name that place Shadowland ever since I decided to lead the lions there. Also, the name 'Kalandro' comes from the Cirque Du Soliel song, "Kalandero".
Chapter 9- A New Chapter:
Important points:
The lion figure with red eyes that Sapphire and Coyle spot when they're walking into Shadowland is Orion, possessed by Scar.
When Coyle says that he got up while Sapphire was sleeping, and found a strange branch from a tree with things attached to it, he's talking about Rafiki's staff. Rafiki was killed there by Hezakiah, hundreds of years ago, falling to his doom. His staff lived on.
Koori's childhood (the cub mentioned in this chapter) was filled with "carnage and slaughter" I was going to go more in-depth with this one, too, but I didn't have enough time in the story to do so. Maybe I'll do a spin off or something in the future… Just maybe.
This little part here:
- "Pinned. Easily." she proudly announced, looking him in the eye.
'Pinned ya.'
Daeon eyed her face and chest carefully. She wasn't even panting. But he could hardly breathe. Before he had opened his mouth to speak, she had cut in.
'Hey, lemme up!' -
That's obviously reminiscent of the motion picture, when Nala and Simba pin each other all the way to the graveyard. It was just to give a hint that those two are very much like Simba and Nala, and that they're going to get together, and rule later on.
That large segment that I wrote in italics was Coyle's dream. One of the voices (the evil one) is Hezakiah, and the other is Drawtt, the hyena that he's 'helping'.
How Sapphire got Coyle all the way to the Gorge, keeping him unconscious, I don't know. Flame me. Insult me. I won't tell you, because I DON'T KNOW.
Chapter 10- Twists and Turns:
Hmm… I don't have anything to say about this chapter. Really. I just thought that it was a little cliché, myself. Nah, cliché isn't the right word for it… How about the plain and simple, 'bad'?
I'm aware that there's another author active in the Lion King section that has "Rae" in his/her PenName. But the name for the hyena character Rae, that makes his debut in the chapter, does not come from that PenName. I simply made it up.
Chapter 11- Truth Revealed, Questions Answered:
Woot! I love this chapter! You know why? Because it reveals the background of the whole story, yet it still leaves enough mystery for me to successfully write the prequel to Shadowland, which will be set in the time of Simba's reign, and appropriately named "The Pridelands"
I didn't just make that up on the spot. I spent months writing a crap story in script form, entitled "The Pridelands" It was the base of the story of Hezakiah and Kiara. But there's more to be revealed.
What I also like here is the quote. Rafiki's obviously speaking good about Hezakiah, saying that he'll make a great difference when he's gone. And that's true, to each word. It's just that Rafiki has no real idea. Whoosh!
Chapter 12- The Rise:
The rise indeed! The rise of the Amber Resistance, the rise of the hyenas, and the rise to the climax! Also, Orion's back! Weird! Gasp!
Look, I'm getting quite tired now… Especially from typing. So don't expect too much here.
Perhaps a little on the fantastical side… But that's what fantasy's about. Sadly, there isn't much I can say about this chapter.
Chapter 13- Only War:
I had it all planned. Two huge battles. Two ambushes failed. Battle lines drawn- a typical Lord of the Rings moment.
Guess what? I had writer's block. See, this is bound to be crap. But seeing as I haven't received a single review for it yet, I don't know if I'm right, or if I'm wrong. But this came out way cheesy. I know that for sure.
I could have said "Actions figures were being thrown at each other.", and that would probably have been better than what I wrote there. There was no emotion, no personality, no… Nothing. Just fighting, like "Bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh!"
The only part I really liked was when Torres' throat got ripped out. I was re-reading it to make sure there weren't any grammatical errors, as I always do, and I came to that part, and I was like, "YES!" You suck, Torres! Yeah, walk away!
But you do get the ending, right? Lava Den (or Pride Rock, if you must), tips over, and Sapphire and Coyle slide down it, with all the hyenas and… Dead bodies. They hit the ground, and get knocked out. Right? Right?
Chapter 14- The Path Unwinding:
So everyone ends up living happily ever after, except for Sapphire, who doesn't live at all…
When I pictured the last scene, I saw Sapphire and Orion up on the point of Pride Rock with Coyle as the shaman, presenting their new child to the Great Kings of the Past. Below were all the animals. Kyomaraju cheering proudly, Charlotte smiling contently, Daeon and Gharah cheering wildly, and the meerkats performing a sort of cheerleading routine.
But as you probably already know, it didn't happen like that. The way I see it, it's quite unfair that only lions could be kinds, and all other animals only got as high as council members. So I said, "Okay, screw the monarchy. That's no way to live! I'll get rid of the kings!" That's what I did. Now, there are no kings. Just a representative for each species that attends a council meeting, and helps make decisions that will affect the whole kingdom. Now that's fair.
I had planned for Coyle to be the shaman all along. His fate was secured, but as for Sapphire's… Well, she was going to live. But she didn't. Heh. Why? Because I felt the need for a twist at the end. It seemed logical, especially after she replied to Coyle, "Yes, Coyle. I need Orion." Just to a more extreme degree.
It seems that I always refer to the song, "The Circle of Life" somewhere in my fanfics… In this case, it was the end. And I liked it. I liked it a lot. I must admit that there were two ideas here borrowed from Amase's "Diamond Star Chronicles" (which, may I say, is fantastic!). The first one was the grass at the bottom of the Gorge. The 'one patch' of grass I speak of is where Mufasa's body decomposed. In three lions years (one human year) it had spread to cover the whole bottom of the Gorge. The other was when Sapphire joins the Great Kings. I'm not going to say anything else here… It might spoil the Diamond Star Chronicles for you.
And that's it!
Thanks for reading, guys- especially you, Nala5! You rule!
You really should check out "Sister Renna" by Nala5, "Rafiki's Tales: Sunset" by MorpheusDreamer, "The Graveyard Chronicles: Shenzi's Story" by Soulbound, and of course, "The White Water Chronicles", and "The Diamond Star Chronicles", by Amase! Woo!
Adam's gay.
Ah, yes, by the way, keep your eye out for "The Pridelands", coming after the Christmas break, by yours truly. Again, thanks for reading- Until next time!
-Troy Wong