Book 1 Extras

WARNING: I Ramble!

So first I will discuss production, so everyone knows the process of getting my thoughts to paper, to computer, to you. Well first of all, I created Hyriu five years ago as a device that fixed the ending to the TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender. It was only a small flaw but I was young and made it a big deal. The first thing I did was create his back story, because I wanted him to be able to bend all four elements but not be the Avatar. I soon came up with a very rough version of what is now the prologue. I also created a team of teenagers that he was the leader of. Koluk and Lamara were apart of that team, though back then I called them Kuruk and Yangchen. And I soon added my other favorite worlds to Hyriu's story like Harry Potter, as well as LotR, and the Inheritance Cycle. I slowly molded his story into a plot with a beginning and an end. Then I became partially serious in making a legitimate story out of it and I did some more molding and had things make sense. Then I said to myself, "I will make this a story, I can make it a fan fiction." So I did some deep thinking about what I wanted the story to accomplish and things of that sort. I also began to take out the other cross over worlds but I couldn't remove Harry Potter as I didn't want to and it was two intertwined to the story. Then I made the decision of how many books I wanted it to be. Well I am a fan of the Percy Jackson books and I thought five was a good number. After that I began separating the story into five conjoined stories. I will say I paid book 1 very little attention, in fact I hardly thought about it because all of the 'cool' stuff came in the later books. *hint* *hint* I then realized I should focus on the first book; so what I did was write very short summaries of the book. The first summary only said 'ATLA: book 1 water Hyriu's view.' That is it, also book 1 at the time was titled 'Avatar: The Legend of Hyriu' at that time each book would have 'Avatar' then its title. Then that changed to 'The Legend of Anzen' then finally to 'The Legend of Beifen.' The next summary I wrote was a bit more specific:

'Back story on Hyriu, introduce Hyriu, Wei, Hyriu's younger brother, Kuruk?, Yangchen, and others, water bending test with Pakku, wins, introduce Earth master, Hyriu's secret, Avatar returns, he prepares, Avatar comes, Zhao's invasion.'

Still not exactly good but you can see the story taking shape. I am typing these summaries exactly as they are just so you all know. Then I wrote a longer summary which is kind of comical to me:

'Hyriu's pre-story. Living in the NWT's northern most city. Water bending school. Archery, swordsmanship. Friends. History on city. Air Nomads from Western Air Temple. Hyriu vs. Pakku. Yuan (Shan) visits (Originally Shan was going to visit for Hyriu's birthday, but that was taken out). Sacred Avatar Temple lights. Go to Yuan's village. Train harder. Go to capital, train more, Avatar comes. Introduce bond with Katara/Sokka (Originally Hyriu was going to be their long lost cousin). Hyriu vs. Katara (They were going to have a cool sparring match). Black snow, war council, Rain of Fire (this is where Chapter 34 got its name), night break (is this even a thing), day break, Fire Nation break through wall. Fight, day drags on, fight drags on, sunset, moon rise, the power of the full moon, red moon, no moon (I love how blunt I wrote that ha ha). Water Spirit Aang, moon returns. Aftermath, plans, end.

Book 1 originally didn't end if a cliff hanger; it was just the aftermath of the battle and the plans for the future. So a lot has changed since I wrote this, a lot. Then finally after I had posted chapter 4 online (Note: I first put this story up on long before ) I wrote a more extensive and accurate summary, the date says July 7, 2013.

'Rokku's encounter with the spirits. Hyriu goes to school and has visions. Introduce H-gang No. 1(that is what I refer to Hyriu and his friends as), Myths and Legends class learning about Beifen Legend. Swing Kick, Taruk's pushed to limit in ice bending explosion. Hana begins her suspicions. Taruk attacks Hyriu, Pakku stops it. Spills Anzen secret, air benders come, meeting begins, Hyriu, Koluk, Lina, Lamrara win. Hyriu's vision, explains vision, tour of Gambing Palace, Test begins, wind picks up, Hyriu wins, Dark clouds, lightning and thunder, explore palace, Hyriu chooses sword and robes, storm begins. Hell breaks loose, Hyriu saves people. Day after, Hyriu practices performance, more visions, the celebration, temple glows - Avatar returns, training intensifies, Hana finds out about Hyriu, Taruk's grudge intensifies knows something is up. Hyriu's birthday, Roku visions. Warrior Games begin, Hyriu - great swordsman, training mission, fire nation attack kids, Hyriu fights them off, gets injured. Return to Hydronia, everyone worried and cheering, Hyriu - Hero, Warrior Games Finals, Hyriu wins sword, Koluk - Warrior, Taruk - Water bender, many events with them together. Hyriu goes to Earth Kingdom town and trains hard, comes back, Tauk's suspicions suspense, air bending training with H-gang No. 1, Taruk shows up, chase through valley leads into town, Taruk beats up Hyriu, Hyriu about to explode (spirit state) when warning bell rings. Their spies found a fleet of ships going to capital, masters and adults prepare to leave, Hyriu tries to talk Wei into letting him come, Wei says no. Masters leave on train, Hyriu and Koluk are stowaways, they are found, Hyriu tells masters who he is, get to capital just before the attack. The attack happens, Hyriu almost dies when moon disappears, they return to Hydronia solemnly and tell about Yue's death. Life returns to "normal" Hyriu and H-gang No. 1 walking around. [Robed Man's] warning vision.'

That was the last summary I wrote for book 1. I used this summary throughout the writing process. I also made a time-line that corresponds to this summary so I knew how much time had to pass in a certain area. And at this time I predicted that book 1 would be forty two chapters or less, a pretty good guess I'd say. Right after this I wrote a rough draft of the Lok Wa Tragedy flashback and it is very close to the final draft, the only big difference is there was no Akiko in it, but I will explain that later. To also help with my writing I wrote a check list:

Water bending Test

Avatar Returns

Hyriu's Birthday

Go to Earth Village

Aang Arrives

Zhao Attacks

Fairly straight forward but I used it until the very end. And I started to write chapter one but then I realized I forgot about Hiko so I had to restart, here is that rough draft of chapter one:

'The sun had just risen when I woke up. The rays of warmth came through the window and warmed me. It was always cold, even in the summer, but since it was almost winter, it was very cold. And it was going to get colder. I loved in a city farthest north of the Northern Water Tribe Capital City. So it was even colder here, but I didn't mind it, I liked the cold, and all the ice, snow, and the Great River we lived by. But I guess that made sense since I was a water bender.

I got up and realized my fourteenth birthday was only two and a half months away. Everyday seemed to drag by and today was no different.

I got some fresh seaweed and some fish from the cubby hole in the wall, and made myself breakfast.

I lived by myself because a month or so after I was born, the Fire Nation found our secret city and hit it hard. The city was a secret because the Northern Water Tribe kept all their secrets here, including me. It's at the end of a long river, but water bending masters have made an ice wall where the river flows into the ocean and made it look like a natural ice shelf. Other secrets kept here are the Great Palace where the Royal Court stays if need be. Then there were the Air Nomads. When Sozin's Comet came one hundred years ago, Sozin attacked each temple simultaneously. Since the Western Air Temple is the largest, some air benders managed to escape with some lemurs and bison too. They came here, to this city, they were always welcome here. When they told the Court, they were furious with the Fire Nation. So when the Fire Nation sent troops to attack the Tribe or parts of the Earth Kingdom, they wiped them out in their fury and grief. Every attack on the Northern Water Tribe had no chance, no matter how big the attack was.

Anyway there are still air benders here; they built a temple in the Crystal Stone Mountains surrounding the city on the south side. They have repopulated a lot so there are about two hundred to two hundred-fifty air benders now. Only the people who live here and the Royal Court know about them. I learned air bending from them, I haven't mastered air bending yet but I am still pretty good.

I have learned all the elements, I just haven't mastered any. I have air bending practice once every two weeks. They show me a new move and I have to master it in two weeks. I have water bending practice every other day. Fire bending once a month and earth bending every two months. So obviously I am a great water bender, a good air bender, a below average fire bender, and a horrible earth bender. Also I don't think it matters how much I practice earth bending, I would still suck. I just don't get it. When I move, bend, or even think, I am very fluid. Some people say I move like water, which, I guess is kind of true. I never stay still, I am always moving in very flowing motions. Earth bending is all about standing strong and being ridged, which just isn't me at all.

Another thing the Court decided to get me to learn faster was to compete with someone my own age. I don't need that with water, but I have friends in the other nations who train with me and compete with me. Here I don't have a water bender combatant but my best friend, Deszu (Koluk), is learning swordsmanship with me along with hand-to-hand combat. In the Earth Kingdom I train/learn side-by-side with Yuan. He shows me how to do a move if I have trouble with one; so he helps me with every move.'

It had some interesting things in it and wasn't too bad, heck it covered things that I didn't bring up for several chapters. Also you can see Koluk went through several different name changes. he started out as Kuruk, then to Deszu, then finally Koluk. And the Bei Shui Mountains were originally the Crystal Stone Mountains. And just so you know, Hydronia was first called 'Tara,' why I named it that, I do not know. Hydronia is much better. Well that is getting my ideas to paper, now comes getting them typed.

I first write my rough drafts into a notebook (book 1 consists of three hand written notebooks), then I type them on Word Document. That is when most of the 'magic' happens, or when I get all of my really good ideas. To name a few, the detailed descriptions in Chapters 8, 9 and 10 all came while typing. Also the extended battle sequences during the Siege of the North. But the most important one, I think, is Hyriu's visions. That whole plot line was not originally thought of. I was typing up chapter 3 and I saw it said Hyriu had a daydream and I decided to expand upon that. Then in Chapter five I wanted to expand upon it even further and then the whole 'three warning visions thing' came about. Originally the Robed Man wasn't going to be in book 1 at all, Taruk was going to be the main protagonist. Now imagine how that would have turned out. Now, book 1 and the series itself are heavily influenced by those visions. That is when the biggest changes in plot happen; when I type.

And at first I just posted them straight to the website, I didn't even know Change of Pace 313(my editor) then. But soon the school year started and we met. She saw me writing in my notebook and questioned me about it. I refused to tell her anything about it. Then a few of my other friends told me to put my story up on , so I did. I told my editor to find it on there and read it. Very shortly after, she offered to edit for me as my grammar was less than ideal. I accepted and so I would send her the typed drafts and she would read and edit them. She was also sort of a 'beta reader' for me as she would tell me when something didn't make sense or something needed to be changed. At school we would discuss my story and I soon told her the whole outline of the five books. Now, neither of us knew how much she would become apart of the story. I had told her how some of my friends had their own characters in the story and she demanded one for her and even gave the idea of who it could be; the killer of Hyriu's parents. And thus, Akiko was born. Not only that, but my editor has also had some great influence on the overall story of Hyriu and has told me what would work and what would not. We have collaborated and created a story for Hyriu that I never could have come up with on my own. Just last week, she helped me do some heavy plot structure on book 3; yes we are thinking that far ahead. She even named Chapter 37, which is fitting as she had a large part in what would happen in that chapter. But unfortunately you won't see the extent of how much she has done until book 3, which is definitely her book.

I will now discuss the different plot lines. I will say my thoughts on them, and how they came to be. The visions plot will be first since you already know its origin. I loved it a lot because it allowed the Robed Man to be a villain before he is properly introduced, which I thought was great. I really like the first warning vision A LOT. I can see it all perfectly. The storm clouds and the sunset. The interior of the Meditation Tower, the Robed Man himself. And I have come to the conclusion that if anyone could do his voice, I would want Benedict Cumberbatch, he can do some of the best villain voices in my opinion. And the final warning vision, with the shadow in the courtroom that was inspired by the second hobbit film The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug. If you have seen the film then you may know what I mean. Near the beginning of the movie, we go to the ruined fortes of Dol Guldur and we hear a voice and see a shadow. That is what I picture in the courtroom.

The next plot line will be the training. I think this is the only plot line that I knew from the beginning would happen and was planned. I came up with the fog stealth training thing while day dreaming in science class, ha. I also wanted to show that he does make progress throughout the book and he develops his sword skills and his disarming technique.

I suppose I shall discuss the Taruk part. I knew when I started planning that I wanted a bully who then becomes suspicious. I had a whole arch planned out for him over the five books, but I have modified it greatly. I came up with the letters to his cousin about half way through the book. Only I created a much more intricate story than what made it in. I actually considered doing a Taruk point of view so we could read the letters, but that was also thrown out. Taruk's confession in 31 wasn't really planned but it did make sense. And for some people, my goal was achieved; they hate Taruk, but feel for him. As for myself, I see his side of the story but it in no way justifies his actions. And my editors just plan out hates him which is understandable.

I guess I will talk about the Hana arch. At first, Hana was inspired by a real person who, well I and Hyriu were in the same situation. We were nice to a girl and she latched on. Though I think Hyriu's went better than mine. I realized that I needed to show that she no longer liked Hyriu because of his abilities but she liked him, hence the speech in 24. I knew she would be suspicious and I left little clues here and there that some may have picked up on. I do regret not getting more of a reaction out of Hyriu. In fact, if I had the time I would rewrite all of book 1, but at the moment I am working furiously on book 2. If you notice, Hyriu and Hana never kiss; I made sure of that.

Now I will talk about my second favorite plot, the visions plot is first, Lina's secret training is the second. One thing I loved about the show was that there were a bunch of kick butt strong female characters. In book one, you don't really see much of that unfortunately, but in the other books you can. I loved this plot so much because it showed what kind of person Hyriu was that he would teach her, and it showed how strong she is by doing it. I really really am not happy that that plot was barely in book 1 as it is so much more interesting than the others in my opinion. But I will say that storyline does come back in bigger ways in the next few books ;)

I suppose the last thing I will say is how I come up with my ideas. Well daydreaming is a large part of it. I moved to a knew school three and a half years ago and I am a shy person, so when I rode the bus home, I day dreamed. Soon when I daydreamed, I daydreamed about Hyriu's story. I would also day dream in school, if it was an easy class or if we weren't doing anything that day. The trend continued, even now when I have plenty of friends. Another time to daydream and brain storm is just before you fall asleep. I don't go to sleep easily so I let my mind wander. And mowing the lawn is good as well. The task doesn't take much thought so I brain storm, which is when I came up with Taruk's letters, while mowing the lawn. A lot of times I listen to music, mostly instrumental, and I think about the story and what could be happening with the music that played. If it was sad music, then perhaps a character's death. If it was action-like then a battle sequence.

Two of my readers asked me some questions. The first was how much time passes in between book 1 and book 2. The answer to that is two weeks. It is three weeks after the Siege of the North, which is also the same amount of time that passes in between season 1 and 2 of Avatar. The other question was, will there be and epilogue at the very end. My editor and I have discussed this and I can't say for certain right now, but I think yes, there will be. I want it to be there so that if you want one, it's there, and if you don't want one then I will make the end of the fifth book good enough so you don't feel like there is something missing. The final question was about the cameos of my friends characters. A few were in book one, and more will be in book 2 and 3, though I promise that most of them will blend right in and not seem out of place. I mean, Akiko fits right in perfectly.

Well I suppose that is really all, I don't want this to get any longer, ha ha. If any of you have any questions about other things or something else you want to know, please feel free to ask away, I will answer all questions.