File 000 - A Fan Fiction Writers Trade Secrets
Hello everyone and welcome to the first official chapter of The Lost Files of Dr. Walter D. Arceaion, for the first segment I felt I should actually start at the beginning and where better that the story that started it all? Before we begin however I will say that this chapter is special as I'll be going in to the real world mechanics of what starting out was like as well as explaining certain things that we will get to in a bit.
Background
So long before I started Return of the Reaper of Life I was a bit of what's know as a lurker which means that I didn't use an account but still visited this site often. In fact I was this way for several years and during that time I read hundreds of stories with many now saved to my favorites since I actually have an account. But that's a story for another time, what I was getting to before I was thrown off topic was that this story actually went into development a few years before I made my account.
Development Process
Problems as a new writer
Now from the get go Return of the Reaper of Life had some major problems not only due to the fact it was my first story but if you go back you'll see I in fact used a different format and my spelling was horrible. Of course errors in my spelling were not the only ones made, I actually had to submit this story three times as the first time the spelling was too bad, second time whoever read it said it wasn't a MLP story. It was this reason that I added the part with Twilight in it as it was the only way who ever was reviewing it would allow me to post it. Because of this the entire story was thrown off and I was forced to introduce the main characters at rushed pace with the main 6 being added way sooner than I wanted them to be. Anyway it was the third attempt that allowed the story to be posted and I thank whoever permitted me to post it. You know I look back on my early days on this site with some fondness, I mean I would want to go back to them as they were filled with so much trouble and I've improved so much but still never in my wildest dreams did I think that I'd be sitting here 2 years later with 327 followers, and six stories that were featured whit some being featured multiple times.
Actual Development
So I think that covers as much of the early problems I had when I first started out, so why don't we move on to the stories development and proceedings. To start off this massive explanation of the behind the scenes I want to say that while I knew what I wanted to do with the story I only had a loose frame work to build off of, this would become a staple in my writing with most of my stories it being off the top of my head and written the moment. Often times I will only lay out the mare basics of a time line with only the key events set i stone and the characters will simply have to get there on their own. Because of this writing style I'm free to explore the characters personality, motives and actions at anytime. TO me there are three major factors for story telling, the setting, the character and how it can all be fit together realistically. Examples of this being that everything in my world has some form of mechanic or explainable cause/ reason behind it; you will never get me to write a story and have the answer to a question be simply 'It's magic'. The reason for this is that I find such answers to be unimaginative and break the immersion of the reader, now many of these mechanics are things you have to guess at how they work because they aren't explained in a straight answer but rather a more round-about way as to purposefully confuse the reader.
Next is character and character development, to me the characters must be have some level of both reliability and realistic approach. By this a mean the character must have an in depth personality with desires, dreams and emotions. Before I even write them into the story I create a massive character sheet that covers everything from the'r name and age to backstory, powers, and anything else I can think of that would fir the character. Now the second part, the 'realistic approach' part ties in to the everything must have a reason mechanic of my story telling. By following this realistic approach I'm able to justify everything the character does and allows the reader to not simply say that's impossible.
I would also like to give a big shout out to JohnrId03 for assisting me in the development of the characters to Return of the Reaper and many of the characters in Assassin's Creed: Dawns Rising I may have made them and developed them but it was JohnrId03 that polished them off and turn them from diamonds in the rough to the sparkling and clean cut beauties they are .
And finally we come to setting, now this is often seen as the easiest however it's often not. Creating a setting requires weeks of research and understanding. for example, if I want to create a western town I first go online and look up old western town and look at them getting an idea of what I'm going to be writing. Next I look up information about the old west and what it was like settling there, from how environment and it surrounding looked and affects the people there to even what food was available or what rations they had. After that I begin creating the story building back ground characters or characters that will be used as well as simple mentioned characters to give the town some life. Finally I insert the main character or characters altering the interaction and everyday life of those affected by the main character. This approach often gives me an extremely lifelike approach however due to my lack of writing skills it';s often hard to wright it well so a lot of this information is never used. As I grow as an author you will find I will become incorporating the little details I have in my head and you'll get a better story.
Editing and Editors
Let it be know that in my opinion editing is not what makes or breaks a story, editing can contribute to the overall impact of the story but in most cases a reader will overlook a few spelling errors if your story is worth reading. Of course if you red close I said a few spelling errors, spelling is important and you do have to edit as it shows you take pride in your work and have a degree of professionalism . Most people don't actually edit themselves but rather let an editor do it for them. I don't do this so to any of you who are reading this and are editors, you have my deepest respect and deserve more credit than your given. While editing is not a make or break point it is still perhaps the most important thing to do and all editors deserve your respect and praise for their hard and dedicated work.
Now during the writing of Return of the Reaper I actually had a dedicated Editor who was an old friend and fellow author for the site Fanfiction.net. However the guy was... not the best person. He took my ideas and changed them by copying other people and passing their work of as his brilliant ideas and since I had no idea he was doing this I simply said okay and posted them. This would inevitably lead to one of the authors of some stolen content to accuse me of stealing his ideas and after looking i to it I was so not very... happy. Turns out the guy was doing the same shit with his own stories as well stealing my ideas and passing them off as his own work. I reported him and his account was terminated but to this day I don't trusty anyone with my personal documents. It's for this reason I don't have an editor and I do it myself.
The Reason I told you this story is so that you don't go through what I did. Anyway on this morbid note I feel I leave you and bid you adieu, I hope you enjoyed this insider look as it's the only time I share such information. After this chapter the True Files will begin. I've hidden so many secrets, but it's time I show you my hand.
Author's Note
Coming Soon File 001 - The Fall of Man and the birth of Eques.
Where did all the creatures of Eques come form, what is the dark origin of the Alicorns and why does no one remember their races that came before them.
File 001 - The Fall of Man and the birth of Eques.
Author's Note
So before I explain what happened to humans in the stories involving them, I first must say that for those who try to search The [Redacted] Traveler you'll not find it. The [Redacted] Traveler was one of my most ambitious stories but was removed due to lack of a positive response; I've been working on it behind the scenes for several years now and will bring it back when it's ready however it explains a lot of lore about what I'll be discussing.
!ANNOUNCEMENT!
I now have a Discord server! You can find the Link to it on this blog Post: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/913652/join-me-on-discord
File 001 - The Fall of Man and the birth of Eques.
Reaper Industries Umbrella Division Research Data File 001
Credited Author: Walter D. Arceaion, Head researcher of the Umbrella Division
It has been a while since I have had time to sit down and write about my may findings about the World of Equus, it is such a fascinating world but one that seems to lack any presence of humans. However, despite what you may be lead to believe many of the variant worlds that the stories that you've read take place in a world not not so different from our own world; In fact many of them are downright near identical. In fact of the 31 world that are currently known, 17 of these worlds contain anthropomorphic life and 16 of them have data matching our world at some point in their distant past. So you must be wondering what happens?
The Answer is complex and varies on the which Universe it pertains to. For example in the world of The Return of the Reaper of Life, Humanity is a precursor race that existed long before the Pony Race was created by the Immortal beings Aion and Moirai, there is also reasonable date to show that Aion and the old pantheon of gods he was apart of ruled of the humans before they were wiped out by the Immortals battle.
In the World of Assassin's Creed: Dawns Rising, The Mandalorian of Equestria, Broken World,and T̶̮̟̝͝h̶̠̞̭̩͒̚͠e̷̫͎͑ ̷̩̗͗G̸̢̜̥̬͐ő̴̯͕͓̿d̸̝̈́ ̶̨̙̦̊͑͂̚H̴̦̥͍͈́̂̂̈ù̶͕͚͋͌́͜n̴̨͚̜͍̒͒͗t̴͖͚̩͐͊e̵͍̜̫̓͘ͅr̷̲̗̫̞͂̆̂ Humans gradually evolved into the races that now cover the planet. the name Earth was forgotten and so the planet was renamed to Equus.
In the world of T̶̪́h̴̯̖̋̐e̵̲̓ ̸̰͈̀͠Ạ̴͛ṋ̸̃ǵ̵̝͜e̶͚̞̔l̷̼͗ ̸̪́͑ò̶̧f̷̬͒͜ ̵̘͛͝E̷̯̅͝q̶̞̗̒ũ̵̱̹e̸̳͝s̴̠͎̓̉ṭ̷͋r̶̙̬͝ĩ̵͓̯a̶̡̋̀ͅ, S̶͎̤͊̎ę̵͋r̸͙͑͘v̷͕̉̓a̷͈̍̃n̴̯̔t̴̡̟͋̔ ̸̡̯̑͐ő̶̢f̵̩́ ̵̹̐Ḙ̶̱̾v̸͓́̚i̸̯̦̐́l̸͇̫̍̕ and D̴͖͐a̸̦͌̈́ṵ̶͆͊g̷̛̮ḥ̷͈͆̄ṱ̴͌e̶̛̪r̷̜̿̕ ̵̯̔͜o̵̦̿̿f̷̙̲͐̐ ̶̡̑T̶͖͖̂͊à̸̻͉r̷̗̟͂̇t̵̥̻̾͊a̴͖̭͛͠r̷̠͕̐ȗ̴͔̝s̶̟̎̈ Humans were an ancient race that mysteriously disappeared from the planet. How this happened is not known but it is believed that Ponies and other races are decedents of some of these humans that somehow altered themselves.
In the world of T̶̼̈́h̵͖̃e̷̦̋͑ ̴͍̏̐T̶͙̈́̍͜ẃ̴̯̝̋ỉ̷̻l̴͉̹̈́͋i̵̧͙̽̔g̵̢͂͝h̷͙̪̑ț̷̝͘ ̴̡͉͂R̴̙͉̓e̵̹̩͂̆ǎ̵͙p̶̰̑e̴̢̱̐r̴͈͇͂ Humanity underwent a Mass Extinction Event that wiped the entire race out, what remained were the races that are now seen on the planet. To be specific the Mass Extinction Event seemed to have targeted only pure blood humans who had no genetic divination leaving those with animal genetics to survive. This is why most of the world is populated by humans with some type of animal trait, like the Equestrians pony genetics or the Griffon Empires Avian/feline hybrid genetics.
Second to last is the Universe of Lost Dreamer, this one is a wonderful tale of human hubris. In this universe where Humanity won again the 'evil' monster Kingdom and sealed them in Mt. Ebbot behind a barrier however as soon as this was done they turned on each other using weapons that irradiated the land and made it uninhabitable. As a result they were forced to build massive cities to protect themselves form the radiation but as time went on they began to die out. After it was discovered that Monsters were immune to the Radiation due to the radiation be magical in nature they tried to turn themselves into monsters. This did not work for them and they were transformed into the ponies by the device they had created. Those closest to the blast became the first Alicorns and used their power to lord over the other transformed races and destroy all evidence of their hubris. At present only two humans survived this event, Frisk and Chara, however they are no longer human so it is debatable if they count. As of typing this data entry we have determined that humanity on this world is extinct but this may change in the future.
And finally we come to the sades tale of humans destruction, the universe in where the story Returning Home takes place in. This Universe has been the most interesting to observe because they are the closest to my universe, sadly the humans in this universe decided to deem themselves gods and lord over the sentient beings they created before once again the Hubris of Humanity destroyed them.
Hello Everyone and welcome to this new 'story'; the reason that Story is shown that way is because this really isn't a story but more of behind the scenes for all my stories but present a d future. In this little book of chapters I will be giving behind the scenes information about characters, settings, ideas and even showing you scrapped part of stories that never will be in the stories they are for.
So I'm sure your curious how this will work and I'll tell you now.
- At random intervenes I will be updating this series as this is something more for fun than anything else.
- Each chapter will tell you in the title what story it is to, it will be jumbled and random but I think you can work with it.
- I will not be giving previews for new chapters or stories in this series so don't ask.
If you figure out something then please don't post it and spoil the surprise for everyone else. Also I will delete your comment if it's asking for spoilers and previews even if that's only a small part of the comment.
Now with that said there are some things that I will bring up that only those in the know will be able to understand, most of this information can actually be found in the comment section and authors notes of my stories. I look forward to your comments and feed back as this is something I've been considering doing for a while and have been working on since it was voted I do it.
Thank you all for reading and have a great day
Walter D. Arceaion
