Five More Awesome Female Video Game Characters

Last week, I celebrated International Women’s Day by sharing a list of five awesome female protagonists in video games, characters who lead their games with the strength and style that make us gamer girls proud. Now I’d like to acknowledge five more female characters in video games who are just as amazing, even if they’re not the main characters of their games. Badass women come in many forms and character roles!

So continuing from last week’s theme, here are five more awesome female video game characters! Enjoy!

1) Princess Zelda (The Legend of Zelda series)

Link… You may not be at a point where you have fully recovered your power or all of your memories, but courage need not be remembered, for it is never forgotten. – Zelda before the final boss battle in Breath of the Wild

After Lara Croft and Samus Aran, Princess Zelda may be one of the most famous female video game characters of all time. Since the release of the first The Legend of Zelda in 1986, both Zelda and Link have undergone various incarnations, though a few traits remain the same across all games in the series: while Link is always a brave hero, Zelda is always a kind and wise ruler.

Though it’s easy to dismiss her as yet another princess akin to Mario’s damsels in distress, Princess Zelda has a lot more going for her than a pretty face. The mortal incarnation of the goddess Hylia, every Zelda is extremely benevolent and wields the Triforce of Wisdom, making her wise beyond her years and a highly capable leader of Hyrule. In fact, the reason she even needs rescuing in the first place is usually that she willingly sacrificed herself to protect her people, a selfless act that takes immeasurable strength. As Zelda clearly demonstrates, kindness is not weakness.

Of course, the beloved princess of Hyrule is not completely defenseless. Several of her incarnations have magical abilities that she often uses to seal away evil and help Link defeat Ganon. She also shows great intellectual prowess in Breath of the Wild, as several of Link’s memories of her reveal she was a curious and devoted scholar. Link may be the player character of the series, but there’s a good reason the games are named after Zelda!

2) Undyne (Undertale)

For the sake of the whole world… I, UNDYNE, will strike you down! You’re gonna have to try a little harder than THAT. – Undyne in the Genocide Route

Heck yeah, I’m Undertrash! Released by Toby Fox in 2015, the indie RPG Undertale took the world by storm for its unique take on video game violence and morality: the only way to “win” the game is by not killing anyone!

Sounds simple enough, right? Well, some characters make this harder than it seems, and the most notorious of all is the Captain of the Royal Guard, Undyne.

About halfway through the game, players are forced into a battle against this super-powerful fish monster, who by now has chased your human player character across a sizable stretch of the monster world. From this point on, it becomes clear that Undyne values justice and honor above all else: she offers you a spear for self-defense to make the battle fair, she lets you go when she no longer sees you as a threat, and she later admits that she was conflicted about fighting an innocent human but chose to do so for the greater good of all monsterkind. Heroes have to make tough choices!

Lucky for us that Undyne turns out to be so cool, because with her incredible fighting skills and sheer determination, she could easily kill us if she really wanted to. No wonder all the monster children look up to her!

3) GLaDOS (Portal)

Okay, look, we both said a lot of things that you’re going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster. – GLaDOS after your “reunion”

Sing it with me! “This was a triumph…”

Okay, maybe the whole “The Cake is a Lie” meme has been overplayed, but GLaDOS is still one of my favorite video game villains ever. When a supercomputer is out to kill you, you at least want her to have a sense of humor about it!

The original Portal is very simplistic in its design: you play as a test subject named Chell navigating an empty lab with nothing but a portal gun and the voice of the AI GLaDOS to guide you. The game starts out as a series of fun puzzles as you progress through the test chambers, but takes a dark turn when GLaDOS’s true colors come to light—unless, you know, lowering test subjects into an incinerator was standard practice for Aperture Laboratories.

Despite her obvious psychopathy, GLaDOS has achieved fame as one of the most popular video game villains ever created. Her dry wit and sarcasm make for some hilarious one-liners, and the fact that she’s the only other character in the game besides the silent human protagonist amplifies her passive-aggressive nature to fill the entire game. She also seems to have a genuine interest in science and even shows some signs of admiration and affection for Chell by the end of Portal 2. To say their relationship is complicated is a bit of an understatement.

Thanks to the lovable personality behind her murderous tendencies, it’s only too easy to get attached to this sassy robotic serial killer. Indeed, the final encounter with GLaDOS is considered one of the hardest boss battles in video game history—not because it’s technically difficult, but because players are very conflicted about killing her, myself included. Can you say Stockholm syndrome?

4) Tracer (Overwatch)

Cheers, love! The cavalry’s here! – Tracer’s “character selection” catchphrase

Overwatch is so popular that even if you’ve never played the game yourself, you’ve almost definitely seen this character before. Though she’s part of a diverse cast of characters, each of whom is awesome in their own right, it’s easy to see why Tracer is the face of the game. Cheerful and badass make a lovable combination!

Born Lena Oxton, Tracer’s backstory reveals she was the youngest pilot in Overwatch’s experimental flight program. After an accident left her desynchronized from the flow of time, she was anchored back in the present by Winston’s chronal accelerator, which gave her the ability to speed up or slow down her own time at will. Talk about a cool superpower!

Even after Overwatch’s dissolution, Tracer continues to be a hero and fight for justice everywhere she goes. She is fearless and determined while always remaining positive and energetic. And to top it all off, she has a girlfriend, making her a strong role model for the LGBTQ community! Tracer represents a lot of different character types, but most notably of all, she represents the optimistic hero any one of us can be!

5) Ms. Pac-Man (Ms. Pac-Man)

Okay, so this entry is more about the game than the character, but I still think it’s a noteworthy addition to the list. Samus Aran may have been the first female protagonist in a mainstream console video game, but Ms. Pac-Man was the first female video game protagonist ever!

Following the success of Pac-Man, Midway Games produced their own version of the Namco smash hit in 1982, which featured a female protagonist, new mazes, and several gameplay improvements. The result was Ms. Pac-Man, an even more challenging and entertaining version of Pac-Man that became the most successful American-produced arcade game of its year.

While Ms. Pac-Man may not have been the game to draw large numbers of women to the arcade scene, it was a tribute to all the female gamers who helped make the original Pac-Man such a success. If anything, Ms. Pac-Man brought more recognition to female players in what was often perceived as a male hobby; after Pac-Man, the most popular arcade games among women were Berzerk and Space Invaders, but Ms. Pac-Man was the first game that unapologetically catered to a female audience and pushed gaming a little closer to a gender-neutral future.

To be fair, Toru Iwatani intended for Pac-Man to be asexual so as to appeal to men and women equally; it was only after the release of Ms. Pac-Man that players were forced to think of the original character as male, which has sparked some controversy around the newer character. Still, the fact that Ms. Pac-Man was the first unequivocally female character in a video game was groundbreaking, and her game remains one of the most popular arcade games of all time. Say what you will about her character design, but Ms. Pac-Man marked a significant step forward for gamer girls everywhere!

Who are your favorite female video game characters? What other characters would you add to this list?

Five Awesome Female Video Game Protagonists

International Women’s Day is this week, a time to celebrate women and all the awesomeness we bring to the world! Last year, I wrote a series of blog posts about awesome female characters in fiction, most of which focused on Disney princesses and heroines. So this year, I figured it would be fun to continue that series into the theme of video games!

So to celebrate Women’s Day, here are five awesome female protagonists in video games! Enjoy!

1) Aloy (Horizon Zero Dawn)

I would have wanted her to be curious. And willful—unstoppable, even. But with enough compassion to heal the world. Just a little bit. – Dr. Elisabet Sobeck

Shortly after its release in February 2017, Horizon Zero Dawn quickly became one of PlayStation’s best-selling games of all time. And with good reason: it’s amazing! This masterpiece by Guerrilla Games boasts everything from a compelling story to an engaging open world to awesome gameplay, but the greatest feature at the heart of the game is undoubtedly its player character, Aloy.

An outcast since birth in a post-post-apocalyptic world, Aloy has been determined to find out where she came from for as long as she can remember. The game introduces her character as a child, and by the time she becomes the young woman we were shown in the E3 trailers, we’re already fully on board with her quest for answers.

Aloy turns out to be an important piece to the puzzle of what happened to the world, so it’s no secret that her story eventually shifts from a personal journey to a quest to save humanity. Fortunately, the game’s excellent pacing keeps us thoroughly engaged with her character as we guide her toward the answers she so desperately wants. We come to love Aloy as much for her strength and determination as for her intelligence and compassion, until her triumphs are every bit as emotionally satisfying for us as they are for her.

Rarely has a game ever pulled me in as deeply as Horizon Zero Dawn has, and I know beyond a doubt that Aloy’s character is to thank for that. With such a strong spirit and a big heart to match, it’s no wonder she’s now one of my favorite video game characters of all time!

2) Ellie (The Last of Us)

Everyone I have cared for has either died or left me. Everyone… f***ing except for you! So don’t tell me that I would be safer with someone else, because the truth is I would just be more scared. – Ellie to Joel after he tries to leave her with Tommy

If you’ve played through the prologue of The Last of Us without crying, then congratulations: you officially have no soul.

Among the many factors that have earned this game over 200 Game of the Year awards, The Last of Us has been praised for its fantastic story, which follows the journey of middle-aged Joel and 14-year-old Ellie across a post-apocalyptic North America.

While the opening quest that reveals Joel’s backstory is tragic, most of the emotional weight of the game lies in his growing relationship with Ellie. What starts as an escort mission soon becomes a bereaved father coming to see this brave young girl as a daughter. Ellie, in turn, comes to see Joel as a father figure, and by the time they reach their destination at the end of the game, their bond has become unbreakable.

Though Joel is the main player character of the game, Ellie is an equally interesting character to whom we can’t help but become emotionally attached as we play through the story. Time and again, she proves herself courageous, clever, and resourceful. Her tenacity and attachment to Joel are most evident in the Winter act of the story, the only part of the game when we play as her and experience firsthand how mentally and emotionally strong she is as she struggles to save his life. She may be a teenager, but Ellie is nothing if not a true survivor!

3) Samus Aran (Metroid series)

But among the stars, there is one light that burns brighter than all others. The light of Samus Aran. Her battles extend beyond her life, and etch themselves into history. – Metroid Prime intro

You can’t write a list of noteworthy female video game characters without including Samus Aran! If you only know one thing about the Metroid series, it’s probably the reveal at the end of the original game that the super-powerful player character hidden in the power suit was a woman all along. Talk about a jaw-dropping moment!

Video games have come a long way since the androcentric ’80s when this twist was a big deal, but Samus is still revered as the first female protagonist in a mainstream video game, paving the way for the rest of the characters on this list and many more.

Throughout most of the Metroid series, this galactic bounty hunter is typically portrayed as powerful, brave, and tenacious, with a wide array of abilities and enough skill with them to defend the galaxy from the Space Pirates mostly by herself. Controversy and recent revelations about her character aside, there’s no doubt that Samus is one badass lady!

4) Lara Croft (Tomb Raider)

A famous explorer once said that the extraordinary is in what we do, not who we are. I’d finally set out to make my mark, to find adventure. But instead, adventure found me. – Lara Croft, Tomb Raider (2013)

With a new Tomb Raider movie coming to theaters next week, it only makes sense to include this character on the list! Mention female video game characters and Lara Croft is one of the first names to come to mind. It’s no surprise, really; when you’ve been portrayed in a film by none other than Angelina Jolie, you know you’ve hit iconic status!

Admittedly, Croft has been a subject of controversy since the first Tomb Raider‘s release in 1996. She’s been described as a tabula rasa-type character in earlier games and even a negative role model for girls due to her widespread status as a sex symbol in the video game community. However, she does deserve some praise for being an archeologist/adventurer, a line of work that requires a great amount of independence, intelligence, courage, and resourcefulness, all of which she has in spades!

Sure, Lara Croft’s adventurous spirit may not be the reason young boys have hung posters of her in their bedrooms for years, but it is one reason she shouldn’t be written off as just another over-sexualized female video game character with zero personality (God knows there are too many of those as it is). Hopefully the upcoming Tomb Raider film will do this awesome character justice!

5) Red (Transistor)

Look, whatever you’re thinking, do me a favor: don’t let go. – The Transistor to Red

I’ll be honest: Transistor is one of the few video games that have ever made me cry. And not just a few tears, either; I’m talking waterfalls. Supergiant Games are masters of emotional storytelling.

Set in a futuristic city called Cloudbank, Transistor follows a singer named Red on her quest for revenge against the people who stole her voice and killed her lover. Armed with the Transistor—the giant sword-like weapon with which she was almost assassinated and which now contains the consciousness of her fallen lover (it makes sense in context)—Red fights her way through a robotic army known as the Process. As we guide this mute singer through the city, we uncover details about the world and her backstory in the files she collects in the Transistor. We also get to watch her kick some serious butt after setting up an attack sequence for her in the Turn() function. Awesome!

As the story unfolds, we learn that Red was a highly influential figure in Cloudbank, her music being powerful enough to stir controversy and even trigger altercations at her shows. In the present, she proves to be as strong-willed as her voice was intoxicating, ignoring the Transistor’s initial pleas for her to escape the city and fearlessly charging into battle against the Process to avenge him and uncover her attackers’ mysterious motives.

What’s especially interesting about Red is that, unlike the other characters on this list, she wasn’t trained in combat or raised in a hostile environment that left her hardened and cynical. She was a successful artist who had the two most important things in her life taken from her. The fact that she chooses to face her enemies, despite the odds being stacked against her, instead of hide in a corner and cry speaks volumes about her strength of character. You don’t have to be a soldier to know that love is worth fighting for!

What are your thoughts on these female video game protagonists? Any others you would add to this list?

Stories in the Stars: Finding Creative Inspiration in Space

No Man’s Sky came out this month, ending a three-year wait for the biggest space exploration game ever made. Published by indie studio Hello Games for PlayStation and PC, the game is set in a massive open universe (read: 18 quintillion planets) that procedurally generates almost everything from star systems and planets to the alien lifeforms that occupy them. I haven’t played it myself yet, but I have been watching someone else play, and if nothing else, it’s definitely creative and makes for great artistic inspiration, in no small part for its representation of the endless possibilities in space.

No_Mans_Sky

So today, I’d like to dedicate this creative writing post to that someone special who keeps on inspiring me with his passion for space. There’s a lot of creative inspiration to be found out there in the Universe, so let’s explore! Enjoy!

Tales in the Sky

Since the time of ancient civilizations, human beings have been fascinated with the stars and the mysteries hidden among them. Early cultures associated celestial bodies with divine beings and used the study of the stars to understand the phenomena of Earth, making astronomy the oldest natural science in history. Constellations have been a big part of mythology and storytelling throughout much of history, while modern science continues to make a splash in nonfiction by unraveling the great mysteries of the Universe. Whether you’re an artist or a scientist, there’s always something exciting to find in the cosmos!

Zodiac_Constellations

The twelve signs of the Zodiac

The stars have always inspired me with their mysterious beauty. Sometimes when I’m feeling starved for creative inspiration on a clear night, I like to look outside at the sky and get lost in daydreams (nightdreams?) about space and all the amazing things that could be waiting out there in the Universe. I’m fortunate to live in a suburban area where there’s a good view of the stars at night (not as perfect as in unpopulated deserts, of course, but much better than in big cities), so I’ve had many opportunities to enjoy open skies with countless stars and bright moons, which often make excellent inspiration for poetry. So beautiful!

Stargazing is extremely relaxing, and an excellent practice for artists who either need inspiration to overcome a creative block or simply want to unwind after a busy and tiring day. If you’re lucky enough to live in an area without too much light pollution, I recommend taking the occasional break in the evening just to gaze up at the night sky. You may find it’s exactly what you need to spark your creativity!

“To Infinity and Beyond” / “It Came From Outer Space”

Mention “science fiction” and the first images that come to mind are usually alien lifeforms, spaceships, distant planets, and intergalactic exploration. With its continuing popularity from the old Star Trek series to the new Star Wars films and beyond, outer space often seems to be the poster child of the genre, and it remains one of the most well-known themes of science fiction today.

Interstellar_Poster

Theatrical poster for Interstellar (2014)

Science fiction is one of my favorite genres, and some of my favorite sci-fi stories use space travel as a major theme. Films like Interstellar and The Martian fascinated me with their use of real science to tell amazing stories, while The Force Awakens blew me away with its creative and exciting contributions to a classic sci-fi saga. A couple of the reasons I love science fiction are its infinite possibilities and its power to reconcile science and art, and some of the best examples of science fiction stories encompassing both these points are the ones with themes related to outer space.

Naturally, space-themed stories don’t always have to involve traveling outside Earth; sometimes it’s fun to imagine what would happen if space came to us instead. Alien invasions are another popular theme and often come up in lists of science fiction writing prompts. Outer space also contains plenty of dangers that could threaten life on Earth, making it a great source of inspiration for apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction as well. There’s no end to the strange things that could come from outer space; the only limit is the imagination!

With all the writing ideas it provides, it’s no surprise that space is such a popular theme in science fiction. After all, why limit your stories to Earth when there’s an entire universe out there to explore?

Exploration Beyond Earth

Circling back to the introductory topic, I’ve been watching my boyfriend play a lot of No Man’s Sky lately, and I have to say it’s been quite an interesting journey so far. Mixed reviews aside (because of course there was “too much hype” around it), the game does offer a relaxing atmosphere in which creative introverts like my boyfriend and me could easily get lost for hours. We’ve enjoyed discovering different kinds of planets and especially naming the strange creatures we find together, which has turned out to be a great exercise for me as a sci-fi/fantasy writer. Maybe I’ll even use some of those alien names for a future novel!

While it may not be everything it supposedly promised to be, my impression is that part of the appeal of a game like No Man’s Sky must come from a fascination with space in general and its infinite potential stories. These don’t have to be entirely fictional, of course; another game my boyfriend loves is Elite: Dangerous, a space exploration game which, despite being set over a thousand years in the future, is heavily based on the real Milky Way galaxy, even containing a handful of real star systems alongside the procedurally generated ones. He loves how relaxing it is to explore deep space alone, and in a 1:1 scale open world galaxy, he’ll never run out of space to discover!

Elite_Dangerous_Asteroid_Field

Elite: Dangerous screenshot taken by my boyfriend

From constellation mythology to science fiction to astronomy, space is full of inspiration for creative writing. Whether you’re a poet seeking that perfect verse in the stars or a speculative fiction writer doing research for your new novel, your next spark of creativity could be waiting for you among the stars. So the next time you find yourself at a creative block, why not take a break to explore the stories in the Universe? It’s the only other source of inspiration as infinite and boundless as the human imagination!

What about you? How do you find creative inspiration in space? Have you ever incorporated elements of space in your writing?

Video Games as Interactive Storytelling

Today’s post is dedicated to a special someone with whom I love sharing this interest. If there are two passions responsible for bringing my best friend/boyfriend and me together, they are definitely creative writing and video games. So this week, I’d like to share a bit about our experience with video games and how they appeal to us as a method of interactive storytelling. Enjoy!

Escape into a Virtual World

The major debate of their positive and negative effects aside, we all have our reasons for loving video games. As a writer, one of my personal favorites is escapism, the chance to slip into a virtual world and experience a different life for a few hours at a time. Though it’s true that one can already achieve this through other sources of fiction such as novels and movies, video games bring that experience to life in a way no other medium can. When the real world becomes too boring or stressful, sometimes it’s nice to step into the metaphorical shoes of a fictional character and take back control of life. And while that may not be the healthiest solution to our problems, it certainly provides plenty of creative inspiration.

Mario (Super Mario Bros.), Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog) and Link (The Legend of Zelda)

Mario (Super Mario Bros.), Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog) and Link (The Legend of Zelda)

Growing up, I enjoyed embarking on adventures with Mario, Link and Sonic the Hedgehog, following a linear storyline to ultimately defeat a major villain and save the world. More recently, I’ve slain dragons and undertaken quests in the fantasy world of Skyrim, which offers a much broader terrain in which I’ve gotten lost for hours on end. I’ve defied the very principles of physics in the action/puzzle game series Portal; I’ve battled rebel spaceships in the strategy game FTL: Faster Than Light; I’ve witnessed my best friend construct his own story through the choices he’s made in the sci-fi game  series Mass Effect; and we’ve both had our perceptions of reality challenged by the unique 2D/3D-crossover world of FEZ. From childhood to adulthood, my love for adventure games hasn’t changed, for not only do they provide hours of entertainment, but they satisfy my need to be told a good story.

Come for the Action, Stay for the Story

The Last of Us

Joel and Ellie (The Last of Us)

Lately, I’ve been watching my best friend play the remastered edition of The Last of Us, a sci-fi/survival/horror game set in a post-apocalyptic United States. I had heard nothing but wonderful things about this game, including the fact that it had been awarded “Game of the Year” several times over, so of course I was excited when he offered to live stream his gameplay sessions for me. He warned me going in that it would be quite the emotional ride, and I have to say that so far, he’s been proven absolutely right. From the very first cutscene, the game sets up a tragic and at times horrifying sequence of events that is bound to touch the heart of any player willing to fully engage in the plot. Though I do enjoy watching the actual gameplay, I consider the highlight of the game to be the story at its core. As much in action as in narrative, The Last of Us is indeed a video game masterpiece.

While I will give many games a try for the promise of exciting gameplay, I’m prone to lose interest if there isn’t a gripping enough story to go with it. RPGs are my favorite game genre for a reason. Adventure is about exploring, gaining experience, overcoming obstacles toward a set goal and feeling accomplishment when the final mission is complete. And what is all that if not an interactive form of storytelling?

Make Your Own Story

Although video games tend to have a set storyline that a player is obligated to follow, there is the occasional game that offers the total freedom to explore and create your own path. The best example of this is probably Minecraft, a globally popular (read: 40 million players) sandbox game that many have equated with a sort of digital Lego platform. The reason? It’s pure creation. There is no story to follow, no boss to fight (unless you count the completely optional dragon battle in The End), no kingdom to rescue. The game simply provides an assortment of mobile creatures and all the building-block resources you need to craft tools, build structures, fight monsters and basically shape the continuously generating world however you want. It’s just you and your imagination.

Steve running away from a Creeper, the iconic monster of Minecraft

Steve running from a Creeper, the iconic monster of Minecraft

My best friend and I have been playing Minecraft together since the beta versions of 2011. I’ve long lost track of how many different worlds we’ve created and how many adventures we’ve had, but I’ve greatly enjoyed every minute we’ve spent creating together. One thing I love most is how the game brings out our individual characters: he’s more of an architect and an explorer, while I’m more of an artist and a farmer. Our playing styles may be different, but through combined effort, we’ve built cities, hoarded resources, survived monster attacks in the middle of the night and explored every terrain from the highest mountains to the deepest caves. In the world of Minecraft, we don’t need a predetermined plot to have hours of fun. We write our own stories.

Video games have their fair share of pros and cons, but when it comes to the creative aspect, they’re a unique source of inspiration. From writing video game fanfiction to finding ideas for original works, video games have been a big part of my journey as a writer, as they likely will be for years to come. And if nothing else, they make a great outlet for relieving the stress of a creative block!

Are you an avid gamer? Have video games ever helped you in your writing? What games inspire you the most?

Mario and Link belong to Nintendo. Sonic the Hedgehog belongs to SEGA. The Last of Us is a product of Naughty Dog and Sony Computer Entertainment. Minecraft is a product of Mojang. All official artwork is displayed for illustrative purposes only. I own nothing!

My First Novel?: Fanfiction as a Practice Run (Part VII- The Lessons)

At last, the time has come for the final chapter of my story. Wondering what you’ve missed? For the past several weeks, I’ve been telling the story behind a “novel” I recently published online: a fanfiction titled Chaos and Control. Part 1 is about the idea for the story, Part 2 is about the planning, Part 3 is about the writing, Part 4 is about the editing, Part 5 is about the publishing, and Part 6 is about the feedback. Have fun reading the last part of the story!

Part VII: The Lessons

In the interest of keeping this post brief, today’s topic will simply be a review of the lessons taken from my fanfiction that I believe can apply to the experience of writing a real novel. Enjoy!

What I learned from Chaos and Control:

Chaos and Control1) When an idea grows in your mind to the point where it starts to consume you, chances are it’s worth turning into a story. Don’t ignore it; embrace it, shape it, bring it to life.

2) Planning is important, but it isn’t everything. The skeleton of a plot and a handful of ideas are great to start with. After that, just write, and let the story surprise you as you flesh it out.

3) Serious writing takes serious commitment. If you ever want to finish that novel, work on it every single day. No excuses; just do it.

4) Well-developed characters will write themselves. When stuck, start writing purely from instinct and see where the characters go on their own. They’ll probably take the story in the right direction.

5) Editing takes just as much effort as writing, if not more. Do not assume your first drafts are perfect; it’s more than likely they’ll require a lot of polishing before they’re worthy of publication.

6) Your technique may change over the course of the writing process. Don’t neglect to revise the entire novel to make sure the style of the first chapters matches that of the last ones.

7) Details and tropes are fun to place, but they’re worthless without a strong storyline to hang on. The most important parts of the story should be the core elements of plot and character development.

8) Never underestimate the importance of marketing and networking. Your novel isn’t likely to draw many readers if nobody knows it exists.

9) Don’t be surprised if your novel doesn’t get as much attention as you’d like, but don’t be discouraged either. If your story can inspire one reader, then it was worth writing.

10) Not everyone will notice the details in your story, but don’t let that get you down. As long as you placed them well, someone is bound to appreciate them.

11) Know your audience and trust their opinions. Feedback from readers is invaluable not only for the current piece, but for any future pieces you may write.

12) The type of story doesn’t make it more or less special than the others you write. As long as you pour your heart and soul into it and receive a valuable experience in return, any story is worth writing.

This concludes the story behind my fanfiction. I hope you’ve enjoyed following my experience with Chaos and Control, and that you’ve found the story behind it as enlightening as I did. If you haven’t yet, feel free to comment with your thoughts. Otherwise, have fun applying these lessons in your writing, and best of luck with your own novels! Thank you for reading!

Note: If you’re interested, you’re more than welcome to read my story and even leave some reviews. I promise you don’t need to know too much about the Sonic universe to appreciate it. Reviews are positive, but contain spoilers! Thank you!

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