On Dominant Species · 2:07am Mar 27th, 2014
I missed it by two days, but two days ago marks the one year anniversary of Dominant Species first being posted on FimFic. It's certainly been an interesting year.
Before Dominant Species, I had gotten out of the fanfiction writing game. My pursuits were turned towards other things, mainly writing on a more professional level. It is the complete and utter fault of both me getting into the fandom, and some friends of mine in the fandom who encouraged me to write this story. So I did.
I write on my stories as a side project, a hobby. I also write things outside of fanfiction, various short stories as well as a novel I've been working on for the last two years. In the last few months, a couple of my stories have even been picked up for publication. But don't worry, I'll still keep writing on both of my active stories. I have no dreams of being a professional writer, it's something I do as a hobby. I already have a professional career that I love, everything else is just a hobby. If I can make money doing it, then even better.
'Course, enough about me. This blog isn't about me, it's about the story.
Dominant Species, or DS, went through various changes over the last year. Characters were introduced that were never meant to exist at all. Other characters found their role increasing in importance. Events happened that were never meant to, while others never happened at all.
I find that in writing, you can have an outline, you can carefully plot out where the story is going, which I did with DS, but as you write the story will evolve. It takes on a life of its own, oftentimes going in directions you never expected. I'm not an author so much as I'm the vessel through which the story flows. It writes itself, exactly as it is meant to be. Trying to force it to be what you want it to be only makes it dull.
Take for example the character of Swift Bloom, the widowed single mother who helps out Twilight and her friends when they stumble across her home late at night during a snowstorm. The house that Twilight finds in that chapter was originally meant to be abandoned. She was to have hallucinated the flickering light of the fire through the snowstorm. Instead, as I wrote, the house became whole and occupied by a mother and her daughter. I went with it, and in return I got Swift and Berry, two characters that add life and depth to the story.
I'll go ahead and share with you all the origin of DS, what inspired an idea in my mind which grew to become that story as it is now. It's a youtube video, specifically a trailer for Final Fantasy XIV.
If you watch that trailer, and think back to the second chapter, you'll notice a lot of similarities. I used elements of the trailer in the story, though changing things up to match the Equestrian setting. After chapter two, everything from then on becomes original. I admit that I have never played FF XIV. I have no idea what actually happens in the game. I just made up my own explanations for everything.
Chapter twelve now ends the current arc of the story. Don't worry, there will be no filler or fluff bits, the next chapter will start the next arc.
I'll admit that I thought that after a year I'd be a little further along in the story. Only twelve chapters published, which boils down to one chapter a month. Yes, most of the chapters are over ten thousand words each and the whole thing is a hundred and forty thousand words, but I still feel like I could be writing chapters faster and still maintain the quality that I have. Of course, my long-suffering pre-reader, Sasha, would argue against that.
Speaking of Sasha, this story wouldn't be half of what it is without his work. He goes over every chapter and makes my wording better, suggests little changes that make big improvements. He deserves a lot more praise than I could ever give him.
Thanks also goes out to my editor, TheAspiringWriter93. The poor man is tasked with cleaning up my grammar.
Overall, I can say that at this point, I'm satisfied with DS. I think that I'm telling the story as best I can, and I like how it's turning out. Considering I am my own worst critic, that's not something I usually say about what I write.
DS has come a long way since the beginning, and there's still a long way to go yet. The adventure is really just beginning. I have many things in store for Twilight and her friends. Hopefully you'll enjoy the journey.
I'd like to give one last bit of thanks to TypewriterError. She's my most faithful reader. She's always there, encouraging me to keep going and to get that next chapter out. I always look forward to hearing what she has to say about each new chapter, to whatever feedback she gives me, positive or negative.
Now, to celebrate the ending of the arc, I'll be going through the chapters and just cleaning them up a bit, especially the early chapters before Writer came aboard as the editor. Nothing story wise will be changed, just some grammar cleanup. Also, I've secured a new piece of coverart for the story, which I'll be posting just after I publish this blog entry. 
A question for you, dear readers. If you could pick on scene from the first twelve chapters, any scene, to be drawn up as a piece of art, what scene would you pick? The reveal of the dragon? Celestia's final look? Perhaps Berry sitting upon Cadance's throne wearing her little crown. What would you like to see done as a piece of art?
Well, I think I've said all that I set out to say in this blog. It's been an amazing year writing this story, and I'm looking forward to continuing it. Hopefully, I'll see you all right next to me. Fasten your seat belts, it's gonna be a wild ride.
-DarkPhoenix
Hmm... Probably that moment where Twilight finds out everyone is ok. so many feels :3
I just say go big and do the entire scene with the dragon and army and the princesses and the mane 6... In a Ziom05 type style.