Final Days (MCSM Fanfiction)

Things You Didn't Know About This Book!

A quick note before we start: My next fanfiction, Possessed, comes out on the 24th of June!
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Haven't done one of these since SBTL, but I had a lot of small things about this book and it's creation process I wanted to share! So, here are some things you didn't know about Final Days!

- It started on a super busy morning, when I was watching YouTube while drawing. I began watching a really old playthrough of The Long Dark, by StacyPlays.
I didn't know anything about the game at that point, but immediately fell in love with the concept of the character's plane crashing, and them having to survive in the cold, hostile wilderness. The more I watched Stacy play the game and her struggle for survival in it, the more I wanted to write a story similar to it.

- I slightly lost interest in writing this book, around the fourth chapter. I wrote chapter 5 during my "write ten pages a day" challenge last December, and regained so much motivation for this book that I finished it in a matter of weeks. I had way more fun than intended!

- The wolf that attacked Petra in the gas station in Chapter 6, was inspired by two different parts of The Long Dark. First being Fluffy, a wolf who would spawn inside a building known as the Carter Hydro Dam, and attack unsuspecting players who entered.
But what really gave me the idea to add the wolf, was when StacyPlays made a base inside an abandoned gas station. In the comments, a lot of people were telling her to find a different base, since they have encountered a glitch where wolves spawn inside the gas station. Stacy never moved bases and I was constantly on edge and waiting for  jumpscare - which never came XD

- The whole concept of Petra staying in a gas station, was inspired by the Quonset Gas Station in the Long Dark, where Stacy had a base. But it's design in my head represents the Orca Gas Station, also from the Long Dark, more than than Quonset. A fun fact for those who know the game! 

- Petra's death was inspired by another scene from Stacy's playthrough, where she barely survived a wolf attack. The game character had a few percent condition left and was quickly bleeding out. As Stacy was frantically trying to find a way to stop the character from dying, they said something along the lines of "I'm going to die out here" and Stacy immediately responded by desperately saying no, she'd find a way to save them.
And yeah, that lead to me imagining that scene between two characters, which eventually lead to the scene between Petra and Olivia before Petra's death!

- I knew from the start I wanted to kill characters off, but originally only about two members of the Order was going to die. It was going to be Axel and somebody, although I was having several internal battles for who the second victim was going to be.

- There was originally going to be a bear sighting really early in the book, but due to the way I ended up writing it, it didn't end up happening and I scrapped that detail.

- The thing I dislike most about this book, is how I approached the topic of the meteor. I knew roughly what I wanted to go with, but uh I think it's obvious that I kinda struck a blank when it came to that.
This is me wanting a source to the problem as cool as the geomagnetic storm from The Long Dark, but not wanting to copy the game's storyline. Big flop, lol. But the rest of the story still came out okay, even with that tiny anti-climax!

- The hardest part of this book was killing Petra, and that's no secret XD

- I really overthought the initials of the mysterious woman who used to live in the cabin, because I didn't want anybody to link her to a character.
Somebody still ended up linking C.S. to CaptainSparklez tho, but I think it became pretty obvious that that obviously wasn't it xD

- I originally wanted Rascal to be in this book, but I'm really glad I didn't add him. Because holy hell, ya'll can imagine how heartbreaking that would have ended up being.

- I really struggled to name this book, and I still think the name is a little unoriginal. If I ever end up doing a rewrite, ya'll can be certain it'll have a new name!

- I have considered writing an alternate version to the story, where the Order actually makes it to the refuge and the plot is focused on how things would have played out then. But I really don't know where I'd go with a story like that, so I kind of threw the idea aside.

Uhhh, is that all? I think it is!

Over all this is one of my favourite books I have so far, even with its plot holes. There's a lot of room for improvement, and I'd love to have a go at a rewrite in the future!
But for now, we have other stories coming-

I just want to give a big thank you to everybody who read, commented and voted on this book! It's been a bit of a hectic time for me, trying to juggle everything I have going on, but reading all your excited comments really motivated me to keep getting its chapters out on time!

Thank ya'll so much for the support!

See you on Monday with Possessed!