Ember | COMPLETE | Warrior Cats Fan-Fiction Novel

T R I V I A & F I N A L N O T E S

• Many of the characters, such as Nightwish and Pebblecloud, are "recycled" from that first failed fic.

• Pebblecloud is autistic. My sibling is on the spectrum, so I based her quirks and traits off of his.

• If you ever want to write about an autistic character, don't be afraid to message me so that I can help! Since it is a spectrum, it'll differ a little bit from what you may read online. I can give you tips on behavior and other random little things that I've picked up on considering that I have lived in the same house with an aspie all of my life.

• I didn't realize until it was too late that Thunderstrike's Clan would be named ThunderClan after him. This version of ThunderClan doesn't have any ties to the canon series and was purely an oopsie. That name technically belongs to the Erin Hunters.

• For another plot twist, Emberstorm's deceased apprentice was going to be her secret daughter, and she would be killed by Windripple because he found out.

• There are probably some eye color discrepancies in the book. If you spotted one, let me know!

• I wrote chapters 4 - 6 during a charter in the British Virgin Islands. I couldn't access Wattpad due to the lack of coverage and internet, so they were written in my Memo app.

• There was originally going to be romance in this book that kept on changing to different cats (I was struggling to decide who the love interest would be), but I just ended up cutting romance out. Her first love interest would be the TunnelClan warrior Sootcoat, but then I changed it to Mist. I settled on her, then decided that Emberstorm wouldn't return the feelings  before I finally dropped romance. Emberstorm is a strong, independent woman, and she don't need no man or woman. Well, tom or she-cat.

• This was originally going to be 30 chapters plus a prologue, then 31 without a prologue, and now it's 32 chapters. That is a very random number.

• This book takes place in the remote wilderness of Western Canada.

• Emberstorm was originally going to become deputy. She would either decline the offer or step down as a way to combat the cliche-ness of that trope. I then remembered that Brookstar had a deputy already, and that Emberstorm being offered such a role with her history would be unrealistic.

• I wish that I had chosen a place where the weather was more extreme or where it was even more remote. That would've been even more fun to write about!

• Emberstorm's original cause of death was going to be a random rogue attack when she was out with her apprentice. She would tell her to run while she held the intruders off, and that would cost Emberstorm her life.

• The blizzard was not in the original plan. The plot was getting dull, so I threw it in as a way to raise the stakes and spice it up. That also means that Falconswoop and Shrikeflight weren't originally planned to die.

• Emberstorm's constant vomiting and fainting started as a result of anxiety, but it eventually became a physical problem as her body was accustomed to it. This made her grow weaker and weaker and develop more problems.

• I wrote way ahead. For example, when I had just published Chapter 19, I was already writing Chapter 32.

• I accidentally screwed up chord vs. cord before it hit me. Same with bow vs. bough. If you spotted an error, please let me know!

• Emberstorm died of heart failure because of her malnourishment.

• I almost killed Shrouding Cloud off --- I even had a planned death scene --- but I decided that Emberstorm needed some side characters to keep her company. I killed off most of them, soooo...

• Ember has had four different covers, including this one. The one I have right now is obviously my favorite. It still has some problems, though.

• I completely winged the final 10 or so chapters as the plot outline was a disaster.

• The phenomenon that Emberstorm and Sparkpaw saw when leaving TunnelClan is called a snow devil. They're when high winds kick up dry snow and basically form a harmless, stationary tornado of snow. They're rare, but I saw one once on vacation. You may have heard of dust devils, which are the same thing but with (shocker) dust.

• Blaze and Emberstorm had feelings for each other, but neither acted on nor voiced them. I probably made it too obvious.

• Writing was completed on November 2nd.

• Asterpaw would go on to be Asterrain, Loonpaw would be Loonflight, Wrenpaw would be Wrenflower, and Pikapaw would be Pikatuft.

• Ravensplash was originally going to randomly die at the end from wounds. However, similar to the case with Emberstorm, I decided that she needed a more meaningful death.

• The symptoms that Emberstorm was experiencing towards the end, such as bloating and vomiting pink phlegm, were all signs of heart failure.

• There was a massive publishing gap between April and August because I was dealing with my rapidly declining mental health, and I spend the summers in an area with poor internet connection. Also, I was totally stuck on Chapter 9.

• MountainClan cats were mixes of Norwegian forest cats, Maine coons, and Siberians. However, they were not purebreds.

• Emberstorm survived the fall in the crevasse because the snow that caved in created a cushion for her to land on. Saskatoon wasn't so lucky.

• Not including author's notes and the Allegiances, the total word count of Ember is 104,869!

Author's Note:

      Holy crap. I gave a big, long speech in my announcements, but here we go again.

     Writing Ember has really been a life-saver. When all other passion fizzled out for things I once enjoyed, writing has been the constant. I loved creating MountainClan, MoonClan, and TunnelClan and the world-building of them. I also thoroughly enjoyed crafting the characters, and I've grown pretty attached to Emberstorm. It's going to be so weird leaving her behind and tucking her away. I'm constantly thinking about her and how to improve her and make her grow, etcetera. I'm going to miss that angry cat.

      I can't believe that I actually did it. I wrote a 104,000+ words novel and 33 chapters. I've worked on this for a year and a half, and as I've said before, I went through a long phase where I stopped. After 2 or 3 months, though, I came back and continued dedicatedly until Ember was done.

     Thank you to all who made it here and stuck with me through the gag-worthy ups and downs of this book. I appreciate you more than you could ever understand!

Other books:

• Out of the Pines (complete)

• Warriors Fan-Fiction Guide (complete)

• One Moon (WIP)