July 9, 2019
This section goes over prophecies specifically, not the plots they are attached to. It assumes your reader has not started reading your story, so it may be of varying help if you are halfway through publishing it.
Let me get my personal opinion on prophecies out of the way first: I do not like them. As in, I do not like them as an inevitability. If the prophecy has to happen that specific way, then where is the suspense? If it can never be disproven then what is the point? If they are there to throw readers into a series of red herrings or if they are not solid bound-by-lore-magic truth, then they are more acceptable. But that is not the case in Warriors. It was not the case in Guardians of Ga'Hoole. It is not the case in almost every single work of fantasy that has them. And it is not the case for your fanfictions.
That being said, almost every single Warriors fanfic in existence has one. I am in a clear count-on-one-hand minority in my opinion of them. Our canon has dozens of prophecies that its entire universe hinges on, so it makes sense we use them, too. Let me help you improve them.
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PROPHECIES IN WARRIORS
A prophecy is a plot device used as a call to action for some or most of the major events in a story. Plenty of longer works like The Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter are based on prophetic predictions and omens. These things, whether prophecy or not, drive the story forward by giving a reason for our characters to act. In Warriors, literal prophecies foretold by the universe's gods, StarClan, are used.
The events of the first four arcs were based on the prophecy "fire alone can save our clan." In the end, it told of an orange-coated cat leading ThunderClan through certain ruin. And exactly that happened. Firestar saw ThunderClan through one of the toughest times in cat clan history. The moment the first book referred to Rusty's orange-hued fur, we knew it was him; that and he was the main character.
The first prophecy worked so well because it arguably spanned the series in a meaningful way. No, it does not follow through to A Vision of Shadows, but that is because the Warriors was supposed to end with Omen of the Stars. Through that arc, it follows to the end. There are many events that happen between the first and last book that are not related, but these are treated as subplots or are even given their own books to keep from deviating too far from the main prophecy. The second reason it worked was its simplicity. This does not have to detract from depth, especially from something that may have to span a whole novel or a series of them. In that case, it should not be too straightforward in its execution. Bluestar was just being stupid when she thought her medicine cat was predicting a forest fire instead of the rust-colored cat that she herself made an apprentice (in her defense a forest fire did happen and it arguably changed things for the better, but that is another debate).
There are dozens of prophecies and omens to make examples of, but everyone knows the first one. We do derive quite a few of ours from variations of it, and sometimes we stick a little too close to it. Other times, we just have at it and include whatever we can.
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PROPHECIES IN FANFICTIONS
I find that prophecies in fanfictions are not as well executed as the ones used in canon. Often, they take far too much from canon prophecies or copy them outright. This is only bad because it has already been done in canon. If you copy one of their prophecies but change the words, it is easily deduced by a fan who read the books (which is all of them).
Here are some example prophecies found in fanfics on Wattpad, Deviantart, and fanfiction_net. These are copied exactly as the original authors wrote them:
"Moon and stone will save the Clans"
"There will be three, born against the code, who will save the Clans from the darkest threat."
"Black will rip Petal to shreds. Shadows will take your clan. One can save them with the force of Fire."
"A young kit who holds the power of the stars in her paws will stop the setting sun of Ember."
"The darkness was never meant to be, and two cats, high and proud will lead and destroy."
The first and second examples are close to how most writers in this fandom write their prophecies. Problem is they are a bit too simple. In the first, we just have to look for cats with 'moon' or 'stone' in their names and we have our main characters. In the second, we only need to find the cats given up for adoption, abandoned at another clan's border, or kits of strays, kittypets, and rogues. Finding our main subjects in both of these prophecies is simple. It is exactly how "fire alone can save our clans" was set up. Using a similar prophecy reminds our readers of this canon one, and now they can guess our main characters by their physical features, names, or circumstances of their birth. Worse yet, the story can predictably mimic the overarching plot of the first four canon arcs.
The third example has a problem with being too confusing. It is not hard to understand (or predict), but it is hard to discern the important parts of the three unrelated events referenced. If we broke that third prophecy into three smaller ones, they could each stand as their own parts or books. The events do not mix into each other very well unless each event happens one after the other; that may be even worse than the prophecy being simply busy. If the 'Shadows' take a clan after 'Black rips Petal to shreds', then the author has just given away major plot elements. And if the plot rides the prophecy like the canon ones did in Omen of the Stars, your readers have a predictable and busy novel ahead of them.
The fourth example holds up the best as is. Our main character would be an obvious choice for this mystery she-kit, but it could be another born halfway through the story should the author choose. Options are left open. The 'power of the stars' could also be anything as far as powers are concerned. There is just one issue that puts it in these examples; the others suffer from this problem, too. 'Ember' is given off as a name, and we are told this Ember is 'the setting sun'. The moment a cat with 'ember' in their names shows, we know they will have to be stopped. It is common in Warriors fanfics for a main character (particularly a littermate or a mentor) to turn evil halfway through and become the antagonist. Whoever this 'ember' cat is has just been tagged as the antagonist. Sure there is room to throw readers for a good twist (like if 'ember' were a good but naive clan leader or something) but it will likely not turn out this way. Our kit has powers and/or a connection to StarClan. Our reader's expectations are altered to think a certain way of this prophecy now.
The fifth example has some of the same problems as the first and second, but is worded better than either of them; it is not irredeemable by any means. We know something will happen to disrupt the peace of the clans in this story, and that this something will give rise to two cats (not hinting at who they could be is a nice touch) who will lead and destroy. We assume one will be our protagonist and one will be our evil antagonist. Problem is it seems we will have to force this 'darkness'. It will have to be evil and destructive, enough to get our 'lead' main character's attention. Ultimately this prophecy hinges on name drops and circumstances of birth, just like the first two examples. It is not super easy to predict like them, but it is once we have all of the proper information. The mystery and potency of this prophecy would wear down as the story progresses, which is not what we want from something that is supposed to carry the plot all the way through the story.
We have just gone over the things that can detract from prophecies and, by extension, our stories. But how can we write better ones when canon has pretty much used the underlying idea many fanfic plots are derived from (that is, a cat saving a clan from a rising threat)?
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BUILDING ON YOUR PROPHECY
I encourage all of you looking to improve your prophecies bounce ideas around as to how you want your plot and characters to progress. Adjust your unwanted prophecy rather than scrap it at first. Many of the obvious or busy ones can be fixed by simply changing our syntax or tone a bit.
For our example prophecy, we will use the first one from the list above and compare it to the first canon prophecy from Into The Wild (along with a list of the other prophecies so you do not have to scroll up too far):
"There will be three, born against the code, who will save the Clans from the darkest threat."
"Black will rip Petal to shreds. Shadows will take your clan. One can save them with the force of Fire."
"A young kit who holds the power of the stars in her paws will stop the setting sun of Ember."
"The darkness was never meant to be, and two cats, high and proud will lead and destroy."
* "Fire alone can save our clan."
* "Moon and stone will save the Clans"
The starred prophecies are telling you the exact same thing. The fanfiction prophecy is clearly mimicking the canon one. However, the canon one holds up a little better for a few reasons.
The first is not as obvious at first glance: you can replace the word 'will' as a linking verb. This is one part where the canon's use of StarClan in later arcs hurts your fanfic (more on that in another section). We know the power they are capable of. Using the word 'will' is a guarantee something will happen because StarClan says it so. Almost all of the examples above use will as a linking verb. While it is not a problem in all of them, it is in some. And it is the easiest fix we can do:
"Moon and stone can save the Clans"
"Moon and stone must save the Clans"
"Moon and stone should save the Clans."
Changing nothing but our linking verb, we have made our prophecy sound a bit better. Using the word is not wrong from a grammar standpoint, but it does imply something else. From our audience's point of view, 'will' implies StarClan will take action or that our main character will likely be the hero. Replacing that word is a simple act that can go a little way to making our prophecy sound a bit more ominous.
Another thing we can do is add descriptive, abstract details. Normal writing advice would tell you to avoid using purple prose or needless description wherever you can, unless an in-universe moment calls for it. This is one of those times. StarClan speaks in riddles with most of their prophecies and omens, and so can you:
"The stone, only under a full moon, can save the clans"
"The light as guide and the stone as guard must save the clans."
"Only by the will of the moon above and stones below can the clans be saved."
The first implies that an abstract 'stone' object or character can save the clans, but only under a full moon. We no longer know what this 'moon' could be, but we do know the 'stone' must work with it if it is to succeed. The second still implies two cats, but they are given the roles of guide (the 'light') and the guard (the 'stone'). They have been given more prominence in our story and have hinted at them being our main characters. And the third gives an ultimatum of sorts to the clans in question; they must follow through on their prophecy. In this case the 'moon' and 'stones' do not imply cats, leaving things open for interpretation for both the characters in the story and our audience. A few descriptive words can really make our prophecy stand out as ominous and unpredictable.
The third tip is to simply avoid using proper nouns in our prophecies, or hinting at names. While our revised prophecies are coming along nicely, we could still be implying names. But this goes for all prophecies. Check back with the examples above. Notice how many capitalize nouns or imply name prefixes or suffixes. These are dead giveaways to our audience to look for specific characters who will do exactly what the prophecy states. This could spoil plot points and events before we even get to them, as the actions of the prophecy may force them to take the route that should otherwise be a choice for them and an unknown resolution for our readers.
"Beware an enemy who seems to sleep."
This is the prophecy from Rising Storm in The Prophecies Begin arc. It warns that Tigerclaw is still a threat, even after being banished from ThunderClan. While we as readers knew that we had not seen the last of him, his name is not hinted at. No proper nouns are given. Even Fireheart thought it referred to a disease going around ShadowClan (that idiot). This omen works because of its implied ambiguity. Our enemy could have been anything the Erins wanted. If our prophecies and omens were written in such a way, we could have much more freedom to bend them around later in the story. Now, back to our re-revised prophecy examples:
"By light it must be revealed. By will it must be crushed. Only then can the clans be safe."
"The path must be lit; only then can the darkness be found and crushed under the might of the clans."
"Before the darkness can be crushed, the path to it must be lit by those above, among, and below."
By not using possible name prefixes or suffixes in our prophecies, we are removing an easy way for our readers to predict and interpret them. We want them to struggle a little as to what these words could mean. They have even become a bit more outlandish. They imply new story elements, like battles, teamwork, and direct assistance from StarClan. These prophecies are more our own and a part of the plot rather than something tacked on out of perceived necessity or to satisfy the plot we had already written.
So after all that, we come out with three different potential prophecies. We go from this:
"Moon and stone will save the Clans"
To this:
"Before the darkness can be crushed, the path to it must be lit by those above, among, and below."
The other two written along with the one I personally think is best work as well. Either way, our prophecy is less obvious to a reader at first glance, more ambiguous, and more interesting to read. Those three small rules can really turn around a prophecy that may be too busy or predictable. They have broken us away from the format used in canon and have allowed us to better incorporate them into our story as we go about writing it.
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IN CONCLUSION...
So we have learned how the canon prophecies word themselves, then how they are mimicked in fanfics. With some syntax editing and broader thinking, we have made the prophecy more our own without getting rid of its core message. Most importantly, we did not have to scrap it and start over. All from changing around a few words. Remember, it is okay if our readers eventually figure it out. They should around the same time our prophecy's subject does, or a little after. As long as they cannot guess the end of your story before they have finished the beginning, it is fine. On a related note, I advise you leave your prophecy out of your book description. Reveal it in your story, not before it starts.
We do not need complex prophecies, just mysterious ones. An omen from the gods should rattle your audience just as it does the characters in question.
- Tyto