Author's Closing

So that's the end of "Zootopia: A New Adventure"! As I said earlier, this was my first story and I honestly didn't believe so much would come from this. I've almost hit 15,000 views total which is absolutely insane! On top of that, I've received so much great support from the readers of this story. I'm writing this chapter to share some of my thoughts about the story and if you'd like to leave your ending thoughts then that would be very much appreciated.

Never before have I written such a lengthy piece of fiction. Because of this, I was new to character development over a long time frame so I told myself that if I wanted to be effective at showing each character, I had to get to the character on a really personal level. Luke, being the protagonist, was the most challenging for me to conceive. I didn't want to make him a "perfect" character; where everything would go right for him and he had a flawless personality. In my opinion, those types of characters ultimately result in the story to feel dry. I wondered how I could make Luke, a flawed character, seem completely genuine and then that's when it hit me; why not put myself into the story? I decided that I would ultimately be the protagonist of the story and that would be the best way to let me run wild with the character. Obviously, Luke is not my real name but I made some of my traits Luke's traits. For example: the interest in medicine, the puns, even some of his insecurities were all parts of me that I decided to use to shape Luke. I also planned out Luke's character specifically to be a wolf because wolves are my favorite animal. I am not a furry but if you are then I'm not going to judge you. If that's you then that's you and who am I to say anything against your personality.

A lot of parts of the plot came as last-minute changes as I was writing or sometimes just happened to cross my mind and make me undergo a change of heart. One of the most significant plot changes was the situation of Luke's almost-return to Earth. I wanted a big incident between Sarah and Luke but I wasn't quite sure what I'd like to have happen. Originally, I wasn't going to have a fight happen between them and instead I would have Luke, Sarah, Nick, and Judy travel to Earth in search of Dr. Meles (who had not yet been revealed as evil and had never been infected by rabies). They would travel to Earth where, on a bridge over a gorge, they would meet Meles. I had planned for Meles to shove Sarah off the bridge to her death in the gorge and leave Luke heartbroken, only for it later to be revealed that Sarah had used the pendant to save herself and travel back to Zootopia. I ultimately scrapped this idea because I felt that it was too cliché. I felt that a conflict between Luke and Sarah would ultimately be more effective because it allowed for you guys to see Sarah's flaws as well in addition to making their relationship more realistic (because there is no perfect relationship. There will always be fights).

This next point addresses something that I've seen a lot of in the reviews: will there be a sequel? The truth is I don't know. I don't think I'll be able to write for a while since school just started up for me and I'm in the worst year of high school; junior year. I'm going to be swamped with work on a daily basis, so what little free-time I'll get I think I'll end up using to spend time with friends and family. This story was a summer project for me. I absolutely loved the movie Zootopia and after spending a while reading stories on this site, I decided to try my hand at writing. I had a great time writing the story but for now I'm saying that there won't be another story from me due to being so busy. However, I will keep my mind going about a potential plot I can use and if one comes up then I could possibly write a sequel. Who knows?

Lastly, I wanted to give a big thanks to all of you. Even if you just simply viewed the story or as went so far as to follow, favorite, and review it I give you all a great "thank you". I never expected that my story would reach 1,000 let alone almost 15,000 views! I saw some of you said that this story deserved more publicity and while that's flattering and all, I was never writing for the favorites. I was writing because it was something that I thoroughly enjoyed. I know I may have said to "follow, favorite, and review" but I stopped including those during the author's notes after I just simply got lost in the writing. I loved to receive reviews from you guys and I've been through every single one. I know some authors won't go through their reviews but I read every single word of them. It's the least I can do after you read every single word of what I had to show.

I really enjoyed writing this story for you guys. When I finished it, I read the entire story as a whole and I got misty-eyed at the end. Not only did I see the characters change throughout the course of the story but was incredible to see how my writing changed. If you're sad to see the story end, you're certainly not alone because it's sad for me too. I can't thank you guys enough for all the incredible support I've received. Thanks for being there through every chapter and good luck with any works of your own.

- determined725