Author's Note

With this fifth instalment of my "Land Before Time Retold" series completed, I guess this would be considered something of a milestone. To celebrate the completion of five stories, I would like to take this opportunity to say a few things.

First off, I guess you are wondering how this series came about in the first place. Well, I would have to say it was the nostalgia of my childhood. I remember when I was younger, I used to pretend that I was in movies whenever I watched them. My most vivid memories of pretending to be in the story of the movie were of the "Land Before Time" series. I absolutely loved that series as a kid. However, I only saw the movies 1 – 7 before I became a teenager.

Sadly, when I reached my teenaged years, I started to drift away from the series. Worst, I followed the crowd that said there were "too many sequels", and started to have a negative outlook on the series. I even got embarrassed at just the very mention of the movies, or even dinosaurs. Now that was just pitiful of me.

However, that all changed during my freshman year of college.

One night, after being so stressed from finals and writing papers, I got the idea of going back and watching some movies I haven't seen in a while. And the first movie that came into my head was "Land Before Time: Journey Through the Mists". Although I had some vague memories of that movie, I had forgotten some of it.

But man, am I glad I decided to go back and watch it.

The nostalgia was glorious. I loved it.

After that, I went back and watched all of the movies. I soon realized that it was foolish of me to just pass the series off as just something for kids. They actually touch upon some themes that are really powerful. And another thing I love about the series is that heart of the series is family, friendship, and doing the right thing. Not to mention, I love the characters. They all have their differences, they balance each other as a group, and each have their own development and growth as characters over the series.

The series was very refreshing and I'm glad I got back into it. And especially after reading so much heavy and depressing literature for four months, it was great to turn to something hopeful and uplifting.

After my freshman year of college, I started to wonder what the series would be like if a human was introduced into this world. It was something that I had always been curious about. And I suspected that a lot of other people did, too. So simply out of the sake of curiosity and my own enjoyment, I decided to make a story of my own with that idea. Essentially what I did was that I just took the vague memories of my childhood playacting, made a few modifications, and incorporated them into the first story. Now, I didn't expect this story to get a lot of attention, as I figured that the fanbase of this series was relatively small. I only expected to get maybe ten or so reviews.

Boy, was I in for a surprise. I soon realized just how big this fanbase really was.

By the time I was half-way done with the first Retold story, I had over a hundred reviews, and I quickly noticed that it was gaining popularity. This was something I wasn't intending on.

Fortunately, this inspired me to continue on with the series. And the more I continued with it, the more I wanted to develop it. I wanted to add my own lore to the series, while also keeping true to the original intention of the series that Lucas, Spielberg, and Bluth had created in the beginning.

So that's how much of what you see so far came about.

For example, Chomper's lineage was something I had in mind since the end of the of the first story. I wanted to explore an "ironic twist of fate" idea in which Chomper was Sharptooth's nephew. One of the reasons I did this was because, well, he's one of my top ten favorite characters (also in the top five). But also because I loved the idea of someone who is the Gang's closest friend and ally, is actually related to the same T-Rex that had tried to kill them in the first movie. However, Chomper's desire to never become like his uncle, and to create a new era of peace, is what separates him from Sharptooth.

And while Sharptooth isn't around in a physical sense, his tyranny has still stained the land, and will continue to follow our heroes throughout the series. So in a way, Sharptooth is still the central antagonist, even in death. And it's his past actions that really drive this story, at least a subplot of it.

As for the Predator Rage, the idea came later in the series when I realized that carnivores in this world have just as much of a culture of their own as the herbivores did. It got me curious as to what their culture would be like. Why was becoming the "Walking Terror" something that many carnivores would want to obtain? What made Sharptooth such a killer in the first place that he was feared by those of his own kind as well? I didn't just want to make Sharptooth two-dimensional. And by adding this element, it made him an even more tragic character, thus making him more interesting than just some mindless killer.

And with Chomper having Predator Rage as well, kind of symbolic to show that he has the similar attributes to his uncle, only he uses his skills to fight for the ones he cares about, not to dominate or exert his power over others.

As for my OCs, I'm very glad that they have been very well received.

Aylene's journey and character growth has been very enjoyable to work with. She may have started out as just a vehicle for recapturing my childhood, but over time, she grew into a character of her own. And that is very satisfying to see. It was great to see her grow into the person she is now: brave, strong, protective, and compassionate. Sure, she's a bit naïve, but hey, she's only fourteen. And that just gives her more room for character development. After all, she's gotta have flaws to be a well-rounded character. ;)

And what's great is that she will continue to grow, just like her friends.

However, I think my most successful character is Derek. The reason I say that is because he started out as an overbearing older brother that nobody wanted to see return. But during the course of the third story, he became a character that people wanted to see return. And while I was sad that Derek couldn't be a main character in the fourth story, it was nice to see that you, the readers, wanted to see him return later and that you had grown to care for him. And rest assured, Derek will be in many more stories to come.

As for Ken, I wanted to create a character like him for many reasons. One, that whole thing of an equal/opposite character of Aylene. He's "equal" in that he has a Time Stone, has knowledge of this world, and his best friends with an Apatosaurus, just like Aylene. And he's "opposite" in that he's a boy, the herd he's associated with is migrating instead of living in one place, and he only has one best friend in the herd. But like Aylene, he grew into a character of his own.

The other reason was that I wanted to show that there are other Time Stone users out there. And that opens up another mystery for our characters to solve.

And bonus fact about Ken. I based his name off of Kenneth Mars, the late voice-actor for Grandpa Longneck. (Rest in peace Kenneth Mars and John Ingles).

And who knows, Ken and Ali just might get a story of their own. That's a strong possibility anyway. ;)

Last of all, Battle Scar and his pack, which are technically half-OCs and half-FCs. They are actually the Baryonyx antagonists from the thirteenth movie, "Wisdom of Friends". However, I made them secondary protagonists for a few reasons. One, I found out that Baryonyx were actually fish-eating dinosaurs. That gave me the idea of exploring other predatory dinosaurs in that world that weren't evil or out for revenge.

The second chose them was because I'll be omitting some stories from the original movie series. The ones I have confirmed on omitting are the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth. However, there are some characters from those movies I wanted to save, and Battle Scar was one of them. Originally, he was going to be antagonistic and was going to come later, but I decided to make him a secondary protagonist instead and introduce him in this story. I'm really glad I decided to do that, because he and his pack are going to play some major roles in later stories.

As for the Time Stone and that settlement on the island, there are many more mysteries to come. All I can say is that Aylene has only scratched the surface of what this stone is capable of doing. She and her friends have just started discovering the secrets of the Time Stones and their connection to this world. Some secrets are small, but there are some big ones. You'll just have to wait and see what happens. ;)

As for other twists and turns in the story, there's more of those to come as well.

And last, but certainly not least, I want to sincerely thank all of you for coming along on this adventure with me. You've all been very supportive, gave me great feedback in your reviews, and were very patient when I became slow on updates. I've had a lot of fun creating this story, and it wouldn't have been possible without all of you. If it wasn't for all of your views, support, feedback, and reviews, I wouldn't have gotten this far. I'm really happy I could create a story that could connect to readers. That is the greatest success that I could have as a writer. And thanks to all of you, I have confidence that I will become a successful writer when I publish my own book series someday.

Thank you all very much for coming along! :D

As a bonus, I've got some questions for you guys. This is so I can continue to write better in the future, and give me some things to consider that might help this series.

1. What is your favorite story/stories so far and why? (Pick two at most)

2. Who are your top ten favorite characters and why?

3. Who is your favorite character overall and why?

4. What do you feel is my greatest strength in terms of writing?

5. What do you feel is an area I need to work on the most?

Again, thank you all for everything! :D

Now stay tuned for more of "Land Before Time Retold". This story is far from over. ;)

Stay tuned for the next installment, "Secret of Saurus Rock Retold".

Oh, one more thing. I want to thank MaggieHeartsLove for making the cover of the story for me. Thanks a million. :)

I hope to continue to entertain you all, and I hope that you will continue to come along on this journey.

Have a Good Day! :D