Current Project: Testing Fate

The concept behind Testing Fate first came to me around 2004 when I was thinking of a story about someone who could travel through dimensions, and one of these would be FFVII. A few chapters were written for this in 2005, but later scrapped.

Sometime after leaving that project behind, I began to think about one of the most pivotal moments in the FFVII story, the death of Aeris and the effect that it had on all who played the game. Needless to say, there are countless fics out there about her being somehow revived or someone mourning her after the game. But what really got to me was not the fics themselves, but how many players wanted her to live again. Then I thought that none of these players could reverse her death, but what if they tried to stop it? What if someone who played the game actually had a chance to save Aeris? Would they do it? Could they do it? Even though it could well alter all of the following events? Was it even possible? What if they failed? What if they succeeded? etc.

Anyhow, that was basically the beginning of Testing Fate (and the title as well), which can be seen to an extent by John's worry when it comes to Aeris's future and his determination to save her. Later on, I thought of the characters who did not get much development throughout the story, such as Rufus, and decided to link him to John if I could and develop him further. With this, I eventually got the idea of covering all the sides, such as Sephiroth and Jenova, Rufus, the Turks, etc. Along the way, I tried to fill in some holes, such as Sephiroth's journey and the events at Shinra Headquarters. If I had to pinpoint the key characters in Testing Fate, it would probably be John, Aeris, Cloud and Rufus at this point. The concept behind John's 'voices' came during one of my musings, and that's all I can say on that without revealing too much.

One final key came to me when I was reading some self-insert fics and noticed that the new guy just seemed to fit into the party like he was a piece of the puzzle. After reading a similar scenario several times, I decided to try a different approach and by bringing John's origin and knowledge closer to the front, and focus on the how the other characters react to his reluctance to reveal more about himself and his acts to try to alter fate, as well as his efforts to keep his knowledge a secret.

Testing Fate is also the first story of a trilogy that I will hopefully complete. The current title of the second installment is 'Go Your Own Way' (named after the 1977 Fleetwood Mac Song of the same name) and the final installment is called 'The Third Decade'.

I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude towards anyone who has taken the time to read this story and know that your words are always welcome.