Fan Fiction, Fun Facts, and More

THE COUNTDOWN- Already planned!

For my book,The Countdown, I wish I could say I came up with everything on the fly. Whoever can do that, I admire you a lot.

This was a 'fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants' kind of book, so whatever I wrote did come strictly from my own head. However, like any good story, some good structure must exist for anything to work. While a great majority of the book was written from random ideas or from ideas you guys suggested, there were some things I had planned on from almost the very beginning, but I wasn't quite sure how to worm into the book until the chapter finally came up.

1) Po and Tigress'...first...kiss

I had planned from the very start of the book to have these two kiss in a small underground tunnel that had an avalanche. I had also planned to have Mantis and Crane there, but that didn't happen. (Hey, sacrifices must be made). But that first kiss spot was a necessity on my list. I didn't know how I was going to pull it off, but it was going to happen! That was their first kiss! Period! Don't ask why I created this scenario. I just popped into my head and I liked it so much I wanted it in the book permanently.

2) Bao is Mei-Mei's adopted son

So, this one wasn't here from the direct beginning of the book, but when little Bao popped up, I already knew he was staying with Mei-Mei. I don't know what it was; they were mommy and baby.

3) Tai Lung shows Po him and Tigress' first born child. (Their son).

Once the first chinese trailer popped up, this came into my head. Tai Lung happens to be one of my favorite characters in this franchise, whether still his evil and arrogant self or his kind and sweet self we read about in fan fiction. (Or see in the flashback). Why? He's as cool as heck, but that's not important. This whole thing with Oogway training Po with balance came into my head from reading various fan theories about the third movies theme. Balance came with Po's two dads. They're family. Family turned into baby. Hence the scene where Tai Lung gives Po his future son where his training commences. I didn't plan on the other baby, but the boy I did plan!

4) Mei-Mei mocking and upsetting Tigress

Ever since I saw a first glimpse of Po's fiancee, Mei-Mei, I knew her and Tigress were going to be rivals in this book. For some reason though, especially with this whole issue on family and that fun, fancy stuff, I thought that having Mei-Mei mock Tigress on family issues and her liking Po was going to be important. Now, the final version has a much more subtle way of doing it than I liked, but I still liked it.

5) Scorpion and Mr. Ping getting back together + Shifu and Mei-Ling getting back together

This idea came a little later, but I did want these two couples to get back together. (Shifu and Mei-Ling actually got together while I was writing the book, so some changes had to be made to that scenario). They're not the main focus, but I still liked it.