An Ocean Turned Crimson (A Shingeki No Kyojin Fanfic)

Damn, Two Years Already

On June 13rg 2014, I posted the first proper part of a fanfic that would help shape my reputation as a writer – An Ocean Turned Crimson, a modern AU fanfic based upon Shingeki No Kyojin / Attack on Titan. It was originally a premise that I didn't believe would get much attention and didn't deserve such an incredible cover ((made by Bae #1 – Levee_Ayzis)) due to it not including any canon characters at all, people that shared traits with them, yes. But none that were 100% the same character, the closest I had was Hot Corporal = Levi, but even then Knight and Levi do have very significant differences, and anybody who has read AOTC would probably be able to name at least one.

The fanfic itself was an ongoing work from June 13th 2014 until 22nd December 2014. By February of 2015 I was already conspiring with my friends to make a novel out of AOTC because of the success it received in the Christmas AWAs and the SnK Watty Awards and was initially discouraged to continue it as an original because I could invest my talents in telling a completely different story and just leave Annie Coy and her friends be. But I'm a stubborn little shit and therefore began to novelise AOTC in February on my Gmail account but only fully invested myself in it once the exams were over in June. After three redrafts I found myself renaming the story to Crying Scarlet Tears and got Katsu to make me an amazing cover for it – I will totally be harassing you to make one for the new version Katsu ;)

I have embarked on one hell of a journey with Annie Coy and her friends from the port-town – Zada, Carley, Brad, Tom and Harry, going from telling the story of some deranged weaboos as they encountered real titans, to creating a whole new fictional world to evoke their fear – though those creatures were still heavily titan inspired. The characters were OP but the storyline and humour made it a fast favourite of my closest friends at the time; Ryan, Dennise, Allan and Katie. I was eager to allow them to contribute to the story so I allowed them each to create a character to engage in the plot – if any of you knew Ryan back in 2014, it was rather clear that their character was Ty'. Dennise's character was Catherine, Allan's was the minor character Axel Perry and Katie's was the lovable Gwen French. I had complete freedom to do as I pleased with these characters and chose to take advantage of that; making the dramatic fall of Tyla Ackerman and her CST counterpart, Chris, the climax of the story.

But in CST I was able to create so much more than the story most of you know and loved back in 2014. I've changed up the dynamic considerably and can no longer imagine Dylan Chambers being:

1. Nice

2. Not an asshole

3. A love interest for Annie freaking Coy – instead of his one true love **** ********

Another cool thing I added to CST was the character of Amira Demir, a hijab wearing muslim who is the physical embodiment of sarcasm and sass. She is nowhere near as passive as media stereotypes would make her out to be and has a heart of gold hidden beneath her sass shield. Amira Demir does so much in the second half of CST which I cannot bear to spoil for you, but those reasons are the main ones as to why Amira Demir is one of my favourite characters in the CST universe.

Another good thing that the fans of AOTC would have to look forward to when reading CST would be one of my original work OTPs; Amai, formerly known as Alissa with the genderbent goldilocks, Blaise Belle. You heard me you guys! Blaise x Alissa! Blaise x Amai! It holds my heart and I have no regrets!

I am super excited about what the future holds for CST – to be honest, at the start of 2016,I had admitted defeat and that CST would probably remain as is once I had finished telling Dylan's half of the story – where the characters go to England to find out what Meredith had in store for them two years ago. But recently, I realised a correlation between CST and another original of mine, Pandemic. Both stories were becoming considerably less enjoyable as time progressed, and that meant I was reluctant to work on the story. To fix that, I decided that once I had finished telling the original idea of CST, I would rewrite the entire work and merge it with Pandemic. Not only that,but I would be narrating it from multiple perspectives, not just Annie Coy's and Dylan Chambers'. Instead, I aim to follow the lives of Chris and Catherine, as well as Amai, Blaise and Durc as I retell the stories of CST and Pandenmic from scratch just like I have done twice before!

I'm sorry for prattling on about this stuff but I am incredibly proud to be celebrating the second birthday of this story!