Hello once again, everyone. First off, thanks for all the interesting feedback I got on my "Enormous FF7 AC Theory" post I made a few years back. It was informative to reread it and the development of ideas made on the questions I raised, particularly with the release of Crisis Core. Anyways...

I wanted to let all those who are interested know that I'm currently underway writing a novelization of the Final Fantasy 7 story. It seems that this announcement may open me to a great deal of FF7 hate, which I don't recall being in such force years ago, but, to me, I don't really care. My passion for writing the novel has been undimmed even given the difficulty of "translating" a video game to a science fiction/fantasy medium.

The reason I want to write the story of FF7 has three goals behind it:

- To share a deep and moving story that affected me personally with people who have never heard of it before.

- To edit and improve it to the point where it has an appeal to the average person, while still remaining completely true to the characters throughout their adventures.

- To both improve my own writing ability over time as I work on the project, and to potentially garner recognition and publishing experience when I finish and try to share my work with Squaresoft.

Now, the reason I'm sharing this with you all is because I want to try and satisfy every inclination of fans as well as open it up to strangers to the story. I want to ask you guys what you thought were interesting/moving parts of the story so that I make sure I include as many as I can. At the rate I'm going, the book will probably be split into three separate ones of 500+ pages each (tentatively sticking to the idea of a book for each disc). This will be done both to make publishing the book(s) more appealing to Squaresoft (who will reap more reward) and to insure that I give the story true justice, as well as cover intriguing side-plots such as Yuffie, Wutai, Vincent, etc.

So far the greatest major change I've decided on is that I will change radically or remove entirely Don Corneo, Cloud dressing up as a woman, and the Honeybee Manor. I decided on this both to help Westernize the story a little bit and to avoid those awkward scenes which seemed totally out of place and that represented a rather unbelievable side of Cloud's character. I'm willing to hear arguments against removing this minor portion of the game, as I have not actually reached this point in my writing, although I'm getting closer every day.

So let me know what you guys think, and any advice or suggestions you may have. I hope to be able to use this thread/forum as a place for such ideas and an area where I can bounce my own ideas/questions off of you all.

Thanks,

puddles123

As my first issue I've been wrestling with, I'd like to pose to you all the question of Jenova in writing. While I still have some ways to go until the first Jenova battle, I've been completely unable to think of how to describe what the Jenova monster looks like. The fleshy triangular monster of the FF7 game doesn't really make for a feasible or believable encounter on paper.

I've been toying with the idea of making the party fight an extremely unsettling version of Sephiroth instead, given Jenova's penchant within the game for taking on Sephiroth's form. It would be far more intimidating to fight Sephiroth, even though the group wouldn't know at this point that it isn't actually him, than to fight a giant fleshy blob. It would also lend an extra dose of fear to that final dramatic battle of the game in Northern Crater. I can imagine a scene where Barret or Cid scoff that they've beaten Sephiroth a few times before and can beat him again, and then Sephiroth says, "But you've never really fought me, before." I think it has some promise. Let me know what you guys think of this idea, as well as the ideas behind writing the novel in the first place, when you all get the opportunity. Thank you.

Uh oh.

At first I thought this was going to be a standard 'FFVII novelization' fanfiction which although the idea is somewhat cliched (there have been thousands of such fanfictions written over the past decade - do a search of www.fanfiction.net and see how many you find) would still be interesting to read (I write fanfiction myself, I'm just too lazy to finish most of them or share them on sites like Fanfiction.net ).

However, when I got to this part of your first post:


This will be done both to make publishing the book(s) more appealing to Squaresoft (who will reap more reward)

- alarm bells started ringing in my mind.

If you really are planning on submitting this to a publisher, a word of warning. No publisher will ever accept it, no matter how hard you try. Why? Because it's based on someone else's copyrighted work, and as such, is regarded as plagiarism.

Additionally, if you sent it to Square Enix claiming you wish to publish it, they will almost certainly call in their lawyers to serve you with a 'cease and desist' letter, as they keep a very tight reign on their Intellectual Properties (especially the FF titles), and have stated in the past they do not endorse nor accept third-party offers to produce official FF tie-ins.

Fan productions however are a grey area - Square Enix seem to actively encourage fan artwork at the FFXI Fan Festival and even run competitions so it seems if you want to write this, it is best to keep it as a fan fiction and not bother trying to get it published, as it will almost certainly end in disaster.

I'm sorry if this has come across as very harsh, as I am not trying to dissuade you from writing this. I just don't want to see you bear the brunt of Square Enix's legal wrath over it.

Incidentally, this should be in the Fanfiction section.

Well, let me add that I've taken that into consideration. When I say I wish to have it published, though, my own view on that is something along the line of me, in essence, handing over the entire thing to them for free and letting them reap all the rewards as they so choose. Maybe my understanding of copyright law is flawed, but I believe if I were to do that without desiring any financial compensation whatsoever (I would even be willing to remove my name from it) then why would they have any legal issues with that? It would be as if an entire novel popped up on their desk for them to use as they would, or to discard it entirely. If they refused to have anything to do with it, I would just pop it on a fan fiction website, happy with the fact that FF7 fans would be able to enjoy it even though it would not be considered a 'legitimate' endorsed FF7 story.

As for the idea being 'cliched', I actually don't think that is the case. Before starting writing, I looked into FF7 novelizations online (fan fiction and otherwise) and could not actually find a single finished novelization of the FF7 story. If I'm wrong, I would be very interested in any link you could give me. Those unfinished novelizations that I did find I thought did not give the story enough justice. Thus, actually completing a 'fan fiction' novel of the events in Final Fantasy 7 seemed rather original to me, given that there is not a single completed version anywhere that I've found.

I did not know that there is a fan fiction area in these forums, but I would actually prefer that it not be moved over there. After all, I have no intention of putting the story out on these forums (at least until it is finished, which will likely take up to a year or more) and the main purpose of this original post was to ask fans of Final Fantasy VII what parts of the game were the most meaningful and what they would desire in a novelized form if it were to come out like that. Thus, the Final Fantasy VII area of the forum seems the ideal place for this post, from my point of view.

Thanks for the warning, but I'm pretty sure I have a good handle on what I plan on doing with the story once I'm through with it (although, of course, let me know if my above reasoning is flawed). I also plan to look into copyright law further once I actually finish the thing to make sure I don't unwittingly step on Squaresoft's toes. Thanks.

puddles123

Write the damn thing with different character and place names. No company can honestly have the copyright on a set of fictional events.

I actually thought about that, Jarosik, but then decided against it. I'm not in it for the money that one accrues from publishing a novel. And while the recognition I could get if Squaresoft chose to publish my novel would be nice, really all I'm interested in is sharing the story and honing my writing skills at the same time. Thus, it really isn't worth it from my perspective to redo all the character names and places in order to publish it. After all, if published like that, it would likely pass right over the heads of most of the FF7 lovers out there, which would defeat the purpose of what I'm trying to do.

But an interesting thought, nonetheless.

You are in a difficult predicament then. I understand your desire to do the book, but personally I do not think you should bother. Squaresoft are nothing but vultures these days, relying on the second generation fanbase that cry out for more of the same thing.

Well, from my point of view, I have nothing to lose from doing it. Worse case scenario is Square Enix ignores me, leading me to put it on fanfiction.net for all the people who love FF7. I'm saddened to a certain extent that talk over the FF7 franchise has become so cynical intermixed with hatred, but I'm not writing it for those types of people. Instead, it is more like a labor of love to allow people to revisit the game they remember and enjoyed from childhood, as well as to open up the story to those who have never experienced before. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't fondly remember the times I played this game when I was younger, and I do believe that it has a compelling story that can be improved and honed to perfection in writing for those wishing to relive the memories.

As for Square Enix being vultures, to a certain extent that observation is true of all companies. But just because a company creates splinter games and movies of something that is good doesn't mean that they aren't passionate about what they are doing as well. I've read a number of posts about people who loved the latest offshoot: Crisis Core, for its good storytelling and exciting action. Just because a company is profiting continuously from a single franchise doesn't automatically mean they are money grubbing whoresons. There are obviously people present within the company who care deeply about the games that they make, and the stories behind them.

And, hell, if they really ARE vultures, then that works to my advantage when I give them a free novel to work with. It would be in their best interest to publish it to bleed off more money from FF7's rabid fans.

The man makes a good point...

EDIT: Taken care of.

As a fellow fanfic writer, I've tried to get some of my works published in the past. However, publishing companies will not take any property from one party which is owned by another party, for fear of copyright infringement without the other parties express permission. In short, if someone were to publish the story, Squareenix would get their lawyers onto the publishing agent and the author of the work, and take them for all they have.

Case in point, this is a different form of media, but is still applicable:


Taken from Final Fantasy Compendium; External Crossovers

In 2006, a Korean singer named Ivy made a music video for a song called "Sonata of Temptation". The music video is essentially a direct parody/recreation of the fight between Tifa and Loz in Advent Children, and she was actually sued by Square Enix!

Even changing minor characters and such, would not help, as you are still using the main characters/situation/story in a sense. One could say that it is plagiarism to do what you are planning.

Fanfiction, is a different thing altogether, IF each work has a disclaimer stating that they do NOT own the characters and intellectual property of the work they are basing their own on.

As I stated earlier in the thread, I have no intention of trying to publish it on my own through an independent publishing company. Instead, I am going to perfect it to the point where I can send it to Square-Enix. At which point they will see the obvious commercial benefit to publishing a well-crafted novel of their beloved game at minimal costs to themselves. Thus, while your argument is reasonable, it does not apply to what I'm trying to do given this goal.

As I stated earlier in the thread, I have no intention of trying to publish it on my own through an independent publishing company. Instead, I am going to perfect it to the point where I can send it to Square-Enix. At which point they will see the obvious commercial benefit to publishing a well-crafted novel of their beloved game at minimal costs to themselves. Thus, while your argument is reasonable, it does not apply to what I'm trying to do given this goal.

That may be your intent, but ultimately it's up to Square-Enix themselves what they do with it. As has been stated before, the FF series is one of the many intellectual properties SE has, and they do their best to keep it theirs. True they encourage Fanfiction/Fanart as Enkidoh said before, but a novelization of one of the most well known games in SE's stable, I honestly don't see this 'project' of yours receiving any credit.

Still, if this is what you want to do with your time, so be it.

Again, as I stated earlier in this thread, even if they do not accept my work, I will still enjoy putting it up as fan fiction. Also, my goal here isn't really to get money or anything, it is to practice my writing skills as well as perfecting the story of the game so that it is accessible to people who have never encountered it before. And I will also perfect it so that those who played the game and loved it will enjoy the novelization even more.

These two questions you've asked have already been asked and then answered earlier in the thread in more detail.

Again, as I stated earlier in this thread, even if they do not accept my work, I will still enjoy putting it up as fan fiction. Also, my goal here isn't really to get money or anything, it is to practice my writing skills as well as perfecting the story of the game so that it is accessible to people who have never encountered it before. And I will also perfect it so that those who played the game and loved it will enjoy the novelization even more.

These two questions you've asked have already been asked and then answered earlier in the thread in more detail.

Excuse me... where did I ask a question in either of my posts?

All I was saying, if you read my posts again, is that it's hard to near impossible to publish a work based on another's property and that if it is published, without the consent of the owner, then you will find yourself liable and charges can be drawn against you.

Having said that, far as I'm concerned, you could do whatever you want. As I said, it's ultimately up to SE themselves to decide what to do with your manuscript when you send it to them. Keep in mind, they probably have had millions of transcripts sent to them in the intervening 12 years, proposing a novelization of FFVII.

You say earlier that 'handing over the entire thing to them for free and letting them reap all the rewards as they so choose. Maybe my understanding of copyright law is flawed, but I believe if I were to do that without desiring any financial compensation whatsoever (I would even be willing to remove my name from it) then why would they have any legal issues with that?'... From a companies stand point, they'd be wary about that due to the fact that while a person may say the above, once it's published and released, they may turn around and demand compensation/recognition for the time and work they put into writing it.

I'm not telling you NOT to write it. I'm just saying how it MAY be perceived to SE when they receive it.

True, you weren't asking questions. My mistake. And thank you for your constructive warnings based on what the company might or might not do.

My plan is to complete the novel, edit it thoroughly, and then propose it to the company. Given that I've been unable to find a finished FF7 novelization on any fan fiction website or elsewhere, I figure that having it completed before even talking to them would interest them far more. After all, I'm sure there have been other proposals for an FF7 novel, but those have almost certainly been from people thinking of writing the novel, and hoping for compensation as they write it. I'm not doing it for compensation, and I'm willing a sign a contract to that effect. If it is bound by contract, then I think they won't be worried about the possibility of me demanding compensation after it is published.

And, in any scenario, I'm perfectly fine with putting it on a fan fiction website if they refuse me. But I may as well try to run it by Square given all the time I've been putting into this monstrosity of a story.

Some advice... You're intending on finalizing the novel before sending it to SE. The whole story, yes? I've tried publishing my own stories (Original fiction hosted on Fanfiction.net's sister site), and I've been advised to send a 'teaser chapter' or two, to whet their appetite so to speak. Also for them to see if there's any grounds for a full commission into publishing.

Now, I am NOT saying you are publishing this for your own benefit etc. NOTHING LIKE THAT.

However what I AM saying is to send a chapter or two to SE to judge the way to whether they will accept it or not. If they do, fine go ahead and write it out then send it to them (Be warned they WILL give you a deadline to have it all completed by. Not sure how long though, but I don't think they'd give you a week to finish it). If they don't, then write it out at your leisure and post it on a fanfiction website. Just remember to include a disclaimer stating you don't own any of the characters/story/etc and that they are owned by SE.

Personally, I'd like to say that your quite an admirable person for what you are trying to do. I believe this story really does need a full and proper translation to the pages of a novel. And since you seem to have such a passion for the story itself, I really do hope the best for you in this. If by some chance Square-Enix agreed to publish it, it would make me very happy to see just how much passion you have for this story in your novelisation.

Sorry, That I'm not able to offer advice on how you could go about making this happen and I'm definitely not here to steer you away from something you clearly want to do. But I will say this, Be careful when dealing with large companies like Square-Enix.

I would hate to see you fall into one of the traps that modern media industry have set for people like yourself who just want to go that extra mile and give the story they love a better perspective.

All the best.

Thanks for the advice and goodwill, guys.

My plan is to finish the novel at my own leisure, and then send them a couple 'teaser' chapters to look over. I'm not sure how well I'll be able to write under the pressure of a deadline, and I'm also working full-time and taking classes on top of writing this thing, so I would much rather finish the novel at my own speed and then perfect it until I feel ready before contacting Square Enix. I'm not even going to let them know, at first, that I've already completed the novel by the time I contact them. I'll probably just hint at more already finished to whet their appetite and persuade them to take me seriously.

I am also very cautious and wary of binding agreements as well as being generally screwed over by the corporation, so no worries on that, fellas. I've taken classes on copyright and corporate law before, and I plan to look into such things in more detail before I even talk to them so that I will be fully informed and prepared for any offers (or threats) they may send my way.

And of course, worse case scenario is that they refuse or ignore me and I post it on a fan fiction website. But that's fine by me. I just want to be able to share the story with those who loved it when they played it when they were younger, as well as those who've never experienced it before. The most ideal path for such a goal is to have Square Enix publish it, but posting it as fan fiction will also work well enough for me. Call me an optimist, but I'm very perfectionist and I think I have a good sense of what the company would want, so I would be surprised if they dismissed me out of hand without even considering my novel and my argument. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain by publishing my novel, once it is completed. I'm not doing it for money. =)

And in case any of you are curious, I have already put my intended 'teaser' chapters onto fan fiction.net for constructive criticism, so feel free to check them out. The link is in my signature.

I just started FFVII Crisis Core again today, and that got me thinking about your novelization.

There are some questions raised in FFVII, which may make people ask how that happened, why did it happen etc. Here's a few I initially thought of, while making my way through Wutai in Crisis Core.

First being, why is Cloud so disoriented when the game first starts? What made him like that? True you find out later in the game, but initially the reader may be confused.

Second being, Avalanche. How was it formed? How long were they around for BEFORE Cloud hooked up with them? It's not really made clear.

Thirdly, the Gongaga Reactor. How did that get destroyed? What caused it? Again, it's not really made clear.

FFVII is part of what is now referred to as the FFVII Compilation, which is as follows:

Crisis Core
Before Crisis
FFVII
Advent Children
Dirge of Cerberus

Events in Crisis Core and Before Crisis do have a impact on the initial game itself.

Crisis Core starts seven years prior to the events of FFVII, which then jumps forward in time to just prior to the commencement of FFVII, which does detail the 'HOW' and 'WHY' as to why Cloud is the way he is initially.

Before Crisis details how Avalanche came to be, that initially Avalanche was a terrorist organization which Shinra had the Turks investigate and deal with. Also, Before Crisis does tell what happened to the Turks, how they went from a large group of capable individuals, to only a small group of four in FFVII. The reason as to what happened to the Gongaga Reactor is also revealed, as is how Barret Wallace became leader of the group of environmentalists taking the name 'Avalanche'.

I'm not telling you that you 'have' to incorporate all of this information, and yes I'm aware that in a previous thread about your novel you did state you haven't played Crisis Core. However, keep in mind how some people when they read your novel, will have questions about certain elements which are in the FFVII 'main game'.

There are sites you can go to, to get the information about these other elements of FFVII, to peruse and discover.

Just something I started thinking of, and No, I'm not trying to dissuade you from writing the novel, as it's your choice to do so. From my perspective though, if you want to do a 'true' novelization of FFVII, I would think it would be best to either incorporate the events from the prequels and sequels or at least have reference to them. True people who have played FFVII will already know most of these events, but as you have stated:


Originally posted by puddles 123

Instead, it is more like a labor of love to allow people to revisit the game they remember and enjoyed from childhood, as well as to open up the story to those who have never experienced before.

I guess what I'm getting at with this post here, is to the readers who read your novel and have never experienced before will have those questions and others, which have been answered in either Crisis Core or Before Crisis.

Check out this site for some more information about the story, events etc to the FFVII Compilation here. (http://www.ff7citadel.com/index.shtml)

I'm unfortunately going to make this short because I'm out of town and should be doing other things, but here goes...

I do appreciate the way Crisis Core links and explains some things together within the FF7 game itself, and I will likely include a decent amount of this.

However, I have a lot of respect for the concept of mystery: leaving some elements unexplained or merely hinted at in an effort to engage the reader's interest, make them wonder, and to make the general plot seem deeper than perhaps it truly is is what makes a novel great. I don't want to explain early on why Cloud is seemingly disoriented because it is a facet of his character that is both explained later and also provides the reader with a sense that something is amiss, something that, if done correctly, engages their interest in Cloud further instead of pushing them away.

AVALANCHE would be an example of something where I will probably explain their origins in some way, in accordance with the information you mentioned.

But, in any case, I do plan to go through the information provided and see if it can be incorporated into the novelization without overly complicating the matter. For example, I will not bring in the existence of Genesis or Angeal because including them in the story will just make things denser and more convoluted, which is the last thing the story needs. But an example of where I will put in some "out of FF7" material would be adding more information and background to Zack, giving him more 'screentime'. I also plan on fleshing out Vincent and Yuffie significantly more than they are in the game, where they are treated as extra/optional characters. By doing so, I hope to make each character unique, deep, and multi-faceted.

And thank you for the website you provided. I haven't checked it out yet, but I imagine it will be a helpful resource when referring to the FF7 compilation material. Thanks.

I'd reccomend not going into to much detail on the origins of AVALANCHE because most of it isn't really needed. It's one of those things the reader/player can figure out themselves in there own way. I mean, the AVALANCHE in Before Crisis has little to do with with Barret's version, except that Barret maybe found plans to blow up the No. 1 reactor that Fuhito had made. Keep it simple, and try not to confuse anyone with irrelevvent information. The Barret/Dyne plotline gives enough to be honest.

I'm unfortunately going to make this short because I'm out of town and should be doing other things, but here goes...

I do appreciate the way Crisis Core links and explains some things together within the FF7 game itself, and I will likely include a decent amount of this.

However, I have a lot of respect for the concept of mystery: leaving some elements unexplained or merely hinted at in an effort to engage the reader's interest, make them wonder, and to make the general plot seem deeper than perhaps it truly is is what makes a novel great. I don't want to explain early on why Cloud is seemingly disoriented because it is a facet of his character that is both explained later and also provides the reader with a sense that something is amiss, something that, if done correctly, engages their interest in Cloud further instead of pushing them away.

AVALANCHE would be an example of something where I will probably explain their origins in some way, in accordance with the information you mentioned.

But, in any case, I do plan to go through the information provided and see if it can be incorporated into the novelization without overly complicating the matter. For example, I will not bring in the existence of Genesis or Angeal because including them in the story will just make things denser and more convoluted, which is the last thing the story needs. But an example of where I will put in some "out of FF7" material would be adding more information and background to Zack, giving him more 'screentime'. I also plan on fleshing out Vincent and Yuffie significantly more than they are in the game, where they are treated as extra/optional characters. By doing so, I hope to make each character unique, deep, and multi-faceted.

And thank you for the website you provided. I haven't checked it out yet, but I imagine it will be a helpful resource when referring to the FF7 compilation material. Thanks.

Only thing I can respond to in this post, is your comments about Yuffie and Vincent. For the first part, they are optional characters, meaning you don't 'really' need to get them to finish the game. IIRC, apart from the quests you go through to get them in your party, they don't have anything else to add to the main story apart from some minor dialogue here and there.

Yuffie joined Cloud and the others solely to get Materia. Vincent ended up joining to get revenge on Hojo. You said how you wanted to 'flesh' them out more... I can understand that as I admit I do like the Vincent Valentine character.


I'd reccomend not going into to much detail on the origins of AVALANCHE because most of it isn't really needed. It's one of those things the reader/player can figure out themselves in there own way. I mean, the AVALANCHE in Before Crisis has little to do with with Barret's version, except that Barret maybe found plans to blow up the No. 1 reactor that Fuhito had made. Keep it simple, and try not to confuse anyone with irrelevvent information. The Barret/Dyne plotline gives enough to be honest.

The AVALANCHE in Before Crisis was a terrorist organization. The AVALANCHE Barret runs is a environmentalist group. What I meant in my previous post was this:

FFVII is part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. Yes, it is the main core of the compilation, but to do a true novelization of FFVII, the prequels (Crisis Core and Before Crisis) as well as the sequels (Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus) would have to be tied into it as well as they both lead up to/carry on the story.

Good point. A minor reference to deep ground, the board room asking if Barrets version related to the previous incarnation of AVALANCHE. Things like that would be nice.

Thanks for the advice, gents.

I will probably bring up the background of AVALANCHE to a small extent when they visit Cosmo Canyon, as I believe it is there that someone (Bugenhagen?) brings up that they are really just eco-terrorists and asks if that is moral. I could then have Barret explain how, under his leadership, things are much better than they were, and I'll probably go on to explain how 'one can't truly negotiate with Shinra', so on and so forth.

And I'm definitely looking forward to expanding on Vincent's and Yuffie's backgrounds. I plan to have Wutai within the novelization, despite the fact that it is optional in the game. I think it has a lot to offer regarding giving the reader a viewpoint into a society that resisted Shinra by force and is unique among the various cities and towns of Midgar. I also will expand on Yuffie's father Godo. I think a flashback to him attempting to fight off Shinra back in the war would be both very interesting and give the reader a sense of the history behind Midgar, as well as a window into what prompted Yuffie to leave Wutai and give up on it.

As for Vincent, his interactions and background with Hojo and Lucrecia are crucial to the story, in my opinion. So he will definitely get good time as well. I've currently been playing around with the idea of giving him a flashback of what happened after he was 'infused' with the mako that causes him to turn into monsters, and him getting chased by Shinra and the Turks as he struggles (and inevitably fails) to control that demonic power. I think it'll make for a pretty sweet fight scene, and I'll be including a lot of Vincent's thought processes to expand on his character and to make the reader truly feel for him.

But Vincent wasn't chased by the Turks, either in flashbacks in FFVII or Dirge of Cerberus. After Hojo had finished experimenting on him, he put him to sleep in that coffin in the basement. FFVII: DoC showed a little more to this (mainly that most of Vincent's demonic power was a result of Lucretia doing further experiments on him after Hojo had finished with him). But the result is still the same.

As for the Shinra's war with Wutai, the whole conflict is explained and mapped out in detail in Crisis Core (it's stated clearly in the game that the whole conflict was born from the Shinra wanting to construct a Mako reactor in Wutai, which Godo presumed was really a cover for invasion.

So, thinking his country was under attack from foreign invaders, he turned hostile and resisted them, leading to full scale war with the Shinra. It wasn't too clear how long the conflict wore on from that point, but by the time of the events of FFVII: CC it seemed to have been dragging on for quite awhile, to the point even the Shinra were weary of the fighting and just wanted to resolve it, which they ultimately do.

Additionally, it's also mentioned in CC that a number of remnant Wutaian troops ended up at Fort Condor after the war ended, which probably accounts for how easy Cloud is able to hire troops during the mini-game there in the original FFVII.

Hopefully this has proved helpful for you Puddles.

Your points are true and helpful.

Regarding Vincent and what I said about him being chased by the Turks, I was thinking of including that in the context of him just having been injected with the mako/monster inducing stuff, and then the unexpected power of it allowing him to escape from Shinra's grasp... temporarily. I think, while it is not actually in the FF7 'lore', it could offer a very interesting look at Vincent's hypothetical thoughts during this traumatic experience, and also help build up Shinra's status in the eyes of the reader as quite the powerful corporation. He would inevitably be captured in the end, but his temporary escape would allow me to do these things, and describe one of his shapeshifted demonic forms. Also, it is something I would want to do possibly to introduce Vincent as a character... a chapter beginning with this unknown man being chased by the faceless and seemingly omnipotent Shinra seeking to capture him once again... for what, the reader does not yet know. This idea of mine, though, is not set in stone, and if my writing makes it seem improbable later on, then I'll probably drop it. But my mental pictures of this have a lot of promise, as silly as that may sound. And, of course, all of this refers to a flashback that would Vincent might have in a dream/nightmare or perhaps him choosing to share this side of himself with the rest of the party.

As for Wutai, thanks for that background info. I want to be able to expand on that when the party go to visit Wutai, and while it is featured in Crisis Core, I think that it would be constructive for me to pass on a good deal of this information within the novelization. I can't think of any reason currently as to why it would be a bad idea to include this background info that would help build up the history of FF7's world on top of everything else going on within the game.

It's all very well to add things here and there for creative purpose and to enhance the story flow.... however, what you proposed above, about Vincent's escape etc, is not part of the FFVII story.

He was imprisoned after being experimented and remained in stasis until Cloud woke him.

Dirge of Cerberus tried to do what you are proposing. Tried to offer more to Vincent Valentine regardless of what was in the main game, and imo, screwed it up even more.

Hmm...

Well, as I said, if the idea seems improbable, then I'll probably drop it. And given the information I'm getting here, I'm almost certainly going to drop it and see if I can filter the action scene I have in mind into a different part of the pre-existing story. Thanks for the feedback.

Also, in response to all of you, given this commentary I've received regarding this hypothetical Vincent action scene: what do you think of the fact that I'm going to have to put in new content whether it is liked or not?

For example, in the game there is a great deal of travel and fighting from one location to another, and I have no desire to be that repetitive. Thus, I'm going to have to have scenes which did not happen in the game. Such as the characters talking amongst themselves with lines they never had in the game (to give them emotional nuance and background detail). Or a more complicated and eventful fight than the rather straightforward ones in the games (to illustrate different fighting styles and how the characters react under stress). And I think that this is a good thing.

I guess what I'm trying to gauge here is whether my necessary additions to the novelization will automatically receive a rebuff from those who've played the game before, despite my effort to remain true to the characters and events (which is why I'm now backing away from the Vincent scene I mentioned before). If I'm going to be opposed from adding anything to the novelization that isn't in the game, then my job is going to be a lot harder. I would try to highlight here that I'm not trying to be all defensive when I'm saying this, though. I merely want to please both the people who have played the game and know of the plot as well as those who have never played and heard of it before. Thus my statements herein.

Apologies for stirring up a near dead thread but I just wanted to offer my support for your venture as a long time VII fan and a fellow writer.

I totally understand your need to include the "optional" characters because it's these that allow for expansion in the story to involve more from CC and BC, also adding scenes from their travel is going to be essential to giving the characters greater depth and breaking up the monotony that would result from many pages of travel with little action or Square given dialogue.

I admire you're ambitions in writing this, and I share many of them with the writing of my own novelization of VII. If you need someone to bounce ideas off of or have any plot issues to work out I'd love to help. :)

Hello... I came across this upon entering "ff7 novel" in google. :P Unfortunately I wasn't aware of the existence of Final Fantasy until X came out, so I never got to play FF7. Recently I was given the opportunity to play it; I couldn't. Far too old.. I shut 'er off after 10 minutes. I know bits and pieces of the storyline, and like FFX I am absolutely in love with it. I wish I knew of the game when I was young and it was new. Simply telling me 'what happened' is just... it can't compare. I need a written work to do any amount of justice to the story. Anyways... I came back here wondering where I could read it, IF I could read it, and perhaps learn from another individual's perspective if it is even anything like the real story and whether or not I should see it as the truth (since I don't know the real story very well)? I really hope you're still writing it, or have finished it (I for one couldn't possibly finish that amount of writing in 5 years). I would absolutely love to read what you've done. I want to know everything that happened so bad... I should really just suck it up and play the game, but god is it ever difficult to get past the visuals.. ohhhh pixels!

im sure you can publish it in some way. many books have been based on other peoples work.

First of all... Thread necromancy is frowned upon, please refrain from reviving old/dead threads (which haven't had a post in 6 months). However, in the case of this thread, as the topic is pseudo original... /shrug


Hello... I came across this upon entering "ff7 novel" in google. :P Unfortunately I wasn't aware of the existence of Final Fantasy until X came out, so I never got to play FF7. Recently I was given the opportunity to play it; I couldn't. Far too old.. I shut 'er off after 10 minutes. I know bits and pieces of the storyline, and like FFX I am absolutely in love with it. I wish I knew of the game when I was young and it was new. Simply telling me 'what happened' is just... it can't compare. I need a written work to do any amount of justice to the story. Anyways... I came back here wondering where I could read it, IF I could read it, and perhaps learn from another individual's perspective if it is even anything like the real story and whether or not I should see it as the truth (since I don't know the real story very well)? I really hope you're still writing it, or have finished it (I for one couldn't possibly finish that amount of writing in 5 years). I would absolutely love to read what you've done. I want to know everything that happened so bad... I should really just suck it up and play the game, but god is it ever difficult to get past the visuals.. ohhhh pixels!

Go and play the game and stop crying about the bad graphics. FF fans who come into the series with FFX, then complain about the bad graphics of earlier FF's, are just whiny crybaby's.


im sure you can publish it in some way. many books have been based on other peoples work.

While what you say is true, consider how popular FFVII is as well as how many contribute the success of RPG's towards FFVII back in 1997, and how notorious SE is in guarding their intellectual property. Promoting fanart/fanfics is one thing... but getting a unauthorized novelization of one of the most successful SE games published? Unless SE endorse or otherwise agree to it, this would be better off as a fanfic posted on a fanfiction/final fantasy website with a disclaimer stating how it is not endorsed by SE etc etc.