- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Currently wondering if its possible to somehow transfer illness's online...
Ah, much as I anticipated, the cold that had slowly been building up within me over the past week erupted with a fury I've yet to see bacteria possess in my nineteen years on this Earth.
Being laid low by a common cold is nothing new to me. I have perhaps the weakest immune system known to man. I conjecture at times about the seemingly non-existent command structure my immune system possess's. When an enemy is detected the early warning signs are sent up to the brass, but they're away, playing golf somewhere in my liver or something, so a pre-emptive strike is never made, allowing the enemy bacteria to build their forces, multiplying their numbers like the Flood as they swarm over the valiant, but hopelessly outnumbered, forces of my immune system.
Anyways, after two days or so of extended delirium I'm somewhat back to normal. I got somewhere between zero and negative five writing done, if that even makes sense. Basically much of my plans were scattered as I began to imagine shapes and faces peering at me from the vestiges of my walls. At one moment I was certain a man named Martini had taken residence inside my carpet, and was holding some kind of political rally, where he informed an enraptured crowd on the benefits of switching their long-distant phone providers. He was quite good, as I myself felt the need to call up and cancel my phone service before I realized he was a fictitious character sprung forth from my temporarily handicapped mind.
Ah, I just read what I wrote and I'm starting to think I just may not be so far along the road to recovery as I initially thought. Oh well, I'm nowhere near done ranting just yet, so I'd better continue before I start getting angry with myself.
Earlier today as I liberally dusted my room for any signs of dust that might further exacerbate my illness, I began to think back on how my original ideas for this story have changed, and if it were for the better.
I'm not sure many of you know, but initially the prologue I wrote had been intended to be nothing more than a one-shot. In fact I wrote it on a sudden muse after beating Halo 2 on legendary, and realizing with dismay that there was indeed no secret ending for completing the hardest mode. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, but I particularily enjoyed the Arbiter levels, something I know probably puts me in the minority. I found him to be such a compelling character that I just had to give him a better fleshing out than what we saw in the game initially.
After completing the (now) prologue of this story, I found it amusing so I sent it to a friend in the middle of a conversation, and he also found it to be amusing and said I should throw it up on that fanfiction site I always write stuff on. I couldn't find a feasible reason not to, so I did a short spell-check and promptly put it up on fanfiction.net, only one week after initially writing the prologue.
The inital response was overwhelming to say the least. I suppose I was one of the first people to take a stab at continuing the Halo storyline after the second game in the series, and many people immediately latched onto what I had written, ignoring the fact that I actually hadn't added anything. Merely looked at the Arbiter's thoughts during the battle with Tartarus, and giving their battle a better look than the "Boss Battle" feel inside the game.
I realized that if I were indeed going to leave the story as a one-shot, I just may find myself with angry e-mails, and I am very much a cowardly person so any form of antagonism from people is enough to send me running for the hills. I quickly wrote a second piece, and began to wonder if it might be possible for this person known as Jacob to completely finish the Halo storyline.
Flash forward eight to nine months later, and it seems my decision has been made.
Is what I've written anything like what I expect Bungie to put into Halo 3? Not at all. The only thing I expect from my own story to have some form of symbiosis with Halo 3 (whenever they get around to announcing it) is that the Flood will at one point and time find themselves on Earth. That's about it. Maybe the stuff from my final chapters, but the inclusion of Forerunner's and other such things are too big a diversion from the game that I really can't see anything working its way into what we'll wind up playing in the game.
That's not to say I dislike my own story....well alright I do. I hate it from a reader's sense. I never have fun reading my story, but I really do like my theories and such, maybe because they're original and they have managed to keep me from trolling out something terribly mediocore that people are capable of tossing aside as if it were nothing but trivial garbage. Its probably not the best thing to be proud of, but I think that's all I've got for now.
Anyways, back to my thought process earlier today whilst I was attacking the viscious peons of the Dust Overlords. I was wondering, if say, two to three years down the line, if I'll wind up looking back and thinking that maybe leaving this story as nothing but a one-shot would have been the better choice.
Right now I can honestly say I'm glad I decided to do keep it going. I think its helped me become a better writer to some degree, and also let me experiment with how I write. My aspirition in life isn't to simply become another name on the wall within the shelves of your neighbourhood bookstore. I want to become the raging force in the literary world. Nothing but complete and total dominance will allow me to ever consider myself a success, and to achieve that I think I had to write this story. To give myself that extra push to churn out not only a new genre, but also a different style and new tools with which to write.
So who knows what I'll find myself thinking three to four years down the line, but I can assure you that right now I am indeed glad that I decided to post that initial prologue on ff.net, and finally to bow to popular demand and once again enter this world of fanfiction, where I endure much love and abuse from people I have never met in real life, but feel as if there's a connection between us nonetheless.
.....
.....
Gah! Sentimentality! Oooooh, I'm becoming a softie in my old age.
Anyways, for those skimming this elongated idiotic rambling for anything relavent, I'll throw you a bone. I'll try to finish Chapter 21 for Sunday, but my colds are notorious for receding into the hallowed halls of my body, licking the wounds as my immune system finally fought them off, only to return at a later date, experienced in the art of war and bloodthirsty for revenge against the beings who slaughtered their brother bacteria upon the field of battle.
[Edited on 9/10/2005]