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  • Subject: Halo Fanfic: The End of a War
Subject: Halo Fanfic: The End of a War
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I am shaking with happy numb stuff this is cool! "i like where this is goin! GIGGITY GIGGITY GEH GOOD DEE!" - Quagmire from The Family Guy
"candy on a sunshine band!" - Goldmember

  • 05.19.2005 6:44 AM PDT
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im not going too far or being insane but this should get a big sticky......................wait for it!!!!!!!!!.........................................sticky!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • 05.19.2005 6:57 AM PDT
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Posted by: Scorptank
Hough Jass:

Don't lean on the CAPS like that.
The story can't be published because Mr_Clark doesn't have a contract with Bungie (does he?)


Ah, I must come clean. This will indeed be how Halo 3 plays out, as I am secretly Eric Nylund in disguise. My reason for decepting all of you was so that I could put forth many of the ideas Bungie was hoping to use in the game, with a general overview, and see how it was received. Obviously it has gone well, so expect many of these developments to occur in the game, which of course, will be released simulteneously with the arrival of the PS3.

....seriously though, I know Bungie would never offer anything so lucritive as a publishing deal with myself. I'd have the inkling that the corporate heads at Microsoft would find whoever made such a decision and tomorrow he would be assigned to the post of manure shoveler for the rest of his life.

I'm well aware that as a piece of fanfiction, if I were to ever make a single dime from this story, lawyers would descend upon me like ravenous animals and rip my corpse apart, picking my bones clean until all that remains is the shattered bones of a fledgling writer.

In all seriousness I know my own limits as a writer, and I am the first one to look at something I've written and declare it to be an unwelcome literary addition to the world of writing, and wish for it to be purged from everyone's memories, so that after I have finished publically flailing myself, I could properly create something up to standards.

There isn't a single chapter in this entire story that I don't wish I could go back on and rewrite near completely. As a piece of fanfiction I could do such a thing and avoid public humiliation, but it would be foolish to do so. If you can't have some semblence of standing with what you released to the public sooner, than I see no reason why you would think whatever you may create later on would be able to do so.

Despite the fact that I know just how much I hate my writing, I always try to stand by it, and give the words I have formed some form of reasonable explanation as to why they have been put down.

I believe my problem is that I have no experience as a real author, and therefore the half-assed approach I take with fanfiction appears to me as something I can defend. This is of course total bull, and I should be beaten severely for ever thinking such a thing. This trivial work I call a story would be laughed at by an editor. The spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, and the poor choice of adjectives, scene discriptions, and practically everything else just reeks of someone that is an amateur.

Overall its a good thing that I'm such a jackass towards my writing, as it gives me the urge to always try and improve, to take that one extra step towards the title of 'good' writer. I said once long ago that my goal was to subjugate mankind with my writing, and while it was mainly brought on by an onset of insomnia and temporal insanity, there is some truth to it.

I suppose the point of this rambling is to let you guys know that I don't sit here, staring at my awesomely large number of replies in this thread and the reviews on ff.net, giggling to myself and giving myself pats on the back for being so damn smart. Nor do I construct paper mache hats that bare the title of 'The Princess/King/President of Writing'. In truth what occurs is I stare at my newest creation, shake my head ruefully, and pick up a baseball bat and start beating myself with it, for even thinking that what I'm doing could ever be considered good.

Sure I think I have some good ideas, and I've got an acceptable understanding of the written language. That thought aside, the only part of this story that I believe will ever be a sign of an event that occurs within the next game would be the arrival of the Flood on Earth. This is indeed something I will warn you all and say expect it in Halo 3, because if even I see it as a likely occurrance, than surely the greater minds at Bungie have forumlated a plan that will make it all come to fruition.

You might ask yourself why I am so hard on my writing. Some of you say I am simply trying to be humble, but to my own mind it would seem as if there is absolutely nothing for me to be humble about. The truth of the matter is that what it boils down to is I have such a small ego, that I feel as if anything I do is one step away from being contrived and useless. This is indeed close to the truth I suppose, and I will relate something a friend said to someone else, when trying to explain why I never walk into our group, telling them to "Check this -blam!- out" and showing them the massive amount of responses I get from the awesome people here in the forums and on fanfiction.net.

She said something along the lines of "He has this kind of ageless self-loathing. As if he holds himself beneath all that witness what he does, and lays himself prostate before them, accepting their criticisms as if they are indeed the words of God himself, and he is condemning him to an eternity of damnation. Any and all praise he receives seems to be reflected from this shell he has created around himself, making sure that not a single compliment will ever pierce the haze of hatred and depression that surrounds him."

Granted some of that was just a creative use of storytelling on her part, but for the most it is true. Your praise does however coincide with me, and it is one of the things that makes me think that someday I just might make my writing awesome, and have legions of fans that will watch me, and make internet sites dedicated to describing what kind of socks I wear.

Well okay maybe not that weird.

Back to something relavant for a moment, I shall say that Chapter 18 is not even close to being finished. It will indeed be the largest chapter, and its size is something that even I cannot comprehend, as attaching a number to the piece of work would be like trying to do so to infinitude, and defining the finite state of our universe.

Just for a warning I will say that please don't ask me to release the chapter in two parts. That's a line of thought I just cannot follow. A chapter should stand alone by itself, almost as if it were a short story. It must have a beginning and an end. Without it there is nothing, and the reader is left sitting before the screen, naked and confused, wondering just what it is they have just read. I imagine some would go insane, and start eating their mouse pads, and that is a crime I just cannot be associated with.

So uh...yeah

[Edited on 5/19/2005]

  • 05.19.2005 8:19 AM PDT

I share pies.

Mr.Clark,

* You're too modest
* You beat yourself up too much, hell it's a story and a !-blam-! good one, on a forum
* I'm not an author, writer and so forth...but i know from what i observe is that you are damn clever...such as the Sangheili names...
But i agree that it's good to improve and i hope to see a book made by you in the near future!

In all live to your hearts content!

[Edited on 5/19/2005]

  • 05.19.2005 8:44 AM PDT
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Don't be too hard on yourself Clark Your a much better writer than I ever could be

  • 05.19.2005 9:39 AM PDT
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Wow, Mr_Clark, that was a lot of rubbish.
BUT, I will not be the average Joe-Six Pack (<or something like that) to tell you that you are too humble and God only knows what.

I am telling you: get real.
Almost (or already) 300 reviews on ff.net.
Almost 1800 (My thread just hit the 1000 mark YAAA!) replies here on Bungie.
It is almost as if you want us to tell you you're great.
Self-pity is something not respected in a writer's world. (Believe, I've been to an editor once and..... the entire story is too long... If you are truly as pathetic as you say I suggest you dig through my threat to find it)
I suggest you look at yourself as sexy (no, I am not -blam!- and no, I have never seen a pic of you.... I'd like to keep the way you look a secret) and charming and handsome.... and someone who writes.
You say you wish you could do it all over again.... the writing, I mean.
That's jack-blam!- (will I get banned now?) because the people love it.
Don't you write for the people? I do.
From your random rambling in your way-too-long-post-about-how-you-beatyourslefupwithabaseballba t, I believe you said you thought your writing wasn't all that good (right now) but you write, and that is something.
Some day a novel will appear about a war in Korea by: umm..... *Clark's name*
And you'll look back at this and say: Damn, I was a fool.

Stop beating yourself up, it's not healthy......

Wanting to improve yourself is good..... but when you start beating yourself... well...... then you should get professional help.........

Do I need to put LOL here or do you get it?

[Edited on 5/19/2005]

  • 05.19.2005 12:17 PM PDT
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Posted By: Mr_Clark
As for the Sangheili names, I just have a list of all the different separate names that make up the Elite name structure.

Take Lan 'Eranumee for example.

'Lan' is his given name, which he went by until he became an adult. At that time, he received the name 'Eranum. 'Era is an adjectival delineative, which for explanations sake translates to mean "fly" or "flight" depending on what area of the Sangheili culture we're talking about. The 'ee' suffix is simply an addition all Elites are given once entering the Covenant military structure. It signifies them as warriors.

When I first decided to do more than the prologue of this story back in last December, I wrote down a long list of different variations of Elite names I could think of, and as I needed the character names I randomly chose from the list. Sometimes the names do end up having an influence on the character, like 'Eranumee, whose first structure of his name means "fly" or "flight". This obviously influenced me to make him a Seraph fighter pilot.



WOW, that helps a lot.
I'll be changing the new character's name in Chapter 6 of my story now.
When I added Rocalee I used the Elite namizer at Halo.bungie.org, and that's what I've been using, it's very helpful.

  • 05.19.2005 1:24 PM PDT

He watches every Hodgetwin video they put up...on ALL their channels. He calls them the Hodge Triplets, and considers himself the 3rd triplet. He's started talking and acting like them now. Every other line out of his mouth "Thaaas some BULLLLLL**** maaayne" or "Gotta make dem gainzzzz". He calls his biceps "gains". When he eats post-workout, he talks to his biceps, "Don't worry gains, I'm feeding you. Daddys gonna feed you, gainz *kisses biceps*".

Mr. Clark, you are THE bomb. Not just any bomb, THE bomb. You are THE master. You are THE ownage. Your writing rocks man, keep it up.

My question is this: if Jan and the "iluvbees" crew got into your fanfiction, where are Kelly and Dr. Halsey? We'd better see them sooner or later!!!!!!!!

  • 05.19.2005 5:31 PM PDT
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I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.

WOW I saw the new Star Wars movie at 12:01 AM, it was awesome the best out of all of them, there is so much fighting. I recommend it. I am very tired right now because I only had three hours of sleep. I am definitly seeing it again...actually like four more times. I can not wait to read your next chapter Mr. Clark. Have fun seeing the new Star Wars movie.

  • 05.19.2005 5:42 PM PDT
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mr. c i agree with the others here that you shouldn't be so vocal about your problems. i don't however, think that what you were talking about is really all that bad.

my bro is an artist, and he does pretty well, and he has the same kind of attitude towards his work that you do about your writing. at first i never really understood why he was the way he was, but after talking with him about i think i have a better idea about it.

i think if you really want to try and be a professional about something, especially something as taxing as being a writer, or an artist, which is very creatively taxing, you can't really ever be satisfied with your work. there always needs to be that desire to strive towards a higher goal, to make everything you do just a little bit better.

mr. c i'm not one to really go in depth or anything like that, but i feel like i know you through your writing. you may have problems accepting your writing for what it is, but you still do it. a lot of people when they have problems, or think that what they are doing is just not up to snuff, they give up and forget about it all. you on the other hand keep working at it, and that's very admirable.

you will one day become a great author, mr.c, there is no doubt in my mind.

  • 05.19.2005 8:47 PM PDT
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Mr Clark you are 18 years old and are writing a story in your own time for people whom you have never met. You are making no money out of it. Yet you still churn out a new chapter every fortnight. People priase you wok as some of the best they have ever read. And yet you still say you suck as an author. No. You do not suck. There is room for improvement. There is always room for improvement. Even Tom Clancy has room for improvement. You are 18 years old and are churning out storys that I could never write. Ever. I suspect you will end up like wine. Always getting better with age. So you arent a proffessional writer. Yet. You will bee and probally end up writing some of the bestsellers in years to come and earn huge amounts of money. But like I said this is for people whom you have never met. You could stop at any time and quit writing but you don't because you like to write and we like to read. So please Mr Clark, you are doing fine as you are. Stop worrying about what could of been and start worrying about what is to come.

  • 05.20.2005 5:12 AM PDT
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Ah, I must come clean. This will indeed be how Halo 3 plays out, as I am secretly Eric Nylund in disguise. My reason for decepting all of you was so that I could put forth many of the ideas Bungie was hoping to use in the game, with a general overview, and see how it was received. Obviously it has gone well, so expect many of these developments to occur in the game, which of course, will be released simulteneously with the arrival of the PS3.

hi mr. eric nylund how much money do you make? are u rich? i know nothing about the books u have written so can i call you eric from now on?

  • 05.20.2005 6:40 AM PDT
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Posted by: flashbang6
Ah, I must come clean. This will indeed be how Halo 3 plays out, as I am secretly Eric Nylund in disguise. My reason for decepting all of you was so that I could put forth many of the ideas Bungie was hoping to use in the game, with a general overview, and see how it was received. Obviously it has gone well, so expect many of these developments to occur in the game, which of course, will be released simulteneously with the arrival of the PS3.

hi mr. eric nylund how much money do you make? are u rich? i know nothing about the books u have written so can i call you eric from now on?


'Twas but a poorly manifested joke on my part, that I found amusing. I am not Eric Nylund, and I see that large post of whining and self-degradation has now back-fired on me.

Most of that was indeed the truth, about my not ever being pleased with my writing, and I still stand by the majority of things I said. I was not reaching out with cupped hands asking for everyone to make a contribution to my self-piteous ways, and bring me from the spiral of depression I did fall into while going back and re-reading many of my old chapters.

What I was mainly trying to convey is that I apologize to everyone here for the many different lapse in judgements I have made in the past.

1) Feeling that I was above editing my own work, simply because it was fanfiction. (I don't know where I said that I think doing anything in regards to my writing half-assed is unacceptable, but I did, and I was contradicting myself with that view)
2) The omissions of the other Spartans. As it turns out my reversal on this opinion has created a very interesting scenario in Chapter 18, and without it I would have nothing.
3) Slowly but surely, I let the praise affect me. I sat around, read the thousands of replies, telling me how awesome I am, and it went to my head. I didn't show it on the forums, but it certainly showed in my writing. I felt I could do no wrong, and everything I put forth would be devoured thankfully from my adoring crowds.

With these three main problems I encountered, I realized that what I desperately needed was a reality check.

I'm not that hot of a writer. I'm 18 years old, with only three real pieces of writing under my belt (including this one) and somehow I think I'm all hot -blam!- and the world bends to my views.

I really do believe that every now and then, what I really need is someone to stop by, read my stuff, and tell me that its not that good. This isn't a request for one of you guys to just do that, so please, don't overload this thread with messages telling me I suck.

Outside of my Mr. Clark personality, I do indeed follow the train of thought that I wrote above. That I despise my writing, and as such I should constantly work towards improvement. But there was a moment there, a little bit in the past, where I thought that I was indeed awesome, and I needed to be reigned in. Luckily I was able to do it myself, without having a kind of mental breakdown where I would be locked up.

What does all this mean to the layman? Well, I'm certainly hoping that what the common trend in my writing is that it slowly, but effeciently does get better. More structured, less errors, and more 'goodness'.

I'm aiming for a glorious return with Chapter 18. I want it to be an olive branch of sorts that I will extend to all my readers, telling them that their endurance with putting up with me has indeed paid off.

It will take me awhile to write it however, so please, bear with me.

  • 05.20.2005 7:04 AM PDT
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Well Mr_Clark I like you story no matter what anyone says it is a great story.

  • 05.20.2005 7:28 AM PDT
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Si, be the one whom you wish, and try not! Do, or do not. there is no try.
Star Wars rules!

  • 05.20.2005 9:43 AM PDT

I share pies.

Wow, Mr.Clark i see what you mean it's very hard to notice but yea i mean the flood on Earth? You've Killed us ALL!

Big
Up
My
Post Things that are : Big
Unknown
Mischevious
Poo

  • 05.20.2005 1:31 PM PDT

He watches every Hodgetwin video they put up...on ALL their channels. He calls them the Hodge Triplets, and considers himself the 3rd triplet. He's started talking and acting like them now. Every other line out of his mouth "Thaaas some BULLLLLL**** maaayne" or "Gotta make dem gainzzzz". He calls his biceps "gains". When he eats post-workout, he talks to his biceps, "Don't worry gains, I'm feeding you. Daddys gonna feed you, gainz *kisses biceps*".

As long as we have Sgt. Johnson, we'll win. Believe me.

  • 05.20.2005 1:49 PM PDT
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u know how eric said that he wasnt that good of a writer? well could someone show me an example of one of those bad parts and explain it to me?

  • 05.20.2005 10:01 PM PDT
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"o i just cant WAIT for chapter 18 to come out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" -Simba from the Lion King (revised to mine own likings tee hee)

  • 05.20.2005 10:02 PM PDT
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bump

  • 05.20.2005 10:08 PM PDT
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sorry for bumping but thiis is starting to get buried

  • 05.20.2005 10:50 PM PDT

Posted by: LIME31
I got his sarcasm...one person has to implement sarcasm and then you get a pile of terrorist chipmunks crashing your party, not fun at all..

Mr. Clark, Im ready for your next Chapter(this time i WONT get a heart attack)

  • 05.21.2005 3:46 AM PDT
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Don't worry about the thread being buried, I try to post on this thread at least once a day, even if its just to give everyone a status check on the next chapter.

If I were to choose at least one word to describe this next chapter, I suppose it would be something like:

Heartbreaking

  • 05.21.2005 5:13 AM PDT
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ok so when is the next chapter going to be ready?

  • 05.21.2005 6:00 AM PDT