BANALWORLD

CREDITS

(aka the afterword… but not really)

Around the time before I was going into grade eight (about three years ago?), I had set up a forum with a few of my friends and was bored. So, like any Hazel of this day and age, I started writing. It was a gag story in the start, centering around a party in which many hijinks were pulled and capers were foiled. Unfortunately, about three-four chapters in, the depraved part of my mind (I’m saying right hemisphere) said DO WANT KEYBOARD and began to twist and turn the campy little flick into an all-out horror mash-up titled (I shit you not) gjnhjfdhns.

By the end, I was like, dude, this is gross and decided to tweak it all up, make it into a real boy. Fix the dashes, the grammar (mostly), the vague parts and the screamingly obvious blemishes, and post it somewhere people other than the original intended audience would hopefully be enticed by it.

There you go, ladies and gents, Banalworld in all its terrible glory. Disgusting characterization of the people in my life aside, I hope you enjoyed the ride— because it sure enjoyed you. This was really fun to write and edit, and a great learning experience— so great I’m surprised I haven’t any textbooks for it and stuff like that. Seriously. I learned so much.

Banalworld is in no way intended to be any sort of magnum opus (Pocket Change currently heads the running for that, I’d say, but I'm sixteen, what do I know?) but I’m actually quite pleased with it. Sure, the original was a mess— it was voted down on Ficwad and that was understandable but ouch, man— yet that holds very fond memories for me, with all the in-jokes and all the little friendly-isms. Most of the people from that I’m no longer friends with, but it’s a good way for me to remember how close we used to be; it is, admittedly, hard to imagine we were anything close to that, but I wouldn’t have written them if I didn’t care about them, y’dig?

This rewrite is my testament to middle school and all the people involved, with a few tweaks to include cooler names than the ones I threw in there for filler. It started out pointless and ended with a point that I hope to someday expand in a possible sequel that makes a little more sense— I really love the man-from-the-plan character, the Doctor; he’s someone I’d like to work with a little more, yeah? And maybe more focus on the minor characters, a little expansion on the meager foreshadowing involved here, a little better plot.

I’d like to thank Kar-zid, who’s been a very kind reviewer and a big part of the motivation to keep updating on Fictionpress, and thanks go out to all my friends who stuck through the original gjnhjfdhns, despite my erratic, procrastinating ways, and subtle underhandedness. Marina, I’m sorry you kind of filtered out at the end but by then we weren’t really hanging out, anyway, Angel, not sorry I kind of maybe killed you off (393), and Marcello, who I don’t think has even really heard of this story, you’re in the basement.

The Silent Hill soundtracks were an absolutely brilliant source of atmosphere in writing this (if you caught that title eegg, you’re amazing), as were songs done by Kidney Thieves (Dyskrasia and feathers especially), Deftones, Orgy, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, and a select few from the Samurai Champloo OSTs. All come highly recommended. Around the Fur by Deftones seriously dominated the charts in the early stages, along with Duality by Slipknot. Every time I hear those songs, I come back here; it’s like going home.

To take from the Ficwad ending note: I seriously don't know what a hospital contains but since most of it was warped I guess it doesn't really matter.

Oh, and most of it was warped. Most meaning all and warped meaning warped.

Thanks for reading, yeah. I need to get some sleep. I love you, and goodnight.