Silent Hill 2 is being rewritten!

I'm Ryan, a 26 year old guy from Virginia, and I'm completely in love with Silent Hill, especially the second.

I'm a writer, and typically, I tend to stick to my own material. Fan fiction is not something I usually even like to read, much less write. Writing the stuff means following established rules and boundaries. When I do my own thing, the rules are as flexible as I want them to be.

In this instance however, I felt that Silent Hill 2 was a game that would work perfectly in a novel format. I've played the game through dozens of times, and I feel I have a very good comprehension of the storyline and its finer points, so I decided to try this out, to keep me in practice and to hone my skills. I rather like how it's going so far, and I do intend to see it all the way, in between my other projects. It's called "Letter From Silent Heaven", which is the game's title for the main scenario of the game. It details the events of the games from the eyes of James, and is written in a first-person perspective, both because the story is of a very insular nature, and because I very much enjoy writing in first-person.

To the Silent Hill 2 purists out there, I'm sure you may come across aspects that you may find objectable. I tell this story in the manner which I interpreted it. I keep to the source material as far as events go as much as possible, though I have no issue changing things in order to make the story flow better. This means that I have changed some of the puzzle events around, and have eliminated others entirely. I have also re-tooled the dialogue in order to sound a little more natural, though I've done my best to retain all the original context and meaning.

I don't mind explaining my points, should anyone feel they are wrong, but I ask that you be courteous about it. Anger and profanity are the first resort of the ignorant, and I will summarily ignore any such responses. Thankfully, so far there hasn't been a lot of that. I've had questions, and everyone's been pretty civil so far. Hey, if there is something about the story that you want explained, I'll be more than happy to oblige.

If you enjoy Silent Hill 2 as much as I do, I hope you find that same enjoyment in my novelization, because I sure as hell am enjoying writing it. Thanks to everyone who's left a review or two. I'm not ashamed to admit I love getting the feedback. I don't beg for it, but it does help make this endeavor feel worthwhile. D=

Also, since I'm pretty well done with ff.net for the immediate future, if you really like what you've read here, I also have a fictionpress.com account, which has a few works that almost completely pre-date this Silent Hill 2 work. There's not much there right now, but I plan on devoting a lot more attention to it now that Silent Hill 2 is finished. Believe it or not, I've only been writing for about three and a half years, so I don't really have a lot under my name yet. This is a joy that I've only recently discovered in its entirety. Hope I'll see some of you there!

NOTE: 07-15-2009

I apologize to those who wondered whether or not I intended to actually finish this re-write. I don't even really have a good excuse. It just fell off the radar for awhile. I'm back into it now, with three more chapters up in this past week. I'll try to keep a better schedule in that regard. It has been a strange experience, going through this thing again after almost three years. I can still feel that sense of accomplishment I got over actually finishing it, but the actual content disappoints me. I suppose that's the main reason I'm doing this, and that, at least, has proven to be very satisfying. The revised work looks much better to my own eyes.

Thanks to R0g3r.th3.Shrubb3r for pointing out an inconsistency regarding James' handgun. I wrote the original draft referring to his weapon as a Glock 19. I don't even remember why I chose that particular gun, but I have since discovered that it is actually a Beretta M92F. I thought I had changed all references to the Glock, but I did not, and I thank him for pointing out what I missed.

The other story, "To My Precious Daughter" is, unfortunately, likely to be put on hiatus for a long time. I might even just take it down until I'm ready to devote time to it. For now, I guess it can be considered something of a preview.

NOTE: 02-14-2009

IM BAX

Sort of.

I read through this old story of mine after over two years of mostly ignoring it. I'm still fond of it, and I always will be, but I've been writing my own stuff ever since finishing Letter From Silent Heaven and as such, I like to think I've improved as a writer and honed my technique. The best evidence in my own eyes is how often I cringed while re-reading this story.

So, since I have little to distract me at present, I decided to give this old whore a comprehensive re-writing.

I'll state up front that I'm not going to make any major changes to the story (having played little of Origins and none of Homecoming, I don't have a lot to add anyway), but I will be giving the prose a major overhaul. There will be many casualties, including repetitions, fragments and maybe eight dozen f-bombs, but their gruesome sacrifices will hopefully result in a story that is cleaner and smoother and easier to read. I'll likely post it in chunks of several chapters, since this process is so far proving significantly less time-consuming. I started two days ago, am in the middle of Chapter 3, and will have the first portion ready to go on Monday.

So, if you've already read it, this means you're intelligent and possess impeccable taste. It also means that if you read it twice, you'll be reading essentially the same story again. I can think of no better reason to jump right in, because everything tastes better the second time.

Especially hot pockets.

NOTE: 10-13-2006

I've had several requests for a Word document containing the entirety of the story. I'm sorry, but I will not provide one. There's no way I can stop anyone from making one by copying every chapter, and there is a complete document that I possess, but it will remain mine. I'm rather protective of my work and just a little paranoid, especially after a user queried me several times today asking for a Word document, and asking if the story was completely edited and proof-read, and my copyright restrictions. It may mean nothing, but it was still a red-flag to my paranoid self.

To verify, I expressly prohibit this work from appearing on any website except fanfiction.net, silenthillheaven.com, and tcforums.com. Doing so would violate my copyright. If you see my story appear on any website that isn't one of those three, please contact me. And, not that I see this happening, but selling copies for profit would of course violate Konami's copyrights in addition to my own, just so everyone is aware.

NOTE: 9-1-2006

Well, it's been a good run, but I've about come to an end here. I mean, the story itself is done now, tout fini. Edits are certain to come, but I think there's little in the way of groundbreaking change to be made. I think I've pretty much written the story I wanted to write. I have been banging out a sort of Afterword, and I'll put that in if I ever finish it.

There are several e-mailers I need to get responses to. I'll be doing that as time permits. I really do appreciate you taking the time to send them, though, and my poor response time is due mostly to my relocation.

I will address one question that I get quite often, that being "Will you write a SH 1/3/4 novelization?". For the longest time, my answer was no. Silent Hill 2 was the only game with a story that interested me in that regard, and for the most part, that is still the case. I have had in my head an idea related to games 1 and 3, of taking Harry Mason's letter to Heather and expanding upon it, something short-story length, as a series of letters. I'm not at all sure when I'll get around to it, but I would like to try it sometime. Other than that, I honestly have no desire to outright novelize any of the other games. I just can't see myself having the same kind of fun with them as I did with this one.

I do have to say, though, that there is one other game I'd like to novelize, one much more difficult than Silent Hill 2, and that is my all-time, #1 favorite game ever... Xenogears. Silent Hill 2 took me fifteen months. That would probably take me five years. I mean to do it before I die one day, though.

NOTE: 6-11-2006

I had to go back and edit a few things to keep consistency in the early chapters (it wasn't until after I started writing that I gained a clearer sense of when the game took place, so it's May instead of July). Most of that was just small edits, nothing major, but I did have to make one major edit in Chapter Thirteen. The Doctor's Journal that James finds in the hospital was something I had omitted at the time of writing. Since then, I have come to realize that the journal is perhaps one of the most important memos found in the game, so I changed the chapter enough to include the contents of this memo, as it will bear some significance later in the story.

NOTE: 4-18-2006

As I start to approach the home stretch of the story, I've been getting several inquiries asking which of the game's endings will be used in my story. Now, since most of the readers know, more or less, what will happen, keeping the ending secret is the only possible chance I have to surprise anyone! So, I will say this much: I had decided on one of the endings from the moment I began writing the story. I realize that it's pretty hotly contested as to which ending is the most proper, and that by picking one I cannot please everyone. I also will not reveal the ending ahead of time. But I promise that when it comes time to write the ending, it'll be worth your while, and it won't be what you probably expect, no matter what it is you expect. Thanks for reading=)

NOTE: 2-16-2006

It occurred to me that I had made a really stupid error way back in Chapter 12. To be precise, when James listens to Eddie and Laura conversing in Pete's Bowl-o-Rama, James attributes Laura's voice using her name... this happening before he even learns what her name is, which happens a page or two later. Surprisingly, nobody's caught that gaffe yet, including myself. I do look back every now and then for reference and consistency checks, so far, this is the first major goof I've caught myself making. As far as I've gotten, I guess that's pretty good. =D