July 22nd, 2012

Well, here I am again, back at ...the place where it all started for me.

I first became a member of this site back in my senior year of high school, interested in reading pieces on Final Fantasy 8, and wrote a few of my own. Ive since taken them down, but a new project emerged while I was in the military called "The Ultimecia Affair".

Being the avid fan of the Final Fantasy 8 story and universe, I decided I wanted to write fanfiction based on the game, starting with a completely realistic novelization of the game, minus the campiness and fleshing out the story more than the game did. It started off well enough, even though my military duties and life in general got in the way. I got about 20 chapters deep then hit a wall. I think a big part had to do with the waning interest in Final Fantasy 8, even though I have remained a fan, many didnt, and I just didnt see the point in continuing to write stories for it.

Now, I do.

In full disclosure, I have always had a problem sticking with major projects. Ive stuck with college and the military, but in terms of things for fun and hobbies, I havent. For instance, I used to start on model cars or arranging my HUGE collection of baseball cards, but never finished either. This is just another.

Now, 11 years later at the grand old age of 30, I return to this place, thanks mostly to one of the best fanfiction writers this place has ever seen..Ashbear. I got an PM from her telling me about the FF8 competition for many old FF8 fanfiction writers.

While working on a piece for her competition, I started reading over old stuff, including some of mine, and really got back into it. So much so, that I just finished a new chapter of The Ultimecia Affair and am halfway through another. Ive had several requests to pick the story back up but could never get back into it.

So, with that, a few notes...

1) I am not going to promise to finish the story, even though I would love to, but I DO promise that I will finish disk one. I am about to post the next chapter and hopefully have another one out my next weekend. Beyond that, there will only be two chapters left before the disc one curtain call.

2) In the past, I wanted reviews...I craved them. This time, its not so much about that as much as it is proving something to myself. I want to finish this...even if its only the first disc...at least it would bring myself some type of closure. Dont get me wrong, I probably wont go too far beyond disc one if I dont see any interest remaining, but I will try my best to go as far as I can if there is.

3) Looking back on my past writing, I am sorely disappointed. Dont get me wrong, I do like alot of what I wrote, but I am sick looking back at The Ultimecia Affair with how much unneeded crapola I included. Ive learned over the years that while attention to detail is good in writing, including things that dont need to be in is bad. Things like Squall giving Selphie a tour of Garden or talking to "Trepies". I look back and realize that I shouldve just including an allusion to it, not a fleshed out piece on it like I did, because it screwed with the flow. I want to go back and fix some of that, but at this point, I dont know yet.

So, for now, thats it. If you have any questions, let me know.

At this point, I plan on finishing disc one of The Ultimecia Affair and writing a piece for Ashbear's competition.

Beyond that, I cant say for sure.

All the best.