Oh boy, how long has it been? Over a year, right…
So I suppose I owe you an explanation. I indeed did stop working on this story, and even fan fiction as a whole. Buuuut I couldn't stay away forever. Last November I came back to the site under a different name, just looking to write casually without being beholden to old stories.
That's been going well and I still plan on writing from that profile, but I couldn't keep the Mole itch away. Initially I started planning to write a season on that new profile, but as I went back and started reading through this story I realized I couldn't just leave it behind. I want to see this story come to a close. And perhaps there'll be a sequel in the future, who knows.
But, I won't feel satisfied finishing the story the way it is. I started writing this way back when I was 13, so a lot of the writing is… less than optimal, and before I finish up the story I want to fix what I can.
So, here's the official plan: as I gear up to write episode 7 and onward I'm going to go through and revamp the rest of the story. While the later episodes (mainly 5 and 6) will see little to no changes, the earlier episodes will see practically every line rewritten. If you want to see an example of how this will go, check out chapter 1, which was rewritten before the release of this chapter. However, if you have any other questions, read on!
How Revamping Chapters Will/Won't Work:
1. First, and most importantly, the structure and details of the story will not change. All of the events of the story will remain unchanged. Challenges will retain their exact structure and results, suspicious actions and clues will stay where they are. Events that happen between challenges will stay the same. None of this is meant to change how the story plays out, only how well those events are written. You can completely skip reading the revamped chapters and you won't miss a thing.
2. Dialogue will be rewritten to better reflect personalities. In the earlier parts of the story, many of the characters were woefully underdeveloped (heck, Jolene was chosen as the first to go because I just couldn't figure out a personality for her). By Duel of the Dead and Sequential Execution, however, everyone (including the executed players) had a pretty firm personality in place. With the revamped chapters I have the opportunity to properly characterize everyone from the beginning, especially those whose personality never had time to shine.
3. General errors will be cleaned up. Some of the older chapters had little to no editing, and newer chapters could always use some polish. I'll basically be going back and fixing spelling, grammar, and formatting errors, along with making some things clearer.
4. Cringeworthy elements will be removed. There were plenty of things that I thought were cool back when I was 13 that make me cringe now when reading back over the story. This mostly refers to swearing and pop culture references that really don't need to be there. Now, the occasional somewhat subtle reference to another game series (like Wolley singing Shadow the Hedgehog's "I Am All of Me" in Return and Resurface) isn't bad, but things like mentioning Charlie Sheen just have to go. It was worth of an eyeroll even when he was relevant.
5. Some lines may be reworked. This one's pretty simple. If I see something that could be written a bit better, then I'll do it, just as long as it doesn't alter the original story.
So, that's my plan going forward. While these updates are going on you can see my progress in the description, which will return to normal once Episode 7 Part 2 is released (which will come after everything's been updated). If you have any questions leave a review or shoot me a PM. Though review at your own risk, since this chapter will be deleted once Episode 7 Part 2 is released.
I'm really excited to be coming back to Fiend's Burrow, and I hope you are too!
~Viva
