I've always been a firm believer that, in the event that circumstances of a situation have brought about both good news and bad news, the bad news should be shared first. As virtually anyone can tell you, getting the bad news out of the way first gives the subsequent good news the chance to reciprocate for the bad news, and give new hope to the situation. Of course, sometimes the "good news" is of little substance, other than as a ploy to soften the blow of the bad news; meaning all you're getting is some bad news with a hopeful sendoff.

Fortunately, this isn't one of those times.

First, the bad news:

I'm sorry to say that I'll be putting an end to this story. I won't be writing any more chapters because, really, I don't see the point in it. I don't really have any remaining interest in Being Alive, as it currently stands. But fear not: I shall explain.

When I first published this story nearly ten years ago, I'll admit I didn't have a long-term plan for it. I was just writing as I went, getting ideas into my head and putting them down on my computer. This was during my college years, when I had a lot of undeserved free time. Eventually, I realized that I had, more or less, written myself into a corner. I wasn't satisfied with the direction the story was going, though I did try to salvage things with the last few chapters. Still, at least in my opinion, it had become a bloated, incomprehensible mess. The time travel aspects of the story didn't make sense, many of the chapters and story arcs had little connection between them, and, last but not least, I had no idea how I was going to end the damn thing. Like Dante's journey through war-torn Vietnam and ancient Japan, I was up the proverbial creek without a paddle, and I didn't know where the hell I was going.

Things have happened since I left college. As I mentioned earlier, I had trouble securing work immediately after I left. While I eventually got a job, and wrote the occasional chapter, I began to lose interest. The last chapter I posted was over three years ago. Since then, I've gone back to school, began training for a better, long-term job, and, believe it or not, gotten my first professional writing assignment. Things are pretty exciting right about now, and getting the writing bug has renewed my interest in this old work. But, before I get to the good news (yes, there is still good news) let me start at the beginning:

I first got the idea for this story not long after I saw Mononoke Hime for the first time (for the record, that was at a high school film club meeting in junior year). I loved the movie when I saw it, and still do. It remains among my top twenty favorite films of all time (yes, I have a recorded Top 20), and I've seen it enough times to know it by heart. Still, the writer in me is always looking to take any story I see, and put it in a different perspective. As much as I love the movie, I could never help but wonder how it would look if it were more epic in scope, and really fleshed out the characters in the story, rather than just use them as talking points for a limited, ambiguous message about humans and nature. In other words, the movie left me wanting more. And so, my teenage brain, already swimming with ideas, went home, got on our old Macintosh computer, and went right to work.

I'd been writing ambitiously for a few years by that point, mainly keeping my stories to myself. None of them were particularly good, but I enjoyed them at the time. Like most writers my age, my stories were about myself and the things that interested me. And, when I first wrote the prototype story of what would eventually become Being Alive, I'll admit I was putting a little bit of myself into my insert character (as we all have, of course). Still, you might wonder why I decided to make my character, Dante, into a grunt from the Vietnam War. No real reason, except I thought it would be interesting, an I'd had a long interest in American military history. While I loved reading about our Civil War and the Second World War, Vietnam was kind of an outlier, an ambiguous note amongst moments of glory. Not unlike Mononoke Hime itself. It just fit in my mind.

The result was…not good. In fact, it was little more than a slightly-altered version of what had transpired on screen, with the main character replaced. Save for a few things, it wasn't especially creative, either. Anyway, I soon forgot about it, and went on with my life. Later, however, I stumbled across something that renewed my interest. That was A Legend of the Past, A Savior of the Future, by N'Jata. Legendary in the Mononoke Hime fanfiction community (such as it is), it gave me new ideas about how to go about writing my own story. Of course, I'd be lying if I said I never stole anything from the story. In fact, I borrowed many a plot point and line of dialogue. I wasn't sure I was doing the right thing, but I figured fanfiction readers didn't have the highest of standards anyway (a foolish assumption in hindsight), and really, I just wanted to get the thing published. However, even though a few people noticed and weren't happy (I honestly don't blame them), I eventually got an email from N'Jata himself. And he told me how much he liked my story, how flattered he was that I was borrowing from his, and how much he wanted to see me finish it. He eventually told me that he was inspired enough by my work to continue his own story, despite such a long time since the last chapter had been published (those who don't believe me can go to Chapter 27 of his story to see where he mentions me). I don't like to brag, but I'm honestly proud of that moment in my life.

Anyway, I wrote the story for a few years, then eventually lost interest. And now, after all this time, I think it's best if I close the book on this one. Still, I want to thank all those who enjoyed my story, and who continued to follow it all through these years, giving me their verbal support. You guys rock.

Well, that's the bad news. And now for the good news:

This isn't the end. Believe it or not, Being Alive will continue, in the form of a reboot. I'm currently outlining the new version of the story, chapter by chapter, from the very beginning until the very end. I'll have the whole thing planned before I actually publish it. I feel that I'm simply a better writer now than I was then, so I feel quite confident that this new story will be better in every way. It will be bigger, better, more original and more exciting than the one you all know. It will be coherent, and the story will flow freely from one chapter to the next. And it will be finished. That, I promise you.

I started writing this outline in the summer. It will be a bit before I can get started, but I hope to publish the first chapter before the end of the year. I hope you guys can wait that long. I've been doing a substantial amount of research for this story, which is one of the reasons why it's taken this long. Don't worry, though, because once I get started, things will move faster than last time. Hang in there: great times are ahead.

Until we meet again…

-Soap