The Spiralling
Bonus Feature: Writer's Commentary Part 10
It felt extremely odd, returning to this old fan fiction of Kick-Ass I wrote 3 years ago. It was like revisiting an old friend, or flying over to another country to meet close relatives I'd left years ago. As to why I'd stopped writing Writer's Commentary 3 years ago, I'd long forgotten. I might have figured out that too much of it might spoil the story, or that it was unnecessary in the end. It could also be that I was moving on out of my army obligations and into my studies, and so I was distracted. For years, I've forgotten of the Kick-Ass franchise, and now that Kick-Ass 2, the movie, was released, I was reminded again of this wonderful old friend.
I spent a few hours rereading my own work, after watching Kick-Ass 2 at its debut night. It was a strange sensation, as if it was written entirely by someone else. 3 years seemed like a short time, but in reality, it was a long time, over a thousand days and nights. People change, and so did I. No longer was I a kid just out of adolescence, and no longer was I in green. I grew up, became an adult, started studying in university. English Literature and Creative Writing. It did wonders to my reading and writing. This combination of increased experience in all matters and skill in writing has alienated me from The Spiralling.
As I read my old work, I was cheering my old self on. There were some things he did right, but this fan fiction, the way I see it, did not age well. There were many things I wished I could have done differently, such as further elaborating on Mindy's damaged psyche. I thought I could express her insanity better with more convincing and better crafted run-on sentences. It felt like it was getting tired towards the end, but that shouldn't be the case, now should it? Mindy's insane alter-ego, the Demoness, should be almost above exhaustion, as she was an abstract entity motivated only by vengeance, fed by depression and hatred. Speaking of Demoness, I thought I could have invented a better name, but I guess I'll let that slide.
Moreover, I felt that the third act of The Spiralling could have been done better. It had way more potential than that. It was just pure action with the Demoness cutting through hordes of police officers and mobsters. I don't exactly do pure action (at least now), so I felt that I could have explored Demoness' psyche more? Other than showing that her thought process was extremely chaotic?
Other problems. I feel that my dialogues were one of the things that were starting to show wrinkles. They felt stiff, unnatural. Moreover, I wasn't exactly breaking new grounds, just copying dialogue from the comic and movies. Although in some cases, it was to give clues that Mindy was actually Demoness, or to provide references back to the comic/movie this fanfiction was based on, in all the other cases, it was inexcusable. At least I know that now.
Upon revisiting this old fanfiction and rediscovering my father's love for it, the next step is to think about what I want to do next for it. Do I continue with the writer's commentary? Or do I continue on this tangent, and write a sequel to this fanfiction? The Spiralling 2? Do I continue to explore this alternate Kick-Ass world in which Mindy's mind wasn't as strong as in the comics/movie? Or do I leave it as it is? Some of you were asking for a sequel, but possibilities include a rewrite, or an entirely new fanfiction. We'll see.