History of the Novel
t all started back in 1996, back when I was just a mere 8th grader...
I never had played Chrono Trigger before, but had remembered
hearing one of my dear friends, Luke, talk about it almost every day in class. After
he finally finished this game that I had heard so much about, he decided to let me borrow it. So, naturally, I
started playing it...and I was absolutely taken away by the rich and
thrilling storyline. I found myself falling in love with the characters,
always hoping that everything would work out for them. I felt for Frog as
he dwelt over a painful past, (while, of course, hoping to get him back on my
team), and I longed to help Marle as she coped with an overbearing father and
the bondages of royalty. Anyone with a knack for spirituality certainly
could not overlook the similarities and allusions to Christianity present
throughout the storyline. The involvement was too great, and the story so real to me, that, after finally
finishing the game, I called Luke up and said these exact words:
"...awesome! Someone should make a novel out of this!"
After finding out that so many others have uttered this same phrase, that is
exactly what I decided to do.
So, in September of 1996, I sat down with several No.2
pencils, an electric sharpener, and some paper to begin writing the events as I
saw them. Perhaps the very first sentence written onto that very first
page was the most meaningful of all: "It was the brightest and most
beautiful morning that Truce Village, circa 1000 A.D., had seen."
From there, the writing continued. I was, as an
eager-minded middle school student, always very excited to sit and write what was
happening in my game. I started the game from scratch, using just one save
file, and wrote down everything (everything) that happened. When
Crono jumped to level 4, I was all too happy to write it down. When Lucca
found her Plasma Gun, it was jotted into the paragraph with utmost
enthusiasm. As it was on the game, walking from town to town and from
scene to scene was nothing more than what was there: a walk from here to
there. Crono remained about as vocal as Brandon Frasier in Encino
Man (though Crono could speak English), or, that is, a caveman who
doesn't talk much. To keep up with the growing status of each character, I thought it
would help everyone to see a chart from time to time that reflected the
information relayed to gamers through the game's character information
screen. After all, those Experience Points were important, and were to be
gained after fighting every foe so that levels could be raised. At some
point, good ol' Luke finally gave me the game as a Christmas present. For
roughly 300 pages, I wrote in this way, thinking in my own inexperienced head
that the readers would be interested in following the characters' progress as
they did on the screen. But, after those 300 pages, I went back and read
some of what I had written...and then I realized that there had to be something
more.
So, over a year later, in December of 1997, I decided to
make a small modification to my writing style. Believing that I could
simply return to the first 300 pages and fix them at a later time, I continued
with the story in the Beasts' Lair leading to the Mountain of Woe. With
three characters actively fighting, and the rest twiddling their thumbs in The
End of Time, I figured that leaving out some of the items of the game would help
the story to flow more smoothly. Indeed, this was a good move. It
was also at around this point that I decided to start adding scenes and chapters
to enrich the story even further--an even better move. One of my most memorable
additions, occurring at around this point in the story (Mountain of Woe), will be used when I
return here in the rewriting.
From this point on, I began watching what I was writing
more closely and made many tweaks and improvements along the way. At
around 340 pages, I decided not to include most weapons, armor, accessories,
etc. unless it was an integral part of the storyline. And, by this point,
I was simply noting (in the side margins) when new Techniques were being learned
rather than interrupting the flow of the action for them. The writing
continued from there, with some halts from time to time, and I included probably
more extra chapters with unique names than at any other part in the novel's
entire history (including now). Reading what I had done, I found myself
much more satisfied than before, because the reading was much more enjoyable,
but I knew that I still lacked the splendor of many of today's great
novels. It had always been in the back of my mind to make this novel at
least as enjoyable as Brian Jacques's Redwall series books and A.C.
Crispin's Han Solo trilogy. It is most likely that my writing style
blends that of these two great authors, although a lot of my fighting scenes are
inspired by scenes in movies like Lord of the Rings or Pirates of the
Caribbean.
While looking through my old first attempt at this novel,
I noticed that, by around page 370, my handwriting started to look almost
identical to what it is now. This suggests to me that it was around this
time that I started using my trusty mechanical pencil, a simple BiC 0.7mm with a
green clip (which I still use!), and that I was writing this part of the novel
at a later time, probably after a fairly lengthy halt in the entire
effort. So, at any rate, my writing was considerably more developed at
this time. With my improved methodology, the novel was certainly at its best in
comparison to previous chapters. Looking back right now, I still find
myself engrossed with the sequences I wrote following the destruction of the
Ocean Palace and the demise of a beloved character. I am amazed at a scene
[that I had forgotten] involving a conversation between Gaspar and Spekkio and
the functionality of the Time Egg. I am encouraged knowing that these
scenes can only get better when I reach that point again. In June of 1998,
I reached page 400 with the battle of the Golem Boss, and still struggled only
with the using of Techniques and special moves intrinsic to games (particularly
RPG's) only. This problem subsided in the pages to follow, however, and
the story went on into the "optional" events of the game with the
highest of hopes.
I had a massive flow of ideas and an outline that would
carry me the bulk of the way to the end of the game and its story. The
novel, along with my writing style, had evolved and formed into a single
entity. One always affected the other. At the height of things,
however, a turn came for the worst, and my 3-year-old game file (there was only
one used for the novel) was accidentally deleted on September 7th, 1999, at
almost the exact same date that the novel was started...
For a while, I stopped everything after making some notes
to myself regarding my plans for the events ahead of the novel. With no
more options, I began rewriting the novel from the beginning, starting off with
an entirely new chapter to precede the game's opening, an idea which was
inspired by another individual named Ryan that I had come into contact with
online (he was going to write a novel, too). Unfortunately, the
burden was too great, and I decided to stop writing in October of that
year. For an entire year those original 481 pages of a timeless story sat
tucked away in large, brown envelopes. However, my desire grew too great
to finish it...I could not allow myself to be defeated by a stroke of bad
luck. So, I picked the novel back up where I had left it: In the middle of
the new Chapter 1, continued in September of 2000.
Though the task of writing this novel is very
time-consuming and difficult, I feel that it is meant to be. It is my main
hobby and my most desired ambition. Perhaps it is fate, or simply irony,
that the final line of the original writing read as follows
Marle thought for a moment. "Knowing Crono, I'd doubt it,
but it's worth a try either way."
I
couldn't have said it better myself.
|
CT
Novelist
18588289
ctsite@hotmail.com
still_like_snes
.
