Edge of Everlasting Life: The Bonus Content

1: Behind the Story

The concept for EEL wasn't actually anything at first. Sounds crazy to believe, I know, but please stick with me here. 

The 'Prologue' was originally a response to a Pinterest writing draft. Yes, I do this to practice my writing; they're fun. :P  However, I never expected it to be more than just that. A man with a brief case and a girl who has clearly gone through an intense ordeal. By the time I finished writing that, it got me thinking of the events that transpired that led up to that situation. Long story short: I got to thinking on what those events could've been, but I never wrote any of them down (please, if there's anything that you should take away from this tale: please write all of your ideas down). 

I didn't touch the story for a few months after that. I left to go back to college and was expecting to have a good time. Yeah... I really would've loved that to happen. 

Instead, what I got was a horrible roommate situation which led me to *many* sleepless nights and going through multiple panic attacks as a result. I was only at college for three weeks before I decided to take the semester off and focus on my mental health. I'm not ashamed to admit this simply because life is not linear. There are ups and downs. And as it turned out, I was at rock bottom at the time (Obviously, I feel that  I'm at a relatively good point as I'm writing). 

Not only did I meet some wonderful people who helped me throughout this time in my life, but they actually encouraged me to channel my anxiety in a healthy way. I could've chosen any form: comfort stuffed animal, exercising, journaling. All of these are good, but they didn't seem to work for me. Instead, I chose an avenue I already love: reading. 

Everyday, I cracked open a new book. Books that I read when I as younger. Books that my parents owned. Books that I thrifted. I needed something to satisfy my brain. However, this wasn't enough; I needed to create something. 

Now, I don't typically say that one of my best traits is being creative. I don't see myself like that, honestly. Even though I do enjoy creating things (music, poetry, photography), I don't think I'm the best at it. In fact, I know there is a whole lot more that I could improve upon. However, I needed to get over the fear of not knowing everything which is how I began writing the story. 

Rereading the original draft, I began to think of ways for those two character to end up there. Well, what involves a man with a briefcase to gain something important from the girl while the girl gets something in return. 

Then it hit me: a video game. 

I don't know why my brain thought of a video game first, but I wasn't complaining. I found the idea to actually be enticing when paired with modern/ futuristic technology. Do I think that a game like this will be released in the future? I mean, without all the potential bad things, yes. I think that virtual realty games will reach this point. Maybe even exceed it. However, I think it will take a while before we completely reach that point. But who knows? Life is very unpredictable. 

The plot itself is based on a lot of my own fears. For spoilers' sake, I won't go into too much detail. Only one of the basic themes: Being trapped. This fear can appear in many, many ways. However, just imagine being trapped in a video game. Like you're still able to do so much, but at the same time, you're not. It's not a world you're familiar with. You have to gain skills. You have to interact with NPCs. Adding a fantasy element only felt natural. As there are so many ways to manipulate it to be even more horrifying. 

And if you add being studied to the mix: there's only so much more that can go wrong. Glitches could happen. Things aren't completely worked out. There could be side effects. But the fact that there are people who are pulling the strings to control other things... I hate it! Like a lot. 

Essentially, the game itself is a catalyst for all of the events in the story. And I found myself writing about it -- and the story itself-- as a way to channel all of my anxiety and fears in a relatively healthy manner. I don't solely use it to cope with anxiety, but it does help me validate my own feelings. 

As for the technology, well, I wanted to take a very interesting twist. I decided to go with brain waves. I, obviously, won't go too in-depth about brain waves in this particular chapter, but I felt it was a route that I'm *somewhat* familiar with and feel like it would be relatively easy to understand and describe. 

Take, for example, sleeping. There are certain brain waves available for each stage of sleep that can control various different things: dreaming, healing rate, and general cognition. There are only four stages of sleep. And in one of them is when dreams occur the most. 

Now, I also suffer (though some people would call it a blessing) from very vivid dreams. Good dreams are absolutely incredible! I don't mind these at all. In fact, the day after I have a good dream is usually amazing. Nightmares, however, worst possible dreams to ever exist (I think that is a given though). Like why? Why do these exist? Don't get me wrong, I've had enough dreams to plan out multiple future books, but sometimes I just want to take it slow and not dream sometimes. You know?

Anyways, let's get to probably one of the most important aspects any story: the characters. (NOTE: I will have a more in-depth chapter for all of the main characters, but for now, these are just general statements about their inspiration.)

As much as I would love to tell you that these characters are unique, that simply isn't true. Or at least, not in the way most people would probably think. 

You see, the characters are a mix of my best and worst personality traits combined with people I know in my real life. So in a way, I guess they're unique? I truly don't know. However, these characters are why it took me so long to ask my friends and family to read over my story. Because I could accidentally reference one thing, and then that person would be able to trace the character back to them. Not that there's anything wrong with that because my traits are also in the story. 

For example: Alice. She constantly overthinks and has anxiety (very obviously hinting at my own traits here lol). However, she is also an extremely loyal friend and would do anything to protect her friends. This is a trait that multiple people have, so literally anyone could read it and think it's about them (that is if they are a loyal friend). 

I found by doing this, the characters themselves felt more realistic. Like everyone in this book has their own flaws, but I love them all so much? I really hope this is normal author behavior! But either way, I feel proud by how these characters came out and I can't wait to explain them more in-depth later!

Additionally, some of the events in the story are loosely based on situations I either experienced myself or was told about by a friend. 

Take the infamous date between Alice and Vincent. A lot, and I mean a lot of people, thought that this scene between them was adorable. What if I told you this is a combination of my first date as well as another friend's? Did it seem all that cute in real life? For me, I literally don't remember, my heart was beating too fast. I guess I also technically wrote this scene based on what I want out of a relationship. I was quite literally a blushing mess after I wrote it, so I guess it did it's job? :D

Overall, with this story in general, I think I'm pretty happy with its outcome (or at least where it's heading). And I'm also glad that a lot of other people relate in some way to it. It makes me feel like I've done at least an okay job at writing it. However, I also recognize that it is still technically a draft (not the first but not quite the last) and my first ever written story, so it is not my best work. I know that it'll possibly get there (maybe not if I can find a way to write about those other dream-related stories). But I'm excited to be on this writing journey with Alice and every single one of you. I'm grateful for all the advice, feedback, and general interest that you all have shown my story. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! <3

Next time: Folktales