(AFTERWORD) Eventually

If you have not read all of Eventually, what are you doing? Go read it first, then come back, since there are spoilers.

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This is the first non-canon short story on this blog, and there’s a reason why I wanted it to be this one in particular and at this timing in particular.

First, the when: The reason I wanted to post this now was simply because it follows Camping Grounds, a short story that ties together so many of the stories that came before it. So, it’s like a little ad break, or just a plain old black screen-type pause before beginning the “second phase,” if you will. As you can tell from the table of contents, there are a lot of stories coming soon and a lot more in the workshop, so I decided that I’m going to put some non-canon stories in between to 1) help pace the story and 2) to give some time for you all to try and piece together how each story fits in.

Although, I have not yet decided if the non-canon stories will fit together in their own universe… but that would be a bit too cruel, right?

Anyways, this short story doesn’t seem like it has a destination. And part of the reason why is because it’s based off of a dream that I actually had. That’s right, almost the entirety of the first half of the short story – before the “drawing” break (though, this one wasn’t really a drawing break) – is an actual dream that I had that’s stuck with me for a while.

I thought that using just that as material could become a bit bland, so I added my own twist and turn to it for fun. It might make the story feel half-finished though.

Well, that’s a part of it. You see, this story is about a dream, so I framed it from the mindset of what I want to say about a dream. More often than not, dreams don’t come true, whether it be a dream you have while sleeping or a dream that you have (like a goal or wish). I wanted to say that when it does come true, you have to put some effort in. It doesn’t matter if Chris was lying about having a dream while sleeping; it doesn’t change the fact that being with Greg’s partner (who remains ungendered, simply because I didn’t feel it was too important to the plot of the story) was, in a way, still Chris’s dream.

Though the steps he took to get there was messed up, to be sure, that’s reality. That’s fact. The steps one must take to make a dream reality are steps one must take. No one else can achieve a dream for you.

That’s why I wanted this whole story to be like an incomplete dream. Whether or not the detective finds out how Chris did it, and whether or not you find out how Chris did what he did, is entirely up to you. It was once my dream, now it is yours.

All bullshit aside, sometimes the most effective stories are the ones that aren’t over-explained, over-told. Because of that, I leave some details out on purpose, because I believe that leads to cleaner storytelling. But I guess I can talk more about that… later.