The short answer to the question is, I want to. I've haven't been so inspired by a subject since I discovered The Sims, and I'm going to ride this as long as I possibly can.
Anyway. So, I'm completely done with Fanfics 1 and 2 at this stage. Fanfic 1 is completely available on my site right now and I'm formatting Fanfic 2 for release as well, but only parts 1 and 2 are available right now. "Parts". I guess I mean "Chapters". So, let's talk about Fanfic 1 for a moment.
I began writing this about 2 days after Episode 9: "Remember" was released. As you might remember, I was still grieving for Jax. Can you believe that? Experiencing actual grief over a fictional character? I had to remind myself at several points in time that Jax does not exist. Jax was an Autodesk Maya OBJ file, based on a drawing by Gooseworx, rendered in Unreal Engine 5, and given a voice by Michael Kovach. If you're going to grieve for anyone, how about doing it for all the hundreds of real trans girls who die in the closet? Anyway, it didn't help, and I was crying about her until 30th June.
I said once that I wasn't going to publish my fanfic anywhere, because too many tears went into it to just have it treated as consumeable media. Well, I remembered that nobody follows me for that. This is not social media, people aren't following me just because I post things.
Something that didn't make it into the annotated version of FF1 is the fact that I was crying as I was writing Pomni's eulogy. Really, it was never supposed to go beyond that point. At that time, I just wanted to write the eulogy in the style of a printed novella, but you know how it is. Once I finished that, I realised I could build upon it. I could have Ragatha go check on Pomni, I could have Kinger, Zooble, and Gangle talking to Caine, I could add a lengthy space of time where the circus gets built upon and transformed... then, I saw something truly awful for sale from Hot Topic. A graphic tee with Jax on it surrounded by the phrase, "I Can Fix Him". Talk about missing the point. Going straight for the infinite moneysack that is the average consumer.
Jax doesn't need to be "fixed". She needed to be acknowledged. She finally trusted Pomni for a moment or two before being wrenched away by Abstraction, so what if she got the chance to show that trust? Behold, Chapter 2 and its Amazing Digital Memory Glass. I didn't want to immediately bring Jax back in a tangible form, so I thought a bit about the inner workings of computers. The physical model is randomised, but there's a protected area of memory where the brain scans are stored. Something like that. I'm not going to be like Star Trek and explain how everything works. But, let's say that, perception is key. Kinger and Pomni talk about this a bit, and Pomni's albeit limited background in philosophy makes her receptive to alternative ways of making reality work. In case you've never taken Philosophy 1010, I'm not going to crack your brain in half by explaining foundational metaphysics. Maybe later, but not right now. However, if you are familiar with philosophy, to the point you can explain the crux of the mind/body problem, then you probably understand how Pomni delivered Jax from Abstraction.
Fanfic 2, in comparison, was quite a bit harder. I had a predefined list of things I wanted to achieve with FF1, and they were all spelled out for me by others. However, I had to define the list myself for FF2. What did I want this second fic to do? What did I want it to say? Well, first of all, I wanted to establish that Jax is back, and she's changed. She's still has a sarcastic sense of humour, there are still immutable things about her character, but she isn't an asshole anymore. She's receptive to trust, friendship, and love. However, I also wanted to establish that it's not all rainbows and rose petals. She still has some trauma that Pomni doesn't know about, but she's also aware that keeping things hidden is how she Abstracted. It'll take time, but eventually, Pomni and Jax will be able to face all of their demons. Yes, that's another thing I wanted to do with FF2... so far, Jax has been the only character with any measurable trauma, and it's time for that to change. I decided to give Pomni a bit of trauma in her Realspace past, too. We sort of already saw some of Ragatha's, during her dinner date with Pomni. There will be more, but we all watched TADC for Jax and Pomni, so let's get to that first, shall we?
Actually, I'm saying this as though we're going to discuss any of it in detail during FF2. We're not. That was something that the series did quite often: things would be introduced that would either be deferred to a much later episode or would never be discussed at all. Unlike other media, where such a thing would be nothing deeper than a plot hole, TADC, I'm pretty convinced at this stage, doesn't have plot holes. It just has unaddressed trauma. Well, am I not a fanfic writer? I'm going to address it. But not yet. Maybe next time.
I have ideas for new characters who I intend to add to the main cast. I'll give you a preview of the first. Imagine a character who is equal parts Neco-Arc and Bubsy, wearing a Hanna-Barbera necktie, and green. His name is Bear, and I intend to introduce him in FF3. I have other character ideas, but I'm not sure I want to use them all. At the very least, we need another male character, after Bear. But, I have a Pinocchio-type character with a backstory that is just too compelling to not use. Also, each of the existing characters has an idea for a new adventure, and Pomni's is a bit of nostalgia on my part.
Also, we'll be taking the occasional detour away from adventures and trauma-addressing to examine each member of our cast a bit more in-depth.
Like I said, The Amazing Digital Circus is the single biggest influence on my writing work since The Sims 1, and I'm going to ride this as far as it'll take me.