Failed Fics #10 - 'Slender: the Whispering Woods' · 6:18am May 23rd, 2020
Hello and welcome to the next installment of 'Failed Fics,' a look into the numerous fanfics I've started but ultimately had to kill. Their stories vary, but the themes are the same; they just didn't belong in this world.
Today's story is one that began with the very best intentions; revisit one of my earliest successes one last time to tell a wholly different kind of story. What followed was almost two years of pain, agony, writer's block, and the realization that sometimes it's just better to leave some things well enough alone.
Follow the break for the full, sad tale...
October 2012. Slender-Mania is in full swing. Thanks to the efforts of Marble Hornets and the indie game Slender, interest and popularity of the Slender Man is at an all time high. The hero of this story, a young author by the name of Jade Ring, wishes to capitalize on this momentum and pens 'Slender,' a modest horror story just over 2000 words long. The story is a moderate success and starts a yearly tradition of Halloween tales.
Our young hero also makes the acquaintance of one Swirling Line not long after, and the two's successful partnership is formed on their mutual love of the Slender Mythos.
One year later, our hero has the brilliant idea to tell a second Slender story; bigger, better, and BADDER. Utilizing a cast of OCs crafted by contest winners, Jade pens 'Return to Slender.' Results are... mixed. Our hero is pleased with the tale, however, and even has an idea for a capper to the trilogy for the following year. He even adds a post credits stinger that garners more positive feedback than the story itself!
Another year passes, and 'Lunar Slender' makes its debut. It remains one of our hero's greatest embarrassments. It is uneven and lackluster, nowhere near measuring up to the promise of the stinger from one year prior. On the whole, there are only two scenes in the entire 5000 words that Jade considers possibly worthwhile.
So ends the story of Jade Ring's Slender Trilogy...
OR DOES IT?!
Okay, enough of the narration. I've got a Failed Fic to wax poetic about.
'Lunar Slender' was indeed meant to be my last word on the character. However, not long after 'Grogar' was completed, I noticed the similarities between that story and the original 'Slender.' In jest, I pitched a sequel to Swirling called 'the Nightmare Before Hearth's Warming' that would pit my beasties against one another in a fight to the death. I actually grew to like the idea and expanded on it before ultimately nixing it for a solo Grogar sequel that... also died.
But the urge to write about the Slender One persevered.
I officially announced I was exploring a new Slender story in August 2017 and revealed the title as 'Slender: the Whispering Woods' mere days before my son was born. My intention was to ride the inevitable momentum that would hit 'Grogar' after Scribbler's adaptation hit to help the story get more views. I suddenly decided that it needed to be a Christmas story, so that pushed off the release just a bit more.
Six months later, after much agonizing, I pulled the plug. Why? Because the story went too far. Because real life events made the Slender Mythos not so fun anymore. Because mixing those real life events with a light-hearted cartoon started to feel really gross.
Here's the original plot to what would have been 'Slender: the Whispering Woods.'
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Sunset Shimmer is over at Rarity's house when she finds the Cutie Mark Crusaders reading about a creature called the Slender One online. Sunset is shaken when a memory long repressed emerges from her fillyhood; a memory of a blank white head in the dark of the woods.
The story then splits into two pieces. In one, Sunset investigates the CMC's growing obsession with the Slender One. In the other, she writes to Twilight Sparkle about her experience as a filly.
When Sunset was young, she lived in a village next to a forest the locals called the Whispering Woods. One night, Sunset followed the whispers into the forest and encountered a very weak and starving Slender One. She narrowly escaped, but as the weeks go by other fillies and colts started to disappear. Sunset's parents sent her to Celestia for safe-keeping, and the rest of the village's populace vanished not long after that.
Sunset does her own research into her new home's stories of the Slender One and realizes that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are planning on offering Scootaloo as a sacrifice. She tracks them to that world's version of the Whispering Woods and gets lost trying to find them. As her fears overwhelm her, Sunset is suddenly stabbed in the back and collapses. She sees the CMC standing over her with knives, and they tell her that no one can escape from the Slender One. As they stab her to death, Sunset sees the Slender One behind them, watching impassively.
As the story ends, the town searches for the missing girls... and one little girl has a terrible nightmare.
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So... yeah. Too dark. Too gross. Not a fan.
But I tried to write it. Tried my damndest. I'm not sure why now. Maybe I thought I had something to say with it? I dunno.
In any case, it FAILED. And rightfully so.
Ignoring the fact that it's 2020 and Slenderman has been done to death forever now, that's not a bad dark backstory for Sunset. Just, kinda have to agree on the ending if nothing else. :B That didn't need to be written.
But it's never stopped some people...
5267764
I'll always have a soft spot for the old skinny dude, but yeah. His time has passed.
Dude... that's too close to the Slenderman stabbing
5308126
Precisely why I ultimately decided to cancel the thing.
5308188
good call