//------------------------------// // Final Authors Notes, Thank You's and more! // Story: The Operator // by The Legist //------------------------------// The Operator Final authors notes, thank you's and plans for the future! My Inspiration: Fear Boy has it been a ride writing this story. As I'm sure you can tell, this was my first experience writing in the horror genre. I love the feeling I get when I'm writing something scary, and I love the feedback I get when people actually feel what I want them to feel. I'm not very good yet, not compared to the greats, but I really felt inspired to write this story. My first encounter (if you can even call it that) with the Slender Man was four or five months ago. I woke up in the middle of the night, unable to move or talk. I felt horrible, like something was coming to kill me. Everything was dark and fluid, and there was a long black figure standing in the corner of my room. I felt sick, and deeply disturbed. Even writing this down right now is giving me the chills because I have to think about it. I really tried to incorporate these feelings into my story, because I felt they are very powerful. I don't know what I saw that night, but to this day, I believe Slender Man is the best medium of modern horror because of the way he messes with your mind... him being real or not doesn't even matter. I had heard about Slender Man a very long time ago on 4chan's /b/ board, and decided to read up on the legends. Everything you see in my story is information directly from poems, short stories, encounter logs, and pictures that I have found on the internet. None of the Marble Hornets crap or the Slender game that made Slender Man so popular. I have done my best to show Slender Man as what I believe he truly is: A Phantom of the Mind. My goal for this story was to do Slender Man justice. I see too many pictures and stories that just aren't scary. Whether or not I accomplished this goal, you be the judge. Fear has power. True fear is hard to induce, but once you are afraid, I believe your mind has the ability to create whatever it wants with the resources available. You may see or hear things that aren't there. You may feel sick, or nauseated. This is your brain telling you to get out of there. The power isn't in the phantom, but in your own mind. So, the question is, is he real or not? We all believe what we want to, but the fear is truly there. You just have to reach out and feel it. (The lyrics of this song inspired the ending of the story. It just felt right to put it here.) Thank you's: First off, I would like to thank my server player, and Number One Assistant, Pinkie Beam! This story wouldn't be what it is wit)(out your creative input, advvice, and the correction of my incessant errors and pro8lems with the comma. If you like clop, go check out Fluttershy's Little Dashie: Assertion is Rewarding, or My Little Snout: Physics is Painful. I would like to shout out to NotTheOP for pre-reading the first chapter and somekindabrony for entertaining me throughout the writing process. I guess they are somewhat my number one fans. Next up, I would like to thank Andrew Hussie, the mastermind behind the Homestuck Series and fimfiction user Deviance, author of the fanfiction The Machinations of a Trickster. I believe that reading their stories has improved my own writing greatly. They are artists of the written word, and I highly recommend reading their works. I doubt they will ever see this tribute, being that they are all big and famous and I'm just some little guy, but thanks for the inspiration, guys. Last, but certainly not least, I'd like to thank you. That's right, YOU. The person reading this. The people who watched me, and talk to me through the comments. Without you guys to tell me whether or not you liked the story, it would have died long ago. This story was always in my head, but thanks to your support it has been given form and purpose. It's nowhere near perfect, but I hope that throughout the process of writing it I learned something so I can make the next stories better. Which brings me to... Plans for the future! There will be a second operator story. Depending on the success of said story, there may be a third if I have enough ideas. I finally came up with a name for it, and although I'm excited to unveil it, I am going to keep it a closely guarded Serket. Ahem, secret. But I can say this. I will use everything I learned about horror and the horror genre to make this story the best it can be. The scariest, deepest, and saddest. For the people! Because ya'll deserve it. Also, I may do a humanized version of these stories to reach a wider audience and satisfy my goal of being a good creepy pasta writer. If you ever want to read that, I'll be sure to post a blog entry or something about it if/when it happens. Keep your eyes peeled! I'm going to leave you now, but then again, you aren't really alone are you? Don't look behind you. -The Legist.