Next Assignment (Preword)

[luna_rainbow]

Next Assignment is something I started in the departing summer of 2003 when I was planning my short story for 4U English. It is probably the main reason why I did so terribly in the HSC - because in the 3 weeks before the exams, I spent all of it writing...from chapters 20 to 30.

All this became in vain. Afterwards, I became deeply unhappy with what happened between 20 and 30, and proceeded to rewrite them from scratch.

Next Assignment will always be something with which I have a love-hate relationship. It is my first science-fiction-like story. The characters are not immediately likeable and takes a long time to grow on the readers, and even longer in the case of the main character Rowan.

More than anything, more than any of my other stories, what always made me frustrated was the language. It was necessary for the tone to be unmatured, to have the rawness of a child and the awkwardness of someone unused to baring their thoughts on paper. It needs to have the blandness of emotional suppression but still convey the appropriate emotions, the emotions that Next Assignment is filled with - regret, sorrow, bitterness and, in many forms of the word, love. In the lack of form and refinement, there must be something for which the readers can realise the depth of emotion that possesses and motivates each of the characters.

There are aspects of the story, even after many many re-edits and rewrites, I am not happy with and will probably never be pleased with. I hope at least it can be perceived as a story about a selection of human relationships, observed by a boy who thought himself incapable.