“What’s this? What’s this?
Jack Skellington, “The Nightmare before christmas” (1993)
There’s color everywhere
What’s this?
There’s white things in the air
What’s this?
I can’t believe my eyes, I must be dreaming
Wake up, Jack, this isn’t fair
What’s this?”
I don’t really know why I quoted the first verse of Jack Skellington’s song from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” there (a film I only think I’ve seen once, even though it’s pretty great). It’s November 2023 when I’m writing this and I needed to jot something down to get started on this “About” page. That song doesn’t actually have anything to do with me or this project. There’s also only two colours, and no snow, on the site right now. It just sorta popped into my head and… why not? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
So, what is this? What is the Forgotten Songs Universe?
The Forgotten Songs Universe is my very own fantasy project and my personal journey into the world of writing. I haven’t written fiction since 7th grade (I think) but I love stories, whether it’s reading, watching, or gaming, facts or fictions. Mostly fantasy, though, I love that stuff!
I actually remember having a lot of fun writing my very first story for my very first school paper in something like 5th grade. It was a rip-off of “The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past” but my substitute teacher, who most likely didn’t know anything about the game, was so impressed that she decided to read it aloud in front of the class. That wasn’t meant as a humble (or not so humble) brag but I just remember being spurred on and writing more stories after that incident. And then I stopped at some point when I realized that I wasn’t very good at commas. I’m still not very good at comma rules but I’m honestly tired of letting that be a barrier for me.
“I have no idea what I’m doing.”
Me and that cute meme dog in a tie sitting in front of a laptop (2023 / year unknown)
A little history (I lied, it’s a lot of history)
Anyways, back to this project. I made the very first Forgotten Songs Universe folder, and some documents, on the 29th of December 2014. So, it’s definitely something that’s been a looong time coming.
The project was always meant as a little hobby thing on the side, and for the first many, many years it was something that I would work on for a week or two and then leave alone for months. Just ideas and random stuff. I wasn’t even sure it was ever to be more.
Sidetracking a bit, and not a happy one I’m afraid albeit very important to me and this project, the latter half of 2020 and beginning of 2021 was rough on a personal level. I mean, COVID was rough on the whole world, but I was unemployed and over the span of 6 months I lost two cherished pets and my beloved grandmother (last one of my grand parents at that). As a form a cope, I decided to write a form of obituaries for my friends and family to see. And the response was not only kind, but people were complimenting my writing. Then it sort of struck me: could I be good, or at least decent, at this?
I pondered on that for about a year, of course, until the beginning of 2022 where it got to the point that I felt like I had to do more than just scribble down random ideas in my little notebook and in my documents. That I should actually give it a wholehearted try. Which excited me to no end, resulting in me buying a bunch of stuff and no actually write anything story-like down, except background stuff in my docs, for another year. Procrastination is definitely something I’m good at lol.
Alright, that takes us to Summer 2023 and I finally actually really begin to put something down on paper with my newly bought (whoops) fountain pen. And you know what? It felt amazing. Scary, but amazing.
Not only did it feel amazing, I actually experienced the illusive flow state once I got started. From time to time I just felt the words streamed freely onto the papers. Now the only problem was finding the discipline to write regularly, and as you can probably tell from these paragraphs, discipline and procrastination are my two biggest enemies!
And yet, somehow, here we are. Ready to take on the world of fantasy or die trying!
It might sound dramatic, and it is, but that’s because drama is important in a story. I know, I am very author.
“It’s been a while since we’ve had a quote block.”
My brain (2023)
The idea behind the project
Besides being a personal writing journey for me, I do have a very specific idea behind this Forgotten Songs Universe and it’s structure.
I’m a huge fan of “A Song of Ice and Fire” (or Game of Thrones for you show only heathens) by George R.R. Martin, and I absolutely love being guided deep into his works by the YouTuber Preston Jacobs. Watching Preston’s videos, I noticed that he often dug out passages from years before the first book (“A Game of Thrones”) was published to highlight changes that George R.R. Martin had made, and using that as a point of speculation. It seemed like a lot of work and dedication.
So, that got me thinking: what if there’s was a simple and (fairly) easy way to find all that and compare? And that’s where the BIG idea for this project started.
You’ll notice that the stories here have version numbers accompanying them. For instance, the “Calamity” version that is showcased on the front page, as of this writing, is version 1.2.0. Whenever I make changes to the story, because I (hopefully) get better at the craft or something needs to be changed or edited in/out for whatever mysterious reason, the version gets updated. The newest version will be the one on display but you’ll be able to easily find some of the earlier ones at the very bottom of each story, see what was changed.
I’m not quite sure that I’ve nailed down the increase in version history but in my head it goes something like this:
- X.x.number (e.g. 1.2.3): Smaller changes like changing words or slightly rearranging paragraphs
- X.number.x (e.g. 1.3.0): Rearranging, adding, or removal of whole paragraphs
- Number.x.x (e.g. 2.0.0): Rewrites of the entire story, maybe from the ground up
- Adding words that I forgot or correcting spelling and grammar does not constitute a version update
I’m not saying that I’ll ever be as big an author as George R.R. Martin, Tolkien, or the other greats, or that I’ll have many fans (or any at all) dedicated to discussing the stories and the lore behind. But I think it’s a fun little thing to have, so here it is!
What does the future hold?
Right, the future of Forgotten Songs Universe.
Writing-wise I wanna make eleven short stories, ten stories for each of the races inhabiting the world, forming a collection I call “Journeys”. Each story showcases a new race, culture, and history in some way for form, and probably in differing styles of writing. You know, to explore things and challenge myself. That’s the immediate plan anyway.
Then I wanna combine writing with video making, so I plan on making a YouTube channel, and probably a corresponding TikTok, to upload videos where I read the stories out loud, vlogs, book reviews, and more (intriguing, right?
After that anything can happen. Maybe I’ll throw myself over a book, a trilogy, or a grand magnum opus that will never end (looking at you, George R.R. Martin). Maybe these combined platforms are so successful that I’ll be able to work full time on it (it’s okay to dream big, right?). Or maybe it’ll stay as a fun hobby project on the side.
I’m pretty sure I’ll keep writing for the foreseeable future, though. Maybe I’m still writing this “About”-like page for years, and years to come. I tend to overdo it with great, big and long sentences that seems to never stop and just keeps on going for an eternity, only for you, and myself, to start thinking where it all went wrong and wonder why I don’t know how to truly end a sentence and that it’s definitely a skill that I need to get better at.
“I don’t think I’m using these quote blocks correctly, but they sure are fun!”
Also Me (2023)
What I do hope will happen is that you’ll like what I write and decide come back once in a while. And maybe follow my other socials.
But most of all I hope to get feedback and (constructive) criticism on how to improve. Whether it’s in repliess on this site, in DMs on my socials, by email, or somewhere else, I humbly thank you for reading and taking the time to help me get better.
Have fun!
/Thomas
Forgotten Songs Universe 