User blog:FlakyPorcupine/Just a "Nightmare" - Author's Notes/Fun Facts


 * This is my sixth creepypasta ever written, and the second one to win Creepypasta of the Month! It took me roughly an hour and a half to write, with many revisions in the mid-section.


 * Despite this however, this is the first one to have been read by SomeOrdinaryGamers... roughly two or three months after it won that title.


 * While on the subject, I was actually given a shout-out by Mutahar himself in that video at the very end. I could feel myself blush a little.


 * After it was read by SOG, Mr Creepypasta took note of it and made his own video. This pasta, while not my proudest, FUCKING EXPLODED after that.


 * On the contrary, I have never read The Scariest Video Tape Ever, or have watched Groundhog Day even after writing this. In fact, I only know of their existence after the hundreth YouTube comment bringing them up. Please stop telling me I stole from them. -_-


 * The general idea for the creepypasta stems from the fact that my grandmother keeps telling me that I would work good at a comptuer job... I guess this is my response to that. XD


 * Although many people think this is about the Stanley Parabile, it was not meant to be related to it. It does contain that reference to it because I literally watched a playthrough of it before writing the story.


 * The story was heavily inspired by a film called Hellraiser V: Inferno, particularly the ending.

---Spoilers for the film---

The main character finds out that he has been in Hell throughout the story after solving opening up the puzzle cube which leads the cenobites onto Earth. At some point, he tries to commit suicide to escape his current situation, by bringing a gun to his job and firing it in his mouth. He, however, wakes up screaming in his bed at his home, and the film cuts to black.

---End Spoilers---

Desptie this, I tried to be original about it. In my story, the man contempulates (and acts out) suicide out of depression and loneliness, the melancholy of the grey world around him and years of pent up, silent suffering. The key difference is that the film character is aware that he has to live everyday the same, while in "Nightmare" the chracter is oblivious. Oh, and no Pinhead either. XD


 * The reason why the character's name is unknown is because it would be irrevalent. He is supposed to be your average, office job worker. That is all you need to know about him. Everything else is insignificant, like not unlike how he views his life.


 * The main character is actually based on my father. I won't go into too much detail why due to personal reasons, but I'll leave it at that.


 * The water dispenser where the protagonist and Stanley meet at was actually included because it was fresh on my mind; my family had actually rented one not too long before this story was written. I love those things to death, much better than tap water.


 * The first (and last) paragraph was revised many, many times.


 * The hardest part writing this was introducing the gun to the story. From the beginning, I'd imagine most readers knew right away that this was going to be a suicide story. Originally, it was mentioned right in the beginning, but I decided to keep it hidden until he actually uses it.


 * The suicide itself was very inspired by Budd Dwyer's public televised suicide that shocked and disturbed many viewers back in the eighties. I used that as the basis, and tried to mimic the overall actions of both the protagonist and those trying to stop him. I wasn't born yet when it happened, but I DID see a video of it.


 * The reason why "Nightmare" is in quotation marks is because the title "Just a Nightmare" was already taken on the Creepypasta Wiki. I decided to have the story stay spelled that way because it actually made it a lot more interesting in an artsy kind of way. The narrator THINKS that it is only a bad dream.


 * Originally, it was going to be a lot more gory and graphic like most of my other stories during that time. I decided that it worked better not describing the aftermath at all, instead jumping right into the "next day", as it felt more shocking and impactful.


 * The story is in second person is not because I want the character to be you, but for you to be him. By stepping into his shoes, hearing him without a single line of dialouge and for you to hold the gun to his head at the end.


 * The name of the sequel is currently in debate between many titles.