I have been writing for many many years, but never once used other people's characters-- until now. I decided to experiment with characters from one of my all time favorite movies, Back to the Future. For years I had-- and continue to have-- ethical issues with using other people's characters, as I feel it trivializes the creative process the creators go through (but, of course, there are some amazing fan fiction writers like Mary Jean Holmes and Kristen Sheley --the exceptions, not the rule, mind you). But, as Doc reasoned in Part I, I figured, what the hell? And I decided to give it a shot. After all, contrary to popular belief, there is a great deal of challenge in writing with other people's characters-- you can't always write what's natural for you. You have to make sure the characters stay in character and, while there certainly is room for creativity and expansion and interpretation, you still have to remain in certain bounds.

I wrote the first draft of this story-- a prequel which chronicles Marty and Doc's first meeting in 1974 when Marty was only six-- a couple years ago and then lost interest. About a year later, I picked up the project again and decided to do heavy revisions, and now it is completed. The writing-- and revisions especially-- proved to be a learning experience for me. Since I was using characters that I didn't create, it made me think more about what bounds I had to set and to make sure I always knew what a character's motivation was. Of course, this goes for any characters. When you create your own characters, they sort of develop at their own free will-- you cannot do that to the same extent with other people's characters. Because of this limit, I was able to analyze more of what I was doing. I still feel a moral dilemma for having the audacity to use other people's characters, but I have to say I learned a lot, and this experience will definitely help me in my original writing.

That isn't to say I didn't create loopholes for myself.

Unlike what seems to be a majority of fans, I relate to Doc far better than to Marty. In addition, I relate to very young children much better than teenagers. Because of these two circumstances and the fact that I just thought it would be interesting of Marty and Doc met when Marty was a young kid, I decided to have them meet when Marty was only six. It gave me more freedom in terms of Marty's character. I kept some basic aspects of him there-- how his emotions dominate over logic, how he is very concerned about not being labeled a coward, and his loyal nature.

Be forewarned: I come from the darker side of writing sensibility. One thing that always fascinated me about the Back to the Future films were the occasional dark moments, and moments that (vaguely) suggested that Doc may have had an extensive, and possibly dark, backstory. I figured I would elaborate more on that side of things. For some reason, the muse drags me in that direction-- not just with this fan fiction I wrote, but with my original stuff as well.

So here's the story. I hope you like it and don't accuse me of bastardizing Zemeckis and Gale's fabulous trilogy. This is the first and last time I will write fan fiction of any kind. Please don't go hunting me down asking me to do so. I write from the heart and do not respond to requests.

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