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LIFE WITH THE SHORTMANS

PREFACE

8-1-15

3-19-20

WARNING: This post is unstable and may morph at creator's will. Major changes will be documented under the initial date. Thank you.

Hello! Here you will find general information about Life with the Shortmans, such as where it came from, why it exists, how it exists, and where it's going from here. A table of contents is present further down if you'd like to skip this preface altogether and get right to reading. Information on updates, or the lack thereof, at the end.

Life with the Shortmans is a story based on a story I wrote when I was 14. This story was called Family Movie Night. A couple years after posting FMN, as my inspiration grew, I decided to create LwtS as a central hub to compile all these various random ideas I'd been having for the universe, and also as a way of reworking some of the original concepts that I decided were actually kind of ridiculous (I was 14, of course they were). By age 16, I still loved HEY ARNOLD!, but I needed a little distance from the fandom and its foibles, so I started focusing all my energy on this universe. I believed Life with the Shortmans, as a heavily OC-driven narrative, would afford me a little bit of creative privacy. I was right and wrong, in the best of ways. I have a great deal of affection and gratitude for my readers and the little community we've managed to create over the years. Here's to our collective insanity and imagination. I was able to run a lot wilder than I thought I'd be able to in the beginning because of you. Thank you for that.

As a series of stories and ideas compiled over a period of four or so years by a teenager, though, Life with the Shortmans is a bit on the messier side of things, but I think you'll find if you stick with it, the writing does get more advanced. I wrote many of the later stories when I was 17-20 years old and was sincerely trying to figure out how to do this whole "writing" thing. Outlining, drafting, revising, character development, all that. For the first time. Since then, through the combined power of writer's block, technical difficulties, family, mental health, adulthood, and other such catastrophes, the updates kind of petered off, but I'll save that for the end here.

Put simply, Life with the Shortmans begins as a series of One-Shots (do people still use that word? am I old? anyway), that later branch out into individual chaptered works that are separate, but follow along a timeline. So, there is a continuity, and these separate stories come together to make up a much bigger, more complex story with a proper climax and some pretty intense character arcs that unfortunately never got realized. The framework is there, though. It's a bit of a clusterduck, but it's there.

In this space, I'll compile the various stories you'll find herein and a very basic synopsis.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

THE START

Chapters 1 - 4

Almost Perfect - A Whacky but Loveable Family

Character introductions.

Chapter 5

Parental Control

Comedy skit.

SHORTMAN SECRETS - SERIES

Chapters 6 - 7

Almost Perfect

Introduction to Amanda's backstory.

Chapters 8 - 11

Looking Up

Zack's backstory.

RANDOM INTERLUDE

Chapter 12

The Phillip Feud

Comedy skit.

BACK TO SHORTMAN SECRETS

Chapters 13 - 14

Looking Up

Conclusion of Zack's backstory.

MORE RANDOM INTERLUDES

Chapter 15

Flood Watch: Part 1

Halloween special. Unfinished, but can stand on its own well enough.

Chapter 16

Sugar and Sunshine

Comedy skit.

Chapter 17

I Don't Lie, I Act

Phil character study. No longer canon with the rest of the series.

Chapter 18 - 19

Of Godzilla and Mistletoe

Christmas special.

BACK TO SHORTMAN SHORTS

Chapters 20 - 21

Breathing Slowly

Phil's backstory.

AN IMPORTANT INTERLUDE

Chapter 22

Like His Father

Helga, stressed and pregnant with their first child. Arnold, stressed and preparing to become a father. Both of them, in love and making it work. A humble beginning.

THEN SHORTMAN SHORTS AGAIN

Chapters 23 - 28

Breathing Slowly

More of Phil's backstory.

Chapter 29

Finding Faith - Part 1 - Prologue

Amanda's backstory. Unfinished.

FINAL INTERLUDE

Chapter 30

Congratulations - Part 1/2

TJM announcement celebration piece. Unfinished, because TJM came out and I got cannonballed.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

All right, now about the future of this story. Before clicking on this, you probably noticed the "indefinite hiatus" in the description. I could write a novel in itself on why that's there and there is a little bit of my reasoning on Tumblr, but the short version is I just don't have the time anymore and I've been forgetting a lot of important details about the story and the characters as the years click by. This is terrible, so I've opened myself up to any and all questions. About plot, about characters, about anything you can think of. I've given up on keeping my ideas for this story top secret. There are some answers on my Tumblr already, if there's something you're curious about, and you may feel free to message me on there at any time to learn about whatever. I may yet return to this story someday, I still feel the urge to write about Zack, Ham, Phil, Amanda and especially the original HA! cast now, but as a person in their mid-twenties, it's really just not realistic anymore. So, if that makes you feel any kind of negative thing and there's something you'd like to know so you can comfortably move on, hit me up on Tumblr. I love you, I see you, I'm here for you.

You can find all my old artworks relating to Life with the Shortmans on deviantArt (SuprSingr) and my Tumblr art tag (Shortmania, #suprart). Please check out some of the amazing fanart and fanfiction my gorgeous readers and friends have made on deviantArt, as well, in my favorites folder titled Life with the Shortmans and in the tag LwtS on Shortmania. There is also the deviantArt group my wonderful friend Panfla made, The Shortmans, though it's not really active anymore—you can still check that out if you'd like to see everything of everything. Thank you so much for reading and I wish you all the happiness in the world.

Happy reading.

Yours,

~SuprSingr

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