DataScape is the first short story I ever finished, it was however about the third or fourth that I started (see my ideas page). The others may one day see the light of day, but until then this is my earliest work. It's unusual in that the title came before the story. Datascape just came to me one day and I thought 'what a great name'. I first tried to use the name for my very first ever web site (even before hyperlands!), which was going to be about virtual reality and VMRL. The site never really got started. It was months after that the story it's self started to form. And given the subject the title datascape fitted just perfectly. About two years later the story appreed in the form you see here (I said it took me a long time to write!).
The story has been rewritten about 3 times (I lose track of exactly how many rewrites I did). But despite this the story has never really come out just as I'd like to see it. But I figured if I'd not got it right after that many rewrites I probably never would.
The story had always had the same basic plot but the reasons for the plot and the dressing around it have varied considerably from version to version (see the afterword for details).