So, I don't know if I plan to stretch the postings of Sundays because I want to rework the story or because I want more time to deal with writer's block of my other serials. I mean I kind of want to post this close together to keep the illusion of a continuing story. This was written as one long piece so, it is hard for me to find places to break it into parts. Anyway, as soon as I post this I will be googling writer's block cures. Okay, on to the blogging :
Dr. Channing
This is hinted at a bit in Hidden but, Dr. Channing was the one of the people hosting the fundraiser the Dory family was planning to attend in chapter 2 of Hidden. The Life Project was not keeping Minnow a secret and Channing was actually using her case to campaign more funds and he would bring images to show people. Which is why in Chapter 2 Alan says if they had crashed the party things would have been different. They would have met Channing and potentially seen Minnow's picture and found out she was alive.
Of course upon hearing about their daughter's death the Dorys and all there friends never attended the fundraiser and no one saw her picture. Does that make sense ?
Pet Peeve
Because in some sense the stories in the Veritas series take place in an "imaginary" world , I have taken liberty with names often using nouns as last names and things like that. I make the names match the character (although in some cases I make the name purposely contradict).
Haley was written for a long time with no name because he was kind of a special character to me. His story kind of materialized like I had known it the whole time. His character was very inspired and I flirted with not giving him a name at all.
In some sense Haley's less than masculine qualities in Hidden were supposed to make up for the lack of females in this. With that in mind I wanted to give him a gender bender name or a very soft feminine name. I toyed with the names Shiloh and Trace. His name was actually Harlow for a little bit and for a long time it was Jamie but, then at the last minute I realized it looked like I was stealing Jamie Campbell Bower's identity.
In the end I gave him two unisex names that I found equally masculine and feminine. Now, with that in mind here comes the pet peeve . . . H-A-L-E-Y is a boy's name and H-A-Y-L-E-Y is a girl's name. It's weird how one letter makes the difference but, it does. I mean Shawn and Shawna are two different names and the name Joel brings a whole different idea than the name Joe. Okay, no more Grammar police.
Perspectives
I messed with this a little in UL2 and a bit in UL2 and a lot in IVB but, I have never really mixed perspectives like I am here. In IVB I switched POV's because I always planned to write a series from each characters POV and the characters in the book lead relatively independent lives and have their own storylines. The same goes for UL and UL2, I changed POV so we could be in more than one place at once.
In Sundays, the changing POV's is all getting different perspectives of the same places and the same people. This entire piece is all about perspective, keep that in mind. I mentioned this in the comments about the 3 perspectives but I wanted to say it again. Take Harlow for instance, to Alan Harlow's death had no affect on him and he saw it as crazy, Haley sees Harlow's death as emotional and sad while Maxwell sees Harlow's death as a big problem for him, almost an inconvenience.
Just remember you are seeing through their eyes and not from an impartial narrator. This whole "perspectives" section is me dancing around something that I want to tell you but, would rather let unfold in the story. It is nothing huge or plot central and, it won't come up until the end but, still . . .
On a side note I originally wrote the whole thing in 3rd person but, it felt to distant so I changed it in revision 1. . . . I just can't do 3rd person. I honestly feel the best person to tell how a character is feeling is the character themselves.
Part 2
So, I tried something different here with Haley's voice. To make it clear, there are times when he is talking to his dead brother, Harlow. I wanted to try something different but, I don't think this storytelling style will make a re-appearance.
Author's Note. I've said it a lot and I will say it again. I wrote this with very little intention of ever posting it. So, I will say some of you will totally hate me for parts of this chapter.
Part 2
My playlist is a 50 songs now , don't know how many I plan to use.
-1- Heartless cover by the Fray (second Kanye cover, I don't hate him just hate autotune)
-2- Save You by Matthew Perryman (Recycled from the Hidden author's cut playlist.)
-3- Everything by Lifehouse (Yes, I know that song. I kind of like it though)
-4-Warm Whispers by Missy Higgins
-5- Lost by Anouk ( I feel like Lile has used this. Y/N ? I just went through SYTYCD 7 scavenging for music)
Three Post in between my one ? I am soooooooo close to catching up !
ReplyDeleteThe relationships you write about are so much more complex makes me feel lazy for being heteronormative
I can't imagine writing all this and not wanting to publish it.
ReplyDeleteWas there any effect on the 'hold' Tempus had on the LOLA during the war ? Like could they still access their holdings ?
ReplyDeleteGoogling Writer's block ? What for your words seem to flow so easily !!
ReplyDeleteHave you find that writing sex scenes has gotten easier since you started in UL since you said you would probably never write another one ?
ReplyDeleteHmm, talk about don't ask don't tell.
ReplyDelete^ Actually DADT was created so that the military couldn't ask. . . the "tell" part is kind of irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteI don't see how a feminine male character can "make up" for a female characters, I think it just makes it more obvious of what is missing.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm just super-naivee but do soldiers in the military actual get weekly paychecks.
ReplyDeleteIs your pet peeve about how letters change the name or how hard it is to come up with names.
ReplyDeleteI think it is okay if not obligatory to have a love/hate relationship with Auto-Tune (and Kanye West) (:
ReplyDeleteI bet there is some big reveal like one of them is dead or something, at least that what TVtropes has conditioned me to think
ReplyDeleteIs the insignia similar to the watermark on the top of the Sunday page.
ReplyDeleteThe "heartless" song sounds like something they would waltz to on DWTS (:
ReplyDeleteI think SGt. Maxwell is like not "mentally competent" and that is why he can't handle weapons. . . just saying
ReplyDeleteAlot of Haley's name options are celebrity kids; Shiloh (Angelina Jolie), Trace (Billy Ray Cyrus) and Harlow(Nicole Richie).
ReplyDeleteMaybe these names will become more commonm in the future.
What do you think would have happened if they had gone to the fundraiser ? Just wandern'
ReplyDeleteYoung inexperienced protagonist gets pulled into a powerful male charater's sexual fantasies after being seperated from thier family. . idk sounds kind of familiar. LOL JK
ReplyDeleteHaley totally needs to out Maxwell, I don't fell any sympathy for the guy.
ReplyDeleteI don't seem to be catching the new story telling style you were talking about. Was it the way he kept on saying "You" before each statement
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if Romer would make another appearance.
ReplyDeleteI guess Maxwell is not *That* old but I doubt he actually cares for Haley, I think he just gets off on the control
ReplyDeleteI would love to see this story from the Western POV, I mean the way that the easterners think everyone is branded when it is actually optional.
ReplyDeleteI think the name thing is true I mean what if we called Robert Pattinson "Bob" ?
ReplyDeleteI think if Maxwell was younger more people would like thier relationship, i guess it's kind of odd because he is described by Alan as being so young. Although the emotion does seem to be missing.
ReplyDeleteHi, Shawna
ReplyDeleteI was wondering what made you decide to post the story since you mention you had no intention to.
I never get tired of that Lifehouse song, awesome use of it.
ReplyDeleteSome good writer's block cures are to convince yourself that writer's block does not exsist.
ReplyDeleteDid you do alot of military research to see what it was like at a military camp ? Or did you watch reruns of M*A*S*H,lol.
ReplyDeleteAre the 50 songs just for the Sunday playlist ? Wow, I can't belie how much Awesome music there is out there
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteLinda- To be fair I had a lot of this written and we love your heteronormative.
Carleigh-- I will say it has been edited a lot since the early days.
California-Blue-- Hmm, good question. I will get back to you.
Ft. Life--It's not the words, it' the plots that seems to be blocked from me. Is that still writer's block ?
Nilla Latte- Writing sex scenes here was easier because I thought no one would ever see it.
Trichelle- ( :
Coraline-- I should stay this story has nothing to do with DADT.
Natalie-- I can see that but, really there are just not a lot of female characters in my past few stories and I am not going to try and force one in.
October S- Don't worry I spent a lot of time on Military forums to figure some details out. They do get paid but, they get paid very little.
MakemeLALA-- I guess I was being to nice. My pet peeve is when someone comments about Haley and spells it hayley. Look back at the other comments.
Lorrie C - I know, right ?
Sundance_chick - Oh, the tropes.. .
Tabby- Yep.
Jenny P-- I love the waltz. Erik and I should learn it for the wedding.
Petunia-- Excellent observation. . . I like that idea but, really he can't handle weapons because he was bad at it. He never handled a weapon in his life and he just failed. Which is hard for someone who has never really failed.
HappyApple-- OMG, I had no idea. I cant have Acess Hollywood on when I write anymore !
Constance-- I have no idea.
Darcy_Lover-- I would love to say there is a twist and there kind of is but, there is a difference.
NextMrsCullen- I can agree with that.
Mansfield Townsend- Yes, he was talking to his dead brother.
Lotr_mom-- He does.
Terri- I agree.
peace_goddess- That is interesting but, I don't think I have ammunition to write that.
Marcia-- Bob Pattinson ? lol.
CAgirl - Maxwell is 32 so, he is relatively young. In retrospect, I suppose Alan would have thought he was old and me being 28, described him as young.
Princess-- Well, for a while it was just the suicide and a couple of the steamy scenes that I wrote. Then I started adding to Sundays and integrating it into the background of Hidden and I realized you will never fully understand Hidden unless you read this. I noticed all the misconceptions of the characters.
Corrine-- Me either.
Ana M.-- I am so trying that !
RedRose--I did some research but, it got daunting after a while. The US has not been in a war of their own in decades so there really is no parallel.
Princess- Yes. they are inspiration songs so, they may not all make an appearance and about 15 of them are reused songs.