Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Drink the Tap Water (Again)

Sundays

I want to use pictures more in OHG so, I have been scouring on DeviantArt for artistic ones. Sometimes for inspiration in general I will just scroll through there most popular images  on the site. After you filter through the fanart you have some really great finds.

Anyway, I saw this image and from what I can tell this is an original artwork. It was posted yesterday and it reminded me of Haley from Sundays almost immediately, it was very creepy. From the hair and eye color to the earrings and black clothes. It is digitally drawn  with an airbrushing and the art work in amazing. The person who drew this (username *f-wd) calls the character Fynn and I believe it used in some kind of online role playing game, I'm really not sure. I may become obsessed with this artist.


The artist made a character profile for him and it made me kind of sad this character is in fact nothing like Haley.





Let's Get Dirty

So, TD and the prolouge have just been sort of introductions to OHG and don't really tell  you anything about this serial. OHG is going to be a mix of women's writing, a bit of Christian fiction and a dash of Kmart Realism.

Ever since Lile introduced me to that term, I have become literally (lol ! writer jokes !) obsessed with it. When I realized I could turn TD into a much larger piece I knew Kmart Realism ( or Dirty Realism or Minimalism as it is often called) was the way to go. It is also a bit of American Realism because it takes place in a specific region and culture.

As always, I did my research and found most of these kmart realism stories are short ones and hard to find because the style died out in the '80s. I settled for reading some old NY Times reviews of kmart realism short story compilations and a few articles in The New Yorker.

In 2001 the NY Times had a review called Up From Kmart. It is a review of the short story collection Zigzagged Down by Bobbie Ann Mason.  I thinks she was trying to bring back the dirty realism style. Anyway in describig a character named Wendy the reviewer said :

"  Wendy has tasted excitement and spit it out -- she'd rather drink the tap water of normalcy --"


I thought that was a great way of describing the unexceptionalness that is characterisitc of dirty realism stories. The characters are normal and very ordinary like tap water. No frills.

How if fits in

With that in mind, I want to point out the reason OHG is a companion to UL and not a trilogy is because this will not really be a continuation of United Light and have much to do with United Light events.

Also, a large part of this will be retrospective so, be prepared for that.

On Higher Ground 

Chapter 1

Playlist

Some of you will hate this music but, I am setting a scene. Some of the music is mood and some of it is music I imagine playing in the background.

-1-A Little Bit Stronger by Sara Evans
-2-I Never Told You by Colbie Callait
-3-Harder To Breathe by Maroon 5
-4- Take Me There by The Rascal Flatts
-5- I Hope You Dance by Leanne Womack
-6- Wait For You by Eliot Yamin

29 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. I didn't believe when i reached the end, this is so addictive. Very sweet and simple

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  3. I had to many typos in my comment !

    I feel as if I created a monster and even though I'm not schooled int he genre you pull it off so well.

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  4. This was so sweet and sad at the same time.

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  5. Oh, the wedding invitations make a lot more sense now. It does seem like Rhett is being a bit self- centered.

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  6. I know it is a companion but I can't help but to wonder if Cortland will show up.

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  7. The Fynn character reminds me personality wise of Jean, did you get that feel.

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  8. Jocelyn seems kind of sweet but I don't know if I like her or not.

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  9. I like that first country song, it was pretty catchy.

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  10. I like that first country song, it was pretty catchy.

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  11. I love the maltov cocktail of genre's you are working with, though would you consider everything you write Women's Writing ?

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  12. Oh, Lawd little kids with accents - cute !

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  13. Do you know if OHG will be told from Julie's POV ? I can't imagine switching POV.

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  14. Wow, is Fenton anything like the real Fenton or is it an amalgamation of something.

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  15. This felt so inspired. I loved every minute of it so amazing.

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  16. Oh no you didn't ! they way Juliana talks about er'y ones accent. So Funny. This feels just like the Juliana from UL.

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  17. Zane Brooks sounds just like a unique SH name !

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  18. Cody went to jail for drugs and they still let him have a job at a convenience store.

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  19. They sure do shuffle people around in the military. Does Julie feel at home in the South because she was raised there.

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  20. The tap water joke was kind of Witty, what made you remember

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  21. This makes me happy to live in New Jersey where we don't have accents . . . wait.

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  22. At what point did you decide to expand Teenage Dream ? It is amazing how much background you have added and so many "real" characters.

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  23. When I saw all the songs I was hoping this was two chapters, I could not stop scrolling ! ! ! !

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  24. October S- Thanks,hon

    Linda- Thanks ! You know I don't look at typos.

    Tanya-- Thanks, it is supposed to be.

    Maylights-- It really does and maybe he is.

    Sawlisa-- Me too.

    Ft.Life-- Kind of . . . I do get that.

    Joi-- I think she is supposed to be a hate and love kind of character.

    Carleigh-- So do I. Thanks, Pandora.

    S.Lovely-- Moltav Cocktail--lol ! Um, no not everything I have written. IVB is about men and Veritas is just sci-fi post cyberpunk and UL is not really womens fiction either.

    Peace_Goddess- I had to.

    Corrine-- It probably wont.

    NillaLatte- I just pick random town names that I like. I have no idea what the really Fenton is like.

    Wildehorses-- Thanks hon.I love writing every minute of it, I really did.

    Coraline--She is acutally supposed to have gotten snarkier and bolder because of her time in Florida.

    Missy-- Oh, I wanted it to be.

    happyapple-- This is random but, in RGGS he works at another store and I needed a reason for him to leave that job and have to get a new one. I think I will go into this in the story a bit later.

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  25. Even though they didn't kiss I wondered if they found time to consummate their marriage.. . I'm guessing "no" because of the fight.

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  26. Holly_Day-- She was raised in a commune she only left once or twice in 18 years so the southern culture thing did not permeate her world. That is why she has culture shock.

    Redrose-- I just remembered. It was so funny I spent like an hour typing tap water in google to see what came up.

    Trichelle-- Well, yous guys have fist pumps.

    Constance-- Um, let me think. Probably a few weeks after a wrote it when I came across all these good romantic songs that were a little to lovey-dovey for Sundays. Also when doing research for Sundays something kind of clicked.

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  27. I wonder if Rhett's ex-girlfriend will show up. . . y/n ?

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  28. Tabbi-- I know, I'm sorry.

    CB- Well, since you asked, they did consumate the marriage but, it wasn't anything romantic they just did it just because they were bored at his grandmother's house.

    However, it wasn't passionate or romantic.

    I was going to write about them sneaking around his grandmother's house but, decided not to.

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  29. NMC-- Y/N ? As I have said some of this is spontaneous writing and unplanned so I don't really know but, who knows.

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