Taking A Little Break

Can't believe how long I've been doing this

HMLIS
Well, posting those snippets was perfectly nerve-wrecking ! I will say you all are mighty perceptive. I promise we will get to HMLIS very soon.

Chapter 10
Well, that was quite the cliffhanger ? Chapter 10 and this chapter are kind of odd in their length. I probably should have posted them together.

What happens in this chapter,with Alan being forced to join the Cartel, happens pretty early in Veritas. The reason I changed it to later was because in Veritas it didn't make sense for Rayne to ask Alan to join him. Alan had only gone on one job and it just ended badly. In this version I wanted Alan to have been with them a while and gone on a job that Rayne believes to have been successful.

Taking A Little Break
Don't worry, this may not be what you think. Let me start from the beginning....Erik and I's 2 year anniversary was last month and we went on a 10 day cruise to celebrate. We had a blast in the Bahamas, did all the anniversary lovey-dovey things (Erik's a secret romantic), but by time the last "on sea" weekend rolled around we we needed our literary fixes...and did some writing.

With beer in hand Erik faithfully wrote book 8 and 9 for his new series that came out last year, but because there was no interenet it was hard for me to get to my online files of my new serials. So, with Mai Tai(s) in  hand I did the only thing a girl can do....I was unoriginal again and T-DOSH'd (and a little T-DOEV'd)

Now, I was a bit tipsy. And how do I know that ? Because I T-DOSH'd Sundays. It was an experience and I am going to take the next few posts and post it. I'm only doing this because I T-DOSHED with information that only goes up to this chapter of VICE and I figured I should post in in "real time". So, we will be taking a small, small break to see this. Starting next post.

I'm just going to disclaim now. You may see a side of me that only maybe Erik and my younger sister have seen.

Chapter 11
It is short, I know. This is the end of the shorties...I think.

Alan is now a member of the cartel with a $100,000 debt to his name. As he recovers from his injuries he notices something strange about Luce....he's not very human
Chapter 11

Playlist
1-Breathe Me- 
2- Say Something-

A Little Bit of Everything

I may have stolen this image from LiLe

 More Picspirations Underneath !


PICSPIRATIONS
Since I did the last post, I've left a few out.

Rayne Washington, 41 (Same as last time)

Ivy Washington, 29 (A little more blonder, though)

El, 33 (He doesn't show up much, but he has a picspiration)

 

Pascal, 27

Audrina, 29

That's Daniel Dae Kim, Amy Adams, David Beckham, Hayden Christiansen and Meghan Ory respectively.

HMLIS Sneak Peak
So, the Vice chapter I'm going to post is SHORT. So, I've  decided to go ahead and share some snippets from HMLIS as requested. Now, something I don't think I've made clear is that HMLIS has two POVs. With that in mind, I'm going to share the first bit of dialouge from each POV.

POV 1

“Why didn’t they move you into the new building ?,” I ask.

“I asked to stay.” He replies proudly. “This place used to be a church back in the old days. I kind of like the spiritualness of it. It’s inspiring, you know ? Are you very spiritual ?”

 I’d been to church exactly six times in my life. Which also correlates with the number of funerals I’ve been to. Still, when I had been in those churches I got a feeling there was something there.

“I’m spiritual, I guess.” I say.

“That’s a good answer,” he says. “We all gotta believe in something.”

“I believe in a lot of things,” I think aloud

“That’s good,” he compliments me again.

After a beat I decide it is time.

POV 2 

My burgundy BMW Crossover is always out of place in this neighborhood and Philip gets annoyed when I drive it here because the neighbors always stare and  talk  shit about me when I leave. 

But it’s my fuck your car, so it’s doing it’s job.

I climb in the driver’s seat and face him, he stands between my dangling legs and pokes at my fuchsia Converses. I hate how sometimes it seems like we’ve run out of things to say.

He reaches in to the back pockets of his jeans and gives me his Dad’s credit card.

Well, that was nerve wrecking !

CHAPTER 10
It's short, but I had to break it up for pacing purposes.
Alan settles into life now that Sara has promised him a return home, but in a drug induced stupor Alan falls off the roof...
Chapter 10 

Playlist Here
-1- Fool of Me
-2- If I Run
-3- Stay Instrumental

Scavenger Hunt !

 Happy Holidays !

 
Chapter 8 / HMLIS

Well, I feel kind of silly for that last post. Since that post I've kind of hit a stride and I can see the end in the (distant) horizon. I'm working on Chapter 13 (which isn't the last chapter) and I hope I can edit it into submission and sense-making when we get there. With all that in mind I think I won't post HMLIS until I finish up with Vice. Hopefully this means I can get most of HMLIS ready to go.

So, chapter 8 is going to start this wierd trend for the next few chapters where they are written in "real time". In that, there aren't a lot of time skips or jumps. I'm not sure why this happened, but it's something I noticed.

Third Person
I'm going back to answering some of the questions from the forum. Someone asked if I ever thought of making Vice third person. The answer is no. Vice/Veritas has always been Alan's story that he needed to tell. However, I did strongly consider writing HMLIS in 3rd person. I rewrote an entire chapter that way and realized....this just isn't working.

I wish me and third person could get along...maybe if Vice ever gets a sequel (which it may/may not) I think it could be third person. The more I write Vice the more I realized how limited I am in the world because everything has to be seen, experienced or explained to Alan.

Sundays
Okay, so I'm going to write briefly about this. Someone asked my favorite part of this serial and I have to say it was writing an extremely sympathetic character. Haley is kind of uncorruptable and I liked that about him. Also, despite the obvious purely physical aspect of  some of their interactions, Haley and Maxwell love each other and they have this kind of forbidden love (prisoner, military officer). I  don't do a lot of love stories, so it was nice. In fact, the fact that they love each other does come up in En Moritas, but we will get there...one way or the other.

Chapter 9 / Scavenger Hunt
So, let's move on to the second half of what was once a 10,000 word chapter. So I put a couple of things in here, let's see if you can spot them.

1. There are TWO literary refernces. Both are 20th century American novels.
2. Minnie gets to use a trope

East and West are at war and a draft has been put into effect. Alan's been offered a chance to go home and he's willing to do whatever Sara says to get there. Even going out to buy her  two cases of wine.

CHAPTER 9
Playlist Here
-1-Stars by The XX ( this was in Blessed Hearts)
-2-Gorilla by Bruno Mars
-3-My Fault by Imagine Dragons

Hitting A Brick Wall / The Ugliest Map

Somebody Take Down These Walls

Okay, so the image and title may be a bit much. I'm suffering from a bout of writer's block, but nothing that is making me want to quit on my current serials. I know where I want to go with the stories, I have outlines; I just have no idea how to get them to come together. It's like pulling teeth with each chapter, but I am doing something. If I ever get to posting Chapter 11 of Vice (the one that is killing me right now) it will be a miracle.

As for HMLIS....it's going very slowly. I lost steam way sooner than I thought I would. I think one of the things I'm learning from LAE is I don't have to make each chapter 5-6,000 words long.

It's not the worse writer's block I've ever had but I wanted to be honest with what was going on. My worse one was during UL and at that time the purple chapters saved my sanity, but kind of threw my story off track.

Things Get Ugly
In lieu of last week's comments I put together a map. It's pretty crude, but here it goes. If anything I learned I do not know my states. One thing I learned from doing this is that you can see how The Republic is mostly desert and the East is all city.

 Those unnamed colors are cities I don't know the name of. The Yellow lines are the borders. So, I've never actually drew out where everything was, but it pretty much shakes out how I assumed. The Sprawl is mostly Vegas, Mojave is in the Mojave desert area and Fort Perch was always in coastal California...which I realize makes no sense in the context of the serial because if its so close to the shore they should be able to see the ocean, but um...moving on.


Moving On

This playlist is a go to for me because  I can use for HMLIS and Vice. Plus,  I can listen to it on loop without getting bored ! It only has two songs on it and it brings back a classic song from the UL/SA days.

Previously...
Sara leaves her hit still alive and before anyone can answer questions they learn there city is under attack. Sara only wants to know one thing; Where is her son ?

Chapter 8
Playlist Here  

What I've Been Up To

The Life of A Pantser

In The Trenches

Well, okay maybe not so much in the trenches. I got a case of writers block pretty bad and have been editing the same two chapters of Vice and HMLIS for the past few weeks. I need Lile's super powers so I can skip around, but they seem to fail me.

However, I figure a good cure for writer's block is to just write something and I've done enough of that lately that I feel like I can go back to posting.


Word Count
In my throws of writer's block I was going to make a post with all my word counts and I found a site that will count the words if I just copy and paste them in, so I don't have to search for Word docs. I started this because I think HMLIS will be short like BH was supposed to be and  I wanted to see BH exact length. I will probably do the longer serials later, but for now I did the shorties
.
Blessed Hearts
Words: 35100

Mimic
Words: 20220

Teenage Dream
Words: 900

Oh, by the by
 Nobody get excited, I'm juggling so much stuff right now that I'm already behind on....but I did a re-read of OHG and I kind of had this idea for a UL Thanksgiving story that could also function as a Christmas story, so I MAY do a thing. Maybe. Soon. Soon-ish.

HMLIS
I finally have it all plotted out to a point (life of a pantser) so I'm sure I will put some of it up soon. I just don't know if I should do it before or after Vice. We will see. My characters finally have names, which makes this process A LOT easier.

Vice Chapter 7
So, this chapter is where things REALLY get different. From this point on, it's a fairly new kind of story. Now, Chapter 8 (which will be in the next post) is well over 9,000 words so I'm debating between splitting it up or not right. I'm really not  sure how it got that long and there really is no logical split, but I'll see. Also, I'm still messing with the fonts, I didn't realize Ch. 6's was so big. Anyway, let's move on:

They think they have their target, Morrissey, cornered in a hotel room but before Sara can take her hit, he jumps out of the window. On Sara's orders Alan goes to get Mr. Morrissey's  car he stole earlier that night to follow him.... (I just realized how thriller-novel that sounded)
Chapter 7

-1- London Bridge by Yelawolf feat. Ed Sheerhan
-2- Sand by Karen Whipple
-3- Radioactive by Boyce Avenue (they were bound to come back)

This Fall in Gifs

WELCOME TO A GIF POST ! 

When I saw a new LiLe post with more Litany Lane stories!
 

Re-living the Fierro/Clara-ness of LL with TDOLL

What I'm waiting for everytime LiLe writes anything with Fierro and Clara

 

When LiLe mentions An American Fairytale

 Reading old IRL drama play out in Lile's old blog  comment sections while reading T-DOLL

Okay, on to me...

Why I rebooted Veritas

 When I re-read some of the intimate scenes from Veritas

When I posted the first chapter of Vice 

and realized I had to keep writing the rest

What it's been like writing 2 serials at once

When I start working on new Vice Chapter

15 Minutes Later

When I finish a chapter of Vice

When I turn word count back on 

and see my chapter is only 2,000 words long

When I first mentioned New Thing 

When I get frustrated with Vice and switch to New Thing

When Erik asks me how it's going with New Thing I promised readers 

When I find a good song for a future scene in New Thing or Vice

 

When I get frustrated mid-chapter and take a "snack" break (I'm not breastfeeding anymore)

Then

 What goes on in my brain when I give my characters angsty, depressing backstory

Looking online for names for characters in New Thing

When I talk to Mary's Doctor (The only adult I see regularly besides Erik and Laura and The G-Moms) about how I do this for free in my spare time.

When I see your comments and you catch the little things, pick favorite quotes, give me feedback and I'm pumped to get the next chapter ready.

 

When I actually start on the next chapter

  

Why I  (and Lile, I suppose) keep doing this

How I imagine you guys react when I don't post a chapter 
for more than two weeks

When you realize this is one of those times 

But smile.....

Because I have a trailer for New Thing...

.

Scroll !

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

A little more

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Did I mention it's also a title reveal ?

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

You're Here ! Check out the trailer !

http://youtu.be/LTRyqWUFHIw

Scroll for more info

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Keep Scrolling

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

How My Light is Spent

First things first, please excuse the cheesy Windows Movie Maker-ness of it all...but I like visual representations.

I hate to tease you all, but this is hm, how do I put this ? No where near finished. I only have about 2 and a half chapters, no official outline and a lot of the characters still don't have names, but my goal is to have some headway by December. I just wanted to share some of it with you all. Also, yes, the trailer is intentionally pretty generic. I like to keep my cards close to me.

In better news, I'm in love with the HISML playlist. It's an interesting mix.

Vice

I have really hit a stride with Vice, I mean the whole thing is outlined, but I needed more time to figure out a few plot points in the chapters I am writing. I know where I want to go, but I'm working on how to get there.

Back to the trenches for me ! 

I've Learned Nothing From TDOLL

To Lile
I saw this and thought of you

Questions
How is motherhood ?
Well, it's been pretty crazy, but I am so fortunate to have Erik, Lauren and who I am now calling The Moms ! My mother and Erik's mother have just been wonderful with helping out while still giving us space. Erik's parent's even have a rental house in CA now (subletting soon, just putting it out there) so they can spend time and help with Mary. I'm really enjoying every minute of her infancy, because I know it will pass by in a blink (although I am secretly already planning her first birthday)


But, I'm also a stepmom to a 15-year-old and that has it's own joys too. My stepdaughter is just the most positive and heartwarming teenager I have ever meet. While Erik (VERY rarely) has to be the disciplinarian I get to have all the fun with makeup, boys and homecoming dress conversations. I just have the most beautiful and loving family right now and I can't imagine doing this with anyone else. And I realize none of this explains why everything I write it so dark.


Favorite part of Sundays ?
Every time you all mention Sundays:
 

But really, I've always loved the playlist I had for Sundays and I need to see if I can log into playlist.com and still get it. I also like the idea of writing such a contrasting couple and how they navigate around that. Also, secret/forbidden love is fun.

Any updates on OHG ?
You know, I've been thinking of turning it into a series of vignettes or short stories. I think with that one I need to abandon the idea that all serials have to be "prose-novel-shaped".  I'd also have change the ending, since I told you all the original plan,

I'm still thinking on the Playlist question !


The Trenches
You guys I have never been this far ahead skeleton-wise. In fact, I said last post that Chapter 5 was the chapter where things got drastically different, but it is actually THIS chapter.

 I have really been in the trenches lately and I've been working a lot on pacing. I've been shifting scenes from chapter to chapter trying to make it flow so one chapter will be kind of short. But, guys I think I am working on a 10,000 word chapter, I have learned nothing from TDOLL.

In better news, I have a new song I'm obsessed with and can't wait to use. It will probably be around chapter 8/9/10-ish.

New Thing
So, New Thing is coming along...slowly. But, I do want to share a piece of it with you at some point even if you won't see the whole thing for a while. What can I say, I want to see your reactions because they sometimes help me write better.  Like I forgot about Sara's tattoos and so when someone mentioned it in a comment, it sparked the whole scene with Alan fixing the door and Luce pissing everyone one off. Anyway, the New Thing thing is not today or next post...but soon.

Next Up
I've been saving up and I think I'm going to do a GIF post next time !

Chapter Six
Okay, so Chapter Five was a bit of a filler chapter, so hopefully this one get the plot moving.


Sara's crew have just been given a hit by Rayne Washington, they make a plan for attack, but is Alan ready for his first kill ? And what exactly is going on with Luce, who Sara left behind ?

Chapter Six

You Can Ask Me A Question !

So, I'm going to answer a few questions a post and I'll separate them by serial !



New Thing

Will the New Thing be in 3rd person since the Epilogue of BH was in third person ?
It will be in first person because it came to me in first person. The same thing for Vice, I wanted it to be third person, but Alan's voice and perspective is particularly important. Which is too bad because I really like third person and want to write in it. One day. Far, far, far, far, far,far,far,far, away (the wheels are turning)


Can we talk about The New Thing ? Any hints to be had ?
Um, hmm. It's slow going for me between New Thing  and Vice. It's like writing a whole new language. Let me see, a hint that I can give. It will seem a bit like Litany Lane, it will have dual POV and multiple plot lines and one of the character's (not a main one)name's is tentatively Abigail. And one of the characters is based on Kevin Bacon.

Vice
We all love Minnie and Jean! But. . . how close are they? Are they actually incestuous ? Does this change or differ from Vice to Veritas. 

No, they aren't actually incestious. I never envisioned them like that. They just have issues with boundaries and this isn't Games of Thrones.

I actually made some changes between  Vice and Veritas, because in Veritas Jean and Minnie were going to have slightly different roles. In Veritas, the Dorys where never going to speak that much or have plots so,  I made them a little more demonstrative. I needed to showcase this "dark, edgy, taboo" world, and I needed the glimpses of their relationship to be a little bit...off.  As you can see I make them less close as it goes on


Blessed Hearts

Who would you consider the main character of Blessed Hearts ?
Definitely Rin. She was supposed to be the only character with a POV, but the others got in the way because she was supposed to be "dead" for a while. BH was originally supposed to be a 3-4 chapter thing, that kind of got away from me.

Ch-ch-changes
Well, this is the chapter where pretty much everything changes. At this point, I'm no longer scraping the old bits of Veritas together. I have to write who new chapters.

These chapter doesn't have specific music, but here is some nice ambiance sound ! 

Alan's been taken in by Minnow Dory and seen the Sprawl for all it is good and bad during a late-nite adventure. But after an encounter with Dakota, he is getting the sense he has stepped into something bigger than he thought...

Chapter 5

Character Inspirations

 I'm actually ahead of the game in my chapter writing which is RARE you guys. Now, Lauren (my stepdaughter) did tell me you all had some questions and I will get to those with each post, but I had this post picked out as a picspiration post, so, who wants pics? Also, can you see which one was also mentioned by Lile once ?




Sara Grace, 30 (Yes, she has 3)

Sara's Haircut

Sara's hair color

Sara's facial expression

Derek Grace (29 at death) I've had his for a while, but never mentioned it.

Alan Gray, 19

Just imagine blonde hair

Luce Grace, 13

Saint

  Minnow Dory, 16 ( and the outfit-spitation for what Alan first sees her in)

Jean, 23

Alan's Parents

 Jean and Minnow's have been mentioned before, but can you guys guess the others ?

What Luce ?... Is that you ?!
So, this is probably the biggest change from Veritas to Vice. I made Luce older and slightly more, um....lucid. In fact, he is the reason I had to re-edit Vice so many times. I had to write him in (cause, he is at the Tempus party in Chapter 1 after all) at the last minute.

I sort of had this thought that I wanted to write about a 14-year-old boy, I have no idea why. After writing Twyla in *that thing* I pondered what a character growing up in this environment would look like on the page. But, I had no place for a new 14-year-old character in the story. Then I realized this character already existed and his name was Luce. I later changed his age to 13, to put more of a gap between him and Minnie.

I also realized Sara had it way, way too easy (in fact, all the characters do...we will get to this) in the OG. She doesn't have anyone challenging her and she doesn't really ever have to parent because her kids just sit there quietly, which I now know is super unrealistic. So, I  decided to make Luce a more active and challenging  role in her life.

I also knew Luce needed to really hate Alan. Because in the original, Sara is kind of mad at Tempus and Alan, but not so mad she doesn't let him join her team. Sara's an adult, she realizes Alan had nothing to do with her husband's death and can process that. Well, Luce isn't there yet, so he  makes Alan's life hell.

But, I needed Luce's anger and pain over his father's death to have a physical manifestation fueling it which is why he loses his leg. Also, I had these thoughts during the Olympics with Oscar Pistorious before he shot his girlfriend.

Luce's picspiration is Asa Butterfield, when he was in Hugo and the same age as Luce. I had him picked out for a year and of course I later find out he would be Ender in Ender's Game, so good for him. Although it's funny because between interviews (which I watch for research, not to ignore writing) for Hugo and Ender's Game his voice sounds drastically different. Although in my head he sounds like his younger self.

Moving On
So, with each chapter will get a bit different.

Playlist:
-1- Emphasis by Sleeping at Last (I think this is in Breaking Dawn)
-2- The Boat (Benjamin Francis Leftwich (Thanks, Spotify radio!)
-3- Toulouse by Nicky Romero
-4- Elements by Lindsey Stirling ( She was on America's Got Talent)


Alan has just agreed to work for his kidnappers, but is he ready to get rid of his first body ? Also, there is going to be a lot of dubstep. Not sure why this hasn't come up before....