Talking About Myself Is Weird: A 5, 6, 7,...Years 8 !

*goes to check out Canva cover maker* 

Lile made an amazing observation in my last comment section that HMLIS was patient zero for me reincarnating characters into the real world. Over my break I did a HMLIS re-read (which I NEVER do) and I kind of...got into it ? It was the first time I ever re-read my own work and  thought "who wrote this ?" in a good way.

I mean, the mystery set up is shaky and there are a few pacing issues but the voice and characters weren't bad for a first draft. I also saw a ton of Years and HH-verse DNA. Corrine's voice is pretty unique and if Nova had a first person POV in the HH-verse I think it would sound similar.

So, let's talk HMLIS....



History
HMLIS was heavily inspired by Blessed Hearts, my 2012 paranormal serial that was a reboot of De Tuilleres, an unfinished 2011 novella about angels who ruled a type of heaven. I mean now that I think about it, it was borderline high fantasy. IDK how I did this.  At the end of Blessed Hearts I had all the characters die because I imagined a sequel with them going into the real world and fighting their way back.

Lile was mid American Fairytale and I wanted to try my hand at blending magic and contemporary world too!

But after I finished Blessed Hearts I spent 2013 rebooting Veritas into Vice and by the time 2014 came around the story that would become HMLIS changed from my 2012 idea. I let go of the explicit Blessed Souls ties and it became about 19-year-old Jonah Morrow and Corrine (no last name!) trying to  figure out the identity of a poetry-loving girl who they believe is a ghost....it also explicitly takes place in 2011 for some reason ?

In a lot of ways Jonah Morrow, my mild-mannered-sad-sack-nerdy-atheist-beta teen with daddy issues is an outline for Mason Clark. As I said I see a lot of Corrine's voice in Nova. I wish I had done more to develop them--especially Jonah.

Isms
One thing I'm becoming more conscious of in my writing is abelism...to be honest I haven't read a lot of writing by blind people so I'm not sure how right I got the character of Matthew Saylor, deaf blind piano savant who was in Jonah's Dad's Pultizer Prize winning book as a child and is now a family friend.  I'm sure it could have been better.

On that note I did go through Years and try to take out instances of words like dumb, stupid, lame and idiot and...it may have made it better ?

Also, some of you called the ending of HMLIS really early. HMLIS ends with Abigail being not dead but a patient in  a coma.

Talking About Myself Is Weird

I really do miss the voice of HMLIS and would love to get it back. These are quotes that made me smile. I don't think I've ever quite nailed funny in the same way again.

This one comes at the end when Corrine sees her ex and tells him to stop doing drugs and take his antidepressants because she doesn't want to go to his funeral.  Then she lightens the moment.

At the time Lile and I had a back and forth about the song Honky Tonk Badankadonk

Also, this moment when Jonah and Corinne race to the hospital to see if Abigail is back in her body or if she died and in the hospital parking lot they run into Blythe, Abigail's ex-girlfriend who pushed her off the bridge and Corrine basically tells her to catch these hands

"You shouldn’t be allowed near her. You did that to her. If she dies in there that means you murdered her.”
 
“You think I don’t know that !,” Blythe yells. “I’ve been hearing that since I got out. I loved her. You don’t think I feel guilty ? You don’t think I carry that  around ? Yeah, sometimes I get to ignore it but--”

Something comes over me and my hand is in a fist and then it’s in the side of her pretty little face. 

It barely makes an impact. 

Jonah jerks me back from her and I let him. 

“I’m so sorry--,” he starts groveling to her.

I should apologize for hitting her, but I can’t help how damn good that felt.

 “No,” she says calmly. “No, I deserve that. I get it, okay ? The whole thing was expunged from record, I spent 9 months in a cushy mental hospital.  I’m on a cheerleading scholarship at UMass…I get it. I got away with it. I moved on, my whole family did while Abigail’s lives with it everyday.”

“What are you even doing here ?,” I spit.

“I don’t know…I guess talking to you two about her…. I thought I’d wait in the parking lot and talk to Mrs. Winters when she came out. As part of my treatment we had to make amends and I never made amends to her because I was too chickenshit. Now, do you still want to punch me?,”

“Yes,” I say, but Jonah steps in front to stop me.

“You’re girlfriend is crazy,” she says turning her back.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” he says at the same time I say. “I’m not his girlfriend.”

It's mostly the last line I like! I repurposed it for Years.


Whiteboard
I am always going on about being a pantser but I'm not 100% a pantser. Before I write a new world I create what I've been calling "whiteboards." They are documents where I'll put my basic ideas, inspies and occasionally I'll include a vague timeline or outline.

I believe I've shared the Veritas whiteboard so I thought I'd share one for HMLIS....I don't expect anyone to read it but thought it might be fun to skim through.

I didn't edit this for show so it's exactly how I left it but I did want to explain some items on it.

- The black text at the top was the outline I did right after Blessed Hearts and let sit for two years.

- I used to do grab inspy quotes and for this one I also took poems I might want to incorporate so you'll see some of those.

- Once I got away from making this a Blessed Hearts sequel I wanted it to be a sprawling family drama where each member of Jonah's family got an arc but that got scrapped pretty early so you  will also see some plot ideas that got abandoned like...a sexual  assault case  involving Jonah's brother ?

- You will see an outline. I did outline this serial for longer than I usually do. I was outlining as I was posting so you will notice as the outline goes along the characters start to get their names.

How My Life Is Spent Whiteboard

Years 8
I'm currently writing the last 3-4 chapters of this and they've been the hardest. I've decided this serial won't intersect with So We Meet...that will be a separate bonus epilogue because I want to switch back to first person.

UPDATE: Guys, I was FREAKING OUT the other day because Yola was down. It's back up now!

We're back! Here's a recap:

In 1990, 17-year-old Alex Haley is recruited into the adult entertainment industry and spends 7 years at company called Harmony and in an abusive relationship with his boss, Kenneth Maxwell. When he finally leaves he finds community working at Virtue, a virtual adult entertainment company run by Jean Dory , a former Vegas escort and reformed advantage player. He  develops a crush on Jean's close friend, computer programmer and ex-advantage player Luce Grace. 

After years of mutual pining they finally hook up. Haley graduates from an 18 month nursing program and decides he wants to start a family of his own--just as he gets news that Kenneth Maxwell died. 

We pick up in 2004....

Years 8
Playlist 
-1- Brand New Day by Joshua Radin
-2- Tattoo by Jordin Sparks 
-3- Someone To Stay by Vancouver Sleep Clinic