Having The Time of My Life: Years 13

Someone Please Call Patrick Swayze
Up above I said I was feeling writer's block but really I feel more backed into a corner. I know what the penultimate chapter  of Years looks like but not the chapter before it or the very last chapter.

I'm not trying to make all my posts about Lile, BUT I love what she did with the court room transcript in TGWOSM. I was inspired by that--and by the first bit of QC--to do some non-narrative story telling to break me out of my corner and find new ways to hit my story beats.

At this point I am significantly ahead  of what I've been posting so you won't see the non-narrative stuff pop up until much  later.  Using text, e-mails and whatever else fake-found-document-tool I can find is really flexing my creativity muscle and it's been fun.

I think it would be fun to write a whole short story in texts, letters and e-mails etc but it take SO much planning,

Chapter 11 and 12
When I was writing chapters 11 and 12 I realized (as someone pointed out on the comments) this serial is a mess of genres.

I started out with wanting Years to be a Donna Tart-esque / A Little Life - like decade spanning coming of age story . But when I decided to develop Sara a little more  it started to feel almost like a crime novel. And then I added in the did he/didn't he about Luce killing Maxwell and someone pointed out if was Gillian Flynn-y.....the stuff I'm working on now is very different ? IDK what I'm doing.

I know the Sara stuff is a little bit out there but I wanted to keep her character true to her cyberpunk origins.

Chapter 13
Recap
Alex Haley and his son move into Luce and Sara's condo to help take care of Luce and it's putting a strain on their relationship. Haley is just hoping they can get married before Grayson starts school...

Chapter 13
Playlist
-1- Be Okay by Ingrid Michaelson
-2- Can't Believe by Cyn
-3- We All Believe by anatu
-4- We Move Lightly by Dustin O'Halloran

Filing Chapter 11 (Years 11 + 12)

Not only am I stealing Lile story elements,  I am also stealing her chapter 11 joke

I missed this comment and I just have to say, this never occurred to me. I'm not even sure what I was trying to hint at by using the word taboo ?

Procrastination
 This is one of the few serials where, when I wanted to procrastinate, I would go on real estate websites to look up inspiration for where the characters lived. Here are more Grace-inspy apartments. This one is probably the most accurate, I forgot to include it in the post.


 

This is an actual condo building for sale in downtown Las Vegas:

This 3.9 million 5 bedroom Vegas mansion is an inspy for the Washington mansion.

 Balcony (These mansions are closer together than I imagined)

Pool!

 

Chapter 11 + 12

Recap

Luce has a stroke while driving and  when Haley goes to pack his things he finds Maxwell's chronograph and a matchbook from the Palm Springs Hotel, where Maxwell fell off a balcony. Haley's not sure what that means but decides to put that out of his mind because they have a long road to recovery ahead. 

We're still in 2007, this chapter picks up about four months later. . . . 

Chapter 11 (w/ link to 12) 

Playlist

Chapter 11

-1- River by The Mayries

-2- Blank Pages by The Album Leaf

Chapter 12

-1- Digressions by Mija 

-2- Stay Away by The Honorary Title (This song is for the OGs. It's from UL and I love that these guys  still do concerts) 

-3-  Love in The Dark by Leroy Sanchez

Years 10 !

LOL
This is mean but...sometimes when I need a little chuckle I will revisit the comments on that prank Night Out I posted where Rhett is cheating. I just can't believe you all fell for it, I honestly didn't think that would happen!

Years 9
As I said this was a fun chapter for me to write. I'm writing this story based on beats and one of the beats I wanted to hit was the end of Virtue and the Halloween party was a fun way to do that !

Years 10
Recap
Haley moved to an affluent Las Vegas suburb with his son and has been struggling to make ends meet with his part time nursing salary and dwindling royalties from Virtue. Internet piracy has forced Virtue to close and as a parting gift Jean Dory leaves Haley with $200,000 and Luce with $1 million...

Years 10
Playlist
-1- Beyond by Leon Bridges
-2- River of Tears
-3- Flight From The City by Johan Johannasen

Boo! Years 9

Remember when I mentioned a  Halloween chapter ? This is the one.

Dear Lile
Lile, have we talked about James Bay entering the Lile canon ? His albums keep coming up in my rec lists and he seems to fit your male MC requirements.

Although he does look better with a haircut and some years

That Part In The Movie
My playlist for Years  has 157 songs on it but I am still struggling with finding music for each chapter!  When I was re-reading HMLIS I realized that for most of my serial-ing I've been using  Pandora as a discovery tool so I need to see if I can sneak back into that account.

In my music searching quests I have discovered a new brand of Spotify playlists  called "That Part in The Movie" playlists.  It's a bunch of playlists from different users with music that plays during that specific part in the movie. My favorite is

These lists skew heavy into the teen indie space and I AM SO MAD I DIDN'T HAVE THEM DURING HH-VERSE! Still, I've found some gems.


Years 8
So, Years 1-7 was really about Haley leaving his abusive relationship and moving into one with Luce. I stretched it out because I wanted him to have space and time to be his own person first. I consider 1-7 the typical story I've written were Haley is a victim and that is one "arc." I see the next "arc" being about him and fatherhood which is something I never really got to write  in the Vice-verse.

We only see the relationship between Haley and his son in the HH-verse from Mason's (somewhat skewed) POV and there is def more than what meets the eye.

Years 9 
Haley is starting life as a single Dad and working part time as a nurse. But the money he hoped to get from his video royalties dries up as video pirating becomes more popular...

Playlist
-1- Eastside by Halsey and Khalid
-2- Spinning Around by Kylie Minogue 
-3- Guys My Age by Hey Violet
-4- Yellow Lights by Harry Hudson