Shawna is running out of blog topics

I wonder if next August I'll be working on brand new original serial...

 Vice Update
So, I think I may have done an overshare on the Vice news last post, so it doesn't leave me with much to blog about for this update. All I can say is I am trying so hard to have a majority of it done before I start posting. Even with outlines I get long periods of stasis, so I'm trying to stop that.

I will say Vice 2 is 12,000 words, but it's not exactly story shaped.

HMLIS Chapter 10 + 11
So, by the time I had brainstormed the Morrows I knew things would get a little...familiar. I think I mentioned this when I first started posting HMLIS that there would be some parallels to people I know. But I can honestly say the friendly, eccentric, tattooed woman married to the moody writer was in no way inspired by anyone I know.


Chapter 12 
Jonah knows.
 

Playlist
Chapter 12
-1- Sweater Weather by The Neighborhoud
-2-Ljoso by Olafur Arnulds
-3- Wake Me Up by Madilyn Bailey

Let's Talk About Vice 2....a little

Shawna Sucks At Titles: The Sequel
Titles. Just Titles. You guys I am seriously afraid I won't think of a good title (or any title) for Vice 2. It's funny, before I started writing (waaay back in the day) I always assumed titles came first, but in pretty much everything post-IVB the title has been the VERY last thing. In fact, here is legitimately what my folders for my serials are still called:

- SP
- CPH
- PR
- New Thing

Did you get what serials those are ?

1. SP is Special Project which I eventually titles Rose Garlands and Golden Stars
2. CPH is CyperPunk Project (i had a typo) which got titled Vertias, Bonus: Vice is in a folder in that folder  called Reboot.
3. PR stands for Paranormal Romance and that was De Tuilileries which I changed to Blessed Hearts
4. And as you know, new thing was HMLIS

That said, I decided to blog about this because I was thinking of calling Vice 2 Bulletproof, but it sounds so corny I figured if I shared it here I wouldn't  be tempted to use it.

Also, obligatory apology for calling something United Light 2. Although I probably would have called it United Justice and that just feels worse.



Vice 2 Teases
Okay, so I'm going to pull out some of the things you want to see. Some of you were a little too specific so I am going to generalize them:

Love Interests ? Yes, there are a lot more (for better or for worse) love interests.

More Minnie ? Well, she's not dead so there's more of her than there was in Hidden.

Dakota ? Eh, kind of...maybe...idk #pantser

New Characters ? And How

More Cyberpunk-iness ? A bit. I know it's awful, but I'm defintely not feeling as squeamish/emotional about violence as I was when writing Vice. I've kind of kicked it up a little, but I'm still trying not to do violence for violence sake.

Final Words:
In Hidden (which was the most by the seat of my pants panster-ist thing I EVER wrote. I had NO idea where it was going)  the emotional center is Veritas!Minnie's death, so with that gone it opens Vice 2 up to be a very different story than Hidden.

Arguably, Vice and Veritas are similar, but I'd say Vice 2 is it's own creature.

Okay, here is a little something, something sneak peek:

Perse untangles herself from me long enough to pull up my check, when I bring up the ID on my wrist to scan, a hand  jerks it away.

“This should be on the house, sweetheart.” Jeans says to her.

 My prodigal roommate walks up behind me with a stunning pale brunette girl holding on to his shoulder.

“Everything is on the house.” I remind him and he laughs, resting his head against the brunette's and curling his fingers over her waist.

The Cartel is the house.

ASDFGHJ!!!!!! I can't believe I posted that, now it's become real.

HMLIS 9 
Chapter 9 was kind of a filler chapter, I wanted to explore some fallout from the kiss. Also I needed Jonah's car to be totaled for reasons.

Chapter 10/11 Double Chapter Post

These are some shorties.
 
A drunk Halloween at a frat party doesn't provide any answers for Abigail, but could something be going on with Jonah and Corinne...she tells Jonah the kiss meant nothing, but is she telling the truth...

Chapter 10
-1- Lego House by Ed Sheeran Piano Cover

Chapter 11
Playlist
-1- Benny and The Jets by Elton John
-2- Are We The Waiting by Green Day (VSQ cover)

Chapter 11/10 Playlist
 Chapter 10 | Chapter 11

RANDOM GIF POST

GIF POST  ! ! ! ! 

I don't have a reason this time, just felt like it...

OMG DID YOU SEE BELLUM WAS POSTED  ! ! !

I'm the guy on the far right

You: Hey how's Vice 2 going ?
Me:

Based on Lile's  amount attractive men in the series, what I imagine Bellum will be like:

Matt Bomer. Just Matt Bomer is working it harder than anyone.

.

When I see how long it's been since my last post

Trying to read my outlines

The LILE-SH Paradox Line

First it's like:

Then it's like:

As I'm writing  anything that comes out of Corrine's mouth:

Keeping Vice 2 secrets when you all are so excited about it:

 When I tell you I have a goal to post Vice 2 by 9.15 to correspond with the anniversary of this blog and essentially my first web serial posting.*

What you all should be telling me everyday about everything in general:

You: So Shawna, have you written anything for UL ?

Have you written any of those Vice novellas ?

Have you written the end of HMLIS ?

 Have you written--

IDK where this GIF is from, but it fits how I feel

 *So, that 9/15 is based on the e-mail for the blog being harrisonshawna915. I got 915 from the date I created it, so while it may not technically be the anniversary it functionally is. We will not get into how many years I have been doing this.


That was some GIF fun, next post will be me taking down your expecations

Chapter 8
It's getting hot in here.
I had a lot of fun writing that party scene, that's really all I can say about that chapter. Also, that OneRepublic scene basically wrote the last it.  It's been fun using a lot of modern pop songs in a serial, I don't do that a lot in Vice2...which I've thought of some names for, but they're too corny for me to make it final. I'll be sure to share them when I settle on one.

Chapter 9
It's going to be all shorties for a while

- 1- Jesus of Suburbia by VSQ
-2-  You and I Both by Jason Mraz

Playlist
Chapter 9

Fancast Stealer

I came across this and it made me think of Abigail and Jonah

Hands off Mr. Dashner !

So, I recently saw the trailer for The Maze Runner and imagine my shock when I realize 3 of my characater inspirations are in it !

I've mentioned Kaya Scodelario who is my Corinne inspy. Like her nose is perfect for how I imagine Corrinne. I just imagine her with more chin-length hair.

And he also has Dylan O'Brien who I've decided looks how I imagine Rhett from UL. I was saving this inspiration  for if I ever resurrected some more UL, but oh well.



















And then one other actor who is an inspy for another character for a thing I'm not ready to talk about. Like pretend I didn't even write that because I'm not sure what I want to say about it yet.



Vice Update
I'm at a point where I am editing the same 8,000 words over and over again. I'm trying to stop laying down backstory and all that and just getting to the action faster than I usually do. I'm still very excited about this even though it's going slowly. I think I will do a sentence of it for next post.

Chapter 7
I don't have much to say about that chapter. The scene between Jonah and Ethan was like the second scene that came to mind when writing HMLIS---the first was Jonah, Ethan and Aris having lunch together. I realize I've never really written about the older brother/younger brother relationship before (Well Nick and his brother in Ivy Brothers may count) and it's been interesting.

HMLIS Update
So, I just lost Chapter 11 and going through the stages of grief on that...juggling two serials is harder than I imagined. I was so glad to be ahead...*back to the trenches*

Previously
Abigail's on a mission to find her grave and she doesn't want Jonah or Corrinne's help....

Chapter 8
This chapter and Chapter 9 are some of my favorites because they were just fun

-1-Superstition by Stevie Wonder
-2- Don't Fear The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult-
-3- Pour it up Rhianna
-4-Play it Again by Luke Bryan
-5- Can't Stop by One Republic

Playlist
Chapter 8

BTW...I see a GIF post in the future !

Insert Excuse For Why I Haven't Posted

I was at a standstill for how to start the last chapter until I saw this quote, which Corinne riffs off of in the beginning...although to be honest it's more of a Princess Diaries reference than an Eleanor Roosevelt one.

Chapter Six
Yes, chapter 6 was a bit of filler, but I also wanted to dig a little more into Corinne as a character. Her narration tends to hide things like her being a foster child, so I needed her to have a conversation to dig into her past.

Vice 2 Update: About 7,000 usable words, no title ideas in sight.We do have a playlist going though

Bye, Bye Pandora
Can I take a moment for how obsessed I am with Spotify ? While it's radio function isn't as good as Pandora's I love how I can make playlists within it. I'm blogging about this because I've discovered a new section....the browse section !

They have user curated playlists by mood and genre and it's been really helpful for me. So, if I need a song for a coffee shop scene I go to that playlist or if I need a new love romance song I go to that playlist. This feature has been my new crutch, because the playlists were getting skimpy.


Chapter 7
It's been a minute, so I'll do a longer previously...
Corrinne's break up is going less than stellar, so Jonah takes her out to see the city. Before they can start answering questions about Abigail they are interrupted by Matthew--Jonah's piano savant frenemy--who happens to also have access to an archive of school papers that may have the answers to Abigail's life or death. After being interrupted before, Jonah is getting to the archives to get answers no matter what ! 

Chapter7
Playlist
-1-  Pachabel Cannon in D-
- 2- Fireflies by Owl City (VSQ) 
-3- Wake Me Up by Bailey Bailey

I've Been In The Trenches

 What It's Been Like The Trenches

When You See I'm Writing More Excuses for No Posts

 

But I've never been this far ahead in a serial and I guess I'm trying to keep that lead. I really do see myself posting more often, so hold me to it.

Vice 2 Update
So, I don't know if I've mentioned this but I've finally flexed my third person muscles in Vice 2. It's kind of weird because I've never written the Vice/Veritas world from anyone's POV except Alan, but that may or may not be changing. Although I did just write half a third person chapter in first person by mistake...so I have no idea what that means.

Also, Vice has NO playlist. I've pretty much been just listening to Coldplay for it...if that tells you anything.


Chapter 5

Matty
Matty is kind of an interesting character in that he didn't exist in the original version of HMLIS. I had kind of outlined Corinne's friends and then I realized Jonah needed a friend too. Originally, it was going to be neighbor he grew up with who went to community college and was kind of Jonah's opposite, but I couldn't figure out when to introduce him.

Around this time I came across Haben Girma, a blind-deaf Harvard Law School Grad and advocate and I really wanted to do something with a successful blind-deaf character. Matty being a savant came about because, well the stories about savants I came across are just amazing. Although a lot of them aren't really famous. I also like Matty's character because it gave some insight into what Jonah's Dad book was about without me having to write passages from it.

Speaking of the book, his Dad's Pulitzer prize winning book, How My Light is Spent is based on Siddhartha Mukherjee's Pulitzer prize winning The Emperor of Maladies, which is about cancer.

So, you're also probably wondering why he is a British...well, it's because he's pretty much based on Ed Sheerhan. In my head, Matty doesn't look like the kind of person who would be a serious pianist. He's kind of scruffy and unkept.

Side note: This is not the first time I will unimaginatively base a character's looks on a real person.

Chapter Six
Jonah has successfully gotten the key for the archives and he's ready to go find answers, but Abigail insists they go find Corinne...who's been AWOL since she broke up with her boyfriend.
Chapter Six
Playlist

-1- Maps by Yeah Yeah Yeah
-2- Are We Waiting by Green Day (just the first 2:44 before it switches)
-3- Fix You by Coldplay

Ish gets real

You: Hey Shawna, you haven't posted in a long while, how's it going ?

Me:

In the Trenches

You guys I have been in the trenches...with Vice2 (which will get a pretty name at some point).  I'd been messing around with it some, but out of nowhere the voice and story just came to me. It's still super fuzzy, but I got some down. Right now, Vice has 5,000 usable words.

Let me tell you, I've decided Vice2 is going to be grittier and darker than Vice. I mean, ish is going to get real.

As for HMLIS, I think I may have shot myself in the foot by outlining because it's giving me so much trouble. I just can't stick to the outline and the chapters have gotten out of whack, but I'm excited for where it's going. It's fun to write characters who actually make jokes that aren't dark humor. Not being able to finish this has been hard for me  because I know exactly how it ends.

I really didn't want to post until I was further along, but I think I needed this to force me into gear.

Research

I mentioned in my last post I had to do more research for this serial than any of the other ones (except, maybe Ivy Boys). For Vice I really do a lot of rule of cool and handwaving but because this is based in the real world I'd like to be as accurate as I can. Also, sometimes figuring out how things are IRL it's easier than making stuff up. So, I've looked through my Googles and these are the things I've looked up

- Weirdest College Mascots (I wanted an injoke for Eastham to have a lame mascot, but couldn't think of one)

- Average record for triathalon ( I had to find a time to give Ethan in Chapter 3)

- Long Starbucks order

- I wanted Corinne to have international students for roomates, so I needed to find countries where  international students typically came from, then I had to find names for them.

A few other things, but they are spoilery, so moving on (TM) !

Chapter 5
Chapter 5 link
Brief Recap: Eastham College freshman Jonah and Corinne are the only ones who can see Abigail, a girl who died and has no memory, but desperatley wants her identity. Corinne suggests they look in old school papers for Abigail's identity and Jonah knows just the person to give them access. But before they can do anything Corrine's boyfriend, Phillip is arrested for stealing his estranged father's  credit card  and after she takes him home they break up,

-Playlist-
HMLIS Playlist

-1- Dream a Little Dream by Yiruma
-2- Lego House by Boyce Avenue
-3- Say by Vitamin Piano Quartet