Research Deep Dive

I went down such  a research rabbit hole when writing about Kodiak, Alaska and the Coast Guard located there. I had such a hard time imagining the life there that I realized it was better to just base it off the real thing...which actually turned out even harder than I thought. Kodiak is so remote that Google Maps doesn't even have streetview for it.

Did You Know ?
Here is the annoying part where I share some things I found in my research

So in the beginning of this Rhett is in Cold Bay, a real island at the very end of the Alaskan Aleutian Island chain with a population of  about 100, it  only has one school aged child named Wake Kremer (Yes, yes I'm stealing that name) living on the island. They had to close the schools because there were no more children. There is also only one restaurant.

Speaking of the Aleutian Islands, during WWII the Japanese tried to occupy them and there were quite a few battles over them and makes them one of the two attacks on US soil during WWII. I'm not sure people really talk about the war in Alaska. While it wasn't a state it was a territory.

Research Hole

Like I said I really went down a research rabbit hole. I'm honestly probably on a list somewhere. Here are all the crazy places on the internet I've been looking at to procrastinate finishing UL and writing my other novellas researching:

-  I downloaded a blueprint of Kodiak Airport to get a sense of the size
-  I may have stalked the USCG Kodiak Base Facebook Page
-  I lurked hard on Coast Guard forums that talked about transfers
- I literally have pdfs of USCG policy manuals / moving guides downloaded on my computer in case they go away and I need them.
 - There is a Coast Guard member who has been making YouTube videos for a few years. about camping. He has about 0-48 views per videos and he may have noticed a spike in his views for videos that involve the Coast Guard.
- I read a lot of local newspapers and NPR articles. In fact a lot of the Katrina stuff is based on NPR articles and interview. I tended to steer away from the official USCG blogs because I wanted unfiltered information.
- Wikipedia rabbit holes. So many Wikipedia rabbit holes.

Note to Lile
All your mentions of Goodwill in my comment section will lead to your laptop mysteriously vanishing from your house.

Chapter 25 + Chapter 26
So, you all must have seen the pregnancy coming since Juliana is preggers in the prologue. The reason this chapter brought so much clarification to me is because I could not figure out how to work the pregnancy in.

I think a lot you are picking up on Rhett's anger issues and Juliana's impulsiveness and flightyness that were apart of the characters in UL that cause a lot of their differences.

I am getting closer and closer to writing the ending so I don't want to say too much because I feel like I'll reveal something. I almost did it with a blog post

Chapter 27
Recap
Rhett has been in Kodiak, Alaska for 8 weeks and Juliana comes for a visit and surprise! she's detoxing from heroin also...surprise ! She's pregnant. Rhett wants her to have an abortion because he knows her anxiety and pregnancy don't mix...and he's not sure the dates add up. Juliana gets upset and leaves.

Back in Freeport Juliana has the same argument with Rhett's mom and she walks out of her house. When she gets home she finds a message from Rocket wanting to meet. On impulse, Juliana decides to go to Rocket

Chapter 27
Playlist

-1- Wilderness by Jon Bryant
-2- Embers Upon The Wind by Whitaker

Meanwhile / DOUBLE CHAPTER POST !

Muse/CPShawna: Really ? Stealing Lile's format ?
SH: #shawnaisunoriginal

Tell Me Your Name !

When I first wanted to be a writer (waaay back in the day) I thought the fun part would be giving characters names and making up serial names and that that is what most of my time would be send doing. I’ve come to the point where characters names are the hardest part for me. I wish a character could just tell me what their name is suppose to be.

I’m going to reveal a little bit about the Meanwhile novella which is a 3-4 chapter novella about Luce. That’s all I’m going to say for now. I'm not going to say how old (or young?) he is and if this is even canon. I bring up this serial to say there are some new characters in this serial who do not have names and are literally being called Female A or Male A right now. I actually have half a mind to keep them like that and make it a weird character choice.


Names are especially hard with the Vice world because I don't want to use too conventional names, but I also don't want them to be something crazy. Anyway...all that is to say there may be some of your names sprinkled into these novellas....I actually really wanted to name a character Fiona, but I won't.
 

Chapter 24

This chapter was really a transition chapter from the fall out of the accident to Rhett getting his job back. Also, it's mentioned in internal dialogue that Rhett and Juliana fight a lot and I wanted to show a little bit of that with them in the diner.

 

I'll admit there are a lot of intimate scenes with Rhett and Juliana in this because even though they don't have their relationship together they have really good bedroom times. Juliana's sexual experiences in UL were so toxic and I really wanted Rhett to...*ahem* get the job done. 

Chapter 25 + Chapter 26

This is a double chapter post, but only because Chapter 26 is a shortie and I couldn't figure out how to fit it in. 

 

Recap

Juliana spends 8 days in jail after taking the blame for the car accident after Amber and Wes' wedding. She and Rhett are on thin ice when he announces he's been reassigned to Kodiak, Alaska. His cohort (and handstand pushup) friend Bethany Whitlow and his other class members wrote him letters of support for him to get the assignment.

 Rocket tries to get Rhett to talk to her for her book before he leaves but he refuses. She reminds him of how dangerous it is in Alaska and Rhett realizes he's never been honest about that part of his job. When Rhett leaves Juliana sticks a needle in her arm.

This isn't my favorite chapter or anything, but I  really like chapter 25 because it was a turning point for me writing wise. After I wrote this I could finally see where I was going and how I was going to get there.

Chapter 25
Playlist
-1- Hear Your Heart by James Bay
-2- I Cant Make You Love Me by St. Vincent
-3- This is How I Let You Down by The Franklin Electric
-4- Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheerhan - oh hey first song on the playlist.

Chapter 26 
-1- Sunrise by Nora Jones
 

Easter Eggs

I don’t think I have happy danced over more Tomfia yet, so I’m gong to do that now. I actually did a re-read of ABWG when I was wasting time so I am seriously ready.

  

 
Novella Update
Well, I can officially say I have most of my four novellas written. I just need to work on my endings which are always what I struggle the most with. These novellas are for different serials but I'm kind of connecting them with certain Easter Eggs...that may not be the right term, but you'll see some recurring themes throughout the serials that are just kind of going to be there for fun.

I haven't written the Valentine's Day one, that one is still rattling around in my head.

I've also kind of been messing around with the idea of writing a Freeport prequel flash fic but I'm not sure if it would be canon. It would involve Jocelyn and Macy as teenagers, but I don't really want to touch it until I finish UL3. Also, I'm not sure how well I'd do a historical piece since it would take place in the late 70's.



Chapter 23
I really debated with this chapter because I feel like it's bringing back the soapiness of UL, but I couldn't figure out a way not to write the car accident in. I'd sort of been waiting to  write this car accident scene from the very beginning. The scene when Rhett drives home drunk from Aubrey and Wil's house in an early chapter was kind of a set up for this accident. This word is overused a lot nowadays but I kind of wanted to show how "normalized" Rhett's drunk driving had sort of become that Juliana doesn't even question it and to a certain extent neither did the reader.

Also, if all of you in the comment sections were either Rhett's mom or Juliana's BFF I would not have a serial. You all say all the things they need to hear.

Chapter 24
Recap
Rhett and Juliana have a little too much fun  at Amber and Wes's wedding. Amber pulls Rhett aside and she tells him that his mother said he hasn't been the same since he was in UL. Upset that his mother told Amber about his time in the cult Rhett storms out with Mason and Juliana. They argue in the car and get in a bad accident. Rhett was driving, but Juliana takes the blame so Rhett won't get in trouble with the Coast Guard.

Chapter 24
Playlist

-1- Regret by Jamie Sloan
-2-  Cherry Wine by Hozier
-3-  Like You'll Never See Me Again by Alicia Keys

GIF FUN !

I don't really have a reason to do a GIF post, but the last few chapters have been kind of angsty and it felt like time !

I have SO much I want to finish but it's going soooo slow.I have been typing away on these novellas when I'm not working on the last 10 5 or so chapters I have of UL. 

Me, when I finally post the first novella and reveal which serial it's from

Last week I finished a draft of Meanwhile, the 5,000 word novella

And then I forgot to save it and lost it:

But re-writing it has actually made me refocus and make it fit  better:

To work on the novellas I've been re-reading serials and it's a mix of 

And

 I sometimes dip into the blog posts and comments. I love how many commenters have been in for the long haul.

Not to mention how funny you all make the comment section

Seriously, your support and honesty is always great

 

Now, let's talk Lile-verse

I'm all about Lile's feminist agenda

Queen and Country is blowing my mind ! It's like the culmination of everything Lile's been doing. The world building, the themes, the new characters, the old-new characters,  inventing APR, the twists and turns. Everyday I'm just:

Whenever we get a Paris scene in QC

This is a little mean ):

Paris' decision making

When I see Sera

Sera's Decision Making

 

Leon's Decision Making

And I'm rooting for Aria/Leo, but I'm also rooting for Sera/Leon so I'm really rooting for some menage.

Now, let's do some obligatory GIFs of Nicholas Hoult, the closest person I can find to a Rhett picspiration

I know this has probably been color corrected but HIS EYES. Also those wrinkles on the left side of his cheek and his pointed back teeth are 90% of why I see him as Rhett.

You got a purty mouth

Although I imagine Rhett's hair as more this color...but no widow's peak.

And can we talk about this second puberty male actors seem to go through ?

From this:

To This:

This is him next to Elle Fanning. I mentioned in another picspiration post that They are about the age difference between Rhett and Savannah....also, yes, she plays his love interest in this movie ):

But, seriously THOSE EYES

 

Alright, back to the trenches !

Chapter 22
This chapter was a tough but I wanted to dive a little bit deeper into the toxic background Rhett came from that led him to even join UL. Also, as I was building this story I had this distinct image in my head of a scene where Juliana was walking Rhett home and he was black out drunk. I didn't have context for it, but I wanted it to be a turning point.

Chapter 23
This is another long one and probably the last long one.

Recap
Rhett has been on suspension for about 6 months from the Coast Guard after Mr. Reese calls his job about some letters he sent Juliana when she was in jail where he detailed some...not so great things he did in UL. Juliana gets a taste of heroin from Cody Grady and she likes the way it works with her antidepressants. Rhett finds out Juliana's been buying  heroin from his neighbor, Marty Enlign, in exchange for pictures. Rhett, Cody, his cousin Wil and Uncle Deacon go and pick a  a fight with the neighbor and Rhett smashes Marty's computer.

 That same night Juliana has to go and get a black out drunk Rhett from a party at his Uncle Deacon's where he becomes verbally abusive until she gets rid of the heroin. In the morning he doesn't remember anything and they both agree to try and do better. She'll stoping using heroin and he'll stop drinking.

Chapter 23
PLAYLIST
-1- You Are Gold by The National Parks
-2- From the Ground Up by Dan + Shay
-3- Blurred Lines by Alan Thicke
-4- 8 by Bon Iver

Code Names

Codename Novellas
So, in a total Shawna is Unoriginal™ move I've decided to give you some updates on my novellas using code names like Lile did. These codenames  aren't going to be obvious at all, but relate to the stories. I'm going to talk about them in the order I'd like to share them *fingers crosses*.

Pink Frosting
This one is either going to be one or two parts. I don't want to say which serial it's part of yet. It was only one part, but then I added more during NaNoWriMo. I have this one mostly outlined and the first half is completely written. I think I've been working on this one the longest

Meanwhile / Blob thing ?
This is a novella I've been thinking about writing forever and have finally decided to do.When I finished Vice I wrote about wanting to write something I called blob thing and I think this is the novella I was thinking of. It will likely be 5,000 words and I have about 1,000 drafted.

Haley/Maxwell
This is obviously the Haley/Maxwell novella I'm working on. I have a general outline for the story and some words written but I can't figure out what order to put everything in.

Silent Girls
This is my current favorite novella to work on. I have about 4,000 words down and I'll maybe add another 2,000. I wish I could expand this story and I'm not super ready to talk about which serial this is apart of.

Silly Meta Thing
I also have an idea for a silly meta thing. I was looking up something in a blog post for one of the novellas and one of you pitched a great scenario for a meta thing in the comments.

Speaking of Comments : Comment Corner
This comment exchange happened when I posted Chapter 4 and 5 of Compulsion and  for a while I had NO idea what the context was. I even re-read the chapters...

 Anyway it turns out it was a reference to an author's note where I  mentioned mistaking the words canning and caning.

Chapter 21
I'm honestly not sure where Chapter 21 came from because it was never apart of my original story idea. There was no Whitlow and there was no heroin and there was no Amber wedding in my original outlines but they all worked together to create this growing tension between Rhett and Juliana that I wanted

As I write more and more I've been exploring ideas about (here we go) intertextuality between UL and UL3 as well as ideas of  femininity and womanhood. In UL, Juliana is in a place where her body is a thing she uses to get what she wants from men and sexuality is a commodity. UL3 takes place in a small town where her sexuality is still seen as valuable to a certain extent but that fact is extremely taboo.

Also, that thing that Juliana says about men addressing Rhett over her happens in Chapter 19. I'm surprised none of you called it out. When Juliana gets hit on by a stranger the man apologizes to Rhett not her.

“I’m sorry, man” the stranger says to Rhett.“Didn’t realize this was you—hey, you a Navy guy or--,”

 
“Don’t apologize to me,” Rhett says dryly but instead of apologizing to me the man just walks off to his friends.

Chapter 22
Alright, this is a long one and so is the next one.

Recap
With Rhett still suspended and Juliana adjusting to being back in town things have been dark for the Clark family. Juliana is secretly buying heroin from one of Jocelyn's neighbors, Marty Enlign and she has coerced Rhett into injecting her.

But Juliana gets some much needed girl time and heads off to Hilton Head, SC for Amber's bachelorette party.  She meet with Rocket Olsen who tells her she wants to write a book about United Light and she comforts Savannah after she finds out her boyfriend dumped her.

Rhett confides in Bethany Whitlow about the reason for his suspension and then does some pretty heavy drinking to cope

Also, just for context, this chapter picks up about a month after the last chapter.

Chapter 22
Playlist
-1- Stand by You by - Alex Goot
-2- Stand by Me by Ben E King
-3- I Kissed A Girl and I Liked It by Katy Perry
-4- Live Forever by  Drew Holcomb
-5- Made to Love You by Dan Owen
-6- I Won't Give Up by Lennon &Maisy

Research Fact Tim McGraw

Ya'll
So, I went down a country music rabbit hole when writing that one sentence about Amber going to a country music show with her mom

CPShawna: This is why it takes you so long to write a chapter

Me: *closes Google tab* *closes Google tab* *closes Google tab* *closes Google tab* *closes Google tab* *closes Google tab* *closes Google tab* *closes Google tab* *closes Google tab*
 
I grew up in NoCal so I know a lot about grunge, rock and alternative music but country music wasn't on my radar so I knew very little about Tim McGraw.

As I wrote that throwaway line I wasn't even sure about what Tim McGraw looked like so I looked it up. Apparently during the time the serial takes place he looked like this:

 

And he was also in the Blindside where he looked like this:

But apparently he went on this diet and now looks like this (this man is 54):

 





And is making some interesting shirt choice:

 And I'm kind of obsessed with he and Faith Hill's country music power marriage:

 The Faith Hill/ Tim McGraw tour Amber references is the Soul2Soul tour in 2000 and I was momentarily mesmorized by all the eye tricks in the tour poster

And they are actually going back on tour together  in 2017 and I just think Faith Hill looks gorgeous in the new poster.

 And yes, he does look weird with the hat off

Anyway all that is to say Erik and I have tickets to the 2017 Soul 2 Soul tour...you know, for research.

CHAPTER 20
So, the tagline of this chapter could really be ish gets real. This chapter and the next chapter kind of explore what happens when the honeymoon phase is over. I know it may seem a little wander-y but it's all building up to a narrative thing.

CHAPTER 21
Recap / Characters to Remember

These characters are referenced / make appearances and haven't made appearances in a while.

Savannah Clark - Rhett's sister who is 8 years younger than Rhett.

Caleb - Savannah's football player boyfriend, who Rhett begrudgingly likes.

Bethany Whitlow - the only woman in Rhett's rescue swimmer class. She can do handstand push ups.

Brooke - Amber's best friend who works at the salon that Rhett's mom owns.



Recap
Juliana is back from Connecticut and spending most of her time as part of Amber's bridal party.  She tries some of Cody's heroin (in exchange for a handjob) and she likes the way the drugs makes her feel when combined with the trial antidepressant she is on.

Mr. Reese finds a letter Rhett sent to Juliana confessing everything he did in UL. Mr. Reese sends it to the Coast Guard and Rhett is put on unpaid leave by the Coast Guard and for the first time since they were married Rhett and Juliana are spending a lot of time together and it is not going well. 

Feeling guilty, Cody tells Rhett about happened and he is not happy when he finds out.

“I don’t care about what happened,” I tell her. But I know it's a lie. Cody had told me he gave her heorin and she gave him a hand job the day it had happened. He let me get  two clean hits in and we called it even. But there was nothing I could do to her. “Just as long as you stop fucking up and promise me you'll never try heroin again--,"

“Rhett--,”

“Juliana, I’m serious--,”

“It's helping me," she says like a fucking moron. "I'm not injecting it....it helps me....okay ? If I have to stop you have to stop drinking all the time."

“It’s not the same!” I tell her, but I may have yelled because she jumps back

"You're going to  wean yourself off the shit you are on and then you're going to stop. Heroin will kill you. It's addictive as fuck and you won't see it coming." I tell her. "If I find out you're buying I will make your life a living hell, do you understand ?,"

"You can't talk to me like--,"

"I can talk to you however I want when you're being a god damn idiot,"

Chapter 21 
Playlist

-1- Ho Hey by Jon D
-2 - I hate u, I love u  by gnash and Olivia O'Brien
-3-  4:35 AM  by Gemma Hayes
-4- Otis  by Jay Z and Kanye West ( I love all versions of this song)
-5- Blossom by Noah Gunderson
 

Hold Me

UL IS ALMOST 10 YEARS OLD SOMEBODY HOLD ME !

Year of the Novellas ?
I'm not sure what 2017 will bring serial wise, but I think I'll be writing a lot more novellas that are 3-5 chapters long. As I mentioned in an earlier post I was working on some of them during NaNoWriMo and they'll be for previously done serials and I'm enjoying working on them as a UL palette cleanser.

I kind of have an idea for a super subversive and dark Maxwell/Haley novella that will make Sundays look like a Disney movie but I'm not sure if I'll ever be in a headspace to really write it.

I'm also hoping to do some more meta stuff. QC and all of Lile's vault stuff has really inspired me to push boundaries.

So Much Pink ?
Someone noted that there is a section in the outline that is mostly pink and I think that is just my color preference showing. I'll sometimes use different shades of the same color and when it's all zoomed out it looks the same.

Chapter 19
It was around this chapter that I realized I had hopped on the angst train full speed ahead. To be honest these last few chapters is where the serial could have started--the point where UL starts slowly creeping back into their life. But I really wanted to establish Rhett and Juliana as a couple and the setting of Freeport...also I needed to introduce Rocket because she comes back. There is a method to my madness...maybe.

Recap
Back from Connecticut Juliana is on a new medication and ready to get back to her life only to discover her Dad wrote a letter to the Coast Guard asking for Rhett's removal because of his involvement with UL and he is put on indefinite suspension.

Chapter 20
Chapter 20
Playlist

-1- Birdsong by George Orgivile
-2- Free Fallin by Tom Petty
-3- Southern Girl by Tim McGraw
-4- It's Your Love by Tim McGraw
-5- Out of the Woods by Bryan Adams