Fall Colors !

New Blogger

The jury is still our for me on weather I like the new blogger.com or not. I feel like they have less colors to choose from. Guess I have to learn HTML colors.

Writing

I don't have much to say about chapters 4&5 that was not already addressed in the comments so, I thought I would blog about writing. I think a lot of people want to be or are writers and I love that and more than that I like people who write for themselves. I am trying to turn my web serials into that. I often find myself worrying what readers will think but I can't do that. This is not something I need to sell and have analyzed a Cobalt but, something that I should make my own and into something I love. Maybe that piece of advice will help Lile's writer's block ? (I know I pick on you every post) and if that doesn't help there are always tropes. Oh, the tropes.

Also, something has just motivated me to just write, write, write this serial like I am possessed so I decided to go ahead and post this.

In this chapter I will admit you will see some similar means but trust me they lead to very different ends.Look out for the author's note at the end.

Music Fail

Did no one notice I called the Red Hot Chili Peppers the Red Hot Chili Brothers in the last post ?  *headesk*

Chapter 6

I call this the sleepy playlist because all the music is very dreamy and lullaby like for some reason. Also one of these is a Scrubs song

-1- Bad Dream by Keane

-2- Los Angeles by Peter Bradely Adams

-3- Piano Duet from Corpse Bride by Danny Elfman  (and Victor and Victoria too I suppose)

-4- Ain't No Life by Pilot Speed.

Chapter 6

Double Chapter Post All The Way . . .

Lile ♥

So, I was looking in old Lile blog entries (for reasons I will explain a few chapters later) and I just noticed what a long way she has come and I just wanted to acknowledge that. At first she was very self-consious about her writing, often taking things down or finding something wrong and deleting it. Now, I think Lile writes just for herself and is so uninhabitated in her writing and interactions with her readers so well--I mean we love you. I also think she had found a great balance between herself and her writer persona that wasn't there before. I mean I honestly can see how we became friends through our writing, it is just really great.

I took a glance at some of my favorite, LA,FS and S&A passages and I feel like I am reading it all over again for the first time. Even after all this time and knowing how it ends up I can still feel the characters passion. There are a couple times she posted saying she was quitting and I just want to say I am so glad she didn't.

Conceited Egotist, Much ? : Canonical Babblings

So, I was doing like I ocassionally do and re-read some of my old work. I am not really concieted  or anything, I actually  find some of it a bit cringe worthy. I mean, I re-read UL2 and I was like 'this story makes no sense to me' for some reason. I mean everyone was getting thrown in jail left and right and having mood swings.

I was originally never going to deal with the court case and write sort of this New England Romance Type Thing, like the first chapter was. I just made up the phrase New England Romance Type Thing, I think the better word is Lifetime Moviesque.Anyway, part of me thinks UL2 would have gone down better that way.

The point of this was I also re-read Veritas and I realized I made a huge error in Hidden. In chapter 4 Alan not only states his birthday is November 11th but, he is going to die April 4th. The events in Veritas take place roughly over a month so it ends in May. Meaning Hidden takes place 6 months later in October/ early Novemeber which means it probably isn't his birthday . . .  although if you stretch it a couple of days I guess it does work oddly well. This may have been a pointless section.

Re-reading this made me realize I totally need to start up on that Lexicon, because it gets a bit convaluted. I will get to it.

In Closing

So, maybe this isn't the most bloggiest of entries but, as I come to an end of this exact entry I realize I may be able to squeeze some UL short stories out. I think I may need help from my tropes first. The impossibility does not seem so great to me know for some reason. And I am not trying to pull strings this is honestly how I am feeling so, we will see.




Full on Double Chapter Post

So, yes double chapter post. I finally have some music and in no particular order : One song is from a group that is growing on me, one song is the obligatory SYTYCD song, a song that is a huge favorite of mine I stole from Lile and listen to obsessively,  One I hated a first but, came to really like.
 
Chapter 4

-1- 9 Crimes by Damien Rice

-2- Little Bit by Lykke Li

-3- Fix You by Coldplay

-4- Around the World by Red Hot Chili Brothers


Chapter 5

Brothers on a Hotel Bed by Dashboard Confessional

The One With All The Parenthesis

Music



Okay, so I dropped the music on this one a little bit. I have not been using Pandora as much because I hate it when I can't find the song on playlist.com after falling in love with a song.



As for the last couple chapters; in chapter one the songs are both from FOX's Bones. They have some of the best music sometimes but they have not been using it lately in the show. I don't know the episodes but I believe they are all Season 5. Also you will see some Scrubs music in the future--love their music.



Also if you will indulge my rambling--each of the serials I have written have a very specific musical tone. At least for a majority of the music. Everything in the UL series was easy listening/blue eyed soul almost pop music like, IVB was supposed to be a lot of rock/punk music and Veritas is more electronica/alternative.



Of course there are always exceptions.





You Can't Escape It



I am not sure if anyone caught on to this but, in chapter 1 there is a Twilight reference. Jean has been reading Twilight books during his little bed rest. In this section :

“You look better,” I had said walking past him

“It seems impossible but, time passes, brother,” he said, “Even for me,”

Of course the next day he lay in bed all day and from that the bed became his prison. He hadn’t left and was back to his old ways.

“You said time passes,” I had asked

“I was not saying, merely quoting,” he said,” I tried to get back to my life but, I don’t know my life without her. Time does pass yes, but each second just aches more,”

He is referencing this quote :



Time passes. Even when it seems impossible. Even when each tick of the second hand aches like the pulse of blood behind a bruise. It passes unevenly, in strange lurches and dragging lulls, but pass it does. Even for me.

Bella Swan, New Moon, Chapter 4, p.93



I just took out the overly metaphoric parts. And not to judge but some twilight fans just love this quote.









Anti-Hero with a capital A !



I mentioned in my final post for Veritas that all the characters were all anti-heroes and you will see a lot of that in Hidden. A lot of you caught on to Alan's "snarkiness"--when he makes a joke about the body, his metaphor about the gun flashing a smile and also the fact that Jean's parents made some good points--it's because they were right and Jean was wrong. I believe it is somewhere (maybe tv tropes ?) that explains antiheroes as protagonist who don't give a sh*t.



So, yes these characters will be wrong they will do wrong and say stupid things but it's the nature of the genre. Maybe I am disclaiming myself for future events . . .



Character Love



I was going to write character whore but decided not to.



I have an insanely bad habit of adding lots of characters to my stories and as I write this it becomes no different. Many of them have no relevance but I just have to give them a name and backstory. For instance in UL it ended up being about Cecelia, Greg, Sam, Rosa, Cortland, Rhett, Patrick, Brad and a few others when it should not have been. And don't even get me started on Tessa, her daughter and Jennifer because UL2 was supposed to be a Rhett&Juliana story.



Also in IVB Nick went on a date with a guy who had no relevance I just wanted to write him going on a date. I also felt the need to introduce and name Slate's sisters who had no lines whatsoever. Although I wanted to point out Slate's dad had named his kids off colors (Amber and Sienna,I believe it was)



So, I apologize in advance for that.



I Miss it too !



You all talking about UL has me feeling nostalgic for it. I miss churning out 10,000 word chapters and just writing it in general but, I have no idea how another chapter would go unless it went the DSI route and took place 4-5 years later with someone married with kids--other than that I have literally no plot. And I just can't go with that plot for UL because it would turn into the dirtiest of kmart realism you have ever read (genre joke--the dirty refers to Dirty realism get your heads out of the gutters. I honestly felt like i had to explain that)



I am just waiting for one to fall out the sky like they always do. I love when that happens and it terrifies me that when I (if I ever) finish up Veritas I will never have another idea. (Maybe I can start a few days late on a UL NaNoWriMo ?)



Linda Leigh <3



I was getting my DSI fill today (love it so much !) and I have to say LiLe does something really well. She is able to describe how people pass time in a few paragraphs that don't feel rushed. To be more specific when she is describing ((*spolier alert*)) Emile and Clara's night together it's only 2 or 3 paragraphs but it feels longer and we get so much detail. We know what they had for dinner, how they felt about it, what they did that evening, how the slept . . I don't know I just love that. I feel like I have to make every scene I write a conversation and describe in painstaking detail so, I am working on that.



Longer Chapter Later



I promise the next post will be a 6,000+ words, two chapter post. I just have to make this one on it's own for pacing issues. Also, after next post I have a picture post planned.



Hmm . . . I think that is it.



Chapter 3



Playlist

Catalyst by Linkin Park (I know only one song but, it fits the tone of the story relatively well)



Chapter 3

Lile !

In the off chance, Linda Leigh sees this I have so much to say about Chapter 3 but, the comm nets are turned off . . . which seems weird after the post you made. Anyway after being creeped out by chapter 2 I was expecting something horrifying in chapter 3 but, I found it really nice and I am just waiting for the next double chapter post.

I actually can't think of a name for this entry

*Note to Lile
In your last comment section, Erik was referring to the characters of Eric and Maddie in S&A and Free Spirits. He says the character Eric is a reference to him.

Cobalt Stuff

I have to make a note about Cobalt here. I am so happy Lile is back, she inspires me in so many ways---her writing is just phenomenal and so are her music choices.

Also I am so glad we have Mansfield with us as well. I love having new blood into the company(don't even think about it). Maybe he can do a guest blog on one of our blogs so we can get to know more about him.

Somewhere Along the Line . . .

Somewhere along the line this story became a very unintentional allegory. When I noticed it I just went along with it and developed it more. It is not very evident in this chapter but, it will be in later chapters. It was a very subconscious move.

Process

I have a very good grasp of the plot points for Hidden and the sequel that comes after. I have a feeling the last one will be about 3 chapters and this one will be between 8 and 12 chapters. It just the actual writing it that has become troublsesome.

I have tried to start writing ahead of my postings. In the past I write a chapter post it and then write another one and post it so, I can't mess with the cannon or add much foreshadowing if I decide to change something.

The only time I haven't done that was in IVB when I got so into writing it I ended up writing until the end pretty early--and I actually felt that led to some of the rushed feeling of it.

That said, I have been afraid to post something and then want to change it or add something later but, I have decided to do it anyway. So hopefully this will expedite the posting , I feel bad because this had been ready and should have been posted a week after chapter 1.

If that made no sense don't worry about it.

Similarities

I think Lile and I have the same muse who is lazing on the job-- I am convinced of it. I was so excited to write something in third person and then switch it to first person at the end and then Lile did it before me ! Oh well, (:

I have been seeing the first scene in Chapter 1 for so long so I was very excited about it.

There are also a few other similarities I have seen but, it is interesting how they exist in completely separate contexts.

When I had writer's block for a while I decided to update a running list of names I have for characters and I am always amused by how many names on that list have appeared in LL. The two main ones being Clara and Addison but, I also had Rosalinda which is similar to Rosalie.

Context

I have been experimenting a lot with re-contextualizing elements of past my past writing. It's something I have wanted to do but, it won't look blatantly obvious-- like there wont be a character named Sawyer who owns a diner (although that sounds like a good idea . . .).

I think this piece opens itself up to the recontextualizing of elements because this serial has been so genre bending. I have no idea if Veritas is a coming of age, dystopian, postcyberpunk or allegory or any number of genres it could be.

Some of these reoccurring elements so far are :

In some ways Jean and Alan are respectively versions of Slate and Darcy in IVB.

Rayne and Cain are similar characters except of course Rayne is not really a villain or antagonist.

Belle, the stripper in UL is a version of Belle in Hidden who is a Madame--I suppose is the right word.

So, look out for those things I've sprinkled in through out the piece.

Chapter 2

Yes it's short, it should have been bundled with chapter 1 but I could not let go. Also one of songs in the playlist got a lot more popular because it was featured on a CW show. Also, a song is not on playlist so I have youtube embeded it.

-1- Black Balloons by Goo Goo Dolls

-2- Mama Who Bore Me

Chapter 2

Wait . . .what . . . what is this ?

. . . A blog update ???? . . . . A story update ??? . . . and a Shawna & Erik post ???? Took you long enough !!!

Failed Partnership
I though I would go ahead and say what you are all thinking. So, yes this is a Shawna and Erik post but really it is a Shawna post because I am writing this. I originally took Erik on as a writing partner for this project because his writing style was good for a specific part of this new story. However the writing partner relationship kind of fell apart. I enjoy his help and critique but, you will never see a book written by Shawna and Erik. Good thing we like to do other things together !

Web Serial

So, I do have a taste of the new web serial. I wanted to have most of it storyboarded/written before I introduced it so, you wouldn't read something new and wait forever for an update *cough* Lile *cough* ( :

The new chapter in the Closer to Earth Series is called Hidden. I do know it will be shorter than Veritas by a lot and then the 3rd in the series (which I am so excited about even though I have yet to write it !!!) will be even shorter.

I will say that music is often times the hardest for me so, I may be reusing music and favorites trying to re-contextualizing it. However the new music I do have I am so excited about. I got them all from a particular show that has fantastic music !

Icebergs

I am trying a new style of writing. I want to try and use the Iceberg Theory. A theory on short story writing where you only show the important action of the plot and not explain all the background information that is underneath the surface. You only see/read the "tip" of the iceberg and you kind of feel out the rest. Of course the background information will be revealed in later chapters because this is not a short story. I am trying this theory on a few chapters.

This theory was mostly attributed to Hemingway's short stories. He explains it as :

"If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing."


Incidentally enough his most well known novel is The Sun Also Rises and it was published when he was 26ish. For some reason I imagine if he were alive today he would fit in at Cobalt as a young writer. Not to mention Joel would have some competiton in the office. Here is Heminway's photo at that time :



Hidden

Hidden Chapter 1

Loose Ends

I wanted to wrap up some loose ends from part 1 and also give you all a little more insight into the characters.
Anti-heroes

A popular trope in CP literature and in SH serials in general is the anti-hero. In UL, it can be argued Sawyer and Juliana are antiheroes, in IVB Slate is an antihero.

In Veritas I think most of them fall under the type IV 'What the Hell' antihero. In my own head they are the types of protagonist you aren't supposed to like, they aren't good people and don't try to be. However the fact that you can relate to them is what gives them the hero part of it.

Alan

As you all know I tend to base my characters of real life events/persons and inspirations. Juliana is a mixture of inspiration from Jonestown/LG15, the IVB's are based off the Awareness Ribbons and foundations.

Well, Alan's story-- this whole section really-- is based on Patty Hearst. The girl who was trapped in a closet for 57 days and became part of a terrorist organization and is a convicted felon. She gets Stockholm Syndrome and I was kind of interested in this concept. SS is played with a little in UL but, I wanted to make a story of it. Hearst was ironically enough 19 at the time she was taken which I just discovered.

The original Veritas concept (before it even became a CP story) was about a girl who is taken and falls in love with her captor and then has to decide to turn him in or not but, I couldn't find enough story for that ... and Lile fleshed it out better.

Also, some people imagined early on that Alan was gay but he is a heterosexual.

The Dorys

Oh, the Dorys . . . they were originally very minor characters and the story was mostly Alan and Sara but, I felt like they added something. I had thought out this story and concept characters without even really acknowledging the "squickness" of Jean and Minnow's relationship.

However, it is relevant to know that Jean is gay. So, no there is nothing between he and Sara. Minnow is bisexual and she is also a nymphomaniac. That's why she comes on to Alan so strong. It's not the cybernetics that makes Alan attracted to Minnow its the drugs she gives him. The drugs are a mix of pain relief and libido boosters which is why they are always 'in the mood" after they take them.

Some people comment that Alan was using her sexually but, she was using him. When Alan spent so much time building the bomb with Sara she went back to spending so much time with Jean. The "sex scenes" in the serial even though they are from Alans POV are all about Minnow. Alan never describes feeling any type of pleasure during the sex because the sex is not about him, it's about her. That's not to say the loving feeling between Minnow and Alan weren't real because they do care for each other.

As far as Jean and Minnow's relationship goes, In my head they don't have sexual intercourse if anything they probably have sexual intracourse. Not only is Jean just very close to her, he doesn't like that Minnow sleeps with other men all the time. He'd rather she deal with her addiction with him than with strangers. Kind of the whole parents who perfer you drink in the house instead of in the street.

I think I made the squickiness worse.

!Disclaimer !*This is all concepts for a story that is about the gritty and unpleasent in life and is complete fiction. I can't abdicate this in real life. If Erik and I have kids we would NEVER let them act like the characters we write. They'd be on a short leash*

The Graces & Saint

I will say in the beginning Sara's whole name was Sara Grace but, somehow it didn't work so Grace is actually her (very ironic) last name.

As I think I've mentioned Sara was supposed to be a strong female, takes no BS character but, I also wanted her to be really likeable in a tough love kind of way. She is the model antihero because she is driven for vengeance against the big bad (the government) for killing her husband but, they way she does it is not exactly nice

As for Luce he was a main character from the start and in the original story he had a much bigger part. I imagine he will have a larger role in part 2.

As for Saint, he is asexual so, there is nothing between him and Sara either. They are just really close. Saint is an original concept based on something I saw I just can't remember what.

Foreshadowing and other plot devices

Mrs. Gray

Alan's mother's name, Ciele is supposed to be like the French words for sky. So, her name is Gray Skies. That's why Alan remembers her after sitting outside and watching the gray sky.

Character Evolution

Alan is slowly pulled into this crapsack world but,keeps his innocence and moral integrity for most of it. The real breaking point for him is in chapter 9 when Minnow is going into withdrawal and Alan sleeps with her against her consent. He has lost his grasp a little bit here and it officially makes him one of them. The only thing that pulls him out a little is Allison.

Phyrric Victory

I guess Lile and I are reading from the same book (trope page . . . ?) with this one. I always knew Minnow and Saint were going to die because Sara's win was going to be a Phyrric victory. When you win but, lose everything important to you in the mix.

Inspirations !

Here are some more picspirations :

Inspiration for Allison, the pale skinned brunette. I wanted to find a picture of Cosgrove not smiling and this was the best one. Plus, it has an innocence.

I saw this image and thought of Minnow Dory. I have no idea why.



Inspirtaion for Mrs. Gray. This is one of Hugh Hefners girlfriends I'm not sure which one, I saw her picture and thought she fit the image.

Part II

No, I don't have Part II (thought I'd rip that band-aid)

But, I am so excited about it--I have a lot planned out. I am even gearing up for part 3. There will only be 3 parts so, don't worry I'm not trying to write anything to epic.


Finally, Story Inspirations

I wanted to conclude this post with the quotes that inspired this whole story. I had no plot before but, I found this quotes and they became the theme.

"Transhumanism is about how technology will eventually help us overcome the problems that have, up until now, been endemic to human nature. Cyberpunk is about how technology won't."

— Stephenls of RPG.Net, on the relation between transhumanism and cyberpunk

"Anything that can be done to a rat can be done to a human being. And we can do most anything to rats. This is a hard thing to think about, but it's the truth. It won't go away because we cover our eyes. THAT is cyberpunk."

— Bruce Sterling (one of William Gibsons writing partners)

A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.

Kurt Vonnegut, Sirens of Titan

. . . the street finds its own uses for things

- Unatribbuted

and just a quote I found kind of funny was that Kurt Vunnegut smoked Pall Malls everyday and he referred to it as "classy way to commit suicide"

I will be back to you guys soon, better and more inspired than ever !