Burn 2

I'm Doing It ?
So, my Pinterest is suddenly full of  gay mermaids because of that picture I pinned in my last post and guys...I outlined two mermaid short stories. They aren't really romances (because that would break my brain to figure out how it all...works) but they deal with some of the usual SHV themes. IDK when they'll be done or if they are any good but I figured I'd put that idea out in the world.

Skylark Gray / Phoenix Maxwell
So, I don't really have a picspiration  for anyone in this serial but (this is so random) in my head Skylark kind of looks like Tyler Alvarez in this FunnyorDie sketch about getting a fuckboi license. It's  mostly the eyelashes.

Recap
For as long as Skylar Gray can remember he's lived on the Atlas Star satellite with his guardian and every year on his birthday they go in the Closet. On his 16th birthday he's decided he's had enough and looks into his past and discovers he is Phoenix Maxwell, the infamous missing son of former President Kenneth Maxwell and  Major Lansing Prescott.

Just as he gets answers from Isla at knife point, his guardian, Haley, comes in the room (making out with essentially the chief of police, Colfax Dawes) takes the knife and locks him in the Closet.

Chapter 2 (There is a random bit where this turns into a cheesy scene from Sex and The City)
Playlist

-1- Light Pulse by Andrew Dost
-2- Eastern Glow by The New Album Leaf
-3- My Life's Rhyme by Lin Olin

AKA AOMCAON!!!

Dear Lile,

You've given us fairies, demons and angels, I really need you to do something with this:

Also...yes, I have been spending a lot of time on Pinterest for FZA.

Writing Update

I have been diligently working on FZA, it's not clicking  as much as I'd like  but it's moving. I'm still on the prologue but I've decided it's going to have a Victorian / 2nd Industrial Revolution-inspired  theme which has been really fun for naming things. Last post I said I'd share a snippet so here it is:

"It’s a bit macabre, I guess.”


“More than a bit, your majesty” I say because I can’t lie to her.


She smiles at me and I smile back. I had only ever smiled like this in private with her. Her smile is all white teeth and infectious.


“That was an exciting one though, wasn’t it ?”


I nod.

I can't guarantee this will stay in there though...

Let's Do This

I had a hard time coming up with a title for Lucky but in the end I decided to go with another one-word title. I've called it Burn but in my head it's also called AOMCAON!!!...I'll explain what that stands for in the Author's Note.


This is the story that was never meant to be. It's weird, this story and FZA share a little bit of the same DNA. This takes place in the Vice-Universe but  I'm not sure if it's exactly canon and you'll see soon why I say that but here we go....

I don't want to say much about Burn, I kind of want it to unfold from the character's perspective. You'll likely put together what is going on quickly. All I'll say is it takes place after Bright Lines, Virtue and Glassdoor. The main character is male and you haven't really met them before and it is not an AU.

Burn Part I
Playlist

- 1 - Anomaly by Lights and Motion
- 2- This Place is A Shelter by Olafur Arnads
- 3-  Candles by Jon Hopkins
- 4 -  Cherry Wine by The Overcoats

Glassdoor II

I don't think I posted this. It may not seem like it but I ship Luce/Haley real hard. I actually kind of needed them to be together to work on my Valentine's idea but I'm still not sure that is going to happen this year...

Lucky Update

 APO Update

 UL Update

I actually had a big breakthrough with the prologue for APO...I am so excited because I finally named the main character and I've decided on some aesthetics for it but I see it as taking a long time to write. It's SFF-ish (which I'm not even sure if I'm doing right) so I have to name a lot of other things. Also...it might have some  afrofuturism  elements? I wish I could spit it out all at once but I'm taking it scene by scene and hopefully I'll get there.

Glassdoor II
Recap: Weeks after Haley attempted to assassinate  Attorney General Kenneth Maxwell's husband and children Maxwell's family is shaken. Maxwell has accepted 10 million dollars in hush money from the cartel for his presidential campaign but still can't shake the feeling Haley will try again.

After his daughter has a panick attack and runs into a door Maxwell ditches his security guards to make a secret trip with a gun strapped to his waist...

Glassdoor II
Playlist
(Yes, these are all from Compulsion's playlist)

-1- Closer by FKA twigs
-2-  Broken Arrow by The Album Leaf 
-3- The Fire by Kinna Grannis

Shawna Ruins Your Day

 CPShawna: Did...did you really keep the codename as the actual name ?

SHV: ...What ? It actually kind of works in this case

Things I Learn Doing Research / Shawna Ruins Your Day
During drafting, Virtue was supposed a lot kinkier than it turned out to be. I did a little bit of research (read: lurked on Reddit threads) and decided not to include a lot of it because I wasn't sure I wanted my characters to go there.

Anyway, one thing I learned is some people have a kink for body horror and discovered this Hannibal (the TV show about when they were young) fan fiction where Hannibal kidnaps Will, the main male character from the show, tries to kind of  infantilizes him and when he doesn't cooperate Hannibal surgicially removes a body parts and...eats them in front of him. It was so bonkers  and just the most grossily horrific thing I've ever read. I didnt' actually get that far but I had to talk about it because while I'd like to be more edgier I'm not sure I could EVER go there. It was also surprisingly well written so I can't get the mental images out of my head. I  think at the end of the story Will has to eat some of himself too...*cringe* *cringe*

Up All Night To Get Lucky
Um, anyway I am having an amazing experience writing Lucky. The idea popped in my head and rolled around for about two weeks and I banged out 10,000 words without even thinking about it. It's been really freeing not having outlines.

Lucky takes place in the Vice world and I think I've created my first Vice adjacent character who is a tried and true Cinnamon Roll...and I don't know what to do with them. Also, no, you have not met this character yet.

UL Update
So, I totally forgot about the UL thing I was working on. I really want to share what I have but I want to get through this Vice stuff first. I still haven't finished it but it's like super domestic-ish women's fiction-y thing.

Moving On...Glassdoor
I was originally going to do this in one big chunk but I split into two parts because I'm stalling while I work on the next thing it has a natural break point in the story


Recap
This is a Maxwell POV and it takes place a few weeks after the assassination attempt in Sweet Prince:

Haley turns sharply, changing targets. He aims the barrel of the gun to the Attorney General’s 5-year-old daughter who was crying, sitting in a chair by herself across the table from her father.

And pulls the trigger.

The moment the trigger is pulled Haley is tackled by the protective service. His bullet misses the little girl and the gun flies out of his hand in the scuffle.

 Glassdoor takes place after  everything I've done this year, so it's all after Bright Lines, Sweet Prince and Virtue...well, except for that last scene in Virtue. It's the lead up to the last scene.


Glassdoor Part 1
Playlist
-1- The Light by New Leaf
-2- We Might Be Dead by Tomorrow by Soko
-3-  R U OKAY by Aryay

Virtue III

Hoping For Electric Dreams
When I was first trying to understand cyberpunk I went knee deep in research and one author I kept coming across was Philip K. Dick, who wrote the book Bladerunner is based on. This year  Amazon is making an anthology show based on his work called Electric Dreams and I'm excited to watch it and see if it gets the cyberpunk plot bunnies moving. I'm kind of getting into the cyberpunk/ scifi thing and...IDK I'd love to venture away from the Shy Cartel-verse. 'Lucky' is kind of going to be a foray into that.

Speaking of Philip K. Dick, apparently in the new Bladerunner 2049 they created a futuristic version of the 80s instead of the 2010s, so companies like Pan-AM still exist in that world. It seems to me the 80's is so ingrained in cyberpunk since it came about around that time and that in my head some of the "fashion" (I'm real bad at describing clothes) in this serial is more 80's. Particularly with  Charlotte, whose look with the dress and carvat is based off this 80's trend:

Oh, did anyone catch my teensy tiney Sunday Nights in Savannah reference in the last chapter ?

Luce suddenly takes extreme care chewing his food as he thinks it over. He picks up an errant blueberry from Haley’s plate.

I never describe what Haley is eating but in my head it's the same thing Rose ordered at the restaurant in Sunday Nights in Savannah.



Virtue Part III

Recap  
Haley has settled into working  as an escort at Control,  Jean Dory's private brothel within a brothel, and is getting closer to Luce Grace but now Rayne and Minnow are asking him to take on the police commissioner's son as a client so they can spy on him.
 
Time is going to move in this chapter and this comment is going to be explored...

Virtue Part III
Playlist
- 1 -  The Moment I Said It by Imogen Heap
- 2 - Unsteady by X Ambassadors 
- 3- The Poet by U317 (Yes, I am pilfering through the QC playlist)
- 4 -  Forever Ago by Woodlock
- 5- Feed Me Diamonds

Hey, there 2018...let's talk in gifs

Obligatory, sorry I haven't posted

But I have been really enjoying Lile's short stories like crazy 

Greetings From Le Visnet had me like

 Sunday Nights in Savannah had me like

Anti-Cinnamon Buns / School Shuffle Had Me Like

As for me ? Well...my writing process

looks a lot less like this

And has looked more like this

 

Although sometimes it feels like I'm doing this

 COME BACK TO ME PLOTBUNNIES !

I'm not sure if I'll ever write another serial again, but I like dipping in and out of these worlds and I'll keep doing that in serials as long as I can.

Virtue +

To be honest when I posted the first part of Virtue I hadn't finished it, I'd just wanted to get a piece of it out there so I had something to show for ALL my NaNo-ing. But now I've finished it and will be posting it in three parts (so...one more part after this part). Also, I think I told someone there would be "rage wear" and there actually isn't. My bad.

I...also...am currently writing  two companion pieces to Virtue. Let's just codename one, hmm...Glassdoor and the other one...um, let's call it Lucky. I'm not sure if they are canon (especially Lucky) and they're both kind of over angsty, self-indulg-y and weird. I don't know... I'm just really trying to work this Haley/Maxwell thing I started out.

I really feel like my muse has left me  lately, but the plotbunny for Lucky just attacked me out of nowhere. It was so bizarre to have this story come to me and then not leave....but yeah, not sure if it's cannon

Also, those codenames mean literally nothing.

UL Sidepiece 

I do have 5,000 words on this UL follow up. I know where I want it to go but I'm not sure how to end it. I hope to post it soon-ish though. It's a lot of Clark family fluff with a pinch of drama.

FZA

This is still going slowly, but I think when I run out of things I may just post the prologue of this just to give you all a taste.

So, as you can tell I have been having trouble with endings. There is actually a short story collection called Massive Cleansing Fire and it features interconnected short stories that all end in a massive cleansing fire and you guys....I'm tempted sometimes (mostly with Vice stories).

Virtue Part II

Recap

Virtue takes place after Alex Haley is released from Ft. Pride, an RLA prison camp where he'd been locked in a cell with murderer and tattoo artists Forge DeCartes by Kenneth Maxwell.

He's been working in the factory of the Shy Cartel's cover company, The Mojave Blade Company, to pay for a hit on Maxwell. However after a year, Maxwell becomes a federal judge and the price goes up. To earn more money Haley agrees to work in Control, the secret brothel within the brothel run by Jean Dory.

This passage is going to come back up:

The conversations lull the moment Haley steps in and for a moment he gets the feeling they are all staring at him, but their eyes are well above his head and directed at Jean. 

“Mr. Dory-,” a  gorgeous man in his thirties, with dark hair and impeccably Roman features, calls walking up to them. “I’d like to talk to  you  later tonight about--,”

“Not today, I’m afraid.” Jean says, reaching out to  stroke the man’s now distraught face. “Talk to Charlotte about fitting you in my schedule. I’ve got a new employee to show around.”

Virtue Part II

Playlist

-1- Where the Light Gets In by Sennen

-2-  Kill Em' With Kindness by Selena Gomez

-3- This is What it Feels Like by Banks

-4-  Cringe by Matt Masean

Virtue

Me Fixing Up My NaNoWriMos 

(I think I've used this gif set before)

I usually save my moving on's and Let's Try Something's for new serial but Virtue is  is edging in on 20,000 words so it feels like a big thing.

Virtue takes place in between Bright Lines and Sweet Prince...I mean... kind of. It's confusing  but I kind of wrote Virtue like it was a standalone so hopefully there are enough context clues to fill in any gaps.


Quick Recap
At  Camp Harmony, a prison camp run by the RLA  Alex Haley became entangled with Sgt. Kenneth Maxwell. When Camp Harmony is infiltrated by Alan Gray posed as Corp. Strange--who lets three POWs escape as a distraction--Maxwell is sent away to be warden of Ft. Pride, an isolated, maximum security prison camp and he takes Haley with him.

Six years later , the war ends and the RLA is disbanded. Maxwell reveals he's been giving information to the opposition and when they take over Maxwell leaves Haley locked in a cell with Forge DeCartes, a sadistic tattoo artist and serial killer

18 months later, Ft. Pride is being shut down and Haley is released. The outside world has changed and the RLA has been replaced by a new government run by the East and West called The Federation.  Haley goes to St. Grace, a care center for people with trauma , unable to shake what happened to him, he agrees to have an experiential lombotomy to have the memories taken out.

But then he sees Maxwell in the media and he is successful, married and a rising star in The Federation. Haley decided before he has his memroies taken away he wants Maxwell dead. He leaves St. Grace's and goes to find the Shy Cartel because he knows they can help him and he has a connection to Alan Gray

He finds the cartel and ends up on a doorstep with Luce Grace pointing a gun in his face because his tattoos look like Mjollner tattoos.

The gunman lowers his gun into a holster, but he still holds Haley’s arm pinned against the house.

“What brings you to Mojave ?”

“I'm looking for...Alan Gray.” Haley says quietly.

Something pulses in the gunman’s eyes, like he was fighting to not roll them.

“I knew him at Camp Harmony,” Haley continues

The gunman’s expression hardens.

“Why do you want Alan Gray?,” he asks and then looks at the hand hanging at Haley’s side. “Your hand ? It’ll cost you half  a mil and there’s a two year waiting list.”

“No...I ....Alan Gray kind of owes me and I wanted…I just wanted him to help me get an audience with Rayne Washington.”

Haley looks up and the gunman tilts his head down until their eyes meet again.

The gunman smiles. It’s a strained smile.

“You have shit timing, then," he says.

Haley looks down. Had Rayne Washington died ?  Had he been jailed ? He tries not to let his frustration show. He reminded himself that is this didn’t work out there were other ways. 

“Seems like you’ve had enough torture in your life,” the gunman observes. “ What do you want from us ?,”

Us. He must be with the Shy Cartel.

“I want Senator Kenneth Maxwell assassinated." Haley tells him.

The gunman smiles, this smile lights up his whole face. He kicks open the door to the townhouse, and walks inside, pulling Haley gently behind him. 

Virtue takes place a little over a year after this...

-1- Silhouette
-2-  Boys by Charlie XCX
-3- Axolotl

Playlist
Virtue I