Blah Blah Blah . . . you don't really care do you ?

New Layout

My layout was so dull that I decided to change it to something more sleek.  I can't guarantee this is permanent but it will do for  now.

The Mile High City

A while ago Team Cobalt made a trip out to Denver where Shawna came up with the idea of a Starbucks Panel. I don't know if any of you were there but if so thanks so much for coming. And while a majority of the focus was on Shawna and JB  I remembered someone called me out on making fun of Harlquinn. They also  asked if I would "comment" on any specific novel and seeing as I have a lot more spare time I figured why not ?

No, I won't be purchasing a whole novel but maybe there is something interesting in the Online Reads sections, I'd love to hear suggestions


Pictures

Here is a link that the hotel the  St. Mark Hotel is based on.


Chapter 9/10

Well I think I covered it all in the comments so let's just move along.

Chapter 11

Playlist

+1+ - Chairman's Waltz (Memoirs of A Geshia) - John Williams

+2+ - Time - Bill Porter  ( I know, I know it is live )

+3+  Closer - Joshua Radin 

+4+ Honestly - Carey Brothers  

Chapter Eleven

Double Chapter Post !

Chapter 8

Yeah, chapter 8 was a short one. I didn't even notice both of the songs had "heart" in the title ! When I looked up names for the Abbey and the town I just found Irish names I liked. However I "google mapped" Wicklow and looked at the street view and it looks just as I imagined.

Double Chapter post!

I will just go ahead and warn you that once again one of these chapters is a short one. 

Chapter 9 is taking us back to Clara in Italy and . . . her dead grandparents.

Music

I think I may start reusing songs from Spririst& Angels. I find this is because 95% of the time I choose music becuaes of the lyrics and sometimes for the flow. Which is why chapter 6 had a lot of "exotic" music. I doubt anyone actually knows what Enya is saying half the time. Speaking of which I used the song Kissing by the Danish band Bliss without even really listening to the lyrics. I kept wondering why the song was called  Kissing.

These following chapters also take a lot from Shawna's playlist !


Playlist

Chapter 9

+1+ -  Down - Jason Walker

+2 + - Brave - Indina Menzel

+3+ - Gravity - Sara Bareilles

+4+ -  Miss Invisible - Marie Digby ( love this song, reminds me of middle school )

+5+ - My Road - Quinn Walker

Chapter 10

+1+ Tears and Rain - James Blunt (I know this song again but the lyrics are spot on for so many reasons ...)

+2+ Somewhere Out There - Our Lady Peace

Chapter 9
Chapter 10

100th Post !

I am a few weeks behind Shawna on the 100 post mark but I guess she started blogging before me.

Presents

In honor of my 100th post I decided to have some freelancers from Cobalt redesign the Linda  Leigh website. It also feature new graphics for August and Desert Sand Iris. 

A while back I mentioned that I went through and did minor retouches on Lost Angels (I'll use that blanket term for the whole series) and I realized how intense the series was. I was constantly questioning why I had the characters do something and then I would remember why and I would feel bad that I didn't give them better options. I say this because if I do have any one tiny regret it would probably be that Sofia slept with Adam. It was one of the few instances where I couldn't figure out the reasoning. Other than that I do enjoy re-reading and re-confirming all the choices the character's made.

Spam me ? I Don't Think So

It is no surprise that when readers start making a commotion that it gets back to me. I was actually working on this 100th post when someone let me know about the petition for an SA update. It was while writing this post that I decided to let you know that Lost Angels was officially over. . . however I won't lie. A part of the story that always bothered me was that Sofia never came to terms with her rape.  As you can imagine I have been planning my "farewell" post but I decided to delete it and we will see what happens. I have some idea of the tone this "unnamed project" might take and one obstacle. I know this may make me look like a pushover but maybe this was the confirmation I needed to give more thought to the idea. Parts of the story are slowly forming but I would not have done this  if the original idea wasn't floating around somewhere. I can't guarantee that it will be very long perhaps 20k but we will see.

Chapter 7

Yes, there was a mini-cliffhanger and I had to be extra careful when editing this because Clara's grandparents were never really there. For example when she is on a date with Peter he asks


“No, I was talking about the music. Rachmaninov been dead for almost 5 decades and his music is still alive. What is it like to write something so—“

“Amazing ?”, he tried

“No. immortal. Something that gets to live over and over again.”

“Is this about your grandparents?”

Clara assumes he was talking about Lucie and Roger as opposed to her Maternal Grandparents. When Clara says she is going to visit them her mother assumes she is going to their Graves.

Also in Chapter 6 I used the song Iris from Goo-Goo dolls and this was the original ending song for Litany Lane I've been holding on to if forever.

Single Chapter Post !

Chapter 8 is a short one the flow was just there and when it was said and done it came out rather short.

Playlist

+1+ - Heartbeats - Jose Gonzales (I just like this song)

+2+ - Jar of Hearts - Christina Perri (I've had this song for soooo long)

Chapter 8

Lucky Seven

Okay, a Little More Harlequin Fun 

I felt bad about making fun of those books so I tried to find some that I thought might be good and I came across this

The Lawman

It's sort of a double entedree, you know what they say. . . save a horse ride a-- never mind. 

No, but seriously I thought I would find some books for my coworkers.

Jill - What better for her than to read about a smoking hot publicist in Hot Number

Erik -  How about a nice Amish Christmas

Shawna - A story about the San Fransisco earthquake for our favorite San Franciscan, Mission of Hope  (it's also one of the "Christian"ones to maintain your girl next door image, jk)

Joel - Because they are both doctors, The Doctor's Undoing

Greta - Um, they didn't have anything cats. .

I'm done. I promise.

What is Up with Chapter Six ?

Now that it is over I can't get over how hard chapter 6 was for me to write. I think it may have had something to do with the authenticity I was looking for.  The most important parts of that chapter were strictly in a few of the internal  dialogue and communications so it was hard to  build a story around it. Clearly I could have gone into more details with Ashram teachings but it wasn't completely relevant to the plot.

I kept hoping a mini-story would somehow come out of it but the real intention was to put the character "on a existential bus"so to speak. For him to find peace it was best for him to be a little out of touch with modernity.

I had toyed with the idea of writing the entire chapter in letters between Mr. Fierro and Emile but there was so much missing. At least that is where my mind was.

Kodakianal

This is a real lakeside town. It was settled by missionaries so it is a "westernized" town. I did not realize this until afterward.  The place is based on a place called Turyea they have a website here, where the visuals are based on.

Seven

This chapter as expected leads us back to  Clara and Rosalie in Italy. But more importantly what happens after Clara and Peter's kiss ?

Playlist

This is one of my favorite playlist.

+1+  Andare - Ludovico Einaudi
+2+ I Due Fiumi -Ludovico Einaudi
+3+ I Gornio - Ludovico Einaudi
+4+ - Falling Into You - Celine Dione

Rah rah ah ah ah roma roma ma

What does LiLe feel like making fun of today ?




** Romance Novels **

When I first finished Lost Angels the graphics department was asked  to use romance novels as inspiration to help tone down some of the more serious themes in the series, (Give Greta a break it was her first day). I think I posted about it again once and I while a majority of the novels aren't "LOLZ" worthy there are a few that keep getting to me.

PS. Auto save caused me to delete this post so I re wrote the entire thing ):

Titles

For me coming up with titles is one of the hardest parts but for some of these harlquinn novles all youn eed to to do is use a comma and then describe the characters plot relevance fore example.

Greek Tycoon, Wayward Wife

and the oh so creative

Wicked Captian, Wayward Wife (The guy on this cover is kind of hot, dark hair blue eyes. . . idk)

It probably also helps to sell books if the title pretty much sums up the tension in the plot just so we know what we are getting into.

Prince of Montez, Pregnant Mistress - Okay, see according to the description she is a curator or something why is that not relevant to the title ?

Sensible Housekeeper, Scandalously Pregnant - So, yeah.

Seriously though I think the titles are used for shock value, I'm almost convinced all of the authors have pen names.

Money Money Money

One last thing that always bothers me is that all of these men have money. But to help you  tell the difference most of them are from the Meditternain

The Multi-Millionaire's Virgin Mistress - Yeah he is probably also an italian prince

The Italian Billionaire's Secretary Mistress 
(He is like the guy above but richer)

The Greek Billionaire's Innocent Princess  (The description kind of makes the title irrelevant. He is like the guy above except from Greece)

Mistress: Pregnant by the Spanish Billionaire (Why is there a colon ? Also he is like a Spanish combination of the men above.)

Of course the Mediterranean vibe is killed in the American series, in those either you are from Texas or the Midwest.

Anyway I thought I would just blog about some of the lolz (:

DSI Updates

Apologies ?

I don't know where I have been, but I promise I will never go away like that again. I can however promise the the next updates will come very quickly. Just in time for the holidays !

Pictures

I took this week off (my other job) and was watching TV with my Sister in Law (she just got home !) I saw an actress who I think would be a great pic-spiration for an older Clara in this story. Her name is Chirshell Stause and while some of you may know her as the guy from Glee's ex-fiance. I saw her on All My Children as Amanda Dillion (you should read her character bio, whew). 

(With black hair though)

I also found another one for Mr. Fierro and Peter. They are Kevin Zegers from Transamerica, he is really good a pulling off vacant expressions, and for Peter I can't help but to picture Tom Welling. He has dark hair, green eyes and a tan that I think is probably fake.

                                                                                             (I think he has been shopped to look younger)

Chapter 5

Chapter five was one of the more interesting chapter its main purpose was to give background on Clara's time in Italy and to give some insight into the epilogue of House of Fierro.

Chapter 6

I have been holding on to this chapter for far to long. I attempted to post it on the 19th of November but it just needed more work, which I will talk about more in the next post. For some reason I found this chapter somewhat (super-vaguely) similar to chapter 8 of Hidden, and it helped me to finish this one off. This is probably one of the longer chapters almost over 5K.

Much with the structure of the story we are  heading back  in time and taking off from Chapter 4, in which Mr. Fierro is going in search of Robert Essex and whatever secrets he is hiding.

Playlist

The playlist  features the kind of "eclectic" music. In order this playlist Features a composer, a danish collective band, Award Winning Iris Singer, A German composer and a  New York musician.

-1- Beyond This Moment - Patrick O' Hearn
-2- Kissing - Bliss
-3- Only Time - Enya
-4- Moon Temple -  Karunesh
-5-  Iris - Goo Goo Dolls (the live version is awesome)
-6- - Drop In The Ocean - Ron Pope

Chapter  6

Working Out The Puzzle

 Yeah, Quick Update

United Light Revisited

One of the things, and I think we can all agree, about United Light that always struck me was the length of the chapters I think it really shows how invested Shawna was in the characters and the story. Even though I know it ends it seems when reading it that it would make a great TV show. I don't know Shawna we are in LA !

Chapter 4

This Chapter was inspired by actual Freighter Cruises. This link was the inspirational voyage for the Maitesse. As you can imagine these cruises are quite expensive but the perfect plot device for this story.

Many of the songs helped to write along their own sections especially Life For Rent the lyrics are point on to where the character is in the story. We have a character who is general an agoraphobic and this chapter served to a be a big turning point in this, the motivation just had to take some time to set in.

Alot of people commented on the emotion in Mr. Fierro's chapters as opposed to Clara's and that is because Clara is constantly lving in the present she has had time to heal and her past is behind her.

Timelines Matter

Once again when re-reading United Light one of the things I paid attention to more was timelines. I do enjoy dabling in telling a story out of order so I thought I would sketch out the timeline as best I could.

Clara's Story is linear. Chapters 1 and 3 are told in order starting from May 2011

Mr. Fierro's Story - Is a bit more complicated. I wanted to tell what happens after the events of HOF from his POV but I didn't want to start things off that way so his first chapter (Chapter 2) takes place in May 2011 too, however he backtracks to December of 2007 and tells the story in a linear fashion from there.

It gets complicated when we try to match up what is happening to one character than another

Chapter 5

I suppose looking back I could have paired this with chapter 4, because this one is so short. I like the music in this chapter but it was more of an afterthought

Playlist

+1+ Good Night Song  - Tammy Hall

+2+ - Nothing Left To Lose - Matt Kearny

Chapter 5

Lot's of Shawna Shout Outs

Oh, Shawna I blame you

After reading about how SH re-read  parts of LA, SA and FS. . . I decided to do the same thing, and I was certainly glad I had one of my mom's famous martinis in hand (read: a regular martini in a 6 oz glass). Working on that series was a great first experince I don't think I realized how much Sofia and Tomas went through. I think starting with Free Spirits there was a lot tension between them and I feel like I can say they got happy ending they deserve.


I kept asking myself "why did I make them do that" and then I would think "oh, that's why".
On a funny note I can't believe I only used "Fuck" once and "Shit" twice in the entirety of Litany Lane and HOF. Both are said by "evil" characters (Roger and the Men whose car hits Clara).

Thinking of Litany Lane

I've always felt that part of Litany Lane is that was  it was very "high concept", but I always felt that the characters would never stay in Nightfall in the end and that bothered me becuase I like to leave room for sequels. Once again while re-reading notes I did remember a meta thing I put into LL to reason for creating sequels and it is when Emile is talking about the book he is writing.

One day when she is set to return she decides to runaway. Upon hearing this Hades sends the underworlds’ notorious inmates out looking for her. It goes on in exciting detail about the wreckage the Titans and Persephone cause on the living world

- Chapter 7, LL

While I did enjoy creating my own fictional world, as I'm sure Shawna knows, it's really hard.
.

Chapter 3

That was one of the easiest chapters for me to write, once again there isn't anything too particular about this chapter except it establishes a pattern I'm surprised no one commented on.  . I realized  what needed to happen was that chapter 4  needed to have a more abstract set up, so we will see how this goes.

Chapte 4

This chapter put me through the ringer, the timeline on my documents tells me that I have been working on this since October and none of the original material is in thier now.

For some reason I think chapters get better the more they "age" but that isn't neccesraily true as I remember from chapters of SA for example the chapter Wildflowers was written the day it was posted and it is one of my favorites

I want to thank Shawna for her advice, I did try writing for myself but I kept saying "wait what happens now ?". This is one of the issues with writing from an outline I have started to connect the dots before I draw them !  Meaning some parts of this chapter were written months ago. It will get easier since every other chapter through 8 (er, except 6) is written.

Playlist

+1+ - My Immortal - Evanescene
+2+ - Broken - Life House

+3+ - Life For Rent - Dido

+4+ - Ascolta- Einaudi

+5+  Ain't No Reason

+6+ - Good Enough - Evansecene
+7+ - Don't Fear The Reaper - Gus (cover)

Chapter 4

Read More !

Oops ! Commenting Is Fixed
P.S. I was so disappointed SH didn't have an update

Joel  Erik

So,  I have this nifty software that tells me some of the ages of people who leave comments on Cobalt blogs. I felt as if I set a bad example by going ALL CAPS on Joel and Erik on Shawna's blog. I overreacted and should have just ignored them because I very quickly realized that their words literally mean nothing to me. We at Cobalt love hearing what great things readers have to say in person and online, I think we have seen a tweet pic of Erik's face when someone admits they have read his books. A nice comment goes along way.

- I swear this isn't a PR stunt (;

Updated Editor

As you can probably tell I updated my blogger editor and it was messing severely with the template so I had to change it.

+++

Twist, Maybe ? Cop-Out, no

Somewhere in the middle of HOF (chapter 4 maybe ?), I had the prologue of DSI stuck in my mind. It was just a fun thought but once I had the plot I had to make it happen. Sure, maybe I originally wanted to kill of Mr. Fierro because it logically made sense as the only way Lucie would stop haunting Clara.

I was adamant about defying my own logic and not killing him off and was one of the reasons I had hard time with HOF. It was never really about him dying it was about him choosing to die choosing to leave Clara that really mattered. In other words having free will and not acting on it.

So, In HOF something happens discretely in the last chapter.

When Clara is in the police station and runs into Emile she notices

I noticed Emile's shoes were covered in dirt and snow and I realized he had been digging.

Clara assumes he was burying Mr. Fierro's body back (*shudder*) in his grave.

She assumes he was burying a body and he was. In the previous Chapter Addison begins to dig up his own grave but stops.


What Emile actually did was take the body of the Reverend (remember him) and buries him in the open grave. Now because Martin is insisting that he met a man who died 50 years ago Sheriff Rainer digs up the grave which leads to this line.

Sheriff Rainer had driven herself mad after where they found the body of a reverend.

Which was one of the reasons I focused on Rainer in the end. She could possible put the pieces together about Roger and Lucie killing Mr. Fierro.

Missed Music Moment of Awesome

I truly loved the choice of Hey Ya for the last chapter of HOF, however the other option was Where You Are by Josh Groban. But I don't entirely like the song. . . It's a little cheesy.

Picture Post

This Irish Abbey is based on  the one described in Chapter 2



What's not there

Anyone notice something. . . strange or missing in chapter 2 ?

Music Trivia, Answered

Grammy Nominated Song - What I Cannot Change
Song From Academy Movie - Any Other Name - American Beauty
Traditional Irish Song - Silui A Run
Song from our favorite TV show SYTYCD - Mad World

Chapter 3

This chapter's playlist is mostly instrumental.

Playlist

The playlist has been loaded to the sidebar, it starts at 10. The new template doesn't support embeds to well  ):


+1+ - By Heart - Jim Brickman
+2+  - Indaco - Ludovico Einaudi


Chapter 3

Words, words and more excuses

Would you believe I have this entry backdated nearly 3 months ? course you would !
(This is the closest to pink this website has)


Writer's Block

So where have I been ? after finishing nearly 10,000 words of Desert Sand Iris, I found myself with writer's block. Maybe I've been distracted by the remodeling on my kitchen (it almost burned down ): but now that it is all done I have had more time to concentrate Although there is nothing more peceful than picking out chrome plated appliance. My SIL and I decided to remodel according Rachel Ray 's kitchen, except we have two ovens. Speaking of remodeling I'm looking for my old template !

Anywho,

The writer's block has dissipated and I'm hoping the rest will flow easily. I took out one paragraph from chapter 2 and the whole story fell apart but it's all better now. I'm also working on getting someone to show me how to put my playlist in the sidebar.

Desert Sand Iris, Let's review

I know it's been a while but The prologue pretty much stands on its own if a refresher is needed. I'm also a big fan of these 'Author Notes' at the end of chapters so look out for those.

I think you will find that once again I want to reach into the dark corner of your itunes and find some ecletic songs !

oh, and did I mention

DOUBLE CHAPTER POST ! !

Today's playlist features (in no particular order) A traditional heritage song, one song from an academy award winning movie, a Grammy nominated song, a song from our favorite reality tv show and one I couldn't really find any information about

Chapter 1

+1+ Any Other Name - Thomas Newman
+2+ What I cannot Change


Chapter 2

+1+ - Siuli A Run - Celtic Woman
+2+ - Coldwater - Damien Rice
+3+ - Mad World - Gary Jules
+4+ - Do You Wanna Joshua Radin

Playlist

Chapter 1 and 2

Loose Ends and A New Adventure

Hey Ya



One of the reasons I pick songs is because of the lyrics and although I was concerned about using the Hey Ya remix, I really loved it on Scrubs (Jordan's my favorite character), I like a few of the lyrics.

If what they say is "nothing is forever" Then what makes love the exception

Numbers



So the Grand Total for House of Fierro was ~35933 making it about 11,000 words shorter than Litany Lane which is roughly four chapters.

Feminist Theory



You know I originally had a paragraph here defending HOF and LL as being feminist, but I'd like to get a little out of Destert Sand Iris before getting into it. Speaking of which here is alittle preview



Desert Sand Iris



This part of the trilogy is very different from the others , I am drawing a lot from something I orginally wanted to explore with S&A. Once again there will be an intersting structure to this, I have a feeling it is going to be much longer that the previous two . . . maybe a bit SH inspired ? but we'll see.



I have the prologue here just to give you an idea of the direction we are going in. I decided to post it because there are no "plot elements" (ie forshadowing, checokv's guns etc).



Also, I really like using Author's Notes at the end of chapters so I'd look for one on almost every chapter, think of them as footnotes.



Who is ready for a tiny preview ? Just to let you now it is Desert Sand Iris I kept getting the syntax mixed up.



Playlist



Today's Playlist features a song from a popular film series and a song from an indie artist.



+1+ Shipwrecked - Shane

+2+ My Love - Sia

Desert Sand Iris, Prologue

And Another Web Serial Comes To An End

Bonus Playlist

Today's bonus playlist features songs I can't place anywhere else.

Crazy In Love - Puppini Sister - I love remixes and covers, this one is cute I suppose it would be fun to call this Lucie's Song !

Unforgettable - Nat King & Natalie Cole (Father and Daughter).

Never Let Me Go - Stacey Kent

Careless Whisper - WHAM/George Michael

Comments

Are now placed in this Convenient Link

Let's talk Horror

A while ago one of the commenters said something about a movie and I found this funny because the idea for HOF came to me like a trailer. It was a dark mysterious slow moving thriller, I imagined this innocent person (Joshua) being thrown into a haunted house with an insane couple and the woman displaying split personality.

The issue ?

We pretty much already know the characters and there really isn't much plot there, I couldn't really pas them off as mysterious. However, throw in the plot hole of Lucie in the snippet The Storm the fact someone said Mr. Fierro should scare the sh*t out of Martin and you've got House of Fierro

Conventions

The reason there are 50 Halloweens and a Saw coming out every year is because in horror the element revenge works so well. No matter how a horror movie plays out someone gets the rough end of the deal. I realized that I may have left Victor out at the end of LL and felt this was the perfect time for him to get revenge. It is the central theme of this story

Cops

A lot of horror movies leave the authorities to pick up the mess and put the pieces together, even in the smallest of ways.(sometimes said authority figure ends up in the sequel). That was the deal with Morrisey and Rainer. However I realized that with a small town Rainer's father would have had to know Roger which made him the perfect person to be an accomplice.

What's in A Name

The name House Of Fierro was a play on powerful families (House of Medici/Versace) although admittedly it works better with DeLune because they are a powerful and influential family. The name just stuck after a while.

Other Things

Two Face
Mr. Fierro's "flipping" watch symbolizes his two-faces. One that loves Clara and the other that wants revenge and possibly misses his friendship with Lucie

Unintentional Entendre

So in chapter nine when Clara throws the flower pot at the doors the flower are Oleanders which originally foreshadowed Mr. Fierro drinking poison. Any who, as I was writing I wrote that she had "deflowered" the plants. I quickly changed it.


Trilogy

I keep seeing this word .

I convinced myself very early on that this would be a bad idea and did everything to prevent. Now I can't stop myself. I'm half way done with the outline and it looks promising . I came up with a name :

Sand Desert Iris this is a link

I'll post a first chapter snippet soon, but after that I think I may be taking a vacation.

Till Then !

Lucky Number 13

So, we are rolling right along with these chapters, It is so much easier when I decide to break them down

Chapter 12

Chapter 12 was kind of short so I don't really have much to say on it. Originally chapters 11,12 and 13 were one big chapter.

Playlist

I love the tiny embed on the youtube video !

Today's playlist is a good one. It features two song from major motion pictures (, one song that has a connection to something else and one song dedicated to national leader.

+1+ - Bring Me To Life - Evanescence/Linkin Park
+2+ - May it be - Enya
+3+ - Up To The Mountain - Patty Griffin *YOUTUBE LINK*

+4+ - The Rose - Bette Midler

Chapter 13

Um, What Rhymes with Ninety ?

A Somewhat World of Cardboard/Hannibal Lecture (click the link but don't get sucked in )

So this is one of those little tropes that I did somewhat intentionally invoke twice in chapter 9 because July mentioned 9 crimes (hm 9 and 9) I thought I'd mention it. It's here :

“she keeps us locked in that house for months and you barley notice yet now you seem concerned.”“. . . She has taken over your house, your work, your life and now your garden. What right does she have ? She has turned a place of sanctuary into a prison”

Clara explains to Mr. Fierro why he is suddenly upset and then it happens again because a lot of commenter ask why he does keep a gardens

"Why flowers, why rose gardens? I thought it was because they were beautiful.”

“These flowers these wild beautiful things, you like to tame them. The garden grows and dies at your command. It’s not about beauty it’s about controlling nature. . .like you couldn’t Lucie. Or your murder.”"

Maybe I mentioned this in another post but just in case.

Chapter 11

I'm really hitting a stride with these >3000 word chapter, I think it allots space for just enough information while still being suspenseful.

I know this chapter may have seemed chilling and like I mentioned in the comments I did not want to solely focus on the whole exorcism thing (oh, the unwanted controversy) but it was more about how much control Lucie was gaining.

Chapter 12

This chapter is more of a continuation of chapter 11 and there is a short Author's Note at the end.

Playlist

Today's playlist features one of my favorite songs from a previous work, A song from last chapter and a last minute song that I felt fit for some reason. I decided to personalize the playlist with a photo on my server.

+1+ - Winter Song - Sara Bareilles
+2+ - Room of Angles
+3+ - Why - Secondhand Serenade

CHAPTER 12

Tu eres un angel, de el cielo, una bendicion

Today was going to be the day but they'll never throw it back to you.


Yes, I stole Wonderwall from IVB not realizing how many different version there were. I usually like to find covers of songs that involve piano music but this version flowed so well it was so . . . slow. The original song I was going to use was "Never Met A Woman" by Los Lonely Boys but playlist took the record version down.

Chapter 10

Now we are back to Chapter One which is December 18th. Truthfully Chapter 10 was originally supposed to be how do I put this . . . fluffy ? It obviously did not completely turn out this way. This chapter is a bit longer and a bit more involved.

Chapter 11

So this is chapter 11 and we are bit by bit getting closer to the end. Chapter 11 and 12 actually go together but for clarity sake I decided to separate them.

Playlist

Today's playlists is rather short and only has two songs. One we've used before and another one that is mislabeled on playlist.com (I have the write label though)

+1+ - Tears and Rain - James Blunt
+2+ - Room of Angel - Akira Yamaoka

Chapter 10

A Little Look Back : Really Really Long Post

Today's post will be presented in two parts, almost 1000 words !

Part I - LA, FS, S&A a look back

Part II - HoF recap,Chapter 10 update

Let's get started (wow, the acronyms)

Lost Angels, Spirits, Spirits and Angels, a History

On my desk in my new office I have a framed certificate Cobalt used to give out to it's writers whose books have gone "Platnium" meaning they sold over 10,000 copies (hey, we're a small company).

Occasionally someone who isn't aware of my love-hate affair with writing will ask me why I have a plaque from Cobalt after I tell them they ask me the same question, why ?

Why ?

The basic story goes is that after my youngest daughter was born I was a stay at home mom living with my Mom. I spent nap time reading Twilight, Nora Roberts and One Tree Hill fanfiction er--scholar journals.

While going through my old diaries I started to create a narrative of sorts. When I moved to Boston I began to fill my spare time tweaking the story and adding my own imaginative flair and It became oddly addictive. After talking with some Lit. Professors I decided to shop the story to different companies.

Including Cobalt.

Maybe it was because they offered me the most money, maybe it was because they really cared and offered me lots of money.

Anyway,

Lost Angels was a HUGE commitment and Cobalt gave me the opportunity to still share the story on a smaller more intimate scale, that has meant so much to me during some pretty hard times in my life. It is wonderful having fans of my own !

Looking back I can defintly see some of the issues I had with the series but as usual I find myself further investing into the characters. Now that of course does not mean there will be any more additions to it. After looking it over in immense detail I know that the story is done.



Influence

While Lost Angels started out mostly as a way for me to deal with parts of my past I think parts of it were really inspired from Romance novels (something still true with Litany Lane). At least that what I told the graphics as you can see here.


S&A Trivia

Now here is some fun trivia you may or may not have known

- Free Spirits (commonly known as Spirits) was originally entitled The Truth About Devils but was changed because it was too similar to a JB novel.

- Lost Angels was originally published by OrangeMarlow&Co Publishing

- I quit in late June but came back in August. That's when I developed my "swirling" technique(AKA writier's block till you think of something good). It's also when I started using my love of music.

- When I surprised announced S&A I tricked people by making the URL "http://lindaleighlostangels.yolasite.com/test"

- A Total of 60 songs were used throughout the entire series.


Part II

Playlist.com

Playlist.com site seems to have removed a large amount of my playlist including unused songs so expect a few youtube video's every now and then. Sometimes I wish I could just mail my Ipod to you all.

Damien Rice

So, not only do I heart Damien Rice because he is Irish and kind of hot, but I felt his music was really appropriate because many of his songs are duets which works well with switching POVs.

Once I figured out the "Glasshouse Chapter", I was obsessed with finding a song and who would have thought I would find a song while watching Shrek with my kids (and no it's not my favorite movie) ? I really feel like 9 crimes and Blower's Daughter go very well together but I think it's the last we will be hearing of Damien in my playlist.

Love Scene (lots of meta if you care)

I can't tell you how many times I attempted to throw a love scene into this series. No, seriously I really wanted to use this song but pop culture has ruined it. Yes there is alot of Eden-like imagry. This was one of my favorite chapters if only for the first section it reveals a bit about why Mr. Fierro is the way his is.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The poem in Chapter 9 is Sonnet 44 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, it was a poem in a series she wrote to her husband. I edited it bit for clarity and took some parts out. One part which mentions Eglantine, a type of Rose commonly known as Sweet Briar are the Rose's Clara picks.

Ironic Echo

Rei, I think mentioned an Ironic Echo and there actually is a partial one. In LL in chapter 8 (aka after the almost sex scene) Clara calls Mr. Fierro "Foolish" because he won't admit he has feeling for her and is constantly pushing her away (or something like that).

Fast Forward to chapter 6 of HOF when Clara says “I was so foolish, to think you would ever love me.”

They are saying the same thing with different contexts. . . except it's said by the same person.
Originally in Chapter 9 instead of saying "God forgive me. . I love you" he said "Maybe you aren't so foolish. . ." (and not I love you)

Another partial one goes back to chapter 8 of LL when Mr. Fierro whispers something to Clara that she can't understand it.

What was it ?

It was what he said in Chapter Nine of HOF : "Say yes to me"

It is played straight in LL with Clara's last line, she has said "Yes, Sir" a number of times but this time with another context

Wow, these tropes are addictive fun.

Name Calling

When I originally wrote LL I had a reason in my notes why Mr. Fierro didn't call Clara by her first name but I accidentally deleted those notes before I starting writing and couldn't remember why and after doing some re-reading I remember why.

Part of it was because in LL he mispronounces her name (Claw-ra vs Clair-a) to annoy her and it was supposed to become a thing but I completely forgot, so just a little mindless trivia.

Daisy

Some commenters picked up on the daisy Clara had in this chapter, but not why she was pulling it apart.
To Shawna

Sometimes I read old comments and post to keep myself in "cannon" and you posted that

. . . There is an odd (very vague, a bit meta) connection between August and my newest project. I did not realize it until now. . .

In the March 30th post. I for the life of me can't figure out what it is, is it that tense thing you've been talking about ? or the Luce/Lucie similarity

House of Fierro Recap

quotes are from the text.

I thought it might be helpful to keep things in perspective as to what our characters are up to.

December 18th 2007 - A boy name Joshua enters Mr. Fierro's house where Clara is being kept

Late August - Clara's two sisters get married (to very rich men) and Clara's parents are worried about her being alone. He parents have also noticed that she has been distant since her accident and are still bitter about her calling off the wedding to Peter.

Early Septmber - Clara is kidnapped from her home and finds herself trapped in a room in Mr. Fierro's house. In reality Lucie who is a Spectre had been able to posess Clara because of how bright her "Light" is. Lucie wants a second chance at her happy ending. Mr. Fierro is weary at first but plots to use the situation to his advantage.

Late Septmeber - Lucie has been going off, allowing Clara to spend time with her "new grandfather". CLara attempts to escape but neither Mr. Fierro or her Lucie will let her. Clara writes a letter to her parents so they won't worry about her. Mr. Fierro doesn't deliver it instead (after finding out the DeLune family is going bankrupt), he uses it to forge a ransom letter in her handwriting to send to her father in hopes of accomplishing two things.

1. Getting Roger's attention and doing some haunting of his own.
2. Ruining Martin's pride by loaning him money, making Martin feel as worthless as his father turned out to be.

However he is constantly plagued by contrasting thoughts.

Meanwhile Lucie continues to torture Clara (because after all it was mentioned in LLthat Spectre's become slighly off kilter) and breaks her fingers. Lucie becomes so desperate to keep her "family" together she kills Mrs. Beck in cold blood.

Was that enough of a recap ?

Chapter 10

Okay here we go. Once again this chapter for some reason fell a short but I hope this long post somewhat makes up for it. They story flows in such a way that adding "extra" scenes may cause the story to deviate

Playlist

One song a commenter (Jason ?) tuned me into, A U.K classic ,and a ballad by a 90's popstar

+1+ - Bitter Earth - Dinah Washington
+2+ - Wonderwall - Ryan Carter
+3+ - Hurt - Christina Aguilara

Chapter 10 , now easier navigation page !

I promised an update

Congratulations

I just want to say how happy I am for Shawna and Erik and I totally did not help pick out the engagement ring !

Chapter 8
Consider it a study guide or more crazy

There is a bit of intrigue going on in this story and even I lose track of what's going on. I usually make a "motivations" list to help keep track

I think the thing to understand is that Mr. DeLune asked Mr. Fierro for help in creating a reward for Clara, realizing how in need of money and how proud Martin was he then decided to blackmail Martin hoping he will once again come to him for money because he is "predictable"

Chapter 8 really revealed that Martin hadn't used the money from chapter 7 to pay the ransom hoping Mr. Fierro wouldn't find out but of course . . .


Chapter 9

So here it is chapter 9, this was orginally chapter 8 but I felt that this section was necessary for the story to be well rounded, if you will. This chapter is slighly less complicated. . . at least at first glance.

Playlist

This playlist features in particular order ; One song by an italian pianist who isn't Clara, One song I've used before, one song that has been on almost every primetime drama and another song that really grew on me

+1+ - Piano Sonata No. 14 - Murray Perhaia

+2+ - Le Onde - Ludvocio Einaudi

+3+ - 9 Crimes - Damien Rice

+4+ - Blower's Daughter - Damien Rice

Chapter 9