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

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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

Link Crazy

OH, I'm so sorry I accidentally "opened" LL8 not HOF 8 sorry.. . . new chapter coming soon

This is a long blog entry because chapter 8 is a short one.

SYTCD

Yes, we made it to another taping of SYTYCD, it was a performance show. I 'm an American Idol fan but my niece seems to be a big fan of Kent. I think he is from the same small town as my sister-in-law.

Pictures

I did have a few pictures for inspiration for a few of the characters

Clara's Mother is inspired by Carla Bruni AKA the new First Lady of France

Clara's Father - John O'Hurley aka, that guy from Dancing With The Stars (p.s.Ms. DeLune and Mr. Fierro are dancing the foxtrot in chapter 2, obviously more like this !)

Henry Thorpe - an older Paul Cincotti whose version of "Sway" I used

Music

As much as I love playing the guessing game, one of the "goals" of this was to use a diverse amount of music from different eras and genres I think so far we've explored Classical, Pop, Mambo and Soul.

Speaking of Soul I was concerned about using Otis Redding in this chapter I originally wanted a pop song that everyone knew such as"I Can't Help Myself" by the Temptations or "Twist and Shout"by the Beatles or something by Michael Jackson.

However I had that song left over it was supposed to be in chapter three (when Mr. Fierro starts smoking) but I felt it worked better here. It's difficult to find reasonably music from the 80's although I do have one.

Chapter 7/Comments
(speaking of comments Erik and Shawna might find it fun to look at some of their old comments)

Mrs. Beck

I can't say when I knew Mrs. Beck was going to die but once it happened it was unavoidable. The scene after Mrs. Beck's death was another one of those "written first" sections and I Find it interesting that some of you missed something about that part that was important in the first draft.

Also there was another Commenter (I usually keep tabs) who said Clara should hit Mr. Fierro, have you been picking at my notes ?

Wanna see how crazy I am ?

I noticed in Chapter 7 when Lucie drives the car into the ravine Mr. Fierro calls her Clara instead of Ms. DeLune. This happened in another chapter and I fixed it but for some reason I did not even notice this, and I realized that he probably wouldn't call Clara "Ms. DeLune" infront of Lucie (like he does Clara's mother)

Questions

There have been questions as to why Lucie would let Clara talk to Mr. Fierro, and it is because Lucie would like to pretend they are ". . .the family [she wants them] to be", however she does have an alternative reason.

of course the real question is where Lucie is going . . .

Why Does Addison lets Lucie Control Clara ?

It was somewhat revealed in chapter 6 but it may have been to subtle. In one word "Ultio"In chapter 6 he comments on how some feelings out way other and that feeling is Revenge. If he can keep Clara in his house he can use her to act out vengeance on Roger, however at the same time there is something that prevented him from chopping her to pieces. If anything he and Lucie are unbeknowestly working together. It's convenient because he knows Clara will blame Lucie for her suffering and not him, but he is not completely convinced it's the ethical thing to do (cue: chain smoking)

As for Violeta's Comment

. . . he is just a young insecure 25 year old man who doesn't know how to deal with his feelings.

I buy this, especially when isn't sure how to comfort Clara when she is crying.

Clara = Canon Sue

Another comment that spoke about Clara being the only innocent one with everyone out for revenge made me think that possibly Clara is a Canon Sue. In her defense she tries to please everyone, she plays her sister's favorite songs at the wedding, she is the maid of honor, she became a teacher like Lucie. I'm not entirely convinced either way but I'd be interested in what readers get from her.

True, in LL she was a bit naive and possibly selfish but that's not much to work with. Since HOF is pretty much outlined/done I won't be making her clumsy or make her kick puppies to give her personality.


Chapter 8

Okay this chapter is a little different and once again it is short and involves a bit of Dramatic Irony (I could have used a wiki or scholar link but I love this website now, I started using tropes in Real life, Thanks Shawna). Once we are all finished I may be able to explain why this part had to stand alone.

I'll try to update soon to make up for it !

Playlist

Um, well there isn't really a song although I did like C.S Lewis song for this one. I didn't add it to the playlist but there a link here


Chapter 8