Taking It Apart (I'm on a roll with these updates)

(Let's Play)

Chapter 14

Chapter 14 is the culmination of the story as a whole.

At this point a majority of the "Paranormal  activity"(with the exception of Emile's neighbors) that has taken place is done by Victor to get Clara and Mr. Fierro in the same place. Yes, having Rosalie's soul has made him more than  human, so he sees no issue with killing others to get his means to an end.

This isn't about Victor being human, this is about what he says in the prologue.

Making Clara Suffer.


The idea of Rosalie not having a soul is "implanted" by this conversation between Mr. Fierro and Malika in India.

“How about we get back to this matter of souls.”

“If you insist”, I said, "So tell me what would it be like for a soulless person."

'Well to have lost a soul one would have had to commit a true act against human nature, killing a part of themselves."

"Is that to say a person without a soul couldn't die. .. again ? Even if they tried"

And this part in chapter 3

Last summer she had taken a terrible tumble out of Clarence's treehouse. Father thought it was a terrible idea to take her to the hospital by the time mother and I won the argument Rose appeared fine not realizing how badly she could have hurt herself.

Raggedy Ann 

No, the Ann doll is not evil but was actually a symbol of Lucie protecting Rosalie.

@ Topaz

This chapter was another nail biter, way more than chapter 9. Was any of this inspired by The Omen or Esther--is that the name of the movie about the demented orphan ?

I love this comment because The Orphan is about a girl named Esther and The Omen is another movie to itself.  I get type-twisted all the time.

I have not seen this film ( I saw part of The Omen) and I can't believe some of the similarities. (:

Chapter 15

Now the question is how far will Clara go to get her daughter's soul back ?



Playlist


+1+ - Decode (Acoustic) - Paramore

+2+

In The Deep - Bird York
Have No Fear - Bird York

+3+ - Witness - Sara Mclachlan

Chapter 15

Um, Title Goes Here ?

@ Shawna 


The song was Good Night Song by Tammy Hall NYC. It reminded me of how Kris was getting on the plane to try and leave his family business.

Clara/Sofia 

I commented about the difference between Clara and Sofia and I would say Clara is definitely more headstrong than Sofia. Clara drinks hard liquor, she drives a big car and she is motivated by her talents and uses her beauty to her advantage. She is amiable but has the ability to be cruel.

Now this title makes me want Clara/Sofia to be a couple.

Chapter 13

Clara's Conversation


Clara talking to Mr. Fierro was the first time she really opens up and we get the full view of her and Rosalie's relationship. The last thing she says about loving her because she has to was originally in Chapter 4, but instead of saying that Clara somewhat resents her daughter I decided to show it. I also wanted to give more insight to Rosalie's childhood.

Yes there should have been a " at the end.



Chapter 14


Playlist

We are doubling it up !

+1+
Mirah - The Garden
Paris Is Burning - St. Vincent

+2+
Love The Way You Lie II - Rhianna ft. Eminem  (SH !)
Love The Way You Lie I - Eminem ft. Rhianna

Playlist in Sidebar


Chapter 14

Happy Anniversary !

Chapter 12

For some reason chapter 12 is one of my favorite chapters which is probably why it has  a little bit "more" than chapter 11. Originally sure the whole story was centered around the characters reunited but it is not the most important part of the plot. I would consider this chapter to be somewhat of a lynchpin I'll say. Although there was something I figured more people would pick up on . . .



Unamed S&A  Update

A while ago I was bullied spammed into writing another part to S&A and I decided to take the bait because there was always a part of the story I wanted to resolve. I had no idea what the plot would be and I've been running with the idea of female relationships. . . so we will see how that goes.


Music Notes (see what i did there ?) Now that I have been spending more time at home I've been watching more sitcoms, as a result my humor has improved.

A lot of the previous chapters have intentionally featured a lot of international artist some of my favorites being Enya and Dido.

Last chapter featured another song, Meet Me On The Equinox, from the wonderful Twilight Soundtrack(the other was My Love by Sia). 


Chapter 13

I'm excited as to where this is going, I just hope the flow is right I think that is the trouble with creating your own "supernatural world" so to speak.


Playlist
+1+ - Angel - Sarah Mclachlan (this is a long section)
+2+ - Dangerously In Love   - Beyonce (ft. Destiny's Child ?)
+3+ - Sober - Kelly Clarkson (loved it in SA love it here ! )
+4+ - Never Let Me Go - Stacey Kent (I just like this song)

(Playlist in Sidebar. . . pop out link here)


Chapter 13

A Few Reflections Based On Comments

Out Of Order

As I have mentioned numerous times this web serial was written out of order. So when someone mentioned Mr. Fierro ordering water in this chapter and that was because of an original draft idea that I dropped.  Chapter 11 was written before chapter 6 (the chapter in India) and the "plan"  for chapter 6 was for him to live at the ashram and never leave for 3 years. Meaning he would not have been able to drink, smoke (or have sex but that is irrelevant). However early on realized that his logical, non-ideologist, loner characterization would make that seem out of character.

I kept the water part in because if you ordered a  real drink and don't receive it you wouldn't just leave the bar.

(Meta)Voice

I have been working on the S&A short story and( I wanted to mention this in the last post)  I  have been catching myself writing in the wrong "accent" which is what makes first person so difficult. I was convinced Clara and Sofia were not so different to write but I'm finding they are. Clara is instilled with self confidence and because she was raised privilage she does feel a certain amount of entitlement that some people picked up on in LL.Sofia's confidence mostly comes from the validation of others. I feel as if Tomas's voice is similar to my own (and those who inspire him) so I have always found him easier to write but it has been so long that I have to "practice" to get it just right ! Clearly Mr. Fierro is the most difficult one because his characters is very well read and old fashion so I try to reflect it.

Chapter 11

A little anti- climatic ? Maybe ? I can see that, but it probably has something to do with how I broke the chapter's up.

Music

Last chapter had numerous SYTYCD music with dances I liked including Time and The Chairman's Waltz

Chapter 12

+1+  - Meet Me on The Equinox - Death Cab For A Cutie
+2+ - Sally's Song - Amy Lee 
+3+ - To The Edge Of The Earth - Michael Nyman

CHAPTER TWELVE

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