Story Updates and the Vault: Scratch Your Head & Take the Dive Part One

Whew. So a lot's happened lately.

Work has picked up. My schedule has changed drastically from last fall. I'm working Monday through Thursday nights like last Spring but my morning schedules are different by working Monday/Wednesday/Friday mornings and the occasional weekend.

I'm taking yet another break from writing but this is for a good reason. If you haven't already known, I finished the first draft of The Guardian Heir! That's right: the first draft is completed and, to prevent myself from getting burnt out in writing, I'm taking a month long break to just relax and soak up the awesomeness after completing a novel. It's my first one and has definitely given me hope that I can finish a novel. I'm also overjoyed that I've had a lot of family and friends wanting to read it yet I've had to explain to them that, in it's current state, I'm not letting anyone read GH. Oh so many plot holes... But, on November 5th (Remember remember, the fifth of November...), I plan on starting to read the old version (noting revisions for the planning process) and planning the new.

As for the NaNo front, I'm not doing it this year. After several failed attempts, I've decided it's best that I don't do NaNo again for a while. To be honest, It's relieving knowing I'm not doing it this year. I'll be able to write at my own pace and continue working on other projects at the same time. Seeing as I'm not participating in NaNo this November, I'll be planning on using my former NaNo projects in THE VAULT and, speaking of which, it's time for a belated addition to....

While I was on Quizilla (2005/6 until 2008-ish) I decided to try writing one of my first general fiction novels. For some reason, I really liked long titles during that time frame and Scratch Your Head (or Scratch as it will be called from now on) was the first in a long line of stories with unbelievably long titles. I also remember asking a few people about making me banners. Here. I'll share one. The caption is the text covering 'Ben's'  photo.

Luke: Sometimes we seem to forget
Levi: The things that matter, right
Luke: Exactly.

Anyway, this was my first Gen Fic and it never really got very popular. Back in the day, I was addicted to this novel called "Confessions of A Badass from Boarding School." It was about a girl (whose name I can't remember) getting caught doing some pety crime and being forced to go to boarding school. Some dramatic crap happens and she gets kidnapped with some guy and they're saved. There were romantic undertones but it's been so long that I can't remember much of anything other than the beginning and ending. Scratch was just as senselessly dramatic as Badass but lacked the respectable narration.

Anyway Scratch was about a girl, Levi, who would eventually be sent to a boarding school on the west coast. I split it into two parts: Levi's time spent on the east coast and time spent on the west coast. Each part has it's own share of drama yet, if my memory serves correct, the second part has romance. And, seeing as it's split into two parts, it'd be just that I'd split this into two.

Before I begin, I'd like to dress the banner above. Levi and Ben are the only characters on the banner to show up in the first part, Luke and Casey show up in the next part. But I digress.

Let's start with the first part. In the beginning, Levi (who I based her appearance after Avril Lavigne) starts a fight with her long term boyfriend, Ben, over the fact that he slept with her stepsister and it eventually developed into a riot. (Cue senseless drama) The cops are called, spend a lot of time conversing with Levi and being too curious about her relationship for a couple of adult male cops. (I had also never been in the back of a cop car before and had no idea what they looked like--nor have I watched Cops) She's returned home by the authorities and the chapter ends.

The first chapter some nosy reporters appear at her front steps and try to coerce information out about the night before. The second chapter lets the reader learn about the relationship she has between her parents--divorced and she has been spending the last several years living with her father while referring her mother by her first name--and her father takes her to the hospital with a suspicious scar whose location I didn't reveal.

The third chapter is spent in the hospital stitching up her scar that's revealed to be on her forehead. This chapter also reveals some info about my inability to research that repeatedly rears its ugly head in a lot of my older work. Since I wrote this, I've had to get stitches (a benign cyst under my chin) and I know the likelihood of it taking three weeks for a small set of stitches to heal is damn near unlikely. I only had about three stitches and it was a week before I had to get them removed.

The fourth chapter takes over after about a week. Levi's got a few days before she has to leave and it's revealed she's the lead singer in a band titled "Empty Orange Soda Cans." I even remember where I got the name from: my brother's obsession with orange soda and leaving the empty cans on our desk. This chapter also had a lot of stereotypes: for example, I've got the bitchy step-sister in the beginning and now the overly horny jackass guys. So glad I've moved on from that stage in writing.

The fifth  chapter is basically a continuation of the last, Levi asking her members about their summer plans and letting it slip that she's leaving them  for an unsure amount of time. The chapter ends with the beginning of their concert and someone asking about her indefinite trip to Cali.

Seven starts off the next morning and we learn Levi has to wear glasses yet normally wears contacts. She and her brother pick on one another in a way that is very reminiscent of what my relationship was with my younger brother. The eighth and final chapter is a few lines long (and likely wasn't published) talking about Levi's stuffed animal 'Maude the Monkey' whose name was conveniently taken from a show I was watching at the time, The Simpsons.

That's all I have of the first part. Second will likely come tomorrow.

Always,
Ali

Update 8.21.2016: Retroactively adding pieces to FF/FP and adding links. Sadly, this novel made it to the chopping block and is therefore unavailable.