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Sharp-eyed readers may have noticed that as of yesterday, not only does LiaB have an actual table of contents, all 78 chapters now have titles. I skipped over the titles while I was posting the chapters, since although many of the titles are vague, some of them are rather obvious spoilers. That's less of an issue now that the entire story has been posted, so I elected to go ahead and add the titles.
Oh, and speaking of spoilers, in this entry I plan to touch on reader feedback and criticism. Which means I need to throw out this warning...
************** SPOILER ALERT ****************
Yep, if you're still reading the story, you might want to wait until you're finished before reading this entry.
There were four parts of the story that I'll mention here as being triggers for negative criticism.
1) Chapters 1-3: The beginning, prior to Pat being sent back to 1980. I'm only bringing this one up because I've gotten about six or seven feedback notes telling me that this part was unnecessary. These individuals felt that Pat needed to be sent back at the very beginning, and the rationale for that was always something along the lines of "in all the great time travel stories, the protagonist gets sent back at the start." This is as absurd as it is inaccurate. Off the top of my head, I can think of one time travel tale, the excellent "Washed Up" by Lazlong, where the protagonist gets sent back at an even later point in the story. Plus, it should be apparent now that the first three chapters served a valuable purpose: they tied directly in to the conclusion of the story.
2) Chapters 21-23: Pat's Big Blowup and his subsequent "dark period" that lasted almost a full year. Oh, the furor that resulted when I first posted those chapters. I got note after note telling me that I'd lost a reader (and the chapter download stats showed that the readership did indeed decrease, at least at the time). Time and again, I was chided for turning my protagonist into an immature asshole, and his friends into petty phonies. That, obviously, was not my intent, although I'll allow that without the context of what was to come, that reaction might have been somewhat justifiable. I had to post chapters 23 and 24 at the same time as a means of damage control, and that segment even generated a discussion thread over on the SOL Forum. Over time, though, opposition to this part of the story has waned greatly, and it's quite noticeable because a new group of readers has emerged who prefer to wait until a story is complete before reading it. Is that absence of negativity a result of improved context, or because later parts of the story are more deserving of criticism? I can't say.
3) Chapters 61-63: The Victor chapters. I won't dwell too much on this one, because I already spoke my mind in another blog entry not too long ago. It's disappointing to me that, for whatever reason, this part of the story just didn't jell with you, the readers.
4) Chapters 76-77: George appears in the rain and tells his story, followed by the disposal of the bottle. This part was more polarizing than anything else; feedback tended toward the extremes. Many of you loved it; some hated it. I had a few readers tell me this part was superfluous, added nothing to the story, and should have been left out. My intent was for it to be a somewhat roundabout way of tying up some loose ends.
Now, I'll step back and look at my own story with a critical eye. What part of the story, in my opinion, was most deserving of criticism when I posted it? Answer: None of the four I've listed here. My vote would go to the end of chapter 33, when Julia unceremoniously dumped Pat. It was too abrupt and out of character for Julia, at least the way I'd presented her up to that point. I regretted that turn of events almost immediately. A few readers did let me have it, but most of you let it pass without comment.
I pretty much painted myself into a corner at that point in the story. There were a lot of things going on: the band getting back together, the accident with Inez's parents, Pat making amends with Evie. Right after that, Pat shared his time travel secrets with Inez and Evie, which of course preceded Pat and Inez finally getting together. There was a strict sequence of events that I needed to adhere to, which caused Pat and Julia's breakup to be far more abrupt and jarring than I really wanted.
Luckily, I believe that this inconsistency was resolved a few chapters down the road, when Julia explained herself to Pat, about how guilt had been her primary motivation in breaking things off. I want to give credit where credit is due here: that scene was conceived by mcguy101, my behind-the-scenes collaborator over the second half of the story.
Enough negatives. Most of you really enjoyed the long buildup (over several chapters) to Pat and Inez finally getting together. Also, I was quite pleased to see that chapter 78, where Pat and Inez learned about their life in the other timeline, was met with almost unanimous approval.
Sometime around the middle of next week, I'll tell you more about my future writing plans. Let me throw out this teaser: Yes, a sequel of sorts to Lightning in a Bottle is on my agenda - although it probably won't be the next thing I tackle.
I plan to post a series of three blog entries where I'll wrap up Lightning in a Bottle. (If I combined it into a single entry, it would be quite long.) In this entry, I'll provide some background information about the story and how it came about. In the second entry, I'll discuss and summarize reader feedback, good points and problem areas. In the last entry, I'll discuss my future writing plans.
I've stated more than once that I started writing LiaB about seven years ago. To give perspective, here's a rough timeline, as best as I can recall:
July 2007: Started writing chapter 1.
October 2007: Got to chapter 5 and stopped. I enlisted the help of two editors, who looked over those five chapters. I entered a busy part of my life and put the story aside without posting it anywhere.
Sometime in 2009: Wrote the "Pat tries out for the high school baseball team" segment that would eventually become part of chapter 14. That crazy sequence where Pat ducked out of baseball practice to fool around with Diana behind a hill, before making a mad dash back onto the field to try to catch a fly ball? Believe it or not, that scene came to me in a dream. I felt a need to write it out as soon as I could. However, at the time, I couldn't muster up the interest to write any more.
June 2012: On a whim, I sat down and began to write chapter 6. To my amazement, I found myself highly motivated to keep cranking out the chapters.
October 2012: I had written up to about chapter 20 at this point. Convinced that I had a decent chance of finishing the story, I located an editor or two, and began posting chapter by chapter.
July 2014: 78 chapters (and an epilogue) later, I finished the story. (It actually took far longer than I expected)
I'm posting this to encourage other authors who may have long-abandoned stories hidden away on their hard drives or elsewhere. Don't be afraid to dust them off and take a shot at continuing them. You may surprise yourself.
Moving on to a different subject, I'm sure many out there are wondering how LiaB relates to me personally. I know that whenever I read a do-over story, my first impulse is to wonder to what degree the author is vicariously re-living his/her youth in an alternate, idealized fictional timeline.
I am not Pat O'Malley. Pat is a fictional character, as are all the major characters in the story. Now, to be sure, I do have a few things in common with Pat. I'm a Rutgers grad. I'm also a diehard Phillies fan (and man, do they ever suck this year). Many of Pat's values are quite similar to mine.
But looking at the other side of the coin, my professional life is far different from Pat's. Except for my college years, I've never lived in the state of New Jersey. I've also never even set foot in the state of New Mexico. I've also never been part of a band. In fact, my musical training is limited to a few years of piano lessons during childhood.
So, LiaB is a fictional story about a fictional character in a fictional do-over. I can't imagine what it would be like to write one's own personal do-over story, putting your own regrets, your own demons out there for all to see. There's at least one story I know of on SOL where I believe the author did just that, and that author has my everlasting respect.
For me, one curious effect of writing LiaB is that it completely changed how I listened to music. Whenever a song came on the radio from the '70s or '80s, I would ask myself, "Is that a Lightning in a Bottle tune?" I would close my eyes and try to picture this imaginary band covering the song. That's pretty much how the set lists for LiaB's gigs evolved.
Before closing, I have one more interesting music-related anecdote to share, and it concerns the very last song mentioned in the story. I suspect that many readers out there are not familiar with "Stars", by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. (Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml7TmC__eDc ) I first heard that tune shortly after it came out a couple of years ago, not too long after I resumed writing. When I listened to it that initial time, my first thought was, "Inez vocal." With the epilogue going right up to the present time, I was able to slip that song into LiaB's most recent gig.
In a few days, I'll talk about reader feedback, good and bad.
Well, I said earlier that I'd post chapter 78 and the epilogue at the same time. But 78 is good to go, and I'm still putting the finishing touches on the epilogue. So, I had a change of heart, and I decided to give you 78 now. It's in the posting queue, and should be up soon.
The epilogue will follow in a few days.
The penultimate chapter of Lightning in a Bottle, Chapter 77, has been posted. All that's left now is chapter 78, plus an epilogue.
I plan to post 78 and the epilogue at the same time. Expect them in roughly two to three weeks.
Like my protagonist and his buddy in LiaB, I am no expert in the field of auto mechanics. A wise reader pointed this out to me, and I've submitted a slightly revised version of chapter 72 where I corrected some pretty serious inaccuracies in my depiction of how to change a leaky radiator hose. I really should have put out a request for help before attempting to write that part.
On another note, you may recall that a while back, I mentioned that I have another story on SOL under a different pen name. I also said that I would be giving cameo appearances in LiaB to a few characters from that story. Well, that happened in chapter 72. Did anyone out there catch it? I've been closely monitoring the download totals for the other story since chapter 72 went up, and there was indeed a small spike in downloads. Looks like a few readers caught it, although no one wrote to me directly about it.
Since anyone with a knack for using the Advanced Search function can plug in the characters' names and bring up the story right away, there's no point in me continuing to be mysterious about it. The scene in question is the August 4, 2000 passage which contains the same auto repair part I referenced above. The Angela, Darcy and Katie characters all play a major role in my other story, which is (drum roll) "Song of Adelita," under the pen name Van Gunnison.
Be forwarned, though: SoA is incomplete, has been in that state for several years, and is a very different story from LiaB. It's a much darker tale with deeply flawed characters (for the most part, they do have their redeeming qualities). It was written in 2003-04, and posted in 2005. As time went by, I grew uncomfortable with the subject matter, which caused me to shelve it. That's also why I posted LiaB under a different pen name.
Might I revisit SoA, and pick it up again and perhaps finish it? It's possible. It depends on whether I can get back in the right frame of mind. Bringing those characters briefly into LiaB has given me some encouragement in that regard. It won't happen until LiaB is complete, however.
That 8/4/2000 snippet, by the way, was pretty much a ships-passing-in-the-night thing. I have no intention of giving Angela, Darcy or Katie major roles in LiaB going forward. I'll say this, however: you'll see one of them briefly re-appear a short while down the road, along with another minor character from SoA.
Switching gears again ... it should be obvious that I'm on the verge of dealing with the 9/11 tragedy. I've gotten a lot of email about it, and I feel compelled to make a few points. 9/11 is a very difficult topic to address, and I know it's very likely that there are a few readers out there who suffered personal losses on 9/11. The thing is, in this kind of a story, you can't just gloss over 9/11, especially with the New Jersey connections of Pat and friends.
So, I'll say this up front. Chapter 73 will deal with 9/11 and only 9/11. In chapter 74, I'll move onward, and won't mention 9/11 again. If there are any readers who don't want to revisit 9/11 (and you have my sincere sympathies), just skip over 73, move on to 74 when I post it, and you won't miss anything.
Thanks for reading!
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