"Caged Bird" Extras and Whatnot

With most stories I write, I usually have extras or "behind-the-scenes" tidbits to help me stay on track with the story and also to put a clear image in my head of my characters, setting, et cetera, et cetera. "Caged Bird" did not deviate from my usual modus operandi, so I have a playlist and a small "behind the name" thingy that I thought you guys might be interested in taking a peek at.
Or not.
Anyway, without further ado...

Caged Bird Playlist

Cayde's playlist

1. Whispers in the Dark by Mumford & Sons

2. Sleeping At the Wheel by Matchbox Twenty  

3. Blank Maps by Cold Specks

4. Into the Grey by Everest

5. Ride This Feeling by Kate Miller-Heidke

6. 5678! by Butterfly Boucher

7. Scream by Usher

8. Let Yourself Go by Green Day 

9. When a Heart Breaks by Ben Rector

10. Diamonds by Rihanna

Abram's playlist

1. Hey Man, Nice Shot by Filter

2. No Reflection by Marilyn Manson

3. Beast of Burden by The Rolling Stones

4. Dazed and Confused by Led Zeppelin

5. Sweet Lady Luck by Whitesnake

6. Fire Woman by The Cult

7. Wish by Nine Inch Nails

8. Come As You Are by Nirvana

9. Deus Culpa + Con clavi con Dio by Ghost (hint: inspiration behind band's imagery FYI)

10. Lie by Black Light Burns

Behind the Name

...of We The Shepherds

It was an interesting picture, to be honest. Here was this random guy dressed in priest’s robes and a duster, surrounded by five other guys dressed as executioners; the sound of what could possibly be a satanic call-to-arms reverberating between the walls of The Offering. And all he does is simply smile at me and raise the microphone to lips smeared with red paint and lead the masses into a familiar but odd prayer. - from "Caged Bird"

 Okay. The key words here are "familiar but odd prayer", just in case the yellow highlighter didn't tip you off. And here is the prayer:

"And Shepherds we shall be

For thee, my Lord, for thee.

Power hath descended forth from Thy hand

Our feet may swiftly carry out Thy commands.

So we shall flow a river forth to Thee

And teeming with souls shall it ever be.

In Nomeni Patri Et Fili Spiritus Sancti." - from "The Boondock Saints"

Twisted guy, twisted music, twisted name. And it all makes sense now, doesn't it?


Anyway, these are just a few extras I had stashed away on my hard drive. I have more, which I'll post once I have them all together.

Have a great weekend everyone!
-LA

P.S.: All songs go straight to YouTube videos which may or may not be available in your country. If *any* of the songs are to your liking PLEASE LEGALLY DOWNLOAD/BUY THEM FROM THE ARTISTS. Can't stress that shit enough. Stop pirating and pay for the tunes, yo.
P.S.S: I'm not responsible for how stupid the music videos can be. Blame the artists and their lack of creative direction. (Whatever works for you, works for me.)

Updatey things

So, remember me saying that I would have "CTS" posted to Literotica on 17 Aug?

Yeeeeeaaa...well, thanks to my boss who is faintly reminiscent to this guy:

...that's not going to happen.

Also, my editor that I normally use is by and large unavailable for the immediate future, meaning I don't have a spare set of eyes to look over my work before I can post to Lit and being the wishy-washy kind of gal I am, I need a second opinion before I can post.

So, I have an ultimatum happenin' here.

I'm going to find a new editor and have CTS posted by NEXT Friday, the 24th of August, but if that DOESN'T happen, I'm going to post CTS in weekly increments to this blog for all you lovely people to read. I'll have more details soon, so check back either here or my Twitter account (@LilithArchivist) for up-to-date deets.

Sorry for the delay guys,
L.A.

The Pacific Garbage Patch

Every family has their talks over the dinner table, mine is no different. Our topics have ranged anywhere from local gossip to things we've heard or seen in the news. This week the Olympics have been the obvious conversation starter, the Chick-fil-a protest and its Appreciation Day were among others. But today at lunch, my sister brought up a topic that, embarrassingly, until today I had no idea existed:

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Talon vs Thatcher

Recently, there has been a bit of a debate on who Tempest should have ended up with. The arguments on Lit were interesting: “Talon is like the husband away at war. By being with Thatcher she was betraying him! This is how it should be!” or “Talon and Tempest’s mating is like an arranged marriage.” (I am totally paraphrasing most of this, but I got the gist of the two sides, I’m sure.) It tickled me pink to see the debate and those torn between the two, and it feeds my soul to know that I caused it all. *insert evil cackle here*

So, let me admit something: I am totally one hundred percent Team Thatcher. He is flawed. He can be harsh, and odd, and just a little irritating at times. He lies, but everyone lies, and sometimes it’s hard to see what side he’s really on. He’s not tall, dark and handsome – he’s not even all that pretty. But he’s good and real and determined to do the right thing, even if people hate him for it. But let’s not cut Talon short, ‘kay? Talon has been asleep for over two-thousand years. He’s had no time to mature or develop. He’s been thrust into a completely foreign world than the one he grew up in. He’s the last of the Ancients, and his sworn enemy is taking over the world with little resistance. His allies fear him, and the only people he can depend upon are his human mate and Thatcher, a Raspan-Hybrid who just so happens to be the son of the Raspan hell-bent on decimating the human race.

Also, let me put it this way: if I had made Thatcher and Tempest a couple, the story would not have played out like it needed to. For awhile, I tried to write the story with Thatch and Temp as the romantic main couple, but things just fell apart. Talon became an unnecessary third wheel – and a broody, irritating one at that! – and the story wasn’t the same. But with Tempest and Talon a couple, it leaves Thatcher to go off and do the dirty, gritty things that at heart he truly loves doing – and besides, he’s got a war to end. He couldn’t save the world if he was rolling the furs with Tempest, hmm? ;)

Food for thought,

L.A.

On Punks and Idea-Snatchers.

The title says it all. This post regards "idea snatchers" and those irritating little punks around the web who think it is ever-so-clever to steal the ideas, hard work, and words of another person and post it under their own name. What's even worse is that many of these people are demanding money for work they never did!

Now, let me say this first: so far as I know, no one has stolen my stories. Part of me is thankful for that, but trust me I also feel like 'what the F is my work not good enough?' It's a conundrum, I swear it. But back to what I was saying -- no one has stolen my stories, published them under an alias, and received any funds. BUT, I DO see stories on Literotica and other publishing sites around the web where various writers have taken my ideas and have used them to come up with their own twist.

So secondly, I'm not at all trying to say that I'm the only person in the world who was written a story about gargoyles, species warfare, or girls falling in love with "monsters". I'm also not the only person to write about people who've met in a coffee shop, fell in love, but realized they had some issues to work out. Please, I'm not *that* vain as to believe crap like that. But that's not to say that I haven't noticed a number of nonhuman stories where it walks like my gargoyle, it looks like my gargoyle, but is called a vampire/incubus/whatever; or that my idea of separating a name with a ' to divide given name and clan name is being slapped around like a loveless child (click link, go to "On Names" if you're curious as to what I mean). Also, so many people are getting banged in a coffee shop now and suddenly finding themselves with a long-haired, green-eyed, bad boy with redeeming qualities but gosh so many issues trying to claim the beautiful ice queen protagonist as his own.

Come on people. Get your own ideas and BACK THE FUCK OFF MINE.

That is all.
-L.A.

(P.S.: You heifers KNOW who you are. And I'll be watching. VERY, VERY CLOSELY.)

Some kind of abstraction.

This guy:

We have something in common, besides returning a lot of videotapes.

Updates

Random update: just added 11 songs to the ever-growing blob that is The Coffee Shop Soundtrack. Seriously guys, this thing is becoming a monster!! Anyway, here's the new tracks that have been added:

Happy November 5th!!

Hey all! I believe I'm finally free of the cold (I still have a few little sniffles here and there, but that's all thankfully!) so now I can get back to writing! It's crazy because I feel better on such an important day in history: November 5th!

It's Always Raining In My Head

Okay, so this is a post I've been sitting on for awhile now, and I finally feel comfortable enough to talk about. It's kind of a touchy subject to get into, and particularly gloomy, and I don't really expect comments or anything on the post. It's just me kind of getting stuff off my chest. To some of you it might kinda seem the typical "get better" crap that everyone spouts. But taking it from someone who has "been there", maybe you won't be so quick to judge. So anyway, here goes.

News and Things.

"Things" first, "news" later. =)
I'm not exactly a fluffy romance reader - in fact, I hate that stuff and won't read it even on the pain of death. My sister, bless her, loves all those romance/girly/feel-good books that have smut/rutting/what-have-you and you know what? THAT'S FINE.
But I don't read it.

Hey there!

Hey world!
I just wanted to catch you guys up on a few things.

1. I'm currently RE-EDITING the sixth chapter of THE COFFEE SHOP. Yea, it sucks, but I've written up to chapter nine and I wanted to make sure that everything would flow, hence the delay. EXPECT THE NEXT CHAPTER BY THE END OF THIS WEEK!!! Seriously, this time!
2. If you guys follow my blog, you'll notice that "The Coffee Shop" tab is missing. That's because I've moved it over to it's own blog! That way, there's more space and I can put down more info for anyone interested. It seriously took me ALL SUNDAY EVENING/MORNING to do it, and I even went as far out to make a logo for the damned Side Street Brewery. I seriously need a hobby... Anyway, go here to view the new blog.
3. That being said, ALL TEASERS/WRITING NEWS/RAMBLINGS will be posted *HERE* on my regular blogger. The new blog is just for kicks and a place for me to sort out stuff, like an online filing cabinet...just...prettier. =)
4. Expect WONDERLAND to receive the same treatment. I already have the blog set up, just no details are added just yet. I'll let y'all know when I'm finished!

That's it for me! Have a great Tuesday, everyone!!

Xo, Lily

Lexicon, New Chapter(s) news, and Other Things

Just got back late yesterday from good ole Austin. In short, I visited my folks, ate ahMAZing home cookin', mucked around with friends, helped my "team" lose a volleyball game and had my hair dyed blond whilst incapacitated. O_o
Yea, I was ready to kill someone, but...let's not go there. For my sanity's sake. =/
Anyway, I just wanted to type down a few things before I forgot:

Story Update

As I posted on Twitter, I submitted Wonderland's Chapter Six to Literotica yesterday. Already I can imagine what the comments will be, mainly because to many the chapter is going to look like filler. FYI: it's not.
I wrote this in the Author's Note of Chapter Six, but I'll write it here too: everything I write in those posted chapters of Wonderland mean something. I don't know how else to stress that.
I don't normally let things like petty comments or observations get to me, but when I have emails requesting that I rewrite the chapter because they hate the story line, or because they didn't take the time to read the chapter through and posted inane commentary about characters that don't make any freaking sense, I do get a little upset. While I won't go into too much detail, I will say this:

• For Tempest's apparent "enjoyment" of her mind rape*, please read this line: "...she washed away her sweat, tears and humiliation..." Need I say more?
• For the missing transition between chptrs 4 and 5: that was my own writer's blooper...and also slightly intentional. This, among other things, is explained in Chapter 6.
• For those of you still confused on what the four species "really are" (this is in response to feedback I've received) click under the "Wonderland" link on this blog. As the chapters continue to post, I'll add more information. I don't want to give away secrets too early.
• And finally, the next three chapters of this story (6, 7, 8 - particularly chapter 7) tell you basically everything you need to know. Chapter Eight is where the mayhem begins - truly - and by then, if everyone is still confused about the plot, characters, the world, what have you, I know then that I have failed as a writer.

Okay, so I've been on my soapbox long enough, but I just want anyone who is reading this to take away - if anything from this entire post - this: Every Inane Detail Means Something.
That is all,
LilyArc


* this is alluded to in Chapter Six via Thatcher's POV. It should explain things.