Down My Own Rabbit Hole, or, CROSS// Introduction Post

'Sup y'all. For this Monday's post (in which I post about whatever I want) I'm going to take the time to do a proper overview of my CROSS// series. I decided to do this for multiple reasons: 1) I've been writing many flash fiction pieces that include elements of these stories, such as butterfly symbolism and a bunch of talk about Armageddons and reincarnation (which is the crux of the story.) 2) I want a post where I can compile all this information. 3) I'll hopefully be asking for betas by the end of the summer so now may be a good time to start seeing who may be interested! 4) Because it's Monday and I can write about whatever I want.

So, let's party.

CROSS//

Genre: Urban Fantasy/Science Fiction
Audience: Adul
Rating: R (for some sexually explicit talk and scenes, violence, and some swearing
Themes: Reincarnation and spirituality (of the agnostic kind), sexuality, overpopulation, determination, and extreme loyalty
Symbol: Gold butterflies
Premise at start of series: With a core plot that spans over two nearly twenty-five-hundred years, CROSS// (a title that represents "crossing" over into other ventures, ages, and lives),  brings both immortals and mortals together in an intergalactic war for the right to exist. With the Void - the source of all spiritual life in the universe - on the verge of collapse, a pair of sorcerers and a group of Earthlings are charged with bringing spiritual balance back to the universe.

There are a total of seven novels planned for this series: five are part of the "main" series, while two are prequel novels, as listed below.

Subtitles - Main Series (modern day Earth)

1. Rebirth (finished, editing final draft, publication in 2013)
2. Revenge (completing first draft)
3. Regress
4. Repent
5. Release

Subtitles - Prequel Series (extraterrestrial, takes place 2000 and 1000 years before now, respectively)

1. Prophet
2. Process  (completing first draft)

Chronological order includes the "Pro" novels before "Re" series. Suggested reading is Process between Regress and Repent, and Prophet between Repent and Release. Which leaves the planned publication order of:

1. Rebirth
2. Revenge
3. Regress
4. Process
5. Repent
6. Prophet
7. Release

Or at least, that's the order I believe they should be read in for the "full experience".

I always write about death, whether or not there is such a thing as a "soul" (I don't believe it in real life so much, but it's something I explore in writing), and making sure either whole planets or entire cosmic entities are in dire peril. Unless the universe is about to implode and only two or three people can save it, I am just not happy. Of course CROSS// represents these themes the best out of all my works thus far. I pretty much take three people and say "here you go" and give them a broken universe to fix. And it's the best fun I've ever had writing.

Setting

There are two distinct settings in the series (not counting the prequels), and both are in the present day (Rebirth starts in May, 2007, and Release ends somewhere around autumn 2011/2012, I haven't decided yet.) The main setting is a parallel universe version of San Francisco (where military bases meet queer capitals meets this author's west coast sensibilities). The other is a multi-planet enterprise referred to as simply "The Federation", with a female president and a female military commander. In the Federation, (and likewise on Earth, although of course many Earthlings do not know it) there are "humans" and then there are cousins of human breed...but with extras. The main race are the julah,  the oldest living humanoids who live for thousands of years as sorcerers and are the keepers of the status and the secrets of the "Void"...which is where everyone goes when they die (and from whence they originally came.)

The Void is an extra-dimensional...well, void. All spiritual life originates here and manifests in "our" (remember, it's a parralel! :P) dimension as human bodies that are born and die. When not in a body, such as in the Void, souls take on the incarnations of golden, translucent butterflies. There is no "God" known to have created this, and the julah do not believe in or preach of any gods. The Void simply is. However, at the start of the series, there is a julah Head Priestess who now lives in the Void as its caretaker and as the ambassador to the living.

Reincarnation

Every living person is under the jurisdiction of one of three "statuses" of their soul. They are:

Normal - The body is the only body the soul has inhabited. These make up almost the entire population of life in the universe.
Reincarnated - During the "first" natural life, the soul went through some severe trauma that was never recovered from or reconciled by the time of death. The soul then rebirths itself into a new body. The person may have similar traits and feelings as they did in their first life, known as "residue", but will retain absolutely no memories of their past life.
Processed - The soul, at the time of death in the first life, enters the "Process", or a cycle of rebirth that only ends when a promised goal is achieved. The person will be almost identical, even genetically (as much as permitted) to their original incarnation. They will retain memories of their first "original" life, as the current life is considered merely an extension of the original life. Souls can only be put into the Process by highly skilled Priests of the Void. Those put into the Process together will always be reborn near one another.

Likewise, planets also have a "soul", but not in the same sense as humans. It's more a failsafe to keep planets afloat. The soul of a planet is broken into five pieces, or "Points",  and scattered around a specific area. These Points may take the form of gems, books, jewelry, clothing, or anything deemed "discreet". Points can change their form, although only after certain periods of time to keep up with the ages of the lifeforms inhabiting the planet. If the Points are all brought together and destroyed by a "detonator", then the planet will cease to exist and everyone still on it will perish. Not explode, not deconstruct...just cease. And the universe will correct itself around it. (yay fantasy!)

Background

Before the first novel (Rebirth), two ex-Priests of the Void, Ramaron Marlow and Nerilis Dunsman, argue over whether or not  Points actually exist. Next thing Lord Marlow knows, his once best friend and confidant has lead to a planet "ceasing to exist' (guess what, points exist!). This leads Marlow to chase Dunsman around the universe in a quest to stop his terror. Eventually Dunsman targets a planet with life on it, the mercenary colony of Cerilyn. Marlow hires two of the planet's best mercenaries, Sulim di'Graelic and Sonall Gardiah, to collect the planet's Points before Dunsman has the chance to destroy Cerilyn and kill hundreds of thousands of people. They fail and are sent into the Process.

The series begins on Earth, where Sulim and Sonall are reborn into their 98th (yes, you read that right) incarnations.

Characters

The three main characters of the main series are Danielle Cromwell (once Sulim), Devon Anderson (once Sonall), and Miranda Hotler. While of course they are approached by various factions to deal with the state of Earth, a majority of the series is about their own personal spiritual issues, their sacrifices, their stubbornness,  their romances, and how the three of them are really and truly connected to one another. There is a whole cast of characters including their friends and lovers, and of course, Marlow and Dunsman using them all as pawns in a galactic battle of chess, but in the end the story is really about these three people who were forced into the hero role, like so many other stories. Meanwhile, the reasons behind Dunsman's destruction are explored, because how can I not make some big comment on society with a story this big. =P

Random

It's pretty much no secret that I play the Sims 3, and that I pretty much only play novel characters in Sim form - and out of those, I pretty much only play my CROSS// characters anymore. It's some of the most hilarious fun ever. I've gotten some great new character and plot point ideas just from letting the game play on high AI!

You'd never guess that Danielle was once a Junior Rodeo Champion

...or that "Somebody's" daughter actually had a personality. Huh. I should work on that.

Well, that's enough shameless plugging for today. Wow, if you made it this far through all that self-indulgent tripe, then I...well, I would give you one of my cookies here, but you know...distance...

If nothing else, I'm just glad I now have a post dump to link to in relevant other posts. So ha! (brb, gonna go play some sims instead of editing. Oops.)

Why I don't write Young Adult Fiction

I'm in the wrong business.

Wow, I made that title sound cranky.

To say that YA fiction has been growing in popularity in recent years would be an understatement. Everywhere bookshelves are expanding to include "teen titles" and a vast majority of the author blogs I follow are those of YA authors. (The others seem to mostly be writers of erotic gay fiction. Oh my.) While all of this seems to have happened behind my back, it would be disingenuous for me to say that I don't see the main reasons why this trend may be occurring. But this blog post isn't about analyzing why YA has become so popular - this is about me going BLAAAAAAAH I don't write YA~

When I was "middle grade" age, I wrote about teenagers. When I was a teenager I wrote about college students. When I was a college student I wrote about late-twenty-somethings. Now that I'm a twenty-something I tend to write about characters still older than me, all the way up to middle age. Heck, some of my favorite characters I write are elderly. But there's nary a teen and even fewer kids. (In fact, most of my characters don't even want kids or work around them.) And the themes are definitely not young adult oriented, although certainly I wouldn't mind if "young adults" read them and connected to them in their own way.

I think the easiest way for me to explain why I always write about characters older than me (or more my age, as I get older) can be best described through something I read a few months ago on another blog. I don't remember who said it or where exactly, but I do remember what this author said. They said, the paraphrase, that they wrote and read YA because "adults are jaded, cranky, and haunted by their pasts. Teens are full of potential and optimism about the lives ahead of them. That's to say, adults hang on to what 'could have been' and that's depressing." I'm the exact opposite in my thinking in this manner. I find adults way more fascinating than teens or children. I feel like I've read "first love", "first heartbreak", "first job" and "firstfirstfirst" so many times (not to mention, already lived it) that it all runs together. While these topics are certainly big in our society, and inevitably shape who we are, I feel like it really gives older adults and their experiences the epic shaft. Yes, most of my characters are on their third serious relationship, working the corporate ladder, getting a mortgage, and staying awake at night thinking about how "the world ahead of them" and optimism and potential are all utter bullshit. They are mirrors of what a lot of current adults want an escape from, but I find them fascinating.

My characters usually start their stories doing their thing, living their routines, mumbling about stuff, and then wake up one day to find that everything they had established for themselves has come into question...or has been thrown out the window entirely. In our (western, American to be more specific) society we're pretty much taught that our lives end at 30, and all growing, learning, and feeling ends with our metabolism. Only "young people" get to experience new exciting things in the world, damnit. I like to read and write stories that challenge this thinking and remind us that life is always going, always changing, and even though we may become bitter and cynical that any positive change is still possible, even if sometimes unlikely.

There's also the fact that I enjoy writing romance and erotica, and that's not as fun to write with inexperienced teens, thanks. I prefer my romantic characters to be experienced and confident in themselves. Things are still changing, but I get to skip all that first time angst.

So, what about you? Do you prefer YA or adult fiction or don't care? And if you do prefer one or the other, why is that? WHY?!

When the Perfect Song Arrives

Most of us writers make small to grand soundtracks for our novels and/or series. This post is not about any overall soundtrack that I have (that will come later!) but instead about the "perfect song" that best sums up one of my entire series.

In short, the theme song.

Now, I have a theme song picked out for every singular installment, but before a couple of months ago I didn't have one for the whole series. That's a very big role to fill and not just any song can capture the essence and emotion of an entire series of anything, book, show, or movie. I didn't think  I would find the perfect one for a very long time. Until my queen favorite artist, Japanese pop empress Ayumi Hamasaki, released a a new mini-album this August.

The final track is called BRILLANTE, and I was in absolute love from first listen. It's been a long time since Ayu has put out a song that instantly grabbed my heart from the first few notes and managed to hold onto it for the full six damn minutes. And then one night as I walked home from work this song came on my MP3 player, and I realized why it felt so strong to me - it encapsulates the entire motivation felt through the course of my series CROSS// particularly the final scenes in the final book.  The climatic scene of the entire series came to me while listening to this song. And it was perfect.

The best way I can describe the meaning of this song is to say "I must go on alone". The narrator (well, Ayu) is pained by the idea of separation from the person who always stood by her, but truly believes that going on "the narrowing road" by herself is the only way things can end up. This is exactly what is going through a character's mind at the end of my current series. The character does not want to abandon the person they love more than their own life itself, but for the good of the universe the character believes without a doubt that things can only be fixed by acting alone, even down to the detail of not telling their beloved why. In short, the road to saving the universe is narrowing, and one character believes that it can only be walked upon alone,  with pain.

I have done my own translation of these lyrics. Now, if you're coming here from a google search looking for a translation of this song, here's some notes:  I initially translate songs aiming to be as literal to the original meaning as possible (adjusting for symbolism, obviously). I then go back and reword some phrases so they sound more fluid in English and the meaning is easier to grasp. Finally, I adjust the syllables so they can be sung to the original composition if you so desire. And yeah, I test that last part.  The feelings behind these lyrics are explained above.

Thinking of you with this composition

I did the last thing there was to do  

The greatest gift I can give is

Not telling you the reason for it

Humans are stronger than I thought

I’ve been in darkness a little too long but

Steadily I go

I couldn’t see anything

And then I could see everything

The continuing road is too narrow

I have no choice but to walk on alone

When humans feel pain that

Exceeds the scope of imagination

They cry and they shout until

There is no more power left to do so

And nothing but emptiness strikes them

What was two became one again*

That’s all it was

They were simply going back to how they were before

I couldn’t see anything

And then I could see everything

The continuing road is too narrow

I can no longer walk on together with you**

*This does not imply the happy feeling of two people becoming "one" in love. It heavily implies a couple separating and each individual going back to their original life.

**Again, this isn't about being empowered and saying "lol bai". The narrator is extremely pained to be separating without giving a reason, as he/she believes they must continue on their path alone. It's implied that if it weren't for what the narrator has to do, he/she would stay with the person these lyrics are directed towards.

Finally, I give you the song itself in its music video format so you can hear it and see it in the context that Ayu presents. The video is slightly NSFW as there's lots of mostly naked  men, although it's not pornographic (darn). It's also a little cliche but you know~ Wonder Woman is always relevant~

[PV] Ayumi Hamasaki - BRILLANTE (HD 720p) 投稿者 Henrietta-Aime-Fumer_Tv  What song  best surmises your series/novel?