Carols of Christmas: A Dickensian Tale, part 5: "Writing style"

I wanted to start each chapter with song quotes to foreshadow the chapter, and, possibly with the exception of chapter 10, I’ve tried to save the most dramatic parts of the chapters until the end. I tried not to use quotes, inspired by Meg Rosoff’s How I Live Now, but that didn’t really work out, starting with chapter 9.

Behind the Curtains, Part 1: "Writing prompt"

This was one of the essays in a college English class. We had to write about something that was a home away from home. If we wrote about a job or volunteer experience like I did, we had to include the family portion of why it felt like home.

Fairvale, Part 16: "Performance before the performance"

Even before I threw in the element of Psycho, back when there were only supposed to be a mix of my friends and Sweeney Todd characters, I knew I wanted there to be some sort of a stage performance. Except, I envisioned it more taking place near the end of the story, not referenced throughout the first half or so. I was originally inspired to have Anthony Hope perform Styx’ “Come Sail Away” after hearing it in the planning phases of Fairvale. After adding Psycho and killing off Anthony, the song got pushed back to the bonus feature.

Carols of Christmas: A Dickensian Tale, part 4: "Random trivia facts"

The Ghost of Christmas Past was born on April 11^th. He is 2 years younger than Jeanie and almost a year and a half older than his friend Bennett. Jeanie’s birthday is March 26^th; Bennett’s is September 19^th. Bennett’s full name is Bennett Donald Mallard – and he would eventually become Ducky from NCIS. Jeanie is Jeanie Chance; The Ghost of Christmas Past is Gwydion Robert Orrin Charles Kilroy. Both of their names were inspired by Styx’s album Kilroy Was Here. The name Jeanie came from a character in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Gwydion, while on Earth, would eventually become a hero from Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain.

Almost, part 1: "One way or the other"

At the end of the story, I decided to make Norman and Connie’s child be a girl. In pretty much all of the post-Psycho IV FanFics I’ve read, Norman has a son. I decided to spice it up and give him a daughter.

Sue's Corner, part 1: "It’s not me, it’s Sue"

I started this story because I thought it’d be funny to see how Sue would solve the world’s problems. I was mainly, obviously, inspired by “Sue’s Corner” on Glee. Just keep in mind that I wrote the chapters from the point-of-view of Sue Sylvester, and that I’m not normally that… Sue-ish. The whole story is written like “What would Sue say?”

Rules for Being a Horror Movie Character, part 1: "It’s all so cliché"

I came up with the idea of rules for surviving as a horror movie character one evening after one of my younger sister’s school choir concerts. We’d come home after it ended, and I saw a Turner Classic Movies channel special about Stephen King talking about the movies that influenced his writing style. At one point, he mentioned horror movie clichés, so I created my own list of these stereotypes and clichés and made them into a horror movie survival guide.

Fairvale, Part 15: "Forest chase"

There’s one scene I was going to put in Fairvale that didn’t end up making the cut. Toby was at McDonald’s and saw Duke, who chased Toby through the forest. It never made it into the story because I forgot the scene, and I realized that the forest wouldn’t match the geography of the town. A scene with Toby at a fast-food restaurant ended up being the tomato incident.

A Summer Story, or, The Lewis Story, Part 2: "The end"

I came up with the end of the story sometime between finishing section 8 and starting section 9. I thought it would be funny to put an unusual twist on the idea of the main character waking up to find that the whole story was just a dream.

A Summer Story, or, The Lewis Story, Part 1: "Anachronisms"

Sure, the story is ridiculous to begin with. One way I added to the insanity is to use anachronisms. I started writing the story in the summer of 2005, just before starting 8^th grade. Some of the people I added as characters are people I hadn’t met or heard of until high school. Situations or music I used in the story wouldn’t have happened until well after the story takes place, in the summer of 2006.

The Chronicles of Stuff, Part 1: "The inspiration"

I came up with the story when playing the Nintendo GameCube version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I was scrolling through the different levels on the Wardrobe menu when I remembered that I’d read that the pictures on the wardrobe were put on it by Professor Kirke to commemorate important events from The Magician’s Nephew. I decided to use the Wardrobe and other objects from Narnia to use as the narrators and inspiration for a series of poems and short stories.

Peter Pan: A Retelling, Part 1: "Singing pirates"

I came up with the sea chanty that was about Captain Hook’s revenge plan while in the shower. That’s the only time I’ve ever felt like singing in the shower. It was the only time I’ve ever come up with anything interesting in the shower, too.

One Wizard's History: The Hidden History of Hogwarts, Part 1: "Keep it steady/ you were never ready/ for the lies."

I started this story to challenge the information presented in Hogwarts: A History, the traditional history textbook mentioned in Harry Potter. What if, I thought, the facts presented in Bathilda Bagshot’s were part of a mass cover-up of earlier truths presented, even  in previous, now banned, books on the founders of the wizarding school? For instance, the founders were from Middle-Earth. Godric’s Hollow was just an ordinary town cohabited by Muggles and wizards. The debate over blood status being an entry qualification started earlier than suspected or recorded.

One of Your Own, Part 6: "Is Lewis gay, by the way?"

Yes. Lewis Scott is based on a real person. He is, in fact, gay in real life.

One of Your Own, Part 5: "One of Your Own"

The title of the story is taken from the name of a song from Carter Burwell’s A Knight’s Tale movie score. It also comes from one of Paul Bettany’s speeches in the movie. In developing the plot, the title also references Will Ulrich’s struggle to be a normal teenager.

One of Your Own, Part 4: "The school and class schedule"

The high school in the story is the one I really went to, all four years. The class schedule is the one I really had my senior year.

One of Your Own, Part 3: "More character inspiration"

William was mostly inspired by Heath Ledger. After adding the character of James in Chapter 2, I wanted to start to add in a bit of Chris Colfer and Kurt Hummel to Will.

One of Your Own, Part 2: "What’s in a name?"

James Dalton is named after a friend of mine as well as the Dalton Warblers, which goes back to the Darren Criss inspiration. The inspiration for the name William Ulrich was taken completely from A Knight’s Tale, though in two forms. William Thatcher was Heath Ledger’s character, and Ulrich von Lichtenstein was his character’s alter ego.

One of Your Own, Part 1: "James Dalton"

James is based off of Darren Criss and his Glee character, Blaine Anderson. Even though I’d never seen the show when starting the story, some friends from school started me on a Darren Criss phase when we watched A Very Potter Musical.

Misunderstood, Part 2: "Reply, dated August 14th, 2010"

It was one Christopher Walken did, but I can’t remember where it was. Look through the documentary things on the Special Features menu and it should be there.

Misunderstood, Part 1: "Private message from Terri Botta, dated June 1st, 2010"

I read your Sleepy Hollow poem, “Misunderstood.” I liked it very much. Which interview on the DVD was the inspired by?

Take care and be safe

Terri

Just Like You, Part 3: "Soraya’s name"

When I first started writing Just Like You, I was reading the first book in Hilari Bell’s Farsala Trilogy. I glanced down at the book when trying to decide on a name for my main character. Soraya is the leading lady in the Farsala books, as well as my late grandma’s favorite hairstylist at the Hair Cuttery. Sudaba, my character’s first middle name, was taken from the book Soraya’s mother. Maria, the second middle name, was added sort of on a whim. Her two last names are her mother’s last name and her father’s fake last name. Soraya’s nickname, Mole, is kind of a joke from the movie about how the D Tent Boys thought Zero was a mole because he was the fastest digger. I made Soraya be Mole since she was a faster digger than Zero.

Just Like You, Part 2: "Soraya"

I wanted to make Soraya different than some of my other lead characters. I made her a lot bolder, tomboyish, and sarcastic than a lot of my other narrators to sort of contrast the calmer characters I usually use.

Just Like You, Part 1: "Almost a Spoiler"

I almost gave a spoiler about Mr. Sir knowing about Soraya’s family history in Chapter 2, but she tries to deny it. I had to cut out a lot of dialogue in the chapter because I remembered I didn’t want to do much other than make readers guess about her until the big reveal at the end. I didn’t want D-Tent, Mr. Sir, or Dr. Pendanski to know who Soraya really is, but the Warden would know.

iLove More than Meat, Part 1: "Story length"

I was originally planning to make the story a one-shot. After consideration, I decided to split it into two shorter chapters, one before school and one after school. Either way, I left it open-ended at the very end. I decided to post the story FanFic as in-progress, in case readers want me to continue it.

Fairvale, Part 14: "Point of view"

The point of view I write stories depends mostly on the tone I want to set for the story. For Fairvale, I decided to focus on each character in third person, since I thought first person would be too confusing. I wanted it to be the teens’ story, how they collectively saved the motel. In the sequel, I decided to switch to first person because I wanted it to be a more intimate feel to how Norman II dealt with growing up in the Bates Motel, having a twin sister, dealing with teenage life, and having a mother who may not be all there even when she’s there.

Fairvale, Part 13: "The bat scene"

I wrote the bat scene where Anthony was a bat as a reference to Jamie Campbell Bower playing both Anthony and one of the Volturi in New Moon. I added the lines about the cow and the Ricola as a reference to The Little Vampire and the Ricola cough drops commercials. I was considering extending the vampire Anthony storyline further, in addition to the exterminator, but I left it the way it was because I felt like Anthony was a useless character anyway. I meant to make Brooke question it and her sanity later in the story, but I don’t think I ended up remembering adding that scene.

Fairvale, Part 12: "Anthony Hope’s death"

I was getting tired of Anthony’s character. I felt like I couldn’t develop him enough, and I just didn’t like him, so I decided to kill him out of the story, a la Mean Girls: He got hit by a bus.

Fairvale, Part 11: "Following Rudolph in the cemetery"

Originally, I wanted Connie to follow her son through Green Lawn Cemetery in Chapter 6. I couldn’t figure out how her faking her death and visiting her son would fit into the plot, so I changed it to be that Duke followed Rudolph to make him more of a creepy jerk.

Fairvale, Part 10: "Norman's death"

The quote on Norman’s headstone is what’s really written on Anthony Perkins’ urn. The birth and death dates are ones I found on Wikipedia, and aren’t really Tony’s, but speculative for Norman. I knew I wanted Norman’s cause of death to be some sort of murder as opposed to complications of AIDS, as was Tony’s. After eventually adding Duane Duke as a character, I decided Duke wanted revenge on Norman for destroying his life, so Duke killed Norman and wanted to kill Norman’s family. Norman died trying to save Rudolph.

Fairvale, Part 9: "The name’s Duane Duke, but you can just call me Duke."

I never really liked Duke. He’s my least favorite character in all of the movies, aside from Tracy Venable and Chet Rudolph. I decided to make him the lead villain. The thing is, is that I forgot to explain how he came back from the dead.

Fairvale, Part 8: "The Mayor"

I originally wanted to make the mayor be the villain in Fairvale. I based him, at least namewise, off of someone that was in some of my classes in middle and high school. He was a bit of a jerk in real life, so I wanted to make him the villain. After some consideration, I realized that the real Logan was a jerk, but not evil enough to be the real villain, so I made the character be the lackey.

Fairvale, Part 7: "53 1/2"

53 ½ was a new chapter written separately from the main story, but I thought it was something that would explain Rudolph’s closure with his father’s death a bit more between chapters 53 and 54.

Fairvale, Part 6: "Epilogue"

I originally planned the epilogue early on. I considered having it take place at the high school reunion of the main characters, but I realized that the only seniors in the story are Brooke, Katherine, and myself. I finally settled on the premiere of the Spaceballs remake I hinted at in the character profiles. Either way, I knew at the very end, I wanted Megan, then Megan Bates, to turn into Mother.

Fairvale, Part 5: "Fairvale vs. Fairvale 2"

I knew how I wanted to end my first story as soon as I started writing it, pretty much. As I finally did get close to the end, I accidentally forgot a few details. One such detail I wanted to add was: What happened to Duane Duke? Something I remember hearing in Psycho IV was that Norman’s wife, Connie, got the house from a previous marriage, according to Norman. I wondered what happened to the man that is apparently Rudolph’s stepfather, so I was going to give him an appearance in Fairvale. In my rush to finish the story, I accidentally forgot to add Rudolph’s stepdad. I realized that, so his cameo will be in Fairvale 2. When reading the first story to my friend, Tarryn, she kept asking what happened to the two kids, especially after the convent scene. I decided that my main focus of the sequel was to tell what happened to Norman II and Connie II.

Fairvale, Part 4: "Chapter 17"

I was originally going to describe the love scene at the end of Chapter 17, but I decided against it. I don’t normally write really raunchy scenes, so I thought that if I did, it would come across as awkward. I also decided to imply what the two characters involved did, but leave the details to the imaginations of the readers.

Fairvale, Part 3: "References to National Treasure"

After I decided to make my story more based off of Psycho, I decided to tie Psycho II and Psycho III more than Joseph Stefano’s plot had originally. I decided to make Fairvale’s plot about Norman Bates leaving clues relating to the whole series so his son, Rudolph, could find Norman’s lost will. A few chapters in, I decided that the drama teacher based on an aged version of Hylton’s drama teacher seemed like someone I couldn’t develop, I decided to make her retire out of the blue and be replaced by Justin Bartha. I chose Justin after realizing that the main characters would find a clue that would lead to another clue, and then another, and then another, just like in National Treasure. I wrote the chapter that took place in the old convent while watching National Treasure, and I decided to make the stairs collapse beneath some of the main characters in a similar way to the elevator in the tunnel scene near the end of National Treasure.

Fairvale, Part 2: "How the plot really turned out"

I didn’t end up co-writing it with Brooke and Katherine. After I decided to try to use the story to use the element of using me, Brooke, Katherine, and the characters from Sweeney Todd to help tie together elements from Psycho through Psycho IV into a part 5, I decided to write it alone. I didn’t think Katherine and Brooke knew as much about the Psycho movies as much as they did about Sweeney Todd. Instead of waiting to start writing it in December 21^st, the day Sweeney Todd was first released in theaters, I started writing it a few weeks into senior year.

Fairvale, Part 1: "Plot"

Originally, I was only going to do a sequel to Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd where my friends and I meet Toby, Johanna, and Anthony. The three characters, after the death of Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett, were supposed to be sucked into modern-day Woodbridge, VA. I was going to ask Brooke and Katherine to co-write it with me in addition to being the other three main characters.

Cell Analogy, Part 3: "Additional stuff"

As part of the project I did, I had to submit a model based on the paper I wrote. I made a model of the Beech Hill Museum, with my dad’s help, based on a map of the museum. I knew so much about the game since I’ve played it several times, and I always take notes.

Cell Analogy, Part 2: "Reply, dated December 4th, 2010"

Actually, this is something I wrote about 3 years ago, but I just put it up the other day. I remember doing pretty well on this. As it turns out, my teacher played this game with his niece, so he knew where I was coming from. I’ve played almost all of the games but Trail of the Twister, Shadow at the Water’s Edge, Secrets Can Kill Remastered, and the Dossier series… pretty much all of them, really.

Cell Analogy, Part 1: "Review from Obiwanlivesforever, dated December 4th, 2010"

Wow. You have managed to successfully mix something as amazing as the Nancy Drew games with something as dull as biology class, and for that, I salute you, good sir or ma’am. Not to mention the fact that you seem to know every little detail about the game. I think I have just found a kindred spirit!

I hope your teacher gives you a good mark on this; you deserve it! Have you played any other Nancy Drew games?

Carols of Christmas: A Dickensian Tale, Part 3: "Musical introductions"

For the musical intros, I tried to pick songs that relate first to the chapters they introduce, and second to the whole story as it relates to A Christmas Carol and its themes other than Christmas: Family, love, loss, renewal and redemption, etc. However, the sections of lyrics don’t always match the way I ended up writing the story quite as well as I like, but the songs still are intended to foreshadow the coming chapter.

Carols of Christmas: A Dickensian Tale, Part 2: "An inspiration for a FanFic"

After reading the story and seeing many movie and stage variations of A Christmas Carol, I began to think, we know all about Scrooge, but what about everybody else? I was developing some plotlines for parts two and three of my One Wizard’s History series, but I wanted to also have a story that was mostly just the Dickens characters alone, not only included in the worlds of Hogwarts, Middle Earth, and the like. I started Carols of Christmas to answer that one question: What about everybody else? I included Scrooge in the intro chapter because I knew he would obviously come up quite a bit eventually, but not necessarily in his own narrated chapters, though he was the central focus of the Dickens story. I mainly originally wanted to focus on Jacob Marley, as well as Bob Cratchit, because I’d already mentally developed their back stories quite well before starting COC, when I was planning OWH. I was also planning the Ghost of Christmas Past’s story to be revealed in part 3 or 4 of OWH, not part 2. His story ended up being more in-depth in Carols of Christmas than I first intended for Chapter 10. At the request of one of my readers, I revealed information about Fred that, in 2006, I realized I knew would also be relevant to One Wizard’s History, though I forgot about it until Chapter 11. The title, Carols of Christmas: A Dickensian Tale, itself is an obvious reference to the classic story.

Carols of Christmas: A Dickensian Tale, Part 1: "Magrathean mob boss"

When I originally wrote Chapter 10, the second part narrated by the Ghost of Christmas Past, I couldn’t think of a name for the Magrathean mob boss. I left him nameless the whole chapter to show that Gwydion, the Ghost of Christmas Past, wouldn’t have to speak the mob boss’ name out of pure hatred. After writing Chapter 16, I remembered that during my senior year of high school, I realized one of the school’s assistant principals looked like he belonged in the Mafia. I decided to base the Magrathean mob boss after him.