Happy One Year Anniversary

Well, here we are. It's been one year since I started The Writings of Luke Reynolds, and it's kind of hard to believe. The last part of 2015 and most of 2016 have flown by in the blink of an eye, and today, August 5th, is the day that I decided to shut down my normal swell of indecision and just write something other than novels. Although I've mostly done reviews for books, music, and anime, I've also tried to do things more random, such as a scathing post on how to make romance work well (most of which I still stand by, but there's one I'm a little more lenient on if you've been following my work outside of the main books I've been writing) and glimpses into how I crafted those novels that I appreciate so much. 21 posts have been published so far with this being the 22nd, and although most of those are from last year, it's still pretty incredible to see all of the things I've written for this blog. The books I've read, the shows I've watched, the music I've listened to, but, especially, all the thoughts that came with those that I normally scream about to myself and tell my brother I decided to write up here on this blog. It's been pretty surreal how I divided time between this and other stuff and to see this little thing grow. It's incredible that I've been doing this for a year, and I'm so happy I stuck with this and didn't give up.

Of course, there was that lull period where I struggled to write anything. Some of that is to be expected, of course: I'm still in school and have to deal with all the homework. I also have other things I write, including novels, fanfiction, songs, and the occasional sporadic poem. However, most of that can be attributed to a lack of inspiration. Everything piled on top of everything and I just felt drained to the point where I was scrolling through my phone or pacing around my basement with my thoughts in tangles. The reason I write this blog is to get my thoughts out there, but there were times where it felt more like a chore than something fun, which is something I never want to talk about with writing (although my personal stuff never feels that way, if I'm being completely honest). That's why I had to close the tab, write some more of a novel, do AP European History reading so I could prepare for the exam (which I passed, yay!), and just take a break from the computer and breathe.

However, I had an epiphany while writing my Kiznaiver review, which was an anime series that I really enjoyed. This came in two parts: the first that I realized more recently, the second which has been building for a while that is so close to falling off my tongue and being out in the open. I'd like to share both and discuss as to how they're going to help me as this blog continues.

The Story Behind The Popularity Games

The Popularity Games evolved a lot from its first incarnation. However, it was always going to be a mystery novel. I loved reading Nancy Drew and learning about true cases growing up, and I went through a detective phase where I would carry a magnifying glass around and search around the pine trees outside in the pitch dark back when I lived in a brown and orange house before it got flooded out when I was eight. It may have been short-lived (I only filled out two diary pages as a kid about imaginary cases and perhaps real ones in my life), but it's always stuck with me. I don't know if I've read a full-fledged mystery novel in a long time (This Is Where the World Ends may count),

However, my narrator wasn't always going to be a snarky redhead with a courageous drive to figure out who murdered the popular girl in school. Yes, the original TPG was about the death of #1 at a high school, but the original redhead wasn't going to be at all strong. In fact, she wasn't the only narrator. It also wasn't originally supposed to be humorous or even have some of the snappy dialogue that I've included in the final product of the first draft.

Do you wanna know what the original TPG was going to be about? My 13 year old self was proud about it, but the me of now? I kinda just want to cringe thinking about this.

Here we go. Brace yourselves *takes deep breath*. The Popularity Games was originally going to be about four high school girls: a rebellious tomboy who played football, Ann; a supermodel (that's all I got), Joana; the principal's secret daughter who was called in from overseas to investigate something, Riley; and the BFF to the most popular girl in school who was nasty yet had a soft side to her, Star (I think her real name was Stacey). Combine those four first-person point of views with an incredibly prestigious private school called Robin Crest (which was borrowed from something I tried to write in fifth grade that was more of a slice of life drama, Little Rock, which was also just as tacky; there was a girl named Falcon) and popularity being a literal game (probably my favorite part of the original concept), and we have our story, ladies and gentlemen. Think of it like Pretty Little Liars meets whatever thriller you can find, and presto! Instant classic!

The Story Behind Duet

Duet started with my own personal need to write a realistic fiction novel. Despite writing two trilogies with fantastical features (one more science fiction and the other fantasy), I wanted to take a break from inventing new worlds and having people possess special powers. I wanted to write a novel that wouldn't be surprising to find in Sarah Dessen's collection, a novel where the setting was realistic (albeit with some minor changes) with a teenager going through a coming of age experience with a developing romance on the side (because you know I love my romance).

But there was going to be something different: the romance I had in mind was a gay one.

Gay romance isn't anything new in the YA market (I've stressed this before in my Boy Meets Boy review, where I also went into a brief rant about the unequal representation in mainstream New Adult and Adult fiction), and I have actually written three Bleach Hollow Ichigo (Hichigo) and Ichigo fanfictions featuring that explicitly (one was a one-shot called Beating Heart, and the other was a multi-chapter AU that I'm still incredibly proud of to this day, Claws of a Dragon; the third one is forthcoming). But I had never invented male characters who had feelings for other male characters, and this was a great opportunity to try this out. Plus, I wanted this to be a full-length novel of at least 50,000 words (much like the average length of a NaNiWriMo novel), not under 25,000.

But you may be wondering: why a gay romance, Luke? What was so bad about writing heterosexual romances? My answer to those questions is absolutely nothing, but it has to do with one of the key phrases I've kept in mind while writing this novel.

I've always said several times before that Duet is my most personal novel to date. Every single time I've typed in those words, I have meant it. Duet was partly inspired by my own questioning sexuality, and although it's played rather simply in the novel (Cam doesn't question his sexuality for one minute anywhere in Duet, only what his parents might think), it's been a lot more complicated in real life.

Indecision

Ah, indecisiveness. That stubborn personality trait that makes you unable to make a decision. Sometimes, even after you make a decision, you have regrets, doubts that linger in your head and scream out that you've made the wrong choice. To be blunt, indecisiveness may be my worst trait besides my impatience and my lack of confidence in some situations, because there are some decisions I have to make that I'm not so sure about when they're all said and done.

I've finished writing a story called Duet, which is about a boy discovering who he really is and falling in love with another boy (yes, a gay romance). Some of the scenes in the book might not be appropriate for the young adult genre (those scenes involve sex), and while writing them, I've constantly had to go back and forth to decide what to put down, what not to put down, what's okay to talk about, and what I should keep on the down-low so readers can imagine what's going on for themselves.

A lot of the conversations in my head went like this:

All right, so in this scene, Cam and Kyle are going to do...stuff. Let's try this word.

Yes, Luke. That's perfect! By not being specific in some scenes, you're taking away from what you want to talk about. That's why this works!

No, that doesn't work AT ALL. You're not an erotica author, so you can't make the sex as smutty as possible. CHANGE IT!!!!!

Um...what if  what I just said is too much? Maybe I should edit it.

Luke, it's perfectly fine! You have nothing to worry about. You're writing this the way you want to, so you shouldn't doubt yourself.

Yes, please edit it! What if people see this and question you for it? That would be awful! Make it as ambiguous as possible.

No, it's fine!

It's anything but fine. Change it!

No!

Yes!

NO!

YES!

NO!

YES x1000!

*grits teeth*