A Sniper, a Soldier, and all of Craig’s Animals Walk into a Bar

And it’s a karaoke bar, because it’s time for another find-Sage-a-song contest, yay!

The Prize:

The winner of this contest will be receiving a copy of Hannah Moskowitz’s Gone, Gone, Gone, which, btw, is my favorite Hannah book.  Here’s the Goodreads description.

It’s a year after 9/11. Sniper shootings throughout the D.C. area have everyone on edge and trying to make sense of these random acts of violence. Meanwhile, Craig and Lio are just trying to make sense of their lives. Craig’s crushing on quiet, distant Lio, and preoccupied with what it meant when Lio kissed him…and if he’ll do it again…and if kissing Lio will help him finally get over his ex-boyfriend, Cody.Lio feels most alive when he’s with Craig. He forgets about his broken family, his dead brother, and the messed up world. But being with Craig means being vulnerable…and Lio will have to decide whether love is worth the risk.

This intense, romantic novel from the author of Break and Invincible Summer is a poignant look at what it is to feel needed, connected, and alive

The Character:

And what do you need to do to win this excellent novel?  Well, I need a song for the Taylor-Made soundtrack.  Austin, my soldier Simulant and a pseudo-POV-character has no clear song, and I want him to have one.  Justin has two and Taylor has a soundtrack-worth, but Austin is merely alluded to until the climax.

So here’s some info about Austin and his POV.  He’s an android built to fight in this war for America so that human soldiers don’t have to die anymore.  He’s aware he’s an android and he knows that he’s not going to get a parade when he gets home.  They sent him and all the other Simulants because he’s expendable.  Despite this, his loyalty to the U.S. is unwavering except for one brief moment where he questions it before his programming takes over.  When the human commander in his unit is killed, he’s put in charge, so he does have authority, but we never really see him use it, so I might kill that bit.  Halfway through the novel he meets a spy from the other side of the war, and she promises to help him get to the weapon they’re trying to get to and disable.  He falls for her.  He’s hard, he’ll shoot to kill without hesitation, he swears every fifth word, and until he meets this girl, he is entirely focused on the war.  After he meets her, he dares to dream about life after the war, with her.  A tease from his POV can be found here.

The Rules:

To enter, all you need to do is suggest a song that could be Austin’s character song.  It might be about soldiers or war in general or freedom or anything you think matches the above description of him.  Every song you mention is an entry, with no limit.  The winner is the one who chooses the song that most fits Austin, which hopefully will fit him so well that I’ll fill that hole in my soundtrack.  Even if no suggestion is perfect, I will still choose a winner.  If you could link or embed a YouTube video or lyrics, that would be lovely, but it is not necessary.  Just make sure the title and the artist are correct so I can find them.

Songs I do not need suggested to me are: “Citizen/Soldier” by 3 Doors Down or anything by Green Day.  I have already considered these and rejected them.

The contest will go on until 11:59 p.m. April 16.  On April 17, I will announce the winner and go out and buy two copies of Gone, Gone, Gone (one is for me).

Good luck!

Lots of love,
Sage

Teaser Tuesday – A Kidnapping

Here we are.  It’s the last Teaser Tuesday for Taylor-Made (unless I get bored during edits.  You know how it is.)  I looked for something that wasn’t too spoilery for you that I wrote last week, but I think that’s pretty much a lost cause.  So this is slightly spoilerish, I guess.

Context: Taylor is a Simulant, an android built by EDEN to be a boyfriend.  Some Simulants have very little individuality, but he has recently made friends with a group that had more than average.  EDEN has recalled him, and he found out that one of those he made friends with was recalled when he tried to contact Taylor, so he’s trying to save the others.  This is him at Angel’s house.

“You speak Spanish.” He doesn’t look Hispanic. Maybe a little Asian. Maybe. I guess we’re not really anything, ethnicity-wise.

“Yep, they plopped that into my head so I can talk to the help. Not that I don’t know that I’m one of the help too, believe me.”

“Is she going to tell your girlfriend we were here?”

“Nah. Not unless you kidnap me. So what’s up?”

I fidget. “We’re kind of here to kidnap you.”

“Oh. Well, let me make sure she knows I’m going out.” He winks at me and goes back inside.

When he comes back, I ask, “So your girlfriend is okay with you just coming and going during the day?”

“Sure. She’s gone anyway. And nobody really tells her what I do during the day. I watch a lot of movies at the theater, actually. So now will you tell me what’s up?”

Rosie drives us to the next Simulant’s house, while I explain about Geremy. “So you see, we have to stay with my friend.”

“Forever?”

I don’t know how to answer that. “I think so. I mean, not there, obviously, but–”

“Look, I never called you, and I didn’t go on your website. As far as they know, I didn’t do anything connected to you. If I just go back to Caren, everything will be fine. If I stay with you and your friends, there’s no going back.”

“They took Geremy, and he knew your name. I don’t know what information they got, but we all keep logs in our brains. They’re pretty detailed, like a narrative of our every day. Whether Geremy wants to or not, he’s going to tell EDEN our names, he’s going to describe each of us. If they get you or me, it’d be the same thing. We can’t help it. We record our memories and EDEN reads them to analyze their results.”

“So… there’s no going back to Caren.” The sadness in his voice touches me. I know what that feels like. No matter how much individuality he has, he still loves Caren. “Can I call her?”

Angel is my favorite of the non-Taylor Simulants, so I hope you like him too

Lots of love,

Sage

Taylor is off the Assembly Line and Ready for Quality Control

Today I finished my rough draft for Taylor-Made.  I started the reboot at the beginning of February, so this was a very clear two-month novel. I know I started in February because on Jan. 31, I posted about the Rosie debate.  Would I change her from my initial vision or keep her the same?  I ended up keeping her the same…and writing it all from Taylor’s POV.

February saw me write about 20K (there was a little overlap with the 5K of my original in that total).  There was one 10K-Saturday challenge, in which I wrote 8K, so the other 28 days resulted in 12K, including the rebooted stuff.

Then I hit March.  I had another 10K Saturday that first Saturday, and I made the goal that day.  I also was more productive during that week.  In those first 13 days of March I got the novel up to 40K.  Things were getting easier once Rosie and Taylor got together.

And then on the 14th, I had the day off (I work weekends), and I was plodding along all day.  But that was the day that Taylor found out what he was.  And it was amazingly intense.  I stayed up writing because I couldn’t go to bed, not when I was so filled with Taylor’s emotions.  I continued writing until I hit a Justin scene, which I had written in a notebook earlier.  There was no need to stay in Taylor’s head at that point, so I finally went to bed.  But for the next two weeks you could not drag me away from writing.  Working in the lab was wasted time, particularly when my coworkers were around me and wanting to talk to me.  Yeah, there was a lot of “Beware of writer”-shirt-wearing and noise-reducing-headphone-wearing too, in the past couple of weeks.  When I got home, I was instantly on my computer.  My days off were spent hanging out in a cafe writing.

So another 30K was reached steadily in the following two weeks.  Yep, it was pretty much a NaNo novel in March, but the full novel clocks in at 71,675.  At least until the first round of edits.  And, man, do I have edits to do.

Note, that this is my longest novel since Echoes of Silence, way back in 2005 (which was twice as long and is not going anywhere, but anyway).  Most of my novels that I do something with are in the 55-65K range.  Once I pass 50K, I call it a word count victory.  I have had novels that were shorter.  And for MG, that’s fine (In a Pear Tree is safe at 42K), but for YA, under 50k is a tough sell for spec fic.  Anyway, I knew when I hit 50K that this novel was probably going to land at about 70K, and, look, I was right!  It’s a word count I’m really happy with.  But of course, it will change in edits.  I know many things that have to be added, and things that will probably be removed.  It’s amazing to be going into my first round of edits with some of this stuff already figured out.

While I joke about starting a Hero/Villain or Love Sucks sequel right away, I am actually pretty excited to do some of these bigger edits.  First up is to rewrite the first chapter (It’s in Rosie’s POV, oops).

So that’s what I have to look forward to.  You know, besides that little thing where Love Sucks comes out in 4 weeks.  I secretly love editing (don’t tell anyone), so this is not sarcasm in any way.

Anyway, yay for Taylor-Made’s first draft being done!

Lots of love,
Sage

Teaser Tuesday – Hot Kiss

So here’s a fun little teaser.  I’ve written so many different types of things in this novel this week that it’s hard to believe that this was one of them, but once I went back that far I wanted to share with you.

Previously on Taylor-Made: Taylor found out he was a Simulant/BOIS-friend–an android programmed to be the perfect boyfriend.  He is the one and only Simulant recycled from another one, who was named Justin and belonged to Malinda.  Taylor has been having dreams of Justin’s life with Malinda.  Taylor is actually programmed for Rosie.

“Taylor?” Malinda says softly. She’s looking at me now, and her eyes sparkle in the flickering of the TV’s light. She’s closer too, and she folds her knees under her on the couch, leaning in towards me. “This is so stupid, and I know it’s going to ruin everything…”

“No it won’t. Just say it.” My mouth feels dry. I don’t know what I think she’s going to say.

She says nothing at all. She sits up on her knees, putting her face just higher than mine. She pushes my hair back and leans in to kiss my forehead, but before she can, I tip my face up and meet her lips with mine. Her eyes widen in surprise, but she clenches her hands in my hair and practically melts into me. I wrap my arms around her waist, like I’ve been wanting to do all night, to be honest, and I pull her tight against me. Her body against mine, I can’t stop thinking about it that night, her naked body in the moonlight.

She lets out a soft moan, but I push her away. My face is on fire, and my body’s warming up quickly. I push myself off the couch and run to the kitchen for some water. Oh, god, is my body punishing me for kissing someone other than Rosie?

I find a glass exactly where I know it is and pour some water from the faucet. I take a great swig from the glass. It’s not cold enough.

“Taylor?” Malinda hugs the doorway, watching me.

“Malinda, I can’t. I physically can’t. I– God, I’m burning up.”

“Oh,” she says softly. She enters the room and puts her hand against my cheek. Her fingers are cold. “No, Justin did the same thing. It’s okay. You’re okay.”

Justin? I look at her like she’s crazy. There’s no way he kissed another woman. “The same…”

She hesitates and looks around. “Maybe I’m wrong. What… what were you thinking in there?”

I flash back to her body and feel another wave of heat. I get some ice from the freezer and put a cube against my forehead. “I don’t really feel comfortable telling you what I was thinking.” Right now the flush in my cheeks might be unrelated to the rest of the heat in my body.

“O-Oh. No, I mean, that’s right. That’s what happens when you’re not programmed for…for making love.” She twists her hands together and looks down at them, blushing. “When Justin and I– But he was okay after he got some sleep. His system needed to recharge. You don’t want to hear about this, I know, but that’s what he needed. Anyway, that’s what’s happening. I think. I mean, right?” Her eyes flick up to my face.

Sex. Holy smokes, it’s sex.

Hope you enjoyed

Lots of love,
Sage

Teaser Tuesday – Simulant

Oh, hey, it’s Teaser Tuesday and I nearly forgot.  Which would be tragic since I love everything I wrote this week.  But here I am, and here you go.

This excerpt is in no way spoilery, though in most novels you would expect it to be.  But, hopefully, the revelation Taylor makes in this scene has already been figured out by the reader.

Context: In a dream Taylor’s been having of Austin, a soldier Simulant, Austin’s arm was cut deeply, exposing his electronic bits inside.  Right before this scene, Taylor was told that the only Simulant to be recycled was Justin, who he also has been dreaming of.

I pace back and forth, trying to talk some reason into the jumbled craziness in my head. I just keep seeing Malinda over and over, calling me Justin, and the five seconds it took me to remember that I was Taylor.

“I’m Taylor!” I scream and punch the wall between my bedroom and bathroom. I lean my forehead against it and pound it a few more times with the heel of my hand.

I can’t be a Simulant. Because it would mean that Rosie ordered me, and Rosie doesn’t even like BOIS-friends. And she didn’t want me. She made me chase her for months. I can’t be her BOIS-friend. I can’t be a Simulant.

I look up and right above my head is the poster that she defaced ages ago. The pimply faced girl was supposed to be her apology to me. Saying, “look at how I defaced myself.” The girl is hand-in-hand with a Simulant.

It’s supposed to be me. I’m the Simulant in the picture.

“No.” I rip the poster out of its pushpins and tear it up. “No.”

I run into the kitchen and search the drawers for a knife. I’m not a Simulant, and I’ll prove it. I find my sharpest knife in the drawer near the fridge. I cut along the tip of my left pinkie finger, not deep enough to do a lot of damage, but deep enough that it should bleed. I squeeze my eyes shut at the pain, but force them open to look at the blood.

And wait.

It doesn’t come.

I’m practically hyperventilating now. I take the knife to the bathroom and look at myself in the mirror. “Is that you, Justin?” I whisper. I shake my head. But I remember him getting ready in the mirror. Same wild blond hair, same blue-gray eyes. Who has gray eyes?

I bite my lip and put the knife against my left arm. I know about how deep to cut if I have to, but if I see blood, I’ll stop. That’s all. I’m about to pass out at the mere pressure of the blade against my skin, but I force myself to press down. I hope for blood, but there’s nothing. I press harder and cry out at the pain. I clench my teeth and keep going, but there’s no blood, just a clear liquid starting to dribbled down my arm. I stop when I see a flash of silver that isn’t the knife. I stop when I can see a spark of electricity under my skin. My right arm falls limply to my side as my left arm exposes me for what I am.

I’m a Simulant.

Lots of love,

Sage

Come on, Lucky Seven

Carissa Taylor tagged me to participate in the Lucky 7 Meme.  So here I go!

Here’s how it works:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines – sentences or paragraphs – and post them as they’re written. No cheating
4. Tag 7 authors
5. Let them know

Pretty easy, huh?  Here’s seven lines (I did literal lines on the page) from Taylor-Made.

“I’m having trouble getting the connections in the forum to link up properly,” Alex says. “Everything else is ready for you to take over, but I want to get this done right the first time. Do it right, and you won’t every need to see programmer mode again.”

“Thank goodness,” I say.

She laughs. “Thought you’d say that.”

I glance at her as she works. Her eyes get so intense, which is accented by the contact lenses she wears to make them red. Some girls call her the “computer demon” because of this. I think it’s kind of cool.

Let’s see.  Who to tag?  Who to tag?

Cat Hellisen

Elissa Janine Hoole

Gracetopia

Hannah Moskowitz

Rae Mariz

Ryan Gebhart

Suzanne Young

Lots of love,

Sage

Teaser Tuesday – Electives

Quite  a lot has happened in the novel since we last saw Taylor.  Like, now he’s dating Rosie.  What?  I know.  Here’s one of their few happy scenes before I send the world crashing down on them again.

Context: When they finally got together Taylor promised Rosie he wouldn’t kiss her until she’s ready and that meant that she could initiate all the kisses.  Oh, and Rosie told Taylor about her current ideal guy, basically describing her ex. BOIS are android boyfriends and soldiers.

I’m lying on my stomach in the grass outside the auditorium, trying to fill out this form. “What classes are you signing up for?” I ask Rosie, peeking at the form she’s filling out on top of a textbook.

“None of your business, nosy,” she says, pulling it away from me.

“Hmm.” I flip through the elective book. Most of this form is easy. We fill out the classes that come next, no problem. But now that I’ve finished my gym requirement, I get an elective next fall.

“Senior year’s soooo hard,” Kara says. Only last week did she start hanging out with Rosie and me at lunch again. Rosie had been spending time with her after school, but she refused to see the two of us together. She still won’t come to PET-BOIS. I don’t think she liked it much anyway.

“Yeah. It’s all about our future,” Rosie says. “As if we don’t have enough to worry about with applying to college and stuff.” I know she’s thinking about her scholarship speech. It’s coming up, and she’s been worrying about it a lot.

“What do you want to do in the future?” I can’t believe I’ve never asked her this before, actually.

“Fight for BOIS rights, of course. So, let’s see. Maybe something social science-y.”

I make a face. I definitely prefer real science to social science. “I hope I get Craig in advanced chemistry. Science won’t be the same without him.”

“He probably wishes the same thing,” Kara says. “He’s always talking about how grateful he is that you’re his partner on dissection days.”

“Not much dissection in chemistry.” But I grin at her because it’s a compliment and because she and Craig are talking even though they don’t share a club anymore.

Then it’s back to business. I stop at the industrial arts section of the booklet, remembering how Rosie wished for a guy who was good with cars. Even though I know she was just listing Graham’s qualities, I still want to become the guy she always wanted. There’s an auto shop class listed, and it’s during a period I have free.

Of course, maybe I should learn to drive first.

“I should join drama,” Kara says.

Rosie grins. “You’d be great at that.”

“You think?”

I let their conversation slip to the background as I continue flipping through the book, slipping in a mental bookmark for that industrial arts page. I don’t find anything else that interests me until I get to the computer science section. “Hey,” I say, lifting myself up on my elbows.

“What?” Rosie asks.

“Computer science. I want to take that.”

“Really?” She wrinkles her nose.

“Yeah. I love our website, and I’d really like to know more about how to make something like it. It’s really interesting the way Alex can make all those numbers and symbols mean something.”

“Oh. Alex.” She snaps her booklet closed.

“What?”

“Nothing. You just seem to like her company a lot.”

“Yeah, she’s nice.”

Rosie glares at me. Oh. “Aw, Rosie, are you jealous?”

“As if.”

“You know there’s nobody for me but you.” I push myself up to kiss her. I know this is okay now because last week she totally told me that if I didn’t pick up the slack and stop making her do all the work kissing, she was going to punch me in the gut. I kind of believe her.

Hope you enjoyed the only happy romance scene I’ll probably ever post.

Lots of love,

Sage

 

Teaser Tuesday – A Little Bit Broken (Justin and Malinda)

This week I did another 10K Saturday challenge, and this time I actually made it!  But with the 10K I typed up that day, it’s another day’s work this week that I really love.  Yesterday I pulled out my notebook and wrote all the Justin and Malinda scenes (and one Taylor and Malinda scene) that I know about.  I love these two so much.  Probably because the book isn’t about them, so they serve as a building block for Taylor and Rosie’s story.  If the book was about Justin and Malinda, I’d probably find them boring

Since I wrote in my notebook, I’m typing this up from scratch, so I apologize for the roughness that comes with typing this up right this second. (I had to type the first four words three times to get them right, sigh)

Context: Justin is a BOIS, a boyfriend android created specifically according to his girlfriend’s wishes.  Malinda’s dad, who was paying for college (Taylor and Rosie are in high school, don’t worry), lost his job, and she’s been working to help pay for it.

“It’s just a little thing.  Nothing to worry about.”  Malinda walks her fingers up my arm to my shoulder as we lay in bed.

“I’m broken? I don’t feel broken,” I say quickly.  I don’t want to spend any more seconds away from her. She’s working at the ice cream parlor and doing school.  I only get to see her a little, and now I have to spend that time at the factory?

“It’s one tiny part.  They say we can bring you in for a quick fix, and we’ll be out in less than an hour.”

She’s watching her fingers instead of my face.  I wish she’d look at me.  I wish she’d promise me it will be okay.  I’d believe her.

I believe her.

“An hour’s a long time.  But we’ll be together forever.  And that’s longer.”

“Yes,” she whispers.  “Forever’s a lot longer.”  She turns over and lies her head against the pillow.  It’s my cue to press myself against her back and wrap my arms around her.  We’ve fallen asleep cuddled like this ever since that first night she came to me.

But tonight she turns in my arms so she’s facing me. “Let’s make tonight last forever.”

I don’t know what that means, but we both stay awake watching each other for a long time.

#

I think I fall asleep first.  But she’s asleep now, wrapped in sunlight and the blankets and me.  I stroke her hair.  She sighs and opens her eyes.

“Good morning.”

She tucks the blankets up to her chin. “Hi.”

“It’s time to fix me forever.”

She squeezes her eyes shut and nods.  “Let’s get dressed, and we’ll go.” She gets up and walks to the door.

“I love you,” I say before she leaves.

“I know,” she says.  But she forgot the most important part.

Someone reading this in the novel knows exactly what’s coming, but I wonder if you can guess from this little excerpt.  Or remember past posts that clue you in (hint: a little birdie could tell you).

Hope you enjoyed it!

Lots of love,

Sage

Anatomy of a Soundtrack – Coin-Operated Boy

This is the Taylor-Made theme song, and the first song on the playlist, but it wasn’t the first song to be added to the playlist.  That song, “Tailor Made” by Colbie Caillat was the inspiration for the novel.  But this came right as soon as I had a plot for the novel and not just a glittery hint of idea floating around in the ether.

So no story about the process as I tried to decide the perfect song for this role.  “Coin-Operated Boy” by The Dresden Dolls was the clear choice.  I first heard this song on the alternative station several years ago, but I didn’t really fall in love with it until I saw a fan music video using the song and scenes from the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (my first love in television, you should know).  In the video, Riley is the coin-operated boy, Angel is the boy Buffy’s turned to the COB after, and Spike is the boy in the bridge that she swears she will never go to.  The music video worked so well that I bought the full song so I could remember it every time it played.

But here I am writing a novel about androids (BOIS) that are created to act the part of the perfect boyfriend for each girl.  The entire novel focuses around these BOIS, first while Taylor and Rosie fight for the BOIS’ right to freewill, then when Taylor discovers that he’s one of them, created for Rosie (Although his POV doesn’t know this for a long time, it should be pretty clear to any reader from chapter 1, so I’m not spoiling anything, I promise).

Anyway, here’s the song (no lyrics, because I couldn’t find a good one with lyrics, sorry)

Perfect song for TM, right?

Lots of love,
Sage

Anatomy of a Soundtrack – Bluebird

So since you all know how much I love soundtracks to my novels, I thought I’d do some posts about the songs I choose as I choose them.  And instead of starting with something obvious for Taylor-made (like “Coin-Operated Boy” or “Tailor Made”), I thought I’d start with a Malinda song.  Probably ‘cuz I want to write some scenes for her, but she’s not around yet.

So here’s the background on Malinda.  She bought a Simulant named Justin to be her boyfriend, then was unable to keep him (for financial reasons, though this might change) so she returned him, even though she was utterly in love with him.  Justin was recycled into Taylor, who is programed to love Rosie and to be Rosie’s ideal boyfriend.  And then Malinda sees him one day….

Malinda had some songs early on in the making of the soundtrack.  Her first songs were shared with Rosie–jealous girls in a love triangle.  I was so psyched to consider Beyonce and Shakira’s “Beautiful Liar” because I love the sound of that song, but while it worked okay from Rosie’s POV (she considers Taylor a liar at that point), it didn’t for Malinda, and besides, there’s that awkward name-dropping in the song.  The next logical choice is “The Boy is Mine” by Monica and Brandi, but while I always like this song once it gets going, there’s something about the beginning that makes me want to skip ahead.  In the end, I decided to give Malinda her own song instead of sharing a love triangle song.

Big surprise, there were a couple of Glee candidates (actually, I don’t use a lot of Glee songs in soundtracks, tbh, because I associate them too much to the plot of the Glee episode to think about them subjectively, most of the time).  I pictured Taylor singing “Take Care of Yourself” to Malinda.  And as I was listening to “Rumors/Someone Like You” for about the thousandth time, I realized it could be Malinda singing it.

Except, I don’t see Malinda singing that spiritedly about stealing a boy away (“rumor has it I’m the one you’re leaving her for”).  I see her as the girl who gave up the boy she loved and completely regrets it.  In her case, the boy doesn’t even exist anymore, except as a locked-away memory in Taylor’s head that keeps leaking out.  And while she’s hopeful that he’ll dump Rosie and come back to her, she’s not about to brag about it to Rosie, the way “Rumors/Someone Like You” does in the end.  And I see her as a more quiet character who needs a quieter song.

Originally, the song Malinda ended up with was being auditioned for Rosie (whose ex-boyfriend really did die), but the more I listened to it, the more I realized it was Malinda’s.  A lot of time I’ll audition songs for a soundtrack that I don’t know the lyrics to, but that I have a sense might fit the character or scene.  Most of these end up not making it, but I’m amazed how often I’ll find the perfect song based on the slightest hint of a line I caught at some point while listening to it.  While I’m not a huge fan of “Jar of Hearts,” Christina Perri’s “Bluebird” was a free download on iTunes, and I downloaded it and forgot about it.  For some reason I saw it on my music list and had this feeling it belonged on this soundtrack, so I stuck it with the Rosie songs to audition (most of which have been discarded since).

Since moving it to Malinda’s songs, I’m 99% convinced that Malinda’s theme will be Christina Perri’s “Bluebird.”  Give it a listen and tell me what you think.

Lots of love,

Sage