I am, in essence, a teenage girl hanging out with a guy that's out of my league, waiting for him to hold my hand for 20 seconds. If I had to get stuck in a guilty pleasure time loop for eternity, I'd go there in a hormonally charged heartbeat. 🍄🙃
I was 50% being a twit when I said that. But it's not entirely untrue. I enjoy existing creatively in that era/experience of life for a lot of reasons. Many of which I've never exactly unpacked. But I'm expanding my boundaries on Substack and finding there are a lot of different lanes I enjoy driving in. I will never commit to one voice and I'm not sure what it means to inhabit one voice "fully", but if that's your goal, you have my support. I know which voice I think you should inhabit, but the other 97% has the majority vote. ;)
JUST Loved it Meg! So much emotion and so palpably packed in with Dawn’s backstory begging to be told. After all WE can't forget she exists. Well done!
I've been waiting for Dawn to be a POV character since it was established she was at the scene of the shootout.
It's a bit refreshing - in this story where, so far everyone but Arnold has been established as a spy, revolutionary, gangster, espionage agent and/or alien cop or weapons merchant - to dive into someone who is...just a girl. Just someone lost and confused (and ready to make some poor choices), but who remains just there. She's just a girl with a crush who fears for her crush.
A very pissed off girl who has run off with a broken beer bottle into a situation beyond her.
Ugh, and she's also right that her parents DO ignore her. Hell, they trained up the brother... If this were a novel we'd get to return to if that is because Kate and Eric discount Dawn as unskilled and useless to their spy games, or if it's because they just wanted one daughter who would be "normal."
But I doubt that's a thread that will be followed by the future authors. This is me catching up on a binge after a missing "next chapter" button got added, but I've already read Simon's chapter and know he doesn't pull it.
But I hope Dawn isn't ret conned into being a spy, agent, alien in parts 9 or 10. The Kate ret con is still the one thing that didn't "flow" quite right for me.
Thank you for reading, Mike! The authors on this project have such diverse talents and styles, it's been really interesting to see what direction they take their respective chapters.
The spy/alien/gangster motif is definitely not in my wheelhouse, but I do write a TON of YA fiction.😊 So, Dawn was the perfect choice for my POV. And I was immediately intrigued by Wills in Chapter 3 because he seemed to exist outside the criminal mindset of the others in the gang, and maybe that was his choice. Because he's really a good guy, just trying to do right by his deadbeat friend. And maybe he didn't have a lot of options.
I too, hope Dawn manages to stay earthbound to the end. But alas, it's out of my hands now!
Thanks for committing to reading everyone's contributions. It's so appreciated!
😭 😭 😭 oh Dawn! Love her nickname! Love her determination! Love the ending! Death to cowards!
Dawn needed her day. And as soon as Wills appeared in Chapter three, I just HAD TO HAVE HIM!!!❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥
Ooooooh...Very good!!!
As a teen, I could never resist a "bad boy..."
This is my jam right here.
The bad boy who's really a good boy, though... that's my sweet spot. 🔥Thanks for reading!!!
Exactly.
Noice!!! Fantastic job, Meg. What a great POV. I'm really impressed by everyone's ability to capture the nuances.
We collectively eat nuances for breakfast, I agree. 👍🏼
Really nice! It’s super fun to see people whose writing styles I know write these stories ... this was quintessentially you. Nice work.
Thank you, Tom. It IS me.
I am, in essence, a teenage girl hanging out with a guy that's out of my league, waiting for him to hold my hand for 20 seconds. If I had to get stuck in a guilty pleasure time loop for eternity, I'd go there in a hormonally charged heartbeat. 🍄🙃
I think it’s cool that you know that about yourself. I think I’m still figuring out which voice I can inhabit most fully.
I was 50% being a twit when I said that. But it's not entirely untrue. I enjoy existing creatively in that era/experience of life for a lot of reasons. Many of which I've never exactly unpacked. But I'm expanding my boundaries on Substack and finding there are a lot of different lanes I enjoy driving in. I will never commit to one voice and I'm not sure what it means to inhabit one voice "fully", but if that's your goal, you have my support. I know which voice I think you should inhabit, but the other 97% has the majority vote. ;)
Thrilling. Hooked on every word. Tragic! My heart is breaking for Dawn in that big dirty sweater. Ugh.
And to think, if you hadn't given me Wills and told me he was a "good guy", this might never have been. 💔😢
JUST Loved it Meg! So much emotion and so palpably packed in with Dawn’s backstory begging to be told. After all WE can't forget she exists. Well done!
Thank you, Reena! We're on the home stretch now. Emotions and stakes are running high!
I can remember feeling just like that and being told that sort of stuff, so painful you catured it well
Thank you, Kerrie. 💛
I've been waiting for Dawn to be a POV character since it was established she was at the scene of the shootout.
It's a bit refreshing - in this story where, so far everyone but Arnold has been established as a spy, revolutionary, gangster, espionage agent and/or alien cop or weapons merchant - to dive into someone who is...just a girl. Just someone lost and confused (and ready to make some poor choices), but who remains just there. She's just a girl with a crush who fears for her crush.
A very pissed off girl who has run off with a broken beer bottle into a situation beyond her.
Ugh, and she's also right that her parents DO ignore her. Hell, they trained up the brother... If this were a novel we'd get to return to if that is because Kate and Eric discount Dawn as unskilled and useless to their spy games, or if it's because they just wanted one daughter who would be "normal."
But I doubt that's a thread that will be followed by the future authors. This is me catching up on a binge after a missing "next chapter" button got added, but I've already read Simon's chapter and know he doesn't pull it.
But I hope Dawn isn't ret conned into being a spy, agent, alien in parts 9 or 10. The Kate ret con is still the one thing that didn't "flow" quite right for me.
Thank you for reading, Mike! The authors on this project have such diverse talents and styles, it's been really interesting to see what direction they take their respective chapters.
The spy/alien/gangster motif is definitely not in my wheelhouse, but I do write a TON of YA fiction.😊 So, Dawn was the perfect choice for my POV. And I was immediately intrigued by Wills in Chapter 3 because he seemed to exist outside the criminal mindset of the others in the gang, and maybe that was his choice. Because he's really a good guy, just trying to do right by his deadbeat friend. And maybe he didn't have a lot of options.
I too, hope Dawn manages to stay earthbound to the end. But alas, it's out of my hands now!
Thanks for committing to reading everyone's contributions. It's so appreciated!