AG Journal #26 (Unwanted Chapter)

Hey, guess what I did! I FINALLY posted Chapter 6 of the AG story! I feel really lousy for it having taken as long as it did-- there were multiple moments where I found myself stuck-- I think it was less of writers block and just more of general fatigue from a full work schedule (last week I worked 60 hours) and I would come home and literally just fall asleep in my chair.

This chapter rivals the fifth chapter for length, and really I dont think I'd have been very happy taking anything out of it. Almost every scene has relevance in some way to the plot and I feel is pretty needed. I sure hope that everyone feels this chapter was worth the wait-- or at least it makes them forget how long they waited for it.

SPOILERS! GO READ CHAPTER 6 FIRST!

Allison plays a big part in this chapter. A lot of people may remember in the comic strip how Allison forces a kiss on Rachel in the mall. I felt that that was not the direction I wanted to take Allison in this story. I wanted Allison to be a lot more aware of peoples feelings and cautious when approaching these subjects, which leads to the multiple scenes (bowling, the mall, and finally in the car) of her figuring Rachel out before eventually making her final approach. And even when she finally does make the move-- its noting over the top like in the comic-- I felt what happened with Allison in this chapter is a lot more realistic to how it would be approached and allow them to still be friends afterwards. Also the way everything played out here has a lot of importance for later chapters and also for the Allison based Extended Universe I am going to eventually write.

Evan totally doesn't know that Rachel and Ryan are the same people. I mean, seriously people, how could you think that he knows? He totally doesn't. 

I had some complaints in the initial versions of the first few chapters that there werent enough Brian scenes-- and this chapter we see Brian and Katie a total of once-- but that is because Rachel is avoiding them-- they arent in Rachels life and the story follows Rachels life. The next chapter, however, WILL see Brian and Katie apart from what is happening with Rachel. I actually kind of had that epiphany yesterday morning as I was trying to figure out what I could do to make a complete chapter (as I still seemed to be lacking in story to fill an entire chapter). 

Oh, and in this chapter we are introduced to Ryan Sr! This is a HUGE change from in the comic strip-- in the comic strip he abandoned Rebecca and the kids-- now we learn that she actually kicked him out-- I wanted to make the character a little more sympathetic without making him entirely likable. I wish I could have had more with him in this chapter but I unfortunately was not able to fit it in. We WILL, however, see him periodically in some form or another in upcoming chapters. 

I just love some of the character interactions in this chapter. Rebecca, Allison, Emily, and Travis all have interactions in this chapter that make me smile. In the contrary aspect-- Originally in the comic Karah White was just a background character that appeared like, twice, and had no dialogue-- however-- when I redid the story and Nikki became a junior-- I realized that Nikki and Karah would very likely be friends-- and when I realized they'd be friends-- well-- Karah just became more and more of a bitch-- which I felt was a good move since I didnt want EVERYONE on the volleyball team to be supportive-- just like I didnt want all the cheerleaders to be bitches (ie Chloe) and so Karah just began getting more and more lines.

C'mon people, I want to discuss this chapter with people, comment!!!