<< #23
Hello, Cloudheads (even if it's the last time I greet you as such)! As I was writing this, it became too long to fit into one post, so I decided to split it into three parts. Most of you who have read through these SILVER LININGs already know how much I hate breaking things up into chapters, but this is just something that needed to be done.
Everything that has a beginning, has an ending. There were several times when I was convinced that I wasn't going to make it to this point, but the encouragement of a handful of awesome people really kept me going. So, I wanted to dedicate this post to them. Here are the people who stuck with the story from beginning to the end:
@randomli
For being the wind that kept pushing me forward, and for being the rock that anchored me to reality. I was a bundle of anxiety for the entirety of writing and posting this, and you became my sounding board for all of those things. It wasn't easy dealing with it, but you handled it like the champion I know you are. "I couldn't have done it without you," doesn't even do it justice!
When I first started this journey, you were just my girlfriend, but now we're so much more than that. Funny how much difference six months make. As I end this journey, I start a brand new one with you. I can't wait to see all the wonderful adventures that we would get tangled up in. There is no other person that I can ever imagine spending my life with <3
@dreemit
The number one cloudhead! You've been there from the start, and your positivity really gave me a boost through this whole thing. I couldn't have done it without your encouragement, and it was a huge honor for this story to be posted side-by-side with your amazing Reborn story! :D
@verbal-d
My bro! This story wouldn't look the same without you. Literally! Even with the time constraint and the different life challenges, you still managed to help me out in my time of need. You're such a kind soul. I'm forever grateful for you, bro. I know you'll continue to do God's work! :D
@ryivhnn
Your comments have become such an integral piece to this story, my friend. I always look forward to reading about your entertaining thoughts and stories every time I post. You're an awesome conversationalist, and I hope that you find the success you so rightfully deserve! :D
@meesterboom
I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but you kind of became a subtle mentor for me here. You have such an awesome humor and an elaborate way with words. The way you think is something I will always try to follow. It's truly an honor to call you a friend, dude! :D
@kiwideb
You always share helpful advice. I don't even remember a comment of yours where I didn't learn something new! You have such a warm personality and your encouragement is always a great pick me up! :D
and of course...
@ezzy
Your friendship has really opened up a lot of doors for me here, brother. I'm so happy that you have returned so that we could pick up where we left off. You don't even know it, but your writing is such a big influence to mine.
with... the others who left comments here and there. I don't want to try to list all of you because I'm afraid I might forget someone. At the top of my head, @tincho and @jlufer are some users who became regulars near the home stretch. They have been huge sources of encouragement, and I just want to thank my Argentinian amigos for taking their time to leave their thoughts. Also, a buddy I made when I was first starting on Steemit, @anarcho-andrei, has come back with a vengeance. It's so awesome that he came back just in time as the story was winding down. He's a great fiction writer as well so make sure you check out his work. Thank you all for taking the time to leave your comments on my story. I truly appreciate it!
It doesn't end there! Since this is the last SILVER LINING ever, I'm going to make this hella meaty!
The Explanation
I'm pretty sure, there are a lot of lingering questions after the supposed end, so I want to take this opportunity to answer every single one. Don't be shy, ask away in the comments section. I'm happy to answer any and all questions.
The Mandala
No, this isn't in reference to @verbal-d's bodacious beat that's dedicated to @dreemit's spectacular story. This, my friends, is the biggest spoiler to the ending that I've shown from the very start.
If you don't know, there's a ritual that Buddhist monks perform which involves the creation of intricately designed sand mandalas. It takes them days to finish that marvelous artwork. They toil day and night to create those wonderful masterpieces. But then, after they have finished it, it takes only a matter of minutes for them to destroy it. That is the very essence of the universe, and that, my friends, is how I constructed this story. Here's a video that shows what I'm saying:
It took me months to build out this carefully constructed world, with the intent of it being temporary. There were several alternatives of how I would end the story, but I chose to go with the one I went with because I didn't want the climax to be at the end. How would Ledd ever sleep if he's still full of energy?? And yes, by destroying the world, I mean that his day in the clouds is meant to be just that — a day.
In my mind, he forgets everything almost immediately. No sequels, no follow-ups, not even spin-offs. Now, it might not be the popular explanation, but it was the foundation for the whole story. At least now you know what to expect when I put a timeframe in the title like week or month, or if I put a mandala in a story haha!
The Language
I'm not quite sure if I ever explained it, but the reason why he speaks Spanish was because of things that he saw on the teevee TV. His fantasy world wasn't just influenced by the things he saw, his mannerisms and his actions can be directly traced back to things he has watched as well. I think it was on Chapter 17 where I implied it. I chose Spanish because there are a lot of telenovelas shown here, so I wanted to give a shoutout to that. Perhaps Ledd caught Lowlah viewing a telenovela one too many times haha!
It's not my place to say, since I'm not a parent, but I can't stress this enough. Children are impressionable, so be careful how you speak or act around them. Be the shining examples that you want them to follow. If you cuss or shout in front of them, then you're only setting them up to act the same way when they grow up. Those little buggers are like clay, so mold them the way you want them to be. Oh, and keep them away from the TV if they're below three years old.
The Process
I know we have our own ways of writing content, but I just wanted to share how I wrote this series. Or, at least how I made it in the most efficient way possible. I use Google Docs to write, since it syncs in the cloud, allowing me to edit my documents anywhere. I then use a plugin that converts the document into markdown. I've also set up a template file, which is just a markdown that's a skeleton of what my usual post looks like, then I just plug in the chapter. I keep a log for my table of contents, so I plug in the URL of the previous and next chapters in the template. It sucks that the ability to edit after payout was removed. Chapter 15 and its SILVER LINING now forever looks like its next chapter is coming next week >.<
Look at me sounding all efficient. In reality, I constantly reworked the process the whole time. Heck, I only discovered the markdown plugin during Chapter 8!! :O Before that, I did all the italics on my own.
As for how I wrote and researched the whole thing, I've already discussed it previously so I won't rehash it. I took special care of writing based on the time of day, so I hope that makes up for the boring parts. For the times when there's action, I wrote it in a way that gets your blood pumping. But, when Ledd felt sleepy, I intentionally wrote it in a way to make the reader feel sleepy. I like to manipulate people that way haha! It's been a very tedious process, but I'm so happy that I went through with it.
The References
Even though I discussed some references in SILVER LINING #17 and the earlier SILVER LININGs, I didn't really mention much of the specifics. Trust me, I checked. I only mentioned a lot of them in the conversation with @ryivhnn. The line "Go, Diego. Go!" was the throwaway reference to Diego's identity. Coche was inspired by Appa from Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Catbus from My Neighbor Totoro. The ... you know what, I had thought about detailing every reference, but it would take days to break everything down. Bonus points if you can spot them all :D I made several references to Avatar: The Last Airbender, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, among many others.
Image Source
However, I do want to explain how I ended up with the Sachaphoyans. There are no Sachaphoyans. Google it, if you don't believe me. It was a play on words for the Chachapoyas (as you already know by now, Ledd isn't exactly an accurate listener). If you check out their wikipedia page, you'll immediately realize why I chose them. Since they were based in Peru, it made my decision to use Spanish a bit more push. Granted, Spanish wasn't the language of that civilization, but I couldn't find traces of their extinct language. Believe me, I tried.
I wanted to use a civilization that wasn't as talked about as their peers, like the Nazca or the Moche. Choosing someone forgotten by popular history was the only option. It just so happened that their alias, being the "Warriors of the Clouds" fit perfectly into the story. I wanted a civilization that was almost incognito, because that's how I feel Ledd is as a character. I was perfectly fine with making up a tribe for him, but then I stumbled upon the Chachapoyas. Everything just lined up.
Did you know that the opening scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the one where Indy was getting that golden idol with the counterweights, was located in the ruins of a Chachapoyan temple? Fun, huh? And ... I spoiled the Indiana Jones reference haha!
Fun fact: I posted the last chapter exactly on Ari's (my older cousin Ariel, Mamie's/Thiella's younger brother, Zepp's direct uncle) birthday haha! I intend to post the table of contents on Zepp's birthday, as June is, after all, his birth month.
Tune in tomorrow (yes, tomorrow) for Part 2 of the last SILVER LINING ever.
Voting for witnesses is free, but your one vote could dictate the course of this platform.
Vote for @lukestokes' witness lukestokes.mhth to help Steemit stop the Replicant threat
From the bottom of my heart and soul, thank you for reading!
Leave this post a feedback, and I'll be sure to return the favor!
Excellent work, as always dear friend @jedau, many thanks for the mention, it was a real pleasure to accompany your work dear friend.
I wish you an excellent day
Oh you already saw! Haha! It's a pleasure having you here, my friend. I wish more mutual support between us moving forward :D
I got worried that you might be checking on this and wondering what's going on, votes and comments wise etc. So here's what's going on--The HF. Firstly, it's a great thing, all of our voting power went up astronomically--however--we were all going bananas voting with our newfound ton of money and found out that it was murdering our voting power, mine tanked to just under 60%, so I had to stop voting today entirely so the coffers could fill back up. I think a lot of people ran away from steemit for the remainder of the day so they wouldn't be tempted LOL. I'm actually a little worried about ezzy, his bot is still going and he's probably going to run himself dry. Actually you might be in the same boat.
What I'm doing is putting posts that I absolutely must vote on from today up in the browser as the first thing to read and vote on tomorrow. Yup, I"m not even going to read this right now because I don't want to forget that I haven't voted.
Don't worry, I"m sure everyone will be back to their normal voting and commenting schedules if not tomorrow, then the next day.
But I just want to say I love you my friend, I loved not only the book but this complimentary series SO much! I can't wait to see what new things that creative, imaginitive and brilliant brain of yours has for us!
I will comment something actually pertaining to this post tomorrow when I vote :)
HMPH!
Naw I get it :) Yeah, I'm on the same boat with my vote bot. I was thinking of going the Boom Route by setting it to 40% instead of 100%, but I'm waiting to see where my voting % is after more than a day.
I'll just wait for your comment regarding this when you get around to it :D
Because I was determined to give you the full blast of my vote I waited until at last my power crept over ninety percent. Considering you said you were posting the last one today, I will go and read it and comment, but might again wait until tomorrow before voting, since just the few votes I've given out have already brought it down.
Thank you for your incredible words, I am definitely the number one cloudhead (I have a friend who makes t-shirts, hmmm ;) I think I'm the number one jedau fan in general.
It's been such an incredible journey, I can't believe it's over! Now you're going to have to tell me the name of that other book--I can re-read this, but soon I'm going to need something else of yours to read to fill the void!
I couldn't be happier that I not only found you in the amazing @ezzy's comments, but I decided to go and talk to you. We were fated to be friends, this steemit journey would not be the same without you in it. Ezzy says he thinks of us as a kind of guild, I agree. And I do think that it would be awesome for us, and @verbal-d, to create something together. We'll be talking more about that!
One more silver lining, a part of me wants to save that so it's not completely over, haha!
@randomli might argue the claim about being the number one jedau fan, but she's all-in with her support of you being the number one cloudhead ;)
I'm working really hard now to insert the edits on my first novel so that I could re-launch it with a paperback version. But, hold on to what you said about filling the void, sister ;) I'm going to start writing on a small project immediately after sending this comment haha!
I forgot what I said before, but it's along the lines of "Fellowship of the Quill" or if the word guild needs to be in there then... "Quilld" hahaha Wait, that sounds a bit off. Definitely unique though! We'll work on it when we start our mega collaboration :D
Part 2 is up, but wait, there's a third :O
Aw man. A day in the clouds is just that! I totally get it now! I didn;t realise it properly before!
I am awfully flattered to be considered in any tiny way an influence of any sort! You are a great influence to me to dude with your writing!
Again a great piece and thanks for clearing some of it up. I diod actually google sachaphoyans before, lol!
Whew! I'm glad everything made sense! I just wish people who don't get to read the SILVER LININGs would have the same appreciation. Man, I wish there was a Clippy popping up at the bottom right hand of the page when I publish this, just to give SILVER LINING-like comments hahaha!
Oh, dude, thank you. I've been reading meester as meister for quite some time now, and for good reason. Your writing style and humor, no, scratch that, your whole general personality is an awesome example to follow. If I could reach even half of your success here on Steemit, I would consider myself a very lucky man! :D
Oh ptoosh!! I get embarassed if people talk of success and all that jazz! I think its a SCottish thing but we arent that great about celebrating our own success. In fact I feel weird even typing that because it makes me think I am getting to big for my boots and someone will have to take me down a peg!
You are doing magic mate! If I had half your writing talent I would be a very talented chap!
I think you got it backwards, dude! Haha! I guess at this junction we won't ever agree on whose writing talent needs to be halved, so we'll call it even, yeah? Personally, I still prefer emulating your style. So, if you ever feel like you want to switch up even for a couple of weeks, I'm always down for that trade ;)
Thank you so much for all the inspiration and the acknowledgements bro, this is truly coming full circle in a grand finale of greatness. This silver lining has an overload of references and it is wonderfully laid out as a roadmap for understanding all the intentions and symbology you have carefully and intricately woven into your literary tapestry of fantasy fiction and non fiction elements. It has always been an honor to help you and contribute to your masterpiece.
I'm so happy how this journey unfolded, and I'm so glad that I was fortunate to meet such wonderful people. Happy to discover that the references I mentioned were enjoyable to read. It was a labor of love for sure, so I wanted to pepper in a lot of references for everyone. Thanks for all your help here, brother!
@jedau! What is this? It feels... I dunno... It feels... Like a farewell or something. Well, it going to shut my mind out to such nonsense as I'm sure you ain't going nowhere (even if you do take a little intermission from time to time). Your presence here with us is just too damn important.
Kind words, my bro. Thanks so much for the mention and of course remember, you are just conveying my own feelings for you. Such an incredibly affable and giving person. A serious rarity these days. So (even though I may have been AWOL for a while there), it has been an absolutely pleasure to journey through Ledd's saga with you as narrator. What an awesome combo!
And yes, on a quick side note, that HF19 stung me a little bad, lol! As the lovely @dreemit pointed out so correctly, I kept my votes going a little longer than I should have and it drained me bigtime. I'll have to be more vigilant to these matters in future. No harm done, lol!
Looking down your "Hall of Fame" and the comments list, one word springs to mind: comradery. People that have bonded together, created lasting ties and are now considered grounded friends. United in solidarity. Which other social media platform has the power to do that?
Such beautiful individuals and an awesome community to boot. Thank you, my dearest @jedau, for sharing your brilliant adventure with us and I can only hope that this is the first of many to come...
Bless, my brother... One in a million.... :)
It does, doesn't it? Hmmm ... I wonder why haha!
I meant every word I said, brother. I'm totally at a loss for words for everything you guys have provided me.
Hall of Fame is right, I'd rather have you guys have each others' back than a thousand followers who don't even care about each other. I'm truly blessed to have stumbled upon you guys. Worth more than any earning my posts make.
One in a million? Then I'm out of luck, since it seems Steemit is going to nab a million members easy haha
Thank's for all of this info @jedau
Hmm.. you're welcome? Haha! I'm not sure which info you found particularly useful, but I appreciate you taking the time to comment on my post :D
Thanks so much @jedau
You're welcome, dude! :D
Thanks
I finally made it back here. Sorry it took so long, but it was an inevitability as you are a great writer, and I enjoyed your story back when I had more time and attention. Those days are returning, I am happy to say.
Although oddly enough I am starting at the end of your explanative series and working backwards. But that's how I roll! No not really, but I am playing catch up. Bear with me as I progress through both this series and your truly wonderful story.
It was interesting reading here about the depth of research you did, and the way in which it coloured your story. This series has been both interesting and informative. What I wrote yesterday on my blog - 'Notes From An Amateur Writer' (which I plan on doing many more of) was inspired by this series of yours.
I am glad to see you persevered here, and have made such awesome progress. Hat's off to you, sir :)
I'm glad you're back, just when my internet is malfunctioning haha! We'll find a common time in the future, I'm sure of it!
You know, when I was a kid, I truly believed that Simpsons episode about everything in Australia is backwards, so thanks for confirming it to be true? :/ Haha! Just kidding, mate! I constantly tell you that the story would be waiting for you when you return, and it holds true to this day. Feel free to comment on whatever chapter. As you already know, I reply to every comment.
When I conceptualized this, I really set out to write an entertaining and informative story, so I'm glad it achieved its intented objective somehow. I'm currently leeching off my fiancee's internet, so I'm online on borrowed time. I'll catch up on your new series as soon as I can.
I've set you as one of my autovotes, so trust that I would never miss voting on a post of yours, my friend. You're one of my influences here, so I'm extremely happy that you managed to make it back on here :D
Yes, I'm the 'backwards man', lol. And thank you for those autovotes. I had forgotten all those tricks from my previous Steemit life, so I need to look into that again. And internet problems can be such a drag. I have been having them on and off for awhile now. So I get it.
And yes I am glad I managed to get back. Steemit seems to have a renewed vigor. Or is that just me? I am enjoying interacting with people again, whatever is behind it. See you around when your internet decides to behave itself.
It's you and the community that has a renewed vigor :D I guess the surge in the market price is what brought the new people in.
Dust off all those old tricks. With HF19 in full swing, I guess a new strategy is needed. @naq1 surely deserves to be taken for a spin ;)
Yes the price of Steem has contributed, I believe. And the increased participation then feedbacks to increased Steem price, so they reinforce each other. And yes HF19 has added fuel to the minnows, so thats a bonus.
Still have the other account (you may have noticed :) ), but don't know how to curate as well as I used to, and that was part of my experimentation.
With all of the changes, different strategies need to be enacted. It's not the same playing field as before, and that's exciting in a way :) I used to think a surge in new members would be detrimental, but now I'm not so sure. STEEM going up is definitely a win for everyone, I just hope those new members make more of an effort to thoughtfully interact and not just leave drab one-liners haha!
Did someone call :)
Been kept in mothballs.
Oh hai! Stretch those legs and warm up those arms. We've got some ground to cover. Time to make up for lost time :D
(Why do I feel like I'm talking to a real person? >.<)