Confessions of a Punk Rocker is actually a complete re-write
of a story I finished a couple years back entitled ‘Confessions of a Broken
Hearted Punk Rocker’. In that earlier version, Jack was dealing not with the
death of his best friend, but a breakup from the woman he madly loved. That
woman, of course, was Jen, the star of my novel Living Dead Girl. So how did
that happen?
Living Dead Girl had been accepted by my publisher and was
in the process of being edited. In that early draft of the book, Jen and Jack
broke up for a short period of time, and ‘Confessions’ was supposed to cover
that time period, but from his POV. Then a curious thing happened during the
editing process: my editor suggested—and I eventually agreed—to scrap the
break-up completely. For a book that was supposed to go paranormal, we were
already taking an extraordinarily long time to get to the paranormal, so we
were looking for ways to speed things up. A rambling courtship, breakup and
reconciliation were not in the cards.
So I re-wrote a huge chunk of Living Dead Girl during the
editing process, with this sinking feeling that it had rendered another story I
wrote (Confessions) completely useless. That if I ever wanted to tie these two
books together, it couldn’t happen without some serious re-writing of the other
book too. Confessions of a Broken Hearted Punk Rocker ended up gathering
virtual dust in my hard drive. I loved Jack’s voice, and still wanted to tell
his story, but this one wasn’t going to work.
Of course, one day, I had one of those breakthrough moments
of inspiration, where I figured out exactly which direction I wanted to take
Jack’s story. Instead of a break-up, it would happen before he met her, and
tell how the death of his bandmate led to Jack recruiting Jen’s younger brother
to play drums. I was able to salvage a few of the scenes from the original
story and tailor them to the new plot. In the end, I was much happier with the
new story and glad that things had taken the turn they did.
I guess the advice I’d give any writer, is if you truly love
a story you wrote, but it doesn’t quite work…keep it anyway. You might find use
for it. That, and seriously consider the advice of your editor. In my case, it
was hard at first, but ended up making for much better, much stronger stories.
All that said, here are a couple snippets from that original
work, ‘Confessions of a Broken Hearted Punk Rocker’…never before seen in
public. Thanks for reading!
Jack & the band
on a road trip, and dealing with having the brother of the chick who dumped you
right there…awkward:
“Drew turned sideways to talk with Scott, but with the
Exploited blasting in my eardrums, I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Fuck,
he even looks like her. That was the killer. Having the male version of my
ex right in front of me, it was just cruel. I couldn’t look at him without
thinking about her. And it wasn’t like I was attracted to dudes, or even to
him, it was just…they had the same eyes, the same nose. Even some of the same
facial expressions. Fuck.”
As
musicians sometimes do, Jack wrote a song about his ex. And now he’s second
guessing himself:
“I hated censoring myself. I figured if I was too much of
a pussy to say something out loud then it probably wasn’t worth saying in the
first place. But this? Doubt looked over my shoulder, because when I heard
myself singing the words, they sounded too harsh, they sounded wrong, and
everything inside me screamed that I didn’t mean it. Not that I had a problem
using the word, it was just using it in reference to her. I mean, what
if she heard it? That thought ran over and over in my head. So at the
last minute, when I was showing the guys what I’d written, I made a mental note
to scratch out the word ‘cunt’ from the song. Then I cringed and waited for the
backlash from the rest of it. I watched Drew’s expression in particular, for
any sign that he was ready to throttle me, but it never came.”
Showing
up unannounced at Jen’s house:
We stood at the front door, waiting, and then there she was,
practically swallowed by her brother while I stood on the step feeling like an
idiot. Their cousin Ethan piped up in the background, and Drew barreled past
her, and she stood watching them, frozen in place. I didn’t think she even
noticed I was there.
“We would’ve called first, but fucktard over there couldn’t wait
to come home and see his big sis. I hope we’re not interrupting anything.”
Her head whipped around, and she stared, wide eyed. God damn
did she look good. And what she was wearing? Man, it should’ve been outlawed.
This old, worn Bruins t-shirt, so thin I could see the shadow where her
bellybutton was, I could see the outline of her bra and where her tits pushed
out over the top of it. I could see freaking everything.
“Jack.”
“Hi, Jen.”
Getting back
together:
I kissed her. Old habits? Maybe. For a split second I worried that
she’d push me away, but instead, she kissed me back, and any self-control I
might have had flew out the window. It was insane. I wanted her so bad, just to
bury myself inside her. I backed her up against the wall and lifted her, and
oh, fuck, when she wrapped her legs around my waist, and squeezed, I nearly
lost it. I grasped the backs of her thighs, and pressed myself into her, ran my
hands up her shirt and undid her bra. My fingers brushed over her tits, then I
slid my hand into her shorts. She was already so hot, so slick, my fingers slid
right inside her. I would’ve fucked her right there. Then she pushed me back, panting
just as hard as I was, and I thought please don’t fucking stop me now.
“Let's go to my room,” she whispered
Confessions of a Punk Rocker
Living Dead World
Book 0.5
Nessie Strange
Genre: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Etopia Press
Date of Publication: Sept 25 2015
ISBN: 978-1-944138-05-9
ASIN: B015QJ7TAS
Number of pages: 268
Word Count: 55305
Book Description:
The dead should stay dead...
Jack Norris has just lost his best friend—who also happened to be his band's drummer—to a drunk driving accident. As he struggles to deal with the band's uncertain future and his own personal demons, those issues soon become unimportant. His dead friend has come back. And he's not showing any signs of going away. Questioning his own sanity, Jack finds his life spiraling out of control. But when a new acquaintance not only hooks him up with a drummer, but promises to help get rid of his ghostly stalker, Jack's life does a one-eighty.
Drew MacLellan, the new drummer, is more than just a new set of sticks—he's the brother of the insanely hot Jen MacLellan, who's definitely not Jack's biggest fan. Jen is nothing like the women Jack's dated in the past, but the more he gets to know her, the deeper he falls. The only problem is she's got a boyfriend. Caught between his growing attraction and the desire to do the right thing, Jack does everything he can to keep his distance. But the more he sees of her, the more he realizes he can't. He's determined to win Jen's heart, if only he can figure out how to help his dead friend rest in peace...permanently.
EXCERPT#1
My eyelids
strain against gravity. Last night’s binge hangs in the back of my throat,
threatening to reappear. Maybe. All I know is the inside of my mouth tastes
like a used tissue and my head throbs, right between the eyes. I don’t even
remember how I got home.
“Hey, Jack, get
up.” The door swings open and my brother Ashton pokes his head in. A beam of
light cuts through the darkness and stabs me square in the face. Am I still
drunk? Groan. I shouldn’t have had those last three beers. Or that shot of
whiskey to top it off. Right now, any sudden movement would be a bad idea.
“Dude?” Ashton
widens his eyes at me and jerks his head to the side, a move that’s one part
impatience, but mostly asshole.
I fold my arms
behind my head to show him I’m not in a rush to do anything. This will piss him
off even more, I’m sure of it. It’ll also give me time to scrape the fuzz from
my brain. “What.”
“Uh, funeral?”
He looks at his watch. “It’s nine-thirty and we need to be there in forty-five
minutes.”
As if I could
forget something like that. My buddy Eben got tanked a few nights ago and lost
control of his car. It flipped over, skidded across the median, and smashed
into the concrete barriers on the other side. They say he died instantly.
“And?”
His eyes look
like they’re ready to roll back into his skull. “And you need to get your lazy
ass out of bed. Now.”
Right. Get out
of bed. It doesn’t seem possible that I’m burying one of my closest friends
today. A wave of dizziness washes over me as I try to sit. My eyes snap shut.
That’s it, I’m never drinking again. “Chill the fuck out. I’m getting up.”
“Yeah, well, get
a move on.” He stands in the doorway with his arms folded across his chest and
watches me. Could he be any more annoying?
“What?”
“If I leave the
room, you’re just gonna sit there instead of coming out to the kitchen. Where
the rest of the band is already waiting, by the way.” He cocks his head to the
side. “They’re pretty much always waiting on you, aren’t they?”
“Go fuck
yourself,” I mumble while I untangle my legs from the blanket. I’m holding my
breath now. It’s funny how smells like stale air and dirty laundry seem
magnified when you feel like you’re gonna puke.
Ashton shakes
his head. “Grow up.”
I shoot him a
dirty look, but don’t answer.
“Sometime
today.”
“Do I at least
have time to shower, or are you gonna stand there with the stopwatch if I do
that too?” I grab a towel from the floor and brush past him, slamming the
bathroom door behind me.
“Hurry up,
Jack.” His voice is thankfully muffled by the door.
The shower turns
cold after the first couple minutes. I stay under the water anyway, tilt my
head back and focus on the mosaic of peeling paint and mold spots above me.
Man, I never realized what a luxury hot water was until I moved in with my
brother. I’m shivering to the point my teeth chatter together by the time I get
out, but I couldn’t possibly be more awake.
About the Author:
Nessie is a Massachusetts native and mother of two who has dabbled in everything from abstract painting to freelance sports reporting. She also loves a good story, whether it's reading or writing one. The first two novels in her Living Dead World series--Living Dead Girl and Reaper Madness--were published in 2014.
3 comments:
Enjoyed the post and the excerpt, sounds like a really good book, thanks for sharing and good luck with the tour!
I really enjoyed reading the guest post and the excerpt. This book sounds very interesting and intriguing!
Thanks so much for posting & for everyone who took the time to read. Thank you! :)
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