Behind the Scenes..of Family Ties!

Hey Lovelies,
I'm going to try something new, Behind the Scenes segments! I'll talk about the story and reasons for things, or what was going on when I wrote it. I'll try to keep spoilers out, and don't be afraid to ask addition questions!

"Do you even remember much? You wrote Family Ties when you were sixteen," Abby bursts into the room, plops down onto my bed with an eyebrow raised.

I'm sitting on my floor and look up at her.

"I'm trying..."

"This should be fun," Abby snorted.

Okay as I was typing before rudely intrupted **tries to restrain myself from glarring at Abby** the little tid bits of Family Ties will be shared. As Abby pointed out I first wrote Family Ties when I was about sixteen years old (5 years ago yikes! How did that happen??). When I went back last summer a few things were changed.

The idea first came up from my overactive imagination when I was home alone one day. I first pictured a person in a prison, oddly that was the first thought and the story grew from there, and that she really didn't know the truth about her past.

Historical Addition:
When I first wrote the time difference with Emma's time frame I was not fully sure when I wanted her era to be, because I wasn't sure when I would publish this story so I didn't want to date the story too much. When I went back I made her more very early 1900's, I had seen a movie in my Women's History class about Ellis Island and the ships that came on. That scene was new to the story, extending the last Emma's chapter a little!

A new character:
The character Theodore (Teddy) Brandt, Emma's friend, really was not in the first few drafts of Family Ties and wasn't added till a month or two before I sent the story to BCP. To those who read the story, could you imgaine how him not being there would throw things off?

Names:
Also Emma in the orginal had a different name, I really do not do well with sticking with names if I continue behind the scenes you'll notice a trend. Emma was first known as Ottilie, when I chose to go by a pen name I changed the name to Emma, which I think is a pretty name. Cory, I really didn't care for the name till I started to write this story, and now it's one of my favorite guy's names now. Abby's brother Josh was first named Chris, for awhile those were two names high on my like list, but I decided to change it because in a dream sequence in Project US Rachel has two children named Abby and Chris. I figured that might be a little problematic and to make things easier I might as well change some names.

"Great, we're tied into Project US?" Abby pipped up, leaning forward so that her face rested in her hands, her elbows on her knees.

"Not anymore, stop with the Marshia talk! Now where was I...?"

Scenes/Locations:
A few scenes were added when I was editing last summer. A couple of senes in the resturant was added. I really had fun adding the conversations between Cory and Abby. The resturant that Abby and Cory work in I pictured the Country Club my Grandpa has been a member of for as long as I can remember, my parents got married there, family birthdays, baby showers, you name it my family had them at Deal Country Club. So I pictured parts of Deal, a little of a neighborhood by me for their homes. Also yes there is a hill by a baseball field that they are at the end is real, I went there all the time when I was little, I just forget what town it is in! Oops!

FUN FACTS:
For those who read chapter one and thought the Gorilla and Banana thing was so unrealstic, no school really has that happen, aha! You would be very wrong...at my high school when I was there the 4 years it happened twice. Yes there were two times when a person dressed up as a Gorilla and another dressed as a banana and chased each other down the halls. The first time it happened they were running down the hall on the last day of school. I really didnt' believe my friend Jess when she told me she came out of class to that sight, so the following school year at our homecoming pep rally the chase happened again. I was sitting next to my friend in the band section when the two ran on the football field, it was pretty funny. Also my friends and I are that weird when we go bowling together, I was on the bowling team in high school, haha yes laugh at me...band and bowling!

"Isn't that cheating using real life?" Abby asked.

"I glanced up, how is that cheating? That can be funny at times! I do it on occation!"

"Cheating," Abby sang rolling her eyes.

"Whatever Abby."

Real Life:
Okay so more then just banana's there are other things I took from real life. I really don't know my dad's side of the family, but I do know my great-grandmother on my dad's side of the family came from Germany herself, just recently I found out so did my great-grandfather side. In the story the great-grandfather is Scotish. Wilhem's last name, Von-rosenberg is actually my great-grandmother's maiden name!


Well I want to add in I really enjoyed playing around with the wadrobe for this story! I use to play with those doll making sites, the cartoon ones, to mess with the different style of clothing. I had probably too much fun with that!

I hope you all enjoyed this behind the scenes, if you like it, please tell me! If you wish there was something else, please comment and tell me what it is missing! Don't be afraid to ask me questions! I really hope I didn't discourgage anymore from reading the book, maybe gained a few readers :)
~Ottilie

Sorry for the delay!

Hey Lovelies!
I know it has been a couple of weeks since I last posted! I seriously had intended on posting something fun on here the other week and I promise I will do so! See now I have made that promise it is set in stone! I am mentally five when it comes to promises, if you make one you should as hell (can I say hell on here?) better keep it, also the deal is online and we know once something is on the world wide web it is not going anywhere! I'm thinking of doing a little behind the scenes of Family Ties! Lame or cool?? If people like it I might continue to do so with other stores! Just a little details of what was going on when I wrote it, where the ideas came from. I'd like to hear your ideas on that.

AHH also I recieved an email saying I got an award a week or longer ago, can't find it. I really wish I could remember who awarded it to me so that i could at least thank them!! So sorry I really appericate it!!

So I thought of a couple of scenes I might be adding to Pirate's part 2. One of which might help the plot a little more. If editing it works out then the books will be a series A Pirate's Life for Me and Heart out at Sea. Corny names I'm sure, but they just feel right! I'm hoping to finish that this summer earlier, hopefully! My friend Amy said she'll read through it before I see if BCP wants it, I am loving the BCP family by the way! We did our first Author chat live the other week and I might be doing one at the end of the month! So exciting, it was a lot of fun so I'll keep you updated when that is happening! The first giveaway for Family Ties went seriously better then I could have expected! 1,198 people entered to win a signed copy of my book I seriously can't get over that number! I was talking to my friend Taylor (the one End of the Line was dedicated to!) about how I went from 5 readers in high school to that many wanting to win my book! Over 200 people on goodreads added the book to their lists! I'm jittery just thinking about it! I'm planning on putting a copy of End of the Line up on goodreads in a giveaway when I am done with the re-release! Still not sure when that is happening, but I'm enjoying the process none the less!

I'm sure I'm forgetting to say something. Hopefully I'll be posting soon though!
~Ottilie