TheJaylineEffect

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          What do you do when insomnia hits hard?
          
          1. Read.
          2. Eat.
          3. Write.
          ...
          
          As you may have noticed, I've given Volume One of my short stories with Jay (...who else, honestly?) a little refresh.
          
          'Say You Won't Let Go' has also grown quite a bit since its last outing.
          Let's just say the final chapter had quietly wandered well past the 3,000-word mark and had become longer than the rest.
          So I did what any perfectly reasonable writer would do... I took the whole thing apart and put it back together again.
          
          I also revamped all the banners so they finally share the same layout. 
          
          And I published a brand-new short story in Volume Two: 'A Year Away.'
          ('Secret Santa', which used to open that volume, has been moved back to Drafts for now. Since it never got the ending it deserved, it'll most likely return around Christmas with what every story dreams of: a proper ending.)
          
          Now, for those of you following Blind Fate...
          Yes.
          You're right.
          The ending is very much within sight.
          
          And yes... you're right about something else too.
          These short stories have become nothing more than my rather transparent excuse to postpone the inevitable moment when I'll have to say goodbye to Jay and Dan.
          
          I honestly never imagined saying goodbye to fictional characters could feel this difficult.
          
          ...But at least 'The Last Stone' will finally get the attention it has been patiently waiting for.
          
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          Three of my books are currently ranked: 
          N°1 ⏛ Blind Fate
          N°2 ⏛ Code Double Nine
          N°3 ⏛ The Last Stone
          ...in the "Sharp" category.
          
          At this point, I feel like that has to mean something*...
          
          ‧ ₊ ˚ .  ‧ ₊ ˚ .  ‧ ₊ ˚ .
          
          *I suspect what it means is that I actually have to finish them.

‧ ₊ ˚ .  ‧ ₊ ˚ .  ‧ ₊ ˚ .
          I'm kind of scared right now.
          Because in exactly five chapters... Blind Fate will finally reach the words THE END.
          I can't deny that's always the goal when we start a book. To finish it, eventually.
          But I'd be lying if I said I don't get attached to the characters along the way.
          Attached enough that when the last page is finally within reach, part of me suddenly wants to slow down.
          Just a little.
          Just long enough to postpone the goodbye.
          ‧ ₊ ˚ .  ‧ ₊ ˚ .  ‧ ₊ ˚ .

I felt the urge to change the wallpaper and the curtains...
          (Read: my homepage layout.)
          I quite like how the place looks now.
          
          · ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

New Book Announcement | The Last Stone ▪︎ ⌈ Featuring Jay Park ⌋ 
          
          Jay possesses this infuriatingly natural ability to turn even the most ordinary cliché into something that refuses to be ignored. The mere appearance of a new photo series is often enough to set an entire novel in motion in my mind, and I now spend a concerning amount of time resisting the urge to bring every single idea to life (ideas that, for the moment, behave and remain locked away in my drafts, waiting, perhaps, for their turn to be summoned).
          
          A few days ago, one of my script, The Last Stone, demanded my attention more insistently than the others (undeniably helped by the photo that claimed its place on the book’s cover).
          
          So, what is this story about?
          Among the (many!) hashtags, one may catch your eye: #wrongnumber. 
          Yes, the story does begin there, with that familiar premise. But I have no intention of stopping where expectations usually do.
          This is a story that starts with a wrong number, and then deliberately wanders... elsewhere. 
          (In other words: if you’re expecting a narrative told entirely through text messages, this won’t be that.)
          
          Of course, I find it difficult to stray too far from my "signature": protagonists with heavy hearts, sharp humor, and an impressive talent for misunderstanding if not ignoring their own emotions. This time, however, the universe leans slightly darker than usual.
          
          Jay appears here more magnetic, more mysterious, and more captivating than I have ever allowed him to be. 
          I can only hope his presence will resonate with you as deeply as it unsettled me while shaping the first chapters.
          
          I’ll stop here before I reveal more than I should. 
          So... Happy reading, everyone.
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/405498249

⍾ Soon, soon... ⍾
          
          Writing is my escape.
          Writing is my refuge.
          
          I could have simply said that a new novel is coming soon… but that would have sounded far less poetic, coming from a hopeless lover of words.
          
          Happy reading, everyone!

New Book Announcement | Blue Heart ▪︎ ⌈ Featuring Bang Chan ⌋ 
          
          Loving to write doesn’t prevent us, as many of you have probably already noticed with obvious pleasure (ironic)… from suffering the terrible affliction that is the-damn-writer’s block.
          
          Sadly, right now, I’m feverishly affected while working on Blind Fate.
          I stumble, I write, then erase, then rewrite. I hunt for words, but they keep escaping me the same way the sun escapes the panorama in Christmas photographs.
          Let’s just say that after a while, spinning my wheels grows tiresome, and I need a change of scenery…
          
          I must admit, I hadn’t expected writer’s block (who ever does?), but in the very last chapter I published, I had considered, completely randomly, a sort of crossover between Blind Fate and my next novel. 
          Mentioning Bang Chan was supposed to be just a tiny hint and I had no concrete idea yet of the story that would animate my next Wattpad project.
          
          But I always have so many ideas in my head that it’s hard not to be tempted to start a new story almost… every week!
          And as new characters have been taking shape in my mind for a few days already, or should I say… a few nights, the urge became simply too strong to resist.
          
          So here it is…
          My new novel, Blue Heart, starring Bang Chan (… please!) as a famous model and actor.
          You’ll read more about the blurb in the chapter “Setting the Stage”.
          My heroine’s traits: she will appear here with a well-tempered personality and a sharp humor (who said "as always"?).
          And the main ingredient of all my stories, whether they end happily or tragically, is, of course… love.
          
          Happy reading, everyone!
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/404777418

⍾ When a story captivates its author... ⍾
          
          Today, as I published chapter 12bis* of Blind Fate, I realized I had already written almost 15 chapters to narrate only... two days. Ouch. 
          As you might have guessed, yes... it simply means I love details.
          
          But I won’t lie... just as much as I love writing Blind Fate, it’s hard not to feel the pull of my other published stories, not wanting to let them gather dust, or even worse (or better?!) the urge to start a brand-new one.
          And while typing this message, I counted no fewer than 19 plots quietly waiting to bloom into novels on my feed. Which is kind of... terrifying, I must admit.
          
          That said, I’ve been receiving so many votes for Blind Fate...
          It’s a first for me, and it truly means a lot.
          So I just wanted to leave a little note here to say thank you. 
          And I hope you’ll enjoy what’s coming just as much!
          
          Happy reading, everyone!
          
          *You’ll notice the same in all my novels: I never publish a chapter 13.

⍾ Blind Fate ▪︎ A tale gripping its own author ⍾ 
          
          I never would have suspected that Jay and Dan could keep me so hooked! 
          Meanwhile, my other novels are gathering a bit of dust... sorry to the readers still waiting for new chapters! 
          Hopefully, I’ll find some time soon to breathe new life into each story.
          
          Happy reading, everyone!
          
          P.S. Thank you so much for your recent votes⏤they truly touched me!

New Book Announcement | Short Stories ⏛ Vol. 2 ▪︎ ⌈ Featuring Jay Park ⌋ 
          
          After some hesitation*, the need for freshness⏤often brought by a new cover⏤proved stronger than reason, and I finally decided to publish this new short story as part of Volume 2.
          
          At this point, I believe it’s almost pointless to justify myself.
          Anyone who lets their eyes wander across my homepage will surely find it as obvious as 2+2=4 that I’m inspired by a certain someone... and that this inspiration often demands a form of novelty.
          
          The concept of these short stories remains the same: picking a random photo from my⏤cough⏤huge database and letting inspiration guide me.
          Honestly, it’s getting wild these days, as Jay’s recent busy news give me literal cramps in my fingers because I just want to write.
          Whether it’s Jaeger-LeCoultre, Ralph Lauren, or his cover of Always, just to name a few... the part of my brain devoted daily to writing knows it will never truly rest!
          But this is no real complaint... writing remains, for me, one of the best ways to escape reality.
          
          That being said, I should note that all the short stories are written from the heroine’s point of view [as it always has been].
          This way of building the narrative isn’t easy, but I fully embrace it, which means every action, every situation, every event comes from the heroine’s thoughts or experiences.
          So you won’t hear Jay’s POV, though, sometimes, I’m clearly dying to let readers in on what’s going on in his heart or mind.
          It’s a very particular literary style, sometimes frustrating, but I take it as a writing challenge!
          
          I hope you’ll enjoy these new [short] adventures of Jay!
          Happy reading, everyone!
          
          ⏤
          *Because, honestly, what was stopping me from publishing this new story in the existing collection, right?
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/399641579