#brunoah

my cat always steps on my laptop when i put it down to feed her.

she tried to contribute to the fic lmao

But I did update my chapter title Playlist based on my current chapter beats. This may change because a few chapters have the potential to be split into two when I get there, but here's the remaining chapter title songs for the rest of the story as I currently have it planned.

Threw some of my own Playlist in there lol. 'I Caught Fire' is initially by The Used obvs, but that cover by rosecoloredworld has been on my inspo playlist since the very beginning. I remember the Vegas trip where i finally started writing the story I'd been planning for a month lol, and walking up and down the Strip listening to this cover as I brainstormed and people watched. It takes an emo song I've loved for a long time and makes it sound more Bruno and Noah's vibe.

I'm also getting ready to launch the survey again. I was gonna do it last week but I saw a bunch of people replaying s14 for different routes so I figured I'd give them time to do so and decide who they like best. And it gives me a chance to make some last minute adjustments too.

Anyway it's been a minute so let's do a check in.

SAPPHIRE

Posted Word Count:

Chapters Posted: 50 (54, including prologue and interludes)

Written Word Count: 409,401

Chapters Written: 60 (66 including prologue and interludes)

Currently Writing: Chapter 61 (3361 words)

All chapters up to 60 have had their final edits and are ready to post, and I have outlined the story out to the end, probably in the 68-72 chapter range.

I've referred to a few couples that were influential on Bruno and Noah--Tohru & Kyo (Fruits Basket), Baby & Johnny (Dirty Dancing), Ember & Wade (Elemental), Katniss & Peeta (The Hunger Games), mostly.

Well I've been rewatching Friends recently, and reached the episode where Monica's upset about being called high maintenance (girl), and Chandler calms her down by telling her he likes maintaining her, and i was like...

I'm very content that I usually get about 40-50 hits over the week between chapter posts, but for some reason, I've already gotten 60 hits and it's only Thursday, what's happening.

I haven't even posted the Dom Bruno good girl scene yet (that's coming Tuesday 🤭), I don't understand. And about 20 of those have come in since I last checked around 1AM, so did I get rec'd somewhere or something? Is there a secret discord lol idk

SAPPHIRE:

Posted Word Count: 276,619

Chapters Posted: 45 (49, including prologue and interludes)

Written Word Count: 396,805

Chapters Written: 59 (64, including prologue and interludes)

Currently Writing: Chapter 60 (1567 words)

Noah's love of Paramore (well, and her sidecut) is the only remaining detail from when I was developing her and tried to imbue her with my own emo nature. She wasn't having it, though. It didn't really fit her age, her history, her personality. I'm not saying gen Z can't be emo, just that they had a different emo experience that I can't remove from my own, since I was there in the MySpace/Xanga/Livejournal/AIM era. It's one thing for me to try to write a generation I'm not part of (and tbh, I think Millennial earnestness shines through the story as a whole). But trying to invoke their very different experience of a niche interest of mine was too much.

That and the alt scene, in my experience, tends to be pretty level-headed because we process our emotions with the music and express them in the pit. Noah might've been a different person if she'd had that outlet. Instead, she found Paramore, and related to Hayley's very intense, very personal lyrics on her own. Hayley is very open about her mental health struggles, and while Noah isn't really willing to accept that her own struggles are also mental health-related, she can feel less alone while listening to Hayley's music. That, and Hayley's voice is absolutely incredible.

I think Noah's interest in Sabrina Carpenter comes from a similar place, though with Sabrina it's less about mental health struggles, and more about how disappointing men are but you can't help trying to find a good one anyway. And that it's okay for women to openly love sex. Can't forget that part lol.

This fic is actually a bit of a landmark for me--almost 400k words, and I haven't mentioned Fall Out Boy once. That's my favorite band of all time lol and I think Noah being a fan of them was one of the last things I cut from her character. I just couldn't justify it once I started editing, and had to cut the, like, two times I'd mentioned it. The tattoos on her wrists and thighs were originally supposed to have accompanying Fall Out Boy lyrics ("half-doomed"/"semi-sweet" on the wrists and "parttime soulmate"/"fulltime problem" on her thighs) but I simplified it. She doesn't need all that just because I love a band.

SAPPHIRE:

Posted Word Count: 254,772

Chapters Posted: 42 (46, including prologue/interludes)

Written Word Count: 381,263

Chapters Written: 57 (62, including prologue/interludes)

Currently Writing: Chapter 58 (483 words so far)

When I decided I wanted to write in Bruno's POV after all, I was determined to use different voices. I'm not sure how successful I was lol but I do have some rules I keep in mind while writing as each. I sometimes struggle to switch back and forth, and they're definitely absorbing some of each others' tendencies as we move along in the story, though I'm willing to chalk that up to the way couples pick up each others' quirks and habits rather than me struggling to switch voices lol.

I'm thinking about that because I'm struggling to switch back into Bruno's head after a very heavy emotional chapter in Noah's, so let's compare/contrast them a bit as I resettle into his voice.

Noah: more melodic, longer sentences, overthinks and analyzes everything. Well-spoken, even in her own head. Less visual but more aware of her emotions even as she tries to avoid them. Sometimes unkind and judgemental, but extremely self-aware and calls herself out for it. In fact, she processes by questioning herself, and sometimes only understands something as she speaks about it. Takes offence easily but can talk herself down. Maybe not as tough as she portrays herself. Speech is more brutish and wry than her internal thoughts.

Bruno: more rhythmic, shorter sentences. Staccato. Very kind, even in his own head where others can't see it. Thinks in his own dialect sometimes. Visual, prone to fantasies or flashes of imagery, but emotions tend to hit him out of nowhere, and he doesn't always understand them. Processes through physicality--aware of his own body and others' movements. Very self-deprecating and tends to joke at his own expense even when emotional. Extremely patient and more aware of others' emotions than his own. Definitely not as weak as he thinks he is. Speech is more flowy and melodic compared to internal thoughts.

SAPPHIRE:

Posted Word Count: 230,656

Chapters Posted: 39 (42 including prologue/interludes)

Written Word Count: 365,832

Chapters Written: 55 (60 including prologue/interludes)

Currently Writing: Chapter 56 (no word count yet, starting today)

I've set the beats through chapter 60 and decided to go ahead and title the drafts. Caveat that the chapter count might change if something starts getting too long and has a decent break point, but here's the chapter title playlist for all of Act IV as it currently stands:

I added a lot. Wanted to give Kelly and Tiffany their due as bombshells, and it gave me space to get Noah and Bruno where I wanted them before Dylan arrived too.

Guess:

Which one I was writing when I went to When We Were Young festival

Which one has the second Hideaway ("Good girl" 👀)

Which one has my version of daybedgate 🫣

SAPPHIRE:

Posted Word Count: 223,561

Chapters Posted: 38 (41 including prologue/ interludes)

Written Word Count: 349,482

Chapters Written: 53 (58, including prologue/interludes)

Currently Writing: Ch 53-53 final edits, Ch 54-60 beats (Dylan!)

There are lots of songs that I've tried to work into the story and ended up having to cut for one reason or another (usually because it's emo af like me but my two main characters are not emo lmao), so here's a short list of those:

* I Caught Fire - The Used

* Don't Come Down - The Maine

* The Joker and the Queen - Ed Sheeran (original title before I settled on Sapphire)

* Cut To The Feeling - Carly Rae Jepsen

* Still Into You - Paramore

* Clarity - Zedd feat. Foxes

The most recent chapter title songs are:

50 - Death of a Bachelor - Panic! at the Disco

51 - Fake Happy - Paramore

52 - Corner My Confidence - Coheed & Cambria

53 - The Cure - Lady Gaga

54 - Manchild - Sabrina Carpenter

I wanted to limit chapter titles to songs that were out before they went into the Villa, which both Corner My Confidence and Manchild don't qualify, but Corner My Confidence is 10000% for me and not for Bruno and Noah lol, and honestly I don't think there's a better song for Dylan's entrance than Manchild. Oh well I made the rules and I can break them.