Interview 1- Homegirl AKA Amanda

This is an interview with a very loyal reader, Homegirl-AKA-Amanda. Enjoy it!!

1. Where did the general idea of Hope come from? What was the inspiration behind this wonderful story?

Lina: Oh... that’s a hard one. Hope started so long ago. I don’t really remember... I think I had/have some horrid obsession with abuse stories. Haha, another story I had started to write on ffn was based on an abused person too. Then I became a huge twihard and I was like 'what about if Jasper got his scars from abuse' (because I didn’t really wanna write a vamp story). Then the gang thing added onto that, and then the story line of Alice the innocent girl from a big city comes along and changes his whole life around was added to that because Alice always comes with Jasper, of course. It all just fit in really well. I’m not sure if that’s a good answer for the question... but that’s what I can remember up to now.

2. With Hope and Forgotten Hope, do/did you have basically the whole story written out already or is/was it more of a make it up as you go along type deal?

Lina: Uhh, I can answer this one! Hope had a general plot line I was going with, the gang and Steve were the two big problems Jazz and Alice had to overcome together. It wasn’t already written, things were changing as the story went on and I added things, took things out, but the general plot line stayed the same. Now for Forgotten Hope, (SPOILER) I had the idea for Alice to forget Jasper near the beginning of Hope and I had to wait to do it, so I had the first chapter written like a while ago, I knew what was going to be going down for that part. Now this time, it’s a bit different since I have a beta the whole time, since I started alone last time, I had to tell her my plot which helped. That way I had to think into the future and put things into writing, so for Forgotten Hope we have a pretty good lay out of the whole story going down. But we still change things as we write, little things pop up and ideas fly.

Lucy: Yesss Lina just tells me things & I say yes or no haha. We talk out a lot of what might happen & when... decide what fits, etc. She'll bounce ideas off of me & I'll build on them, or vice versa... & then we both know the characters so well that it all just clicks together.

3. Lina and Lucy, you two seem really close. Do you know each other outside of ?

Lina: lol! Yeah, we are long lost cousins... no actually, I have never met her in person, ever. But yeah, I’d say we’re pretty tight, for sure. We talk daily so I guess we have gotten used to each other :P. We even have a mind connection now, that’s what you get when you start to write with someone. It’s pretty intense. But yeah, I don’t even know how I’d write without her! She is a huge part of Hope.

Lucy: *blushes* awe thanks Lina! =) But yeah, it's crazy. We just met through ffn cause Lina wanted a beta... & what's insane is that I had never beta'd before, didn't really know what I was doing, but I had some extra time cause it was about to be summer. So I pm'd her about possibly beta'ing, we gave it a try, and then just started chatting [about Hope stuff & just real life] via pm [and recently twitter]. We definitelyyy have the mind connection, which is great when you're working so closely with someone on something like Hope! Absolutely love all of it! We've definitely become close just through writing Hope.

Lina: ...we actually talk in like three different ways at once. Ffn pm'ing, tweets, and then direct messages on twitter. It can be pretty intense sometimes :P.

4. So we got a little taste of a drunken Alice at the gala. Will we see more of this behavior from her.

Lucy: It's tempting. We had so much fun writing her drunk, just because she is an adorable drunk. Even if the reason isn't so great... :-\. Butttt though anything is possible in Hope, right now we're thinking she probably wont be drinking like that again. She learned her lesson, got really sick from it, andddd upset both Spencer and Jasper. She wouldn't want either of them to have to take care of her like that again... and it was not the most pleasant night for her. So we'll lean towards no more drunken Alice in the near future!

5. Can you give us real time dates (i.e. birthdays, date of when J/A started dating, and date when S/A started dating).

Lina: Real dates? Sure! Maybe not too specific... Alice’s birthday is late September, Jasper’s birthday is mid November, Alice and Jasper started dating was early March, I believe so, Spencer and Alice started dating on Christmas day four years ago. Those aren’t too specific but will get more specific as Forgotten Hope progresses!

Lucy: Totally been asking Lina this very thing for a little while now ;) haha. So I'm glad you asked, too! Late September for Alice means it's coming up!! And then Jazz is not too far behind...!

5. Are we going to see more of Alice and Spencer's friends? Are they going to
be more pivotal to the story?

Lucy: Not yet. We might find some use for them later. Ideas just sort of come to us haha. But as of now, no big plans for them [in my mind, at least].

Lina: What she said, lol. But do remember that Alice and Spencer were never very close to anyone but each other, so their friends aren’t that close to them.

6. In the beginning, Mack was just this gangbanger spewing corny pickup lines
at Alice. But as the story progressed, he became a major character. What made
you decide to make him that way?

Lucy: Cause I LOVE him and Lina likes to make me happy!! Haha, no, just kidding... I just follow along with Lina, but we both saw potential in him after we got to know him a little better. And then as we got to know him, we slowly created his back story and then started putting him in as an extra conflict for Jasper and Alice to deal with, since Jazz wasn't too fond of her hanging out with him. He then also became the one who leads her to Greg, even though he didn't want to.... We got to the point where we knew him so well that he sort of just wrote himself, and then we couldn't keep him as just a minor character anymore.

Lina: Exactly. I just did it because Lucy loved him. Haha. But the OTHER reason was we did see a lot of potential in Mack. He was the missing piece to the ending of Hope. We needed him to make it all connect together. During that time we all fell in love with the boy.
Also this teaches a good lesson and much like every character in Hope, you can’t judge a book by its cover. Mack might have seemed like a hardcore, crazy guy who didn’t care about anything, but then once you heard his story it all made sense.

7. Ok, I have to ask...who is Dan secretly rooting for? Lol

Lina: lol! If he is secretly rooting for one I can’t tell you. It’s a secret! Nooo... I’ll be nice and tell. I believe that Dan is trying to be neutral. He can see both Jasper & Spencer love Alice very dearly and would give their lives for her. He trusts them both. But... you have to take into consideration the past. Spencer grew up being like a son to Dan, Dan is much more of a father to Spencer than Jim is and they have a special bond. Even though Dan would be okay with either of them, deep down he is rooting for Spencer. GO TEAM SPENCER! :D

Lucy: Personally, I think he's probably the only parent who wants Alice to make her own decision. He will be happy with whatever choice she makes. The moms are obviously for Spencer, and Spencer's dad is for Jasper... but Dan just wants his little girl's eyes to shine again. He hates seeing her so torn and confused. So even if deep down he's rooting for Spencer, I'm happy he'll be accepting of whoever she chooses.

8. Okay we know of the pregnant Alice, Nick rotting away in jail, and Mack
possibly dying...all plots of the story that was trashed. Were there any other things you wanted to happen, but the characters had other plans or it just wouldn't fit with the story?

Lucy: I think for maybe a second, Chloe was just going to be a short time girlfriend to introduce Nick to the idea of dating. But then we liked her way too much to get rid of her so quickly! =) Umm... other than that... I can't think of any at the moment!

Lina: Yes. The Chloe thing, she was just going to be a girl he dated for a bit, but then Lucy and I just fell in love with her and created her whole story. Now we are all stuck with her, for now. There was something else way back when Hope was at the beginning and I was creating Spencer. Originally Alice was going to get in a fight with Jasper, about the gang I think, and then go with Spencer back to New York and then Jasper would have to win her back and Alice would have to pick between them. But then I changed my mind because I thought up the plan for Forgotten Hope.

9. I see that Mack is staying on the straight and narrow. What is he doing
with his life now?

Lucy: Being adorable, missing Katie, trying to get his life together. See chapter 18. ;)

Lina: Chapter 18 pretty much answers this question. Lol

10. (Bonus ) Can you give us ANY kind of hint/clue as to what is about to
happen?

Lucy: Nothing crazy happens in October in the story? Not too big of a hint lol ...anddd stuff is about to get exciting. We have like 986236 things that are going to start coming in to play shortly with all of the characters. Umm... I think the only hint *I* can give you is that you'll like it. Cause
it's all ultimately in Lina's head, and I'm liking what I've been hearing. =)

Lina: Jasper gets shot by Mack in his sleep because Mack all along has secretly been on Greg’s side but wants Alice for himself and he finally got the opportunity to get rid of Jasper. *innocent smile*

11. So in Hope, Spencer made the big decision of leaving Alice alone in hopes
that she would remember him someday and come back to him. Now Alice
remembers and is with him again, and we hope that Jasper is going to try to win Alice's heart again. Is Spencer going to fight for Alice's heart this time around and not sit passively like before?

Lina: Good questions! Well, to answer this I’m going to bring us back to chapter 17. Here is a direct quote from Spence : “She was still mine and she would remain mine. I would be the best boyfriend anyone could ever want. I could do it. I could be better. I was going to try harder. I didn’t care what my dad said... I was going to be better than Jasper. I didn’t care if
Jasper wanted her. She was mine, forever.” Then, let’s see a little glimpse into the mind of Spencer back from Hope (Chapter 14): “I was going to let Alice go and have a normal life, without a surprise boyfriend who is trying to break her up with her other boyfriend. I was going to let her be happy, even if it meant giving up everything for me. Even if it meant giving up my reason to smile… the reason I was still living… my inspiration, my love, my everything…”
Anyone else see the difference in his mindset? I don’t think Spencer is emotionally or physically able to let go of Alice again like that. Right now, he is not going to let her go without a fight. And remember, Spencer’s mind is a depressing place right now, he would give up everything for her this time around. He just can’t lose her.

Lucy: Yeahhh he doesn't wanna let her go.... :-\


Lucy: Thanks Amanda! Good questions =)

Lina: Yes, thank you very much Amanda. We enjoyed your questions and we always enjoy your participation in the forums and reviews! It was great having an interview with you.

Hope you all enjoyed the interview, more will come as the updates continue!