{"id":2315,"date":"2021-08-31T22:38:26","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T03:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/?p=2315"},"modified":"2025-01-14T23:02:56","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T05:02:56","slug":"lx-commentary-13a-girl-in-the-tower-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lx-commentary-13a-girl-in-the-tower-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"LX Commentary #13a: Girl in the Tower (Part I)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><p style=\"text-align: left;\">Once I decided the Heartman &amp; Songstress fairytale would carry Side B, I knew it needed an epic conclusion. This 40 page chapter is by far the longest in the <em>L Extreme<\/em> book\u2014essentially a standalone novella when combined with the four 4-page shorties that precede it.<br><br>My original idea was to continue the silent-film nature of the other Heartman &amp; Songstress chapters, but I abandoned that in favor of foreshadowing Heartman + Benji&#8217;s connection in advance of the reveal. (Also, you can&#8217;t really have a karaoke battle with characters who can&#8217;t speak, can you?)<br><br>Evilon&#8217;s appearance as the villain was completely unplanned until I signed his name to the King&#8217;s note. It was a fun little cameo based on a bit from <em>LILILIL<\/em> where Chocolon mentions that Evilon &#8220;is not that evil anymore.&#8221; I laughed when I wrote it, and my brain went like this:<\/p><br><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>He&#8217;s not that evil anymore.<\/em><br><em>This is the story of when he was evil.<\/em><br><em><strong>A Love Extreme<\/strong> as a prequel to <strong>LILILIL<\/strong>.<\/em><br><em>Maybe that&#8217;s the title: <strong>A LIL EXTREME<\/strong><\/em><br><em>In <strong>LILILIL<\/strong> the future is behind us and the past is all we can see.<\/em><br><em>So it&#8217;s a sequel to <strong>LILILIL<\/strong> and a prequel to <strong>A Love Extreme<\/strong>.<\/em><br><em>A prequel can be an origin story.<\/em><br><em>They both have the same narrator.<\/em><br><em>So Frank is really&#8230;whoa!!!!!!!!!!<br>I just think I figured out what it&#8217;s really all about&#8230;<\/em><\/p><br><p>And just like that, the building blocks for the rest of the story fell into place.<\/p><br><p>Other tidbits:<\/p><br><ul><br><li>&#8220;&#8230;signals received from behind the veil of dreams&#8230;&#8221; is partly foreshadowing, partly tying the concept album <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/3olVj0sLaAAPJdcXxd875N?si=Tjg1G-ykQlmKYKzp2Og2gg&amp;dl_branch=1\"><em>Spirit Guide<\/em><\/a> into the mythology.<\/li><br><li>Underlining the words in Evilon&#8217;s letter calls back to a <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/track\/2YbyYLDYKdlAQOMqDDv4DG?si=85c75a12d4074c9b\">Muscadine lyric<\/a>: &#8220;And every word he wrote is underlined.&#8221; Not underlining the Ls in the note is an easter egg for the observant.<\/li><br><li>More riffing on <em>LILILIL<\/em> with &#8220;Seeking assistance wasn&#8217;t difficult. The challenge was deciding who to solicit.&#8221; Heartman deciding who not to recruit from the body is one of my favorite parts.<\/li><br><li>Hallux is the medical term for your big toe. Roman battalions were known as Miles, the root of the word Military. Hence Miles Hallux, commander of Jessica&#8217;s footsoliders.<\/li><br><li>Remember Jessica&#8217;s supermarket magic trick where she made the list disappear? She ate it, hence it&#8217;s in the body now. How&#8217;d it shrink down to Heartman &amp; Hallux size? That&#8217;s not for you to know&#8230;<\/li><br><li>Foot Force Five by Five is a nod to <a href=\"https:\/\/pulpfiction.fandom.com\/wiki\/Fox_Force_Five\">Fox Force Five<\/a>\u00a0from <em>Pulp Fiction<\/em>.<br><figure id=\"attachment_2320\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2320\" style=\"width: 286px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/71mrGyG5izL._AC_SX679_.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"286\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2320\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/71mrGyG5izL._AC_SX679_.jpg?resize=286%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/71mrGyG5izL._AC_SX679_.jpg?resize=286%2C300&amp;ssl=1 286w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/71mrGyG5izL._AC_SX679_.jpg?resize=381%2C400&amp;ssl=1 381w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/71mrGyG5izL._AC_SX679_.jpg?w=679&amp;ssl=1 679w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 286px) 100vw, 286px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2320\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8220;A bare left foot on a blue circle. Benji&#8217;s right hand on yellow, hair dangling down. Right foot blue, turning Jessica sideways.&#8221;<\/figcaption><\/figure><br><\/li><br><li>The <em>Twister<\/em> bit was inspired by a question asked of Benji Hughes in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freakerusa.com\/blogs\/news\/6160344-benji-hughes-pt-2-of-2-tootoo-tutu\">interview with Freaker USA<\/a>. It also tied in well with the existing <em>Clue<\/em> references from &#8220;Why Do These Parties Always End the Same Way?&#8221;<\/li><br><li>I tried the invoke a mix of <em>Quantum Leap<\/em> (&#8220;smack dab in the center of the imaging chamber&#8221;) and <a href=\"http:\/\/books2read.com\/b\/tp\"><em>Timely Persuasion<\/em><\/a> (&#8220;as if he had left the body and become Jessica, seeing what she saw&#8221;) in describing how the eye portals worked. (Technically <em>QL<\/em> inspired <em>TP<\/em> so it&#8217;s all the same, though <em>QL<\/em> never really described how the effect worked.)<\/li><br><li>&#8220;Heartman thought he spotted something in the corner of Benji&#8217;s iris&#8221; is a paraphrase of &#8220;It made the moon just out of reach, I saw it trapped there in your eye&#8221; from &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/track\/17m8AA4MAr5JnFUHgqLOXF?si=a1372b7ff34f4b23\">The Beach<\/a>.&#8221;<\/li><br><li>&#8220;&#8230;a few anonymous foot digits from witness toeprection&#8221; is my favorite bit of groan-worthy punny wordplay. (It will also be a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Googlewhack\">Googlewhack<\/a> as soon as this post is indexed.)<\/li><br><li>Hallux&#8217;s idea of playing footsies to find a path between bodies is me telling the reader I did think of other possibilities too, but in an effort to keep things family friendly I didn&#8217;t go there. As the narrator says, <em>&#8220;Are you thinking of other pairs of body parts right now? Regardless of whether those are male or female, I&#8217;m not going there.&#8221;<\/em><\/li><br><li>Yes, I recognize the hypocrisy in making this chapter a single 40 page epic but splitting the related commentary posts into separate parts. See you in part II \ud83d\ude42<\/li><br><\/ul><br><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/books2read.com\/b\/lx\">Check out <em>L Extreme<\/em><\/a><\/p><br><p>PS: Splitting this into parts gives me an excuse to use different videos at the end of each. The official\u00a0<em>Girl in the Tower<\/em> music video is at the end of the &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/?p=2306\">Mmmmmmm<\/a>&#8221; post. Here&#8217;s a short film with the song as its soundtrack.<\/p><br><p><div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8aCr_e_UHQw?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Once I decided the Heartman &amp; Songstress fairytale would carry Side B, I knew it needed an epic conclusion. This 40 page chapter is by far the longest in the L Extreme book\u2014essentially a standalone novella when combined with the four 4-page shorties that precede it. My original idea was to continue the silent-film nature&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-scenes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3pfx3-Bl","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2254,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lx-origin-story-part-ii\/","url_meta":{"origin":2315,"position":0},"title":"LX Origin Story, Part II","author":"LBDG","date":"August 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Like I said towards the end of Part I, after chipping away on a novelization of A Love Extreme on and off (mostly off) for a few years I had a song by song storyline that (amazingly) worked so much better than I imagined given the circumstances. I'd also come\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2787,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/remixing-heartman-songstress\/","url_meta":{"origin":2315,"position":1},"title":"Remixing Heartman &#038; Songstress","author":"LBDG","date":"April 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"L Extreme\u00a0plays out in album order as a track-by-track adaptation of\u00a0A Love Extreme, but ironically following the song sequence generated a non-sequential narrative that loops back on itself in a series of flashbacks. Keeping score at home? Excluding framing devices, re-arranging the chapters into chronological story would be along the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Ballad of Heartman & Songstress -- a free novella by JL Civi based on the songs of Benji Hughes","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/HS-JPG-723x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/HS-JPG-723x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/HS-JPG-723x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/HS-JPG-723x1024.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2240,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lx-commentary-10-all-youve-got-to-do-is-fall-in-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":2315,"position":2},"title":"LX Commentary #10: All You&#8217;ve Got To Do Is Fall In Love","author":"LBDG","date":"July 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Upon deciding to run with this fairytale interlude for the rest of side B, my storytelling goal became connecting the dots from Benji & Jessica to Benji & L while moving things towards a confrontation in \"The Tower\"\u2014whatever that might turn out to be. So easy to do, right? :)My\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-11-30-at-9.58.58-PM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2430,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lx-commentary-17-love-is-a-razor\/","url_meta":{"origin":2315,"position":3},"title":"LX Commentary #17: Love Is A Razor","author":"LBDG","date":"October 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Love is a razor. It's cold, and it's sharp. It's cutting out hearts that glow in the dark. And it's selling wine...\" The core of this chapter is your basic lyrically inspired play by play: C has a glow in the dark razor and challenges Benji to a shaving contest.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Writing-Action-Shot-LX-Razor-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2317,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lx-commentary-13b-girl-in-the-tower-part-ii\/","url_meta":{"origin":2315,"position":4},"title":"LX Commentary #13b: Girl In The Tower (Part II)","author":"LBDG","date":"September 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"One epic chapter allowed me to squeeze in a few more musical references via section breaks\u2014either a song title from a different Benji Hughes album or a lyrical snippet, with the precedent set in previous longer chapters to give the reader a reasonable breakpoint every 10ish pages if needed. Specific\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Screenshot of Scrivener writing app sidebar with titles for individual scenes from the book.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-02-at-11.27.30-PM-223x300.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2274,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lx-commentary-11-even-if\/","url_meta":{"origin":2315,"position":5},"title":"LX Commentary #11: Even If","author":"LBDG","date":"August 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\"There ain't no way you're ever gonna find another lover like me...\"Imagining Benji Hughes as Heartman crooning the loungy opening line here only yielded one possible rival: Cupid. 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I wanted a reason to dive a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/benji-zax-and-the-alien-prince-829d757f-9d41-47e9-9d95-141e9e5547b-resize-750-190x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2315"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3398,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2315\/revisions\/3398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}