Here's my story. Last week I wrote my plot summary for my les mis in space book. However, it doesn't look like I will be writing that one anymore.
On the nano website, I posted a book title and plot for my WIP baby novel that will hopefully be kind of the twilight-hunger games-harry potter-ect. of my career. James, or the boy who eventually grew up. I entered my baby in the "30 covers, 30 days" contest and it has been selected as a finalist!
Hip Hip Hooray
So looks like I'll be drafting that again this year, starting from page one and working through 50,000 words. I did my first draft last year for nano and spent the year editing it. I wanted to do a second draft anyway, this is a great opportunity to do it =)
Monday, October 31, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
And my nano story is...
I have had about a thousand ideas bounce through my head over the past month trying to find something I would enjoy enough to stick with throughout the month of nano. My biggest problem the past few years is that i'm really enthusiastic about an idea and then after the first week of nano is over, i'm over my story and ready to start a different one. So I am going to try and plan a daily writing schedule for this one, so I know exactly what part to write on what day, what plot moment to start at and what plot moment I'll finish at. I'll write my schedule some other day, but for now I thought you might be interested in what I chose to do. About a week ago I posted about cool prompt Ideas, well I developed one pretty fully and I hope I can push it through. You might find this plot is similar to "Les Miserables" Only in outer space and with robots ;)
In the year 2013 scientists made a discovery. We would use all of our resources, all of them, by the year 2145. It was then that they began to work on developing means to leave the planet in hopes of finding a new one. They worked vigorously on various metals that would survive more than 10,000 years in space, but nothing seemed to be working. Then, in the year 2067, the history books changed when Alien life form landed on earth, actually coming in peace in search of various materials and chemicals their planet has run out of. Scientists made a trade with them; they may use the soil until it's depleted in exchange for the information to build a lasting space station that human kind may live on. Humans were in orbit on the S.S. Atlantis by 2130, and the Ullians were left to rebuild the planet.
In order to gain passage on the space station, each family was put through a vigorous check to make sure that their gene pool was strong enough to be passed through. The sick, the mental unstable, the criminals and the unintelligent were left with the Ullians on earth and the strongest of our race, only 2 million people, were chosen to board the station. The wandered the galaxy for 2,000 years before *MAIN CHARACTER* was born. His ancestors had made passage on Atlantis but just barely. He was sentenced to live in the slums of the station where people like him belong. He grew up strong, and smart both in school and on the street. He was 11 when his father died of an unknown illness that had surfaced once humans began to travel space. He was left to take care of his smaller sister and mother and hadn't the slightest idea how he would help them. No one would hire a boy that young to work and his mother had no skill set to get a job herself. Instead, he stole and swindled people out of their money for three years until he was caught with a loaf of bread in his hands. Not many people went to jail on the space station and even the pettiest of crimes were punished severely.
*MAIN CHARACTER* served 10 years in jail before he was released. No one would tell him what became of his family, and no one was going to hire a man with a convicts mark across his chest. He worked on one of the levels of the station where food was grown for a while and lived with a man who taught verses of the earth bound bible to anyone who would listen. After a short time, he had enough with the work and decided to make a run for it, stealing the man's valuables as he went. Swiftly, again, he was caught but the pastor lied to the patrol bots and said he gave him the things. Once *MAIN CHARACTER* was released the pastor reminded him to never forget the kindness he was shown and to remember that one good deed deserves another; he should do good for the world and enjoy the bounty of pleasure the comes in the kingdom of heaven.
*MAIN CHARACTER* used the valuable to buy an unused wing of the station and turned it into a factor that made and dyed clothe for clothes. He made a point to only hired unskilled women, to provide them a usable skill, and to hopefully find his mother or sister. Among them was an unmarried woman with a child who was about 12. She worked at the factory by day and was accused of being a whore by the other women. *MAIN CHARACTER* takes pitty on her, and intends to return the deed of kindness. When she is run from the factory, he takes her into his now fabulous home, learns that she is sick just as his father was, and agrees to adopt her small daughter and care for her. That night he buys the girl from a corrupt Child Watcher and takes the girl home.
Time passes, the girl grows and the women of the factory begin to talk about the revolution their sons and husbands are planning. Government inside the station has always been corrupt, the rich getting the most and the poor getting nothing. *MAIN CHARACTER* begins to consider taking a stand when he learns the girl, who is now 18, meets a young revolutionary and falls in love. Again, doing his good deed to the world, he plans to go out with the revolutionaries in order to keep the young man safe, so that he may live to make his daughter happy. He finds faith in the earth bible through prayer for the young boy, and the both of them survive a violent and bloody revolution in space. *MAIN CHARACTER* is captured for his crimes while the young boy escapes to his love.
*MAIN CHARACTER is set for a trail, exposed as a fraud who lied about his criminal past and opened a business and will be sentenced to a life sentence for not upholding his designated social class. He evades the court, declares himself the leader of the revolution against the government and runs to lead the rebels. End of book 1 <3
Inspired by Les Miserables and in quick writing it's almost identical to the musical, however, I plan to expand a second book all about the revolution and then grow it into a series about colonizing a new earth with my jean valjean character as the leader =) Not that I'm posting for praise or critique, both are welcome though, this is more so to clear it in my mind - edit it and organize it and than kind of stuff
In the year 2013 scientists made a discovery. We would use all of our resources, all of them, by the year 2145. It was then that they began to work on developing means to leave the planet in hopes of finding a new one. They worked vigorously on various metals that would survive more than 10,000 years in space, but nothing seemed to be working. Then, in the year 2067, the history books changed when Alien life form landed on earth, actually coming in peace in search of various materials and chemicals their planet has run out of. Scientists made a trade with them; they may use the soil until it's depleted in exchange for the information to build a lasting space station that human kind may live on. Humans were in orbit on the S.S. Atlantis by 2130, and the Ullians were left to rebuild the planet.
In order to gain passage on the space station, each family was put through a vigorous check to make sure that their gene pool was strong enough to be passed through. The sick, the mental unstable, the criminals and the unintelligent were left with the Ullians on earth and the strongest of our race, only 2 million people, were chosen to board the station. The wandered the galaxy for 2,000 years before *MAIN CHARACTER* was born. His ancestors had made passage on Atlantis but just barely. He was sentenced to live in the slums of the station where people like him belong. He grew up strong, and smart both in school and on the street. He was 11 when his father died of an unknown illness that had surfaced once humans began to travel space. He was left to take care of his smaller sister and mother and hadn't the slightest idea how he would help them. No one would hire a boy that young to work and his mother had no skill set to get a job herself. Instead, he stole and swindled people out of their money for three years until he was caught with a loaf of bread in his hands. Not many people went to jail on the space station and even the pettiest of crimes were punished severely.
*MAIN CHARACTER* served 10 years in jail before he was released. No one would tell him what became of his family, and no one was going to hire a man with a convicts mark across his chest. He worked on one of the levels of the station where food was grown for a while and lived with a man who taught verses of the earth bound bible to anyone who would listen. After a short time, he had enough with the work and decided to make a run for it, stealing the man's valuables as he went. Swiftly, again, he was caught but the pastor lied to the patrol bots and said he gave him the things. Once *MAIN CHARACTER* was released the pastor reminded him to never forget the kindness he was shown and to remember that one good deed deserves another; he should do good for the world and enjoy the bounty of pleasure the comes in the kingdom of heaven.
*MAIN CHARACTER* used the valuable to buy an unused wing of the station and turned it into a factor that made and dyed clothe for clothes. He made a point to only hired unskilled women, to provide them a usable skill, and to hopefully find his mother or sister. Among them was an unmarried woman with a child who was about 12. She worked at the factory by day and was accused of being a whore by the other women. *MAIN CHARACTER* takes pitty on her, and intends to return the deed of kindness. When she is run from the factory, he takes her into his now fabulous home, learns that she is sick just as his father was, and agrees to adopt her small daughter and care for her. That night he buys the girl from a corrupt Child Watcher and takes the girl home.
Time passes, the girl grows and the women of the factory begin to talk about the revolution their sons and husbands are planning. Government inside the station has always been corrupt, the rich getting the most and the poor getting nothing. *MAIN CHARACTER* begins to consider taking a stand when he learns the girl, who is now 18, meets a young revolutionary and falls in love. Again, doing his good deed to the world, he plans to go out with the revolutionaries in order to keep the young man safe, so that he may live to make his daughter happy. He finds faith in the earth bible through prayer for the young boy, and the both of them survive a violent and bloody revolution in space. *MAIN CHARACTER* is captured for his crimes while the young boy escapes to his love.
*MAIN CHARACTER is set for a trail, exposed as a fraud who lied about his criminal past and opened a business and will be sentenced to a life sentence for not upholding his designated social class. He evades the court, declares himself the leader of the revolution against the government and runs to lead the rebels. End of book 1 <3
Inspired by Les Miserables and in quick writing it's almost identical to the musical, however, I plan to expand a second book all about the revolution and then grow it into a series about colonizing a new earth with my jean valjean character as the leader =) Not that I'm posting for praise or critique, both are welcome though, this is more so to clear it in my mind - edit it and organize it and than kind of stuff
Monday, October 24, 2011
Schedule while you write
So I don't think I've talked about my long term plan on this blog. I've been published before, school essays as examples in a text book. While the feeling of knowing my work is out there is fantastic, that is not what I want to be known for. I want to be a fiction author, and I need to start taking steps to make that happen. I have decided to take on the ultimate challenge of nanowriyear - every month is nanowrimo. I need to get my fiction work out there. I have a few short stories already finished, and three different novels in the works as of right now. My plan, publish as many short stories as I can in a year, finish two of three said books, get a literary agent and get publish <3
Since i plan to do 50,000 words a month for a year, working on various projects in order to be published before the end of 2012 I am going to give myself a strict schedule to write with. I am going to try to accomplish a few things, almost like new years resolutions except in november. Allow me to give myself a few commandments
1. I promise to write at least 3,000 words a day in a combined fashion of prompts, short stories and novels
2. I promise to write a prompt each day before I write and put it on this blog
3. I promise that my novel will be finished before my birthday next year
4. I promise that I will have 10 short stories between 3,000 and 8,000 words a piece by the end of the year
5. I promise to devote Mondays to a short story
6. I promise to devote Tuesday and Wednesday night to my novel James
7. I promise to devote Thursday to an easier novel
8. I promise to take a break on Friday night
9. I promise that the weekend will be composed of a lot of writing, and that I will never take a "weekend break" because my work week was too hard
10. I promise to keep these promises so that I can call myself a publish fiction author in at least a year.
Oh and on a side note I also promise to keep all my writing on google docs, since i've had to deal with a few computer crashes in my day and it's devastating.
Since i plan to do 50,000 words a month for a year, working on various projects in order to be published before the end of 2012 I am going to give myself a strict schedule to write with. I am going to try to accomplish a few things, almost like new years resolutions except in november. Allow me to give myself a few commandments
1. I promise to write at least 3,000 words a day in a combined fashion of prompts, short stories and novels
2. I promise to write a prompt each day before I write and put it on this blog
3. I promise that my novel will be finished before my birthday next year
4. I promise that I will have 10 short stories between 3,000 and 8,000 words a piece by the end of the year
5. I promise to devote Mondays to a short story
6. I promise to devote Tuesday and Wednesday night to my novel James
7. I promise to devote Thursday to an easier novel
8. I promise to take a break on Friday night
9. I promise that the weekend will be composed of a lot of writing, and that I will never take a "weekend break" because my work week was too hard
10. I promise to keep these promises so that I can call myself a publish fiction author in at least a year.
Oh and on a side note I also promise to keep all my writing on google docs, since i've had to deal with a few computer crashes in my day and it's devastating.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
The Artist and the Wannabe
Everyone can call themselves an artist - I think everyone should say that they are some form of artist. I would call my self a word artist, but I'm also a musical artist and an Elder Scrolls video game completer artist. My boyfriend is a Computer artist, my sister is a cupcake artist and my other sister is a cheer artist. Homeless people can even call themselves coin artists or sign artists. I find that calling yourself an artist makes it easier to find inspiration to create your art. Whenever I talk about playing the piano I want to sit and compose a song, and whenever I talk about my book I want to sit and edit the draft some more. I become instantly inspired.
The difference I find with some artists and inspiration is that some people can only find inspiration in the things that inspire them. For instance, the person who wants to write romance after watching a Nicholas Sparks movie. I am the other kind of inspired, I look at all things in the world and say "what can I create with that vision in mind? How can I turn that Nicholas Sparks movie into a fantasy adventure tale?" I love the strange and outlandish and I love to find my muse in everyone I see and hear. I take public transit to and from work and mostly just stare at the people I encounter there. People think i'm rude or putting myself above them but the truth is that I am watching them and taking them all in so that I may think and draw upon the vibrant character that they are later in the evening.
And that's my daily rant so that I can now sit and type out something a little less whinny.
The difference I find with some artists and inspiration is that some people can only find inspiration in the things that inspire them. For instance, the person who wants to write romance after watching a Nicholas Sparks movie. I am the other kind of inspired, I look at all things in the world and say "what can I create with that vision in mind? How can I turn that Nicholas Sparks movie into a fantasy adventure tale?" I love the strange and outlandish and I love to find my muse in everyone I see and hear. I take public transit to and from work and mostly just stare at the people I encounter there. People think i'm rude or putting myself above them but the truth is that I am watching them and taking them all in so that I may think and draw upon the vibrant character that they are later in the evening.
And that's my daily rant so that I can now sit and type out something a little less whinny.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Amazing prompt ideas I want to use
The Three Musketeers (Alexandre Dumas) with mutants!
Les Miserables (Victor Hugo) with space stations and giant robots!
Macbeth(Shakespeare) with every science-fiction trope imaginable and artificial intelligences!
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain) with a steampunk world!
And some normal ones
-Girl who works on a ranch farm from the city, love story
-"The Lesbian" about a straight woman who hasn't had a real boyfriend in 5 years tries women out and learns who she is and what makes her happy, and it certainly isn't lesbians <3 hahahaha
Les Miserables (Victor Hugo) with space stations and giant robots!
Macbeth(Shakespeare) with every science-fiction trope imaginable and artificial intelligences!
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain) with a steampunk world!
And some normal ones
-Girl who works on a ranch farm from the city, love story
-"The Lesbian" about a straight woman who hasn't had a real boyfriend in 5 years tries women out and learns who she is and what makes her happy, and it certainly isn't lesbians <3 hahahaha
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
the 15 minute prompt
"A character will do laundry. A character is enraged throughout most of the story. The story must have a diadem appear in the middle. The story ends in a graveyard. During the story, someone turns another person in."
Stains all over the brand new clothes she bought him. Stains everywhere. Gold from beer, red from food, green from grass, brown from god knows what and some clear stains that remind her of when her kids have boogers, only their at the crotch of his new black suit pants. He's been cheating for ages, but never left the remains in a place where she could see it. With her fingers and breath on fire she continues to fold the clothes in the separate room while her children, the 5 year old and 7 year old, run back and forth carrying her youngest daughter's, the 3 year old, toys from one end of the home to the other. However, their foolish activity can wait.
Once in half, and in half again the opposite way over the hanger; that's how the pants went up. The pants that smelled of another woman's private body parts, the parts that he wouldn't recognize if she shoved his face into herself. She imaged his limbs inside of the shirts she folded, breaking and snapping as they folded in the correct direction. How could she bring herself to marry the man who got her pregnant on the first day.
After slamming every door shut on her way out of the room, she was faced with the china cabinet in the hall. Laying on the middle shelf was the diadem her great great grand mother's mother wore as princess of a nation that fell in the war. Shinning gold and bright in the afternoon sun, it reminded her that her life could have been much different if she didn't settle. She was royal, even if by her own standards, and deserved a man who would be with her.
And without much noise it happened. She walked into the study where Frank was reading and picked up the jade globe that sat near the entrance. He didn't even look at her when he asked what it was she needed, his eye were buried deep in the business section of the daily paper. Four times she hit in on the head before his limp body fell from the chair and her rage followed him onto the ground where she continued to smash until there was a dent in his skull the size of their decorative globe. In the closet was a suit, brand new still in the garment bag. Quickly she unzipped the bag off the suit and wrapped her husband's bleeding skull inside of it, carrying him downstairs with a surprising ease, like taking out the laundry.
She loaded the corpse in her car and took it three block away, where the Smithson Cemetery was. Their home is large and was a good price due to the amount of graves close by. She threw his body into the open grave and quietly walked back to her car. She drove back home and shouted to her children, asking what they wanted for supper. The only voice that seemed to respond was her oldest, the eleven year old, who said into the telephone "Yes, I think she killed him."
Stains all over the brand new clothes she bought him. Stains everywhere. Gold from beer, red from food, green from grass, brown from god knows what and some clear stains that remind her of when her kids have boogers, only their at the crotch of his new black suit pants. He's been cheating for ages, but never left the remains in a place where she could see it. With her fingers and breath on fire she continues to fold the clothes in the separate room while her children, the 5 year old and 7 year old, run back and forth carrying her youngest daughter's, the 3 year old, toys from one end of the home to the other. However, their foolish activity can wait.
Once in half, and in half again the opposite way over the hanger; that's how the pants went up. The pants that smelled of another woman's private body parts, the parts that he wouldn't recognize if she shoved his face into herself. She imaged his limbs inside of the shirts she folded, breaking and snapping as they folded in the correct direction. How could she bring herself to marry the man who got her pregnant on the first day.
After slamming every door shut on her way out of the room, she was faced with the china cabinet in the hall. Laying on the middle shelf was the diadem her great great grand mother's mother wore as princess of a nation that fell in the war. Shinning gold and bright in the afternoon sun, it reminded her that her life could have been much different if she didn't settle. She was royal, even if by her own standards, and deserved a man who would be with her.
And without much noise it happened. She walked into the study where Frank was reading and picked up the jade globe that sat near the entrance. He didn't even look at her when he asked what it was she needed, his eye were buried deep in the business section of the daily paper. Four times she hit in on the head before his limp body fell from the chair and her rage followed him onto the ground where she continued to smash until there was a dent in his skull the size of their decorative globe. In the closet was a suit, brand new still in the garment bag. Quickly she unzipped the bag off the suit and wrapped her husband's bleeding skull inside of it, carrying him downstairs with a surprising ease, like taking out the laundry.
She loaded the corpse in her car and took it three block away, where the Smithson Cemetery was. Their home is large and was a good price due to the amount of graves close by. She threw his body into the open grave and quietly walked back to her car. She drove back home and shouted to her children, asking what they wanted for supper. The only voice that seemed to respond was her oldest, the eleven year old, who said into the telephone "Yes, I think she killed him."
10.18.2011
Gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. - Galatians 5:23
Nebraska was the most boring state you could possibly imagine. After you leave the beautiful ever-changing mountains of Colorado, the flat farm land planes of Nebraska are just not enough to keep your mind preoccupied. Keith told himself that he just had to pass through the midwest before he found his adventure, and that every adventure has a part like Nebraska. Harry Potter had to stop and focus on school a bit, Frodo had to rest while carrying the ring, even Blade had a moment where he took a breather. Therefore, Keith had to deal with Nebraska, passing through, in order to move on to bigger and better things.
Off the freeway was a diner, a gas station and a small convince store. Looking at his gage on his car, he was nearing empty again and could use a quick stop. Taking a moment to judge the gage in his belly, he also noticed how hungry he was and could use a hot meal. In one beautiful fluid motion he was off the freeway and parking in front of a gas meter. He slowly and carefully climbed out of the divers seat of his care, careful not to disturb any of the things packed inside his care; trying to move in one trip was proving easier said than done. Not only was their hardly any room to breathe in there, but the extra weight was using more gas than expected. While the pump was working it's magic on the gas whole, Keith let his eyes wander around to see what kind of people would choose to live in a place like Nebraska.
His eyes fell on one man standing outside the convince store. He was clearly homeless, if the ragged clothes and beard didn't give it away at first, to his right stood a rusted shopping cart that held his life inside of it. In his hands were a sign that read "Hungry. Thank you and God Bless." Living in Santa Monica for most of his life, Keith was used to the homeless and their bull shit signs. Most of the time they claimed to wish you a good day or to just be hungry but try to hand them anything but cold hard cash and they'll shout profanity at you for a good long hour. Perhaps here in a state that looks like no one chooses to be there, the man really is just hungry. This place is plain and boring and dull, and maybe a man who claims to be hungry and wishes God to bless those who help him really is all he says he is.
CLICK! The pump shut off when the car was full, totaling $38.96 in gas. Odd that his car usually took 45 dollars to fill up even at the cheapest of gas stations. The prices here were not much higher than back home, and yet he came up short. If that wasn't a sign that he should feed this man than Keith wasn't sure what was. He put the hose back in the holster, finished his transaction and moved in car into a parking spot near enough to the man that he could shout and close enough to the restaurant that he could get there first. The homeless did not pay him a second look at first until Keith spoke up in a voice that was two deep for a thin 25 year old.
"Sir! Excuse me?" He said to him and their eyes locked for a moment. "Can I buy you lunch?" he asked earnestly as the man's eyes grew wide in disbelief. Keith could only imagine the surprise he must be feeling, the joy of experiencing a hot meal again, or for the first time, and how appreciative he must feel.
"Thank you son," said the man, not taking a step towards him, "But a family passing through from Pittsburgh bought me breakfast only about an hour ago. I'm still full." And he went back to holding his hungry sign.
Keith, unable to believe his ears, stared at the man and his sign, his now false sign. Instead of a meal, he got his usual cup of coffee and bag of chips and headed back on the road again for NYC. Perhaps the lesson was good things come to those who wait, or it was that if you live in a small enough town someone is bound to pass through not knowing your story.
Nebraska was the most boring state you could possibly imagine. After you leave the beautiful ever-changing mountains of Colorado, the flat farm land planes of Nebraska are just not enough to keep your mind preoccupied. Keith told himself that he just had to pass through the midwest before he found his adventure, and that every adventure has a part like Nebraska. Harry Potter had to stop and focus on school a bit, Frodo had to rest while carrying the ring, even Blade had a moment where he took a breather. Therefore, Keith had to deal with Nebraska, passing through, in order to move on to bigger and better things.
Off the freeway was a diner, a gas station and a small convince store. Looking at his gage on his car, he was nearing empty again and could use a quick stop. Taking a moment to judge the gage in his belly, he also noticed how hungry he was and could use a hot meal. In one beautiful fluid motion he was off the freeway and parking in front of a gas meter. He slowly and carefully climbed out of the divers seat of his care, careful not to disturb any of the things packed inside his care; trying to move in one trip was proving easier said than done. Not only was their hardly any room to breathe in there, but the extra weight was using more gas than expected. While the pump was working it's magic on the gas whole, Keith let his eyes wander around to see what kind of people would choose to live in a place like Nebraska.
His eyes fell on one man standing outside the convince store. He was clearly homeless, if the ragged clothes and beard didn't give it away at first, to his right stood a rusted shopping cart that held his life inside of it. In his hands were a sign that read "Hungry. Thank you and God Bless." Living in Santa Monica for most of his life, Keith was used to the homeless and their bull shit signs. Most of the time they claimed to wish you a good day or to just be hungry but try to hand them anything but cold hard cash and they'll shout profanity at you for a good long hour. Perhaps here in a state that looks like no one chooses to be there, the man really is just hungry. This place is plain and boring and dull, and maybe a man who claims to be hungry and wishes God to bless those who help him really is all he says he is.
CLICK! The pump shut off when the car was full, totaling $38.96 in gas. Odd that his car usually took 45 dollars to fill up even at the cheapest of gas stations. The prices here were not much higher than back home, and yet he came up short. If that wasn't a sign that he should feed this man than Keith wasn't sure what was. He put the hose back in the holster, finished his transaction and moved in car into a parking spot near enough to the man that he could shout and close enough to the restaurant that he could get there first. The homeless did not pay him a second look at first until Keith spoke up in a voice that was two deep for a thin 25 year old.
"Sir! Excuse me?" He said to him and their eyes locked for a moment. "Can I buy you lunch?" he asked earnestly as the man's eyes grew wide in disbelief. Keith could only imagine the surprise he must be feeling, the joy of experiencing a hot meal again, or for the first time, and how appreciative he must feel.
"Thank you son," said the man, not taking a step towards him, "But a family passing through from Pittsburgh bought me breakfast only about an hour ago. I'm still full." And he went back to holding his hungry sign.
Keith, unable to believe his ears, stared at the man and his sign, his now false sign. Instead of a meal, he got his usual cup of coffee and bag of chips and headed back on the road again for NYC. Perhaps the lesson was good things come to those who wait, or it was that if you live in a small enough town someone is bound to pass through not knowing your story.
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