Stories:

Life Outside My World

Here are some background details for the story that contain some spoilers for the setting and history of the characters.

Swan Family

I wanted to give Bella a bigger family life. I always liked the Charlie/Sue relationship but felt it was never really expounded upon like I wanted it to be. In this version of reality Renee died in a car crash shortly after she left Charlie. Bella grew up without a mother. Charlie was very close to the Blacks and Clearwaters, but when Harry died of a heart attack, and Sue ended up with Charlie, Billy and Charlie stopped talking to each other. Bella formed a deep friendship with three other girls (not including Leah who is basically Bella's sister), Jessica Stanley, Angela Weber, and Lauren Mallory. The family has been together for over a decade, and the kids bonded because of one parent dying. They all live in Forks, and they have a younger sibling (Renee Helena Swan - 10 years old).

Olympic Coven

When I looked at the Cullens, I felt they were too neatly paired off. I also have no real love for Edward and Carlisle, but I didn't want to kill them off. In short Esme realized pretty early on that she didn't love Carlisle or Edward. So she set off on her own, exploring her own morality and vampirism. Edward and Carlisle end up with the Denali coven, with Carlisle married to Tanya. Esme was the one who encountered Rosalie, and didn't hold back the way Carlisle had and beat the men into the hospital before the damage was done to Rosalie. This lead to a very different dynamic with Rosalie. Esme became her mentor and surrogate mother (Rosalie's own mother was not a great person). The two of them stayed close, and when Rosalie was twenty she found out she could never have children so she volunteered to join Esme as a vampire. They stayed close to Atlanta because Rosalie was worried about her little sister, Lillian (Lilly) who had taken a 'secret' romantic interest in an older man. Rosalie had suspicions, and they turned out to be true when she discovered the man was in fact Royce. After a confrontation, Lilly ended up a vampire as well (apparent age 16). About fifteen years later they encountered Alice and Jasper much like canon. They are friendly with Carlisle's coven, and when Carmen and Eleazar showed up, they ended up joining Esme's coven, Eleazar poses as Esme's brother and Carmen her sister-in-law. The group eventually finds their way to Forks at the beginning of the story, where Esme works as moderately famous interior designer and architect. One sad note, Rosalie never found Emmett so his story probably ended badly. Rosalie, Lilly, Alice, and Jasper all pose as younger than they are. Lilly and Alice as the younger of the four.

Volturi Coven

This is probably the biggest and most AU changes in the whole set up. But it is pretty simple. Marcus was turned a few thousand years ago, but he was a minor monarch with a large family. In turn he changed every single member of his family all on one night. The family now acts as a true Royal family to the rest of the vampire world. They are not 'evil', in fact Marcus is a very good and benevolent king. His children however, range in disposition from kind to monstrous. Little princes and princesses with far too much power. In the vampire world (which is a bit larger and more varied than in SM's world) they have absolute dominion.

Vampire/Shifter/Magic Worlds

The supernatural world is quite a bit larger and far more mysterious than in SM's book. There are of course vampires, who are not as rigid and cold. They can control their thirst, and almost all of them have some kind of gift. Shifters and Children of the moon are variants on classic lycanthropes. Shifters can achieve a full transformation, and their shifting is more magical. Children of the Moon are more the typical physical werewolves, and their transformations are usually not full ones. The older a child of the moon is the more successful and powerful their animal form. The biggest difference is that a child of the moon is immortal, but far more volatile. I'm also tempted to add magic and magical creatures, but they are a bit more rare than the main three supernatural creature types. I think that practicing witches do exist as well, but I haven't quite figured out where they would fit. So they might just be world flavor.

Favorite Quotes:

Mark Twain -

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

"Civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities."

"I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way."

Benjamin Franklin -

"I didn't fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong."

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

"Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it."

Roger Zelazny -

"I try to sit down at the typewriter four times a day, even if it's only five minutes, and write three sentences."

"While I had often said that I wanted to die in bed, what I really meant was that in my old age I wanted to be stepped on by an elephant while making love."

Stephen King -

"Only enemies speak the truth; friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty."

and last but not least George Carlin -

"Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?"

"May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house."

"The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."