I know I said I'd only post this if a lot of people wanted it. But I have this updating fairy problem and they flick your ears until you update. It hurts almost as bad as when I slammed my finger in the door this morning. I haven't had caffeine in a while, must be the affects of withdrawal. I hope this will stop them. I bring you:
The Origin Of, Well, the Story
Jessica & "Outsider Jess": The Idea
This story, no different than the rest, was created around 1 or 2 in the morning. (I have a low tolerance for caffeine, so the slightest amount of it will keep me awake) I was talking to my younger sister about some of my friends when I thought of Jessica. I decided to put together some of my favorite traits from my friends. I didn't know how I was going to use her. My options were: an Outsiders fanfic or a story of my own. I was leaning towards a story of my own when my sister looked up from the book. She mentioned that you didn't get much information on Steve Randle. You didn't know about his mother and his home life (besides that his dad yelled at him to leave and never come back), which was how my mind was changed. Not many people make Steve have a sibling (half, step, or regular), actually, my story was possibly a first.
Originally, I had Jessica being 15, only because it is closer to my age of 14. Then, I figured, wouldn't Jessica's mother have known about Steve? It would have only made sense that she would have told Jessica, because I had planned their relationship close. I moved Jessica up to 17, only being a few months older than Steve. If Steve's dad was always drunk (in my story), it made sense (to me at least) that he could have wound up with 2 kids close in age. Because of the close relationship between Jess and her mom I couldn't have Jessica run out on her mom, so there had to be a logical reason that she was with her father and Steve. Of course, Jessica's mom had to die.
The kleptomania was thrown in for a little bit of a change. If it wasn't there, half the story would have been shot. Actually, you would have had some boring story about Jessica living with them and getting jumped with a rumble and blah, blah, blah. It's not like that wasn't done before. New York was her original home because, well, I live in New York.
Jessica's looks were very easy. I needed her to look a tiny bit like Steve to make it believable. I chose the hair color, considering I don't remember ever seeing his eye color in the book. He, to go with that, Jessica's eye color is never mentioned. I never chose one for her; I simply put "our eyes were different."
Jessica became my favorite character I ever created (out of all my stories, not only The Outsiders ones). I think because she is the most realistic. She isn't always happy, or mad, or sad (rhymes!). She didn't instantly know things like that the Curtis parents were dead, or she didn't know about Sandy or the Socs. She knew about Greasers because that was one of the names for them in New York.
SodaJessica Vs. Original Pairing & The Food Fights
The SodaJessica pairing wasn't planned. My mind had originally wanted a Two-BitJessica pairing but then it was like: what would they do on a date? Go shop-lifting? That's romantic, but so are food fights, I guess. The day I wrote the chapter when he asked her and the actual food fight (I wrote them together as one chapter, but I figured it was too big) I had an unusual amount of caffeine and sugar (I think it was the night of my 8th grade dinner/dance). Once I edited the chapters the next day before posting them, I really liked the idea and made it a tradition.
"Outsider Jess": The Ending
The ending of "Outsider Jess" left it available for a sequel, but I wasn't going to write one unless I knew people would read it. "I went to the funeral service, and stayed in New York longer than I expected. I don't think I was ever going back to see Steve and the rest of the gang. I got a job, and the first thing I did was send my fist paycheck to the gang. I needed to payback Steve and Two-Bit, as well as the Curtis brothers."
"New York": The Idea
I ended "Outsider Jess" with reviewers voting on a sequel, but I wasn't going to stop writing with Jess for that wait. While waiting, I thought of something: 'If I make a sequel, how will they know what happened in New York?' I had thought of throwing details into the sequel, but I had a better idea: A one-shot completely about New York.
"New York": The Ending & "The Return of Jess": The Idea
I ended "New York" after reading a few 'sequel' votes. I figured I couldn't have her live in New York all the time because then it wouldn't be considered an Outsiders fic anymore. I ended it that way so I could make Jessica return home for a sequel. That is also the idea. Jessica had to return home and I knew she would make some new friends (Anna, Michelle and um, who? Oh, yeah, Sara) plus a few enemies (your favorite and mine: Lisa and her friends).
"The Return of Jess": The Ending
I wasn't going to make a sequel for this, even though I hated dropping Jessica. (I ended up fighting darkravenx0 to put her in our fic a little bit) The problems had to be resolved, and I wasn't going to move her out, because I wanted her available for friends of my other characters. What better way to end a fic then to have Lisa go to jail, find out the truth about Denise and "Get a room"?
Friends
Jessica had to make new friends, because she needed some that were girls. It kind of gets boring when you hang out with your brother and his friends (even if one is your boyfriend). I am currently co-writing a fanfic with darkravenx0 and the three girls (Anna, Michelle and Sara) came from that fic, because the end of my fic overlaps into the beginning/middle of hers. It's only told from a different POV (Sara's). Anna and Michelle were based on my one friend from school mostly. They are loyal, crazy, funny, mischievous, and smart. Sara was based on one of darkravenx0's friends that I was fascinated with the character traits of this girl.
Enemies
I'm not sure if this deserves to be plural. There was the main enemy, Lisa. Lisa was the dyed blonde haired waitress at The Dingo. Jessica becomes enemies with her because Lisa was staring at Soda, and wanted to be the waitress of the table he was at. He had sat at one of Lisa's tables, but Lisa had switched tables, making it Jessica's table. Steve and Soda walk up to Jessica telling her that the waitress said some bad things. You don't know these bad things until chapter 9, when Jessica asks Soda. Other enemies were buddies with Lisa. There was Peter Hopkins who was mentioned in her flashbacks, he called her some pretty mean names. Well, names a third grader might think were mean.
Reviewers
I cannot express my thanks to all of my reviewers enough. Without you guys, "The Return of Jess" would have never been made and I probably would have stopped writing "Outsider Jess". Thanks so for the reviews. You are all listed below. They are reviews form all 3 Jessica stories.
BlackLightningDX
darkravenx0 (li'l lady)
Kelly
Amelia Liddell
Gena-Curtis-Scott
Goldengreaser
Hahukum Konn
Lydia
AngelFacedDevil
Dragon Blade5
Cobainfan666
XxThInKiNbOuTmYBGxX
Three Faces Of Eve
Memyselfandi
DramaticAngel
Jamea
Two-BitGortez
oOoRikku4EveroOo