Steven Shinder

Lemons Loom Like Rain Trivia

Chapters 17-21

Chapter 17: Food Forethought

  1. When I was in Hove, students at our hotel did organize a Thanksgiving dinner. And, like Jade, I brought fried chicken (from KFC). Luckily, stuff seemed to stop going missing from the kitchen a good while before Thanksgiving, though that's not the case for the students at Tree Culler Hotel.
  2. The cantaloupe is meant to bring the words “can't elope” to mind.
  3. Visually, watching the memory through the pearls would be like watching a room through a wall with many holes in it.
  4. For a while, Stagmantel and Unicoren do not speak in contractions, but now they do at this point. This is meant to show how they are changing. Contractions kind of symbolize impatience in their case. For a while, they are indifferent about living in the park. But now that they see that they may finally be able to leave, they are a bit impatient and eager to leave.

Chapter 18: Booking Up

  1. Randy's relationship with Pamela is very unique compared to his relationships with other friends. He feels that he can be himself and somewhat open, though he does still keep stuff to himself. It's very telling that part of him wants her to fight Mathis alongside him, but of course he also cares enough to not want to endanger her.
  2. Randy gets tired of the full moon being overused in movies. But when he sees it in real life, knowing that it's a monthly occurrence, it feels more special to him. More natural, not forced or artificial.
  3. Just as “studying” can mean something else, so too does “spend the night at the library.”
  4. Pamela doesn't know the subject of her class, and neither do I. Again, I figured that it wasn't super important for the readers to know the details of the classes the characters took.
  5. In the first complete draft, Stitch Tyke didn't have this backstory as an aspiring mascot. When I later wondered to myself what would've happened to those who auditioned to be Mandy and didn't pass, I figured they'd either get eaten or captured.
  6. Justin Essen seems heartless. Like a tin man. Yep. Just tin (Sn on the periodic table). I came up with the name in late March 2018 while visiting my dad in Globe, Arizona. I went back and forth in my head on whether I wanted this professor to be Justin Essen or Justine Essen. My dad and my stepmom brought me to an open house event, and when they introduced me to a new person, that person misheard my name as Justin. This helped me make up my mind.
  7. Just noticed this sentence: “But it was still visible voice and demeanor.” That could kind of work as a stylistic choice with a couple of words missing, right?
  8. “Pretend with a Friend” was inspired by my experiences doing improv scenes with people in workshops at school.
  9. I did consider writing out Peyton discussing Pamela with her friends at Pitchers & Forks. But I wasn't sure what to write without it feeling repetitive. I got around this by writing from Randy's perspective and showing a bit more about him. It can get pretty loud at pubs anyway.

Chapter 19: The Gap Kin

  1. This scene at this unnamed school originally included Ella as August's classmate. The idea was for him to tell her what's been troubling him about the notebook, and it made sense that he would have new friends at this school. But with Ella feeling superfluous, I cut her out of this scene and just had August feeling paranoid by himself.
  2. The idea of losing my passport and not being able to return home was a fear I had while studying abroad.
  3. For a little while, I went back and forth on what August's parents would be like. He seems like the type of guy who'd come from a nice family. Then again, he could've also been a nice guy with angry parents. I guess I found a middle ground that worked.
  4. A draining cell phone battery is another very real fear.

Chapter 20: Candy and Randy

  1. “Randy was briefly blinded by the booze” has nice alliteration.
  2. Candid saying “Maybe little” instead of “Maybe a little” could kind of fit in with the strange way she speaks.
  3. Candid says “accomplish” instead of “accomplice,” but it's not a typo.

Chapter 21: The Safe and Sounds

  1. I wrote this scene with Mathis killing four armed people in a carport before realizing that I could make them Candid's roommates. Things find a way of working out.
  2. I've never been to the White Cliffs of Dover. But I have seen the somewhat similar Seven Sisters in Sussex.
 

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