Internet Famous

by Danika Stone

  So at this point, there’s lots of action and fighting and running around. And then Finn, Han, and Rey reunite! We just need to throw Poe in here for one big family picture. Man—I love this movie so much! They’re just about to leave when Han decides they need to blow this place up, and dude, I really have a bad feeling about the plan. This is the equivalent of stepping over the dead body in the doorway. You’re out! DO NOT go back in! (Han Solo isn’t listening, though.) And, of course, this gets worse because Kylo is also here. Han calls out to his son. (Another TERRIBLE idea.) Ugh! I need everyone to run away! RUN AWAY!!!!

  *turns off TV*

  *gets a snack*

  *checks e-mail again*

  *comes back*

  *turns on TV*

  Crap. Nothing’s changed. Kylo and Han are having what seems to be two different conversations about what’s going on, and I’m hiding under Laurent’s arm so I don’t have to watch the scene. Oh God, oh God, oh God. Shit’s about to go down, I can totally feel it! The moment the helmet dropped and the sun’s light went out, I knew something BAD would happen.

  Me (shouting at the screen): Ben has turned evil, Han!!! RUN AWAY.

  Laurent (laughing): He can’t hear you.

  Me: Don’t listen to Laurent. Run! RUUUUUUNNN!

  So, apparently I don’t have the Force, because—despite all my shouting—Han gets skewered. OMG OMG OMG OMG NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! I can’t believe what I just watched! Side note: The Empire needs better building codes. I mean, what’s with all the massive drops and no side-rails?!) Leia’s moment of realization tore my heart out, too. Ugh. She KNOWS Han is dead and their son is to blame.

  Aaaaaaahhhhh! Everything hurts and it’s raining on my face. :(

  Chewie going badass on the remaining stormtroopers made me feel a tiny bit better. And then Finn and Kylo fight. Got to admit I was a little bummed Rey was out for the count at this point. The girl doesn’t need someone to save her. She’s got the Force, damnit! But then … (wait for it) REY IS BACK!!!

  The theme song swells and I’m ALL IN! No e-mail checking! Kylo is weirdly awesome at this moment with the You need a teacher claim. (Why does that sound like he means something else?) But I just want Rey to kick his ass from here to Alderaan. Then Rey closes her eyes and brings it. The girl has SERIOUS Jedi moves. I love how she terrifies Kylo, because she’s completely untrained but still kicking it.

  When the dust settles, everyone (minus Han) comes together. Oh, my HEART! Finn, my poor space-bb is hurt, but dear, sweet Poe—*gasps* Poe is RIGHT THERE as Chewie carries Finn off the Millennium Falcon. Be still, my shipper heart! Yes, of course I’m worried about Finn (I actually am) but—but—this moment between the two of them is EVERYTHING. Poe doesn’t leave Finn’s side. He doesn’t hide his emotions. LOOK AT THE EXPRESION ON HIS FACE! <3 This is the #Stormpilot reunion I have been waiting for! *dies*

  Act three is closing fast as R2-D2 wakes up and the map is complete. HOORAY! When Leia says good-bye to Rey, my heart broke a little. I do kind of wish we’d had a moment like this: My father had the Force, my twin has the Force, my son has the Force … and I’m feeling a little ripped off here. Leia, of course, is perfect, so she doesn’t say it. But I’m allowed to think it.

  So Rey takes charge of the Millennium Falcon and my FEELS ARE BACK IN FULL. Chewie has a new sidekick. Since Han is gone, can we just have adventures of Rey and Chewie now for, like, three more movies? Please? PLEASE???

  But Rey’s got a plan. She heads to the map’s source. *MASSIVE MUSICAL MOMENT* A figure turns around and we see … LUKE!!! (Who has been AWOL up to this point.) Rey and grumpy Luke have a very tiny moment on the island, and the credits roll. With that, the MadLib on The Force Awakens comes to an end.

  Wow! What a ride! One of the things I loved the MOST about this movie were the references to the original trilogy. There’s a sense of passing the torch on to a new generation and the general consensus that everyone should just forget the prequels happened at all. There were endless perfect moments, and the inclusion of a nonhet ship. *draws hearts around Finn and Poe* And Rey … REY. My girl. I can’t say enough about her and how amazing she is! It makes me so happy that she’s finally moving forward with her life, rather than waiting around, a message we could all learn from.

  Here are my final stats.

  Series Rating: 8/10 Mad!Cows, with ALL the Mad!Love going out to the original Star Wars trilogy, and The Force Awakens in particular. Those were amazing films! (I’m just not going to mention Episodes I through III.)

  Movie Rating: 11/10 Mad!Cows for The Force Awakens, which has put my fangirl bat-signal into overdrive. If you’ve got any Finn/Poe fic to suggest, please comment below!

  Would I rewatch it? YES! (In fact, I’m doing that tonight.)

  Thank you again to @StarveilBrian1981 for suggesting the Star Wars rewatch! It’s been quite the ride. And if you’ve got something I should be reading/viewing/playing, please message me at: MNakama@MadLibs.com. I’m always open to more.

  *musical accompaniment rises*

  *exeunt*

  MadLib

  * * *

  Comments Enabled.

  Tags: #MadLibs #The Force Awakens #Madi watches things and then blogs about them #Funemployment

  A Coffee Date

  between author Danika Stone and her editor, Holly West

  Holly West (HW): What book is on your nightstand now?

  Danika Stone (DS): I hope you mean books [laughs] because I always have a pile going. Right now that includes: If I Was Your Girl, by Meredith Russo, Carry On, by Rainbow Rowell, and The Kick-Ass Writer by Chuck Wendig. I’ve been reading that one for months, a few pages at a time, whenever I need a little boost to get my writing game on track.

  HW: If you could travel in time, where would you go and what would you do?

  DS: As boring as it sounds, I’d probably go hang out with my dad, who passed away almost a decade ago. It’s strange how many things I see and think, I should tell Dad about that, only to remember I can’t anymore. There’s this growing pile of life events that I’d want to tell him about. Becoming a writer is one of them.

  HW: Madi talks about a lot of different rewatches for her blog. What is on your rewatch list?

  DS: Right now I’ve been feeling the urge to watch Deadwood, and maybe Rome. I’m a sucker for historical fiction, no matter how much license they take! I’m waiting for more Sherlock and the next season of The 100, since I fangirl both. And I really want to catch up on Supernatural, too, since I only got through season one and then got caught up in editing a book!

  HW: Where did you get the inspiration for Internet Famous?

  DS: When I was a junior in high school, I did an exchange to Quebec, to work on my French language skills, and later, in my second year of university, I went on a full-year student exchange to the States. Both of these times away from home were amazing-slash-terrifying. [laughs] I was alone and had to find my own way to get around, to make new friends, to force myself out in the world. It’s hard! That was the inspiration for Laurent’s experiences.

  Madi’s inspiration came from Mark Oshiro (from MarkDoesStuff), who is an amazing blogger, and [a] genuinely kind person. His approach to blogging and funemployment show how people can use their passions to keep themselves employed and reach like-minded fans.

  The inspiration for the actual plot is a little darker: the problem of Internet trolling. It isn’t one specific event that caught my eye, but around the time of the Gamergate scandal, I started thinking about how differently people [behave] based on whether they are anonymous or not. Internet Famous is a fun book, but it also addresses some very serious social issues that occur online.

  HW: What’s your process? Are you an outliner or do you just start at the beginning and make it up as you go?

  DS: I’m a little bit of both. I start with an idea and it tends to poke at me for a few months (or years). Then I do some prewriting to discover which characters are waiting around in the wings, begging to
be included. Once I have the voices for the mains down pat, I start a brief plot-plan. It’s in point form and gives me a general idea of what I’m going to cover.

  None of this planning is carved in stone—and a lot of the later ideas get thrown away partway through the first draft. Once I have that very rough road map, I start writing. And once I’m writing, I don’t stop. Period. Until it’s done. Because you can always edit a terrible first draft, but a blank page is just a page with no words on it.

  HW: What do you want readers to remember about your books?

  DS: My books are about teen culture and a digitally connected world, but beyond that, I hope readers remember the heart the stories carry. There’s goodness and friendship and hope in them. Madi saves herself. If readers remember that, I’m happy.

  ALL IS FAIR IN LOVE AND FANDOM

  When überfan Liv’s favorite character is killed off, she and her best friend, Xander, an aspiring actor and steampunk enthusiast, decide to fight back—and end up changing everything!

  Liv had spent her entire life feeling like a nerd. The social outcast. The freak. In middle school, she’d tried to hide her differentness, keeping her online activities completely anonymous and wandering through fandom as a lurker. But no matter how hard she tried to appear normal, there was some invisible mark that kept her apart from her real-life peers, like they could sense she wasn’t one of them. Liv wasn’t invited to football parties or asked out on dates. She hovered at the edges of social events, looking in and wishing she could join. By high school, she’d made the jump to visibility—at least online—creating vids, reading fic voraciously, and even wearing the occasional Starveil T-shirt to school. But living in Boulder, a city of mountain climbers, sports fans, and activists, she’d always known she was an outsider.

  Arriving to drop off their bags at the Marriott, the feeling disappeared.

  While Dragon Con took place in a number of downtown Atlanta buildings, the Marriott hotel was the epicenter of the event. The entire atrium floor of the gigantic building swarmed with a melting pot of nerd culture. Stormtroopers chatted amicably with aging television stars while waiting in line at Starbucks. Bewigged anime cosplayers posed alongside pro wrestlers and Game of Thrones characters, the lines for panels filled with teenagers and seniors alike. At least ten variations of Captain Matt Spartan had spied Liv’s Spartan “Only One Man Calls Me Darlin’” T-shirt and had made a point of shouting out a “Hello, darlin’!” to her. She stared wide-eyed as glass-walled elevators shot up fifty-two floors like pods in a launch tube. Everything—from the glaringly bright carpet swirling with psychedelic lines; to the hotel’s open ceiling ringed by story after story of balconies, the distant roof so high it made her head spin; to the people decked out in cosplay—was torn from a science-fiction novel. It seemed Liv had spent the last eighteen years in search of her people, and in one sudden explosion of fate, they’d all been brought together in this place in time. Her eyes filled with tears as a sudden awareness hit her.

  They were all nerds.

  About the Author

  danika stone is an author, artist, and educator who discovered a passion for writing fiction while in the throes of her master’s thesis. A self-declared bibliophile, Danika now writes novels for both adults (Edge of Wild, the Intaglio series, and Ctrl Z) and teens (All the Feels). When not writing, Danika can be found hiking in the Rockies, planning grand adventures, and spending far too much time online. She lives with her husband, three sons, and a houseful of imaginary characters in a windy corner of Alberta, Canada.

  Visit her at danikastone.com, or sign up for email updates here.

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  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  The MadLibbers Dictionary

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Author’s Note

  Swoonworthy Extras

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2017 by Danika Stone. Excerpt from All the Feels copyright © 2016 by Danika Stone.

  “Tumblr Tags” meta post by Porpentine Charity Heartscape (porpentine.tumblr.com) and the poem “I Wrote This For You” by Iain Thomas, have been included by express permission of the authors. Quote by Oscar Wilde.

  Royalty-free emojis by permission of Emoji One: http://emojione.com

  The majority of the New York and Paris images are from Pixabay and used under a Creative Commons CCO license. Selected images of Millburn, NJ, have been used with the express permission of the photographer: Lauren Scobell. The image of the Penn Station interior is by Joe Shlabotnik via Flickr, and used in accordance with Creative Commons Licensing, 2.0: https://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/2622091998. Please note, selective cropping and additional text have been added to Mr. Shlabotnik’s original photograph.

  A Swoon Reads Book

  An imprint of Feiwel and Friends and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC

  175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

  swoonreads.com

  All rights reserved.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

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  First trade paperback edition 2017

  eBook edition June 2017

  eISBN 9781250114365