LonelyJournal15
| lonelyjournal15 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | ireactions, suze900, renegade15 |
| URL | https://archiveofourown.org/works/37670755 |
The main character is a young woman named Alexis Capshaw who moves into a Los Angeles apartment and discovers that Jonas, Daniel, Sarah and Gina are her new neighbors. Alexis has to deal with her social anxieties and insecurities as well as the bizarre activities of her neighbors.
LonelyJournal15 is composed of thirty-three LiveJournal entries. The first entry takes place within days of the final installment of LG15: The Resistance. Several developments have taken place since the finale: Sarah's loyalty to the Order has been revealed as a deception, Gina is alive, Daniel has rejoined the group, and Maggie and Reed have ventured off to parts unknown.
Originally shared on LiveJournal, the story has been recompiled and reposted on Archive of Our Own. In addition to some expansions, the story has a new epilogue that addresses the 2016 LG15: Anchor Cove videos.
Description
The majority of the entries are written from Alexis Capshaw's point of view as she meets Jonas, Daniel, Sarah and Gina and finds them alternatively friendly and frightening. The story also serves as a fan-written conclusion to LonelyGirl15 as the characters discover the true nature of the Order and confront the creator of the Hymn of One.
The LonelyJournal15 account is not an ongoing blog but rather presents a completed series finale.
Reception
TVTropes.org[1] lists lonelyjournal15 as a recommended fan fiction, with the following comments from reviewer BobbyG: "This fic seems to be an attempt to recapture the feel of the original series, and is told from the perspective of an outsider, Alexis Capshaw, which means it's easy to follow even if you aren't familiar with the later seasons or with LG15: The Resistance. It succeeds in correcting some of the biggest Wallbangers of the last series and the sequel, but does so in a subtle manner that feels very natural. Very well written, with a very nice balance of humour and drama, too."
Development
Before LG15: The Resistance, ireactions wrote an open letter to the LG15 creators saying he felt LG15 suffered from overemphasizing the mythology and underemphasizing the characters. After LG15: The Resistance's first season ended with no resolution in sight, ireactions began seeking collaborators, pitching a fan fiction blog-format sequel and conclusion, suggesting the mythology could be simplified if the story were told from the perspective of an original character unfamiliar with the LG15 mythology.
By April 2009, ireactions had a broad outline but needed help with the fine details of the LG15 mythos. suze900 volunteered her help. ireactions proposed that the story reveal that the Order was not the global, multibillion-dollar corporation it presented itself to be; that instead, the Order was a small organization using hired actors, stuntmen, costumes, props, special effects and alternate reality game techniques to masquerade as a globe spanning power to intimidate a small number of families with trait positive children into obedient compliance.
However, he feared that debunking and demystifying the Order to reduce it in scale and make it vulnerable would not match the continuity of previous videos. In response, suze900 pointed out that such a reveal would actually explain the low budget, minimal-resource look of the LG15 series. She provided a history and overview for this new vision of the Order and wrote in specific continuity references for all previous depictions.
ireactions wrote a point form outline for each week's worth of entries. When the plot required revealing the secrets of the Order, he relied on suze900's material. Renegade15 advised that LonelyJournal15 make all references to the LG15 mythos as scarce as possible for the first half of the story. Another suggestion was the final fate of the Order's leader and creator. He also suggested that one of the Order's dummy businesses be named "Eternal Quest: Alternate Lives." For overturning Sarah's betrayal and Gina's death, Renegade15 suggested key details to include while leaving the explanation vague to avoid slowing down the story with convoluted exposition.
Production
ireactions wrote each blog entry on LiveJournal with a backdate designed to set the entries shortly after the LG15: The Resistance.
After the third week was finished, suze900 expressed concerns that Alexis Capshaw's language was not convincingly Californian, but instead reflected ireactions' Canadian background.
ireactions rewrote the entries to make Alexis a French-Canadian immigrant, using French-Canadian actress Laurence Leboeuf as the physical model and voice for the character and putting her image in the original blog icons. However, the mockup cover uses a different model with a resemblance to Leboeuf.
Release
On May 13, 2009, ireactions announced on the now-defunct Anchor Cove forum that he had finished his blog-novel. It was subsequently shared in a Web Series Today entry.
In 2022, ireactions recompiled and revised the LiveJournal entries for reposting on Archive of Our Own. The LiveJournal entries hinted at a lesbian romance, but the Archive of Our Own version of LonelyJournal15 presents the romance overtly.
The new version also includes an added epilogue set in 2022 in which Gina awakens from a nightmare and describes events from LG15: The Last, LG15: Outbreak and LG15: Anchor Cove as appearing in her dream.
Notes
- Despite a few joking references, LonelyJournal15 does not acknowledge or tie into N1kola, LG15: The Last or LG15: Outbreak. The revelations regarding the Order in LonelyJournal15 contradict the Order's depiction in LG15: The Last and LG15: Outbreak.
- The image of French-Canadian actress Laurence Leboeuf was used for Alexis Capshaw's blog icons. The Alexis character states that she is from Montreal, Canada, and that she has a French-Canadian accent. However, an unnamed model who resembles Leboeuf is used for the 2022 recompilation.
Links
LonelyJournal15 on Archive of Our Own: https://archiveofourown.org/works/37670755/chapters/94040431
Original LonelyJournal15 blog: http://lonelyjournal15.livejournal.com
