Notes: Hearts of Hummingbirds

All except for the quickness with which I finished the last two chapters, there is very little I would change with this work. In fact, I'm so happy with some of the unintended offramps I took along the way that I may create a sequel, following Phoebe's transformation from addict to survivor, through the good works of her sister and brother-in-law as well as the church community that supports her.

I would suppose I'd detail Portia's transformation, too. Especially as multi-tasking mother and evolving lover to Darren - and his evolution through former Narcotic abuse.

It could easily be a compare and contrast between Phoebe and Darren, not unlike the separate path choices of Phoebe and Portia.

In the re-writes, I am likely to detail more of little Alex's struggles as well as deepening the character studies of Darren, Phoebe, and possibly even Ramona or Marcus.

Then again, maybe not. Ramona and Marcus got what was coming to them and the reader probably does not care about where their separate paths end.

On a separate note, I had always planned to have Alex die in the place and manner in which he did. It was one of the first visuals that sat in my head regarding "Hearts". It wasn't anything more than that - the unfortunate circumstances of living in the ghetto: mistaken identities and mistaken motives, and just mistakes themselves. They all intertwine and not together, sometimes impossible to untangle.

I also kept the racial identities of these characters anonymous, too. I'd originally picutre Portia as a light-skinned black, possibly a mulatto. When I talked to a black friend of mine, she thought it would be hard for me to empathize with a black person's point of view. This was odd, since she had spent her entire life in Reynoldsburg and never really experienced ghetto life or drug sub-cultures.

These are the places I knew better than her, but in reverence to the true issue of the story: the plight of the poor, I kept race out of it. I picked names that may or not may sound black - but I specifically know white people with each of these names, while I dont know any black people personally with ANY of these names.

Still, I'm happy with the basic first draft, and that's really good enough for me.