Remember Daisy Jones? Meet Ailey!

Daisy Jones & The Six did a real number on me. After reading it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I loved the format and how the recounts sometimes flowed, how it sometimes clashed, and how it gave us a unique type of POV into characters that I came to absolutely adore.

I also lovedddd the 1900s America vibes so much. It stayed on my mind for days and I wanted to create something like it BUT I kept telling myself not to. “You can’t write every idea that comes to mind. You’ve got your hands full with stuff already!”

Around that time, the major 2023 drama between Selena Gomez, Hailey Bieber, and Justin sparked up and the Internet was going on and on about them. I’m Team Selena Gomez, but when I was talking about it with my friends and sisters, I started wondering what it was like to be Hailey. To be the girl who couldn’t seem to get out of your man’s ex’s shadow. That POV became one I wanted to explore…

… And Ailey Ose was born.

This manuscript is one of those whose titles I figure out pretty early on.

The title is Ailey Ose Is Endgame.

I adore this title especially because of how it came together in the manuscript!

Here is the moodboard with which I tried to capture the *vibes*:

It features:

• a Daisy Jones & the Six flashback interview format
• famous artists and invasive fans
• a wildfire first love that sets Hollywood aflame
• a backdrop of the Vietnam war
• California 1960 with a swingin’ sixties vibe!
• a Justin, Hailey & Selena inspired angsty love triangle
• music industry, fashion, food, & beaches!
• themes of toxic fandoms, the price of fame, and complex love!

A little writing backstory is that I told myself for days that I wasn’t going to write this concept, while putting it out into the world as an idea I wanted someone to explore so I could read it. And then one morning, around dawn, the story filled my head and would not budge. I opened my eyes and knew.

I was going to write it. I had to write it.

That first day, I smashed out over 14k words of the first draft and outline. Afterward, I was barely sleeping; I’d wake up super early around 3-4am to start writing and go to sleep late. Throughout the day, all I did was chores and then write. The frenzy was so consuming. My family literally thought it was work I was doing lol, but I was juggling it with work too. And it was so hard because all I wanted to do was write. this. book.

I literally asked the whole world to be patient with me while I got it out.

I loved writing the California 1960s vibe (Beatlemania, flower power, assassinations, rock n roll, braless roadies, drugs, bouffant hairs, and surfers!!!). I loved exploring the Hollywood music scene, the emerging fashion scene, and the scandalous modeling scene. I was completely taken by the characters Johnny, Samira, and Ailey, and their drama; the plot is so full of drama it’s an absolute whirl! I finished the first draft at over 40k words in under a week and the fervor calmed a bit.

Since then I’ve been having a blast editing it. It’s now currently at 70k words.

I really don’t know what I’m going to do with this book when I’m done! Would I try to get it published? I don’t know. I would absolutely love for people to read it, but it’s Historical Fiction and so far out of my ‘brand’ that I don’t know where to fit it in lol.

I’ll finish polishing it though and see what the future might have for it!