THINGS TO ADD TO ACID HOUSE
The following character traits should be scattered through Acid House, now that I have the first draft, to make the whole thing hang together more:
1. Fellow sees just a slight movement out of the corner of his eye in the first chapter, but there's nothing there, and then he forgets about it. Then, lots later, he seems to see a fleck of dust, or a bug, skittering away, and he's reminded of the first time. He debates whether this is happening because of LSD, then recalls that the first time was BEFORE LSD. Then it's more predominant, and people begin to notice his distractions, so he covers them up, but they become obsessive, and he gives in to a great hallucination, and then they stop, suddenly.
2. Girl who rejects the love that comes at her from all directions, saying that she's waiting for "something better." This goes on and on, though the love comes more and more infrequently, until she turns down one last guy and realizes that she's won the battle to keep herself intact, and now that she's won, there are no more battles to fight, she's hers to keep, and she attempts suicide before coming to Hollywood for the LSD, and on the basis of her insight, decides to try again.
3. Fellow who parrots the last words of each conversation in his effort to be liked and felt to be alert. He thinks that this will impress the other person with their closeness, and will make him seem intelligent and perspicuous (after Allan).
4. Masturbation by almost everyone in their nervousness, joy, tension, fatigue, fun, which changes character after the LSD treatments, though no one will talk about it with anyone else, even their therapists, since they're ashamed of it.
5. Crows croaking in the pines, birds singing, but only in the early morning light.
6. Fellow who has read quite a bit, reads everything friends throw at him, including everything at Hollywood Hospital in the LSD and The Prophet line, and thinks he believes it, but then he's burned on a pyre of his own books (take it away from Jules), and he sees how stupid it is, but he still, out of habit, spends his time with books, and even before he leaves he's beginning to suspect that LSD won't have changed his way of looking at books, but rationalizes by thinking "Well, I like doing it, and you have to do SOMETHING with your time, and reading books is certainly better than going to parties or other stupid things like that." He never remembers what he reads, either.