At night, before I go to sleep, I unwind by watching music videos on YouTube. Yeah, I know, the blue screen is terrible for sleep, but it’s become my nightly ritual. Since my musical tastes are eclectic, I never really know what’s going to grab me, but I inevitably end up down a rabbit hole with one artist, genre, and/or decade, binge-watching for a few days before something else catches my attention.
On the night of October 27, 2021, I was deep into a late-80s/early-90s hair band binge. At some point, a live concert video of either Mr. Big or Bon Jovi popped up. I honestly can’t remember which.
Either way, as I watched, I noticed someone in the crowd who looked like my brother. Exactly like him. Or at least the way he looked when he was about eighteen. The resemblance was so uncanny that I rewound that part of the video over and over. I couldn’t believe my eyes. If it hadn’t been completely impossible—wrong decade, wrong country—I would’ve sworn it was him, and it made me wonder, What if…?
From there, a little seed took root, but since time-travel isn’t my thing, reincarnation felt like a better fit and allowed me to write a much more interesting twist. And that’s where the idea of a character spotting herself in a YouTube concert video with no memory of ever being there came from.
As a little nod to the moment that sparked A Thousand Times, Zak’s band, Four, is a cover band that plays late-80s/early-90s rock and metal, including songs by Mr. Big and Bon Jovi, of course.
I hope you enjoy Liv & Zak’s story as much as I loved writing it.