I mean, yeah, I know I should have done the research like... YEARS ago when I started writing this. I'm not sure what I was watching. I think it was the first Ace Ventura movie... there were a couple of iguanas in that movie and they were pretty big. So much so that I started to panic a bit.
The only research I really did was seeing how long they lived because that question came up. I don't know why that's even relevant. I mean, with the horses, I guess it kinda makes sense. Establishing the age between them, with Rain being the oldest, Thunder in the middle and Windy being the youngest (explaining the fact she's very coy and has an energetic personality... phew, I haven't used that word in a long time. Though I'd forgotten how to spell it). Can't spell relevance to save my life.
I am so glad that I decided to do this... finally. Because other than, yeah go figure. I have no experience with any of these animals, but I did do my research with the horses more than I did for these two characters. One of which becomes extremely important to a certain plot twist.
Well, anyway... long story short... I was checking out Google Images to see if I could find a few candidates. As it turns out, wow I consider myself so lucky that everything worked out this way, aside from your common green iguana, there are other colors available. Two of which are ones I definitely needed for the plot to work, but I didn't think I'd get this lucky.
There are actually albino iguanas that look just like this. Wow, he's a beauty.
And maybe for Scorch, I was thinking about something like this (he's on the right)
Or better yet... just so I don't have to write about this huge age gap between the two
Okay, I sound too overly pleased with myself. But I can't help it. I simply had no idea... yeah, goes to show that I really haven't done a lot of research. I usually don't have to sort to that cuz I'm so good at making stuff up. But I'd printed out just a few little things about iguana care.
The only thing is maybe.. I'll have to rewrite/rethink my introduction scene with the two of them.
Another thing is that I'm trying to really work on the whole situation between Jonas and Peter because I got really concerned writing it a couple nights ago. Kinda shell-shocked and been afraid to go back ever since. I have a feeling that I went too far in the other direction, so instead of Jonas being angry and somewhat moody, he's become the exact opposite, dejected and almost on the verge of having one of his panic attacks.
Sure, he's a little embarrassed and ashamed of his living situation... not knowing what happened to his parents, but I dunno... I just can't help but think he and Peter have a really good relationship. There's just this really intangible integer that's been buzzing around my head that I can't quite touch up on.
The story goes like this:
in the somewhat dramatic, literary fashion, Jonas was left on Peter's doorstep 13 years ago... I admit when I wrote this that Harry Potter's origin story kinda came to mind and I may have borrowed from that. But it's not like J.K. Rowling was the first and only person to do this.
It really doesn't make sense, especially the fact that Jonas's parents have mysteriously disappeared... not leaving so much as a last name... which is REALLY strange. Then again, none of my characters have last names, so that's almost like an inside joke, isn't it?
Peter doesn't know how or why, but somehow Jonas was on his doorstep... okay, that really doesn't make a huge amount of sense. Why his house of all the houses? Did their car stop in the middle of nowhere and it so happens that nobody was residing in what would become Nina's house... oh wait, maybe the house wasn't even built yet... maybe that's where they lived... I wanted to keep it as mysterious as possible so I really didn't care to elaborate at any point... whichever way it becomes clear to Jonas what happened to his parents... on Christmas no less... it's really hard to explain and it really pushes the envelope just a little bit, unless of course it's not the only incident of this: touching something and through that, seeing into the past or something like that. I DON'T KNOW.
Certainly if I don't find it believable, I doubt anyone else will. Now if anyone can get through my whole prologue about reincarnation and whatnot, I doubt too much else is going to rattle them too much... that and the whole "psychic abilities" thing that Jonas deals with when social anxiety flares up.
Speaking of flaring up, I don't know what is with me today, but I'm not feeling good. I think something I did or didn't do yesterday is giving me an ulcer... the same old story "denying and staying far out," except now I know what to call it... just that.
I think the thing is that I'm very unsure as to what to make of this relationship... it is freaking me out to say the least.
So get past the whole thing of how the two of them came together.
huh... would it be a little extreme if I said Jonas's birthday happened to coincide with Christmas day? I mean, he was an angel in his previous life and had been the one summoned to relinquish the current embodiment of evil... but I don't know. It's one thing that I wrote about the story beginning in the very distant past... I think my timeline unnerved one of my friends, who happened to be the inspiration for Jonas's pale blue eyes, his most distinguishing feature.... I think I had it listed as the first chapter dating 66 million years later... as if the angel and evil sorcerer were around just after the dinosaurs were just destroyed...by the sorcerer himself... yeah, that makes a whole lot of sense.
But it's another to somewhat make Jonas synonymous with... what the hell, people are born on Christmas and Christmas eve all the time... it doesn't mean that they're the second coming or anything like that...
I just came up with a brilliant idea, corresponding to all this.
Supposing Jonas turns... I dunno... 14 going on 15... what's so significant about him turning 15?
on Christmas... or Christmas eve or whatever...
either way you look at it, whether Peter just got a reply from the FBI after several years of trying to find out about Jonas's parents, or this idea... he has the worst timing in the world because Jonas was having a great holiday/birthday and this bomb drops on him
Here's what I have in mind, though.
Peter Bronson is Jonas's guardian (his uncle for all intensive purposes when it comes to Nina's parents... and I'm not sure how far I'm willing to stretch that anymore). He operates a lot behind the scenes, knowing what's going on with Jonas getting struck by lightning on a conspicuous basis, and somehow... well, not really somehow... it doesn't have to be explained really, but he knows a lot more about Jonas's destiny that people give him credit for... he's very observant about things but doesn't readily ask Jonas about them because he respects his privacy and all that. He's merely there to provide for him and to support him no matter what it comes down to.
The story is more or less going back and forth between Nina and Jonas's POV... with it being in 3rd person. I'm just saying that the story follows them around, showing what they're seeing and experiencing... therefore we don't see their classmates or their parents/guardian unless they're in the same room. But from my POV as the writer, I have that planned out that... I guess saying he's the 12th man on the field... like the crowd is at a football game, they don't directly influence the action that takes place, just creating an atmosphere and cheering their team on.
The one thing that Jonas... well, maybe not that one thing, because there are a lot of things about him that he doesn't know... but the biggest unanswered question is where he came from, as in his parents and what they were like.
My idea is that when Jonas turns 15, Peter offers an explanation... I believe it's something he said that he'd tell him when he was ready, whenever he asked... what gets him believing that Jonas is ready at this age can just come down to the fact his destiny is upon him and the information might be helpful to him.
Supposedly, after he found Jonas on his doorstep, once he found a suitable sitter for a couple hours, he reported Jonas to the police, asking if anything came up recently about... well, anything in relation to his parents and what happened to them. A few DNA tests are run because the authorities or whoever was in charge suspected that his parents were recent burn victims that were found maybe a few yards away from the residence... I'm just trying to figure out where the bodies were found, like what the most logical location would be... too near or too far away from the residence would be pushing it just a little bit, not to mention if they were anywhere near Nina's or Jonas's... maybe one neck of the woods somewhere where a bunch of the trees burned and never completely recovered from... that might be the most logical location.
Anyway, someone stops by the house to report his findings, giving a envelope full of information about it. Peter decides that all of it must be kept secret from Jonas until he's old enough to handle the loss and understand it.
I just have a lot of trouble, at the moment, depicting Nina and Peter's first meeting when she stops by the house. What kind of conversation do they have? How far can I push the envelope (coincidingly, Jonas) without things (him) bending too far in one direction? It has to be handled very carefully because I want him to be sympathetic, but the same one-tier countenance that he has. Showing too much emotion too early bugs the hell out of me and I surely can't see it being believable, should I go that route.
After that, though, I have another idea about how to introduce the two iguanas. Jonas has two terrariums in his bedroom because the two of them are obviously too big to be in the same cage. Meaning I can't just have him bringing this terrarium downstairs with him.
He comes down the staircase with Sparky on his arm. Right now, I'm picturing it and its almost comical that he comes off this way, as if its no big deal that there's this huge lizard that's about as big as his arm hanging onto it. He leans towards Nina, asking if she'd like to pet him and of course, yes... this scene doesn't last too long. Maybe he brings down a lettuce leaf or something for him to munch while he explains where they came from. Both of them, he found at Spring Lake, but Scorch arrived a little more recently. He then proceeds to show Nina a picture of Scorch rather than taking the care to bring him down also or asking her to come upstairs... that's a little too foreward.
Anyway, he says that Scorch can sometimes get into moods where he doesn't want to be touched... like he could come down the stairs with his thumb wrapped up because he bit him or whatever. The moods have been a bit more frequent lately so he uses extra caution during feeding time... and also he maybe doesn't want to scare Nina away too easily.
Yeah, once I get that first conversation off the ground, everything else should fall into place nicely.
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