They say you should look up the meaning of the name so it's appropriate for the character...
okay, I don't know if there is a "they" who do say that, but the baby names thing is pretty common advice.
Usually I will have a name in mind for somebody, it'll come from someone in the halo of my mindset, it's a name I love or I really do do my research on it.
the names I'd been coming up with so far for "Te Busque"... I don't remember too many of the reasons I came up with them... I played around with different names here and there until I found the right ones...
Talia, I think was a name I just fell in love with... one of my classmates in high school was named Natalia... there was a huge contrast between her pale skin and dark hair... we were never acquainted personally, but we were in the same English class senior year, only time I saw her ever... and I double-checked for my setting if it was popular in Argentina or Brazil, Portuguese or Spanish...
Montez was the last name of Gabriella in "High School Musical"...
Vanessa, who I describe having long, silky straight blonde hair with subtle highlights that you can only see up close... I most likely got from Vanessa Hudgens, who played Gabriella... there was also a gymnast (she didn't have blonde hair either) who I saw a couple of times compete on the college level... Vanessa Zamarripa... she was kinda exotic looking, a toss-up between Indian and Hispanic... I messed around with that name a bit and came up with Zeppola... or it could just be zepole, not sure of the spelling, but its like a different kind of donut... saw it on "Chopped" a couple times...
Vanessa was also the name of Austin Powers' first girlfriend, played by the unmistakably hot Elizabeth Hurley
Scarlet just came to mind because I pictured my "Rocket"-esque inspiration as a red-head... a little tongue-in-cheek there... rest assured, it had nothing to do with "Gone with the Wind"... Scarlet O'Hara or Scarlet Johannson (although the latter is pretty hot when she's in Black Widow's cat suit)
Rusmusan... which I gotta look up the spelling for... was the last name of an American Idol contestant, her first name was Carmen. I thought it was exotic sounding and kinda hot, so I went with it
it's spelled Rasmusen... and she's doing pretty well for herself, apparently... interestingly she's a country singer and she's Canadian... not all of my girls are going to be ethnic looking so that's no big deal. the name is derived from mostly Scandinavia... Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Poland...
I also looked up Zamarripa for the heck of it, since I was on a role... the gymnast apparently has Dutch origins in her family... meanwhile the last name, on one site, derived from Spanish immigrants, some of which immigrated to Peru... I'm making up that other "Z" of a last name so it really doesn't matter. I was just curious
I usually don't give my characters last names to begin with...
Giving Scarlet a twin sister named Ruby... it was an idea that just popped into my head and I didn't second guess it for a second.
Emilia was a deliberate "Suckerpunch" reference... Emily Browning playing Babydoll, who becomes the motivational force for the girls to escape as the newest person committed to the asylum.
Amber was a character in "Suckerpunch" who we didn't see too much of... the same with Vanessa Hudgen's character Blondie... they were kinda in the background for most of the missions in the other dimensions...
Having picked out the names months ago and written them down a number of times through these brainstorming sessions, I'd become quite attached to them...
but I'm considering making an exception for Amber... seeing as the music from the pop/hip-hop duo Karmin seems to fit her attitude to a tee...
Even though the two really don't get along well... or at least I have in my head that Amber really isn't fond of Ruby... the two of them only have one night on the same stage, as much as she can stand...
while they started very much in the background and being thought of as characters that are mentioned but don't directly take part in the story... I dunno, just conceptually, I've gotten very fond of them.
Who knows? Maybe I'll figure that Ruby doesn't dislike Amber the same way... maybe she actually likes her and wants to be accepted by her rather than pushing aside because she hates being overshadowed by her...
3 songs come to mind as ones that could fit Amber's mindset... interestingly, two of them are next to each other... but in the wrong order on the tracklist...
this queen bee attitude comes out in "I'm just sayin"... where the chorus goes something like this:
oh, if I want it, I'm gonna get it and I'm just saying, I'm just saying (x 2)
I know, know know, let it go go go, oh oh oh, oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh (x 2)
She has her eye not only on being the most requested/desirable girl in the company, but apparently Alejandro... or she just wants her happiness level to be much greater than Talia's
the next track speaks for itself:
I told you so, don't wanna brag, but u already know, oh
I told you so, don't wanna brag, but you already know, you already know
told ya, told ya, told you so, oh
told ya, told ya, told you so, oh
Supposing I follow through with the Alejandro storyline I'm starting to generate, I'll have the first track from the album
My mind is blown, with every single thing you do
lose all control, like I'm walking on the moon
you got me sprung and I'm tripping over you
baby boy your love got me walking on the moon
Maybe just for some extra inspiration I should watch some hip-hop routines from "so you think you can dance"
the same goes for cha-cha, salsa, samba, even jive from that show and "dancing with the stars"
I tend to see choreography in my head with certain songs, but I cannot for the life of me:
a) act them out exactly as they appear, cuz they often change or
b) name all the steps so I can write them out...
the sponteoity makes is a little difficult
as time goes on, I think Amber/Carmen's role in this might change from being a minor character to being a possible antagonist... other than Talia's own distrust, I really don't have any other opposing force in this...
what I kinda gather from my thought process is that although she comes from the 2nd rockiest past of all the girls, she desires attention in a very Fire sign-esque way... she could be a Leo for all I know, and possibly the most like me of all the characters... wanting to be in the spotlight, doing whatever it takes... and she kinda wants to be at the top where Talia is... therefore knock her down a peg or two...
her mentality could easily have, additionally, something along the lines of "I'm younger, prettier and better, it's a time for someone else to take over the throne"...
It's potentially problematic, but these are some ideas I have so far:
- Amber/Carmen knew Alejandro before she became one of the sirens at the club
- I already established she was part of a convulated foster system where she was heralded as the center of attention, but has been subjected to a lot of abuse... [lightbulb] maybe she experienced years of the bad stuff in one foster system or group home and she became a queen among her housemates when she was moved to into another system... although it'd be more likely if the 2nd system she went into were all girls... I'm still working out the logistics of that... but...
- Alejandro... I was gonna say he was part of the system as well but he's related to the guys running the club... unless his mom had died, nobody in his family was fit to take him (business had been slumming at the bar previous to the owners meeting Talia)... I'm not sure how complicated I wanted to make this all for a freaking backstory, lol... he befriended her and the vicious cycle of abuse stopped... unless he volunteered at the group home during after school hours... either way, they meet in this system, she was in awe of his kindness... she didn't see him for a while after she was put into another system, with all girls... maybe she won favor with them because she told them about how crazy she was about him and how when she was old enough to get out, she'd find him and pick up where they left off...
- downside: by the time she finds him, he's already infatuated with Talia... which annoys the hell out of her because Talia often doesn't show equal interest in him... (lol, this is sounding very "Les Mis" right now)
Now it seems a little harsh, not to mention confusing, considering that she'd be the one to break up Talia and JP, or at least letting her know about JP's "motive" to "save" her from her way of life... I'm not sure who's going to be doing the blabbing...
Alejandro is the most likely candidate at this point...
I only see a couple of numbers for Amber/Carmen... but I get the feeling that her role will increase, supposing I get this thing written and there's discussion of putting together a movie... she might be in it a lot more so she isn't just a random character/source of conflict
"Lady Killer" and "Tickets" by Maroon 5 also fit her pretty well...
she's got tickets to her own show, but nobody wants to go
and I'm stuck sitting in the front row, singing alone like there's no tomorrow
"Lady Killer" could be when she sets her sights on convincing Emilia to work with her and Ruby on their night... her motive is to not only unveil a new routine, but to be at the center of attention... she ends up getting upstaged by Ruby and even Emilia gets more attention than she does...
another sequence of events I see coming together:
- Alejandro's talking to Emilia, who wants to take her act to the next level despire Talia's reservations... Amber overhears this conversation and offers to give them a hand... mainly to try to impress Alejandro...
- she also plans Alejandro to take the fall for anything that happens to Emilia (possibly, the client she ends up getting has had history of overpowering girls in the past)... so Talia will blame him and swear him off for good
- after everything that could go wrong does, Talia finds out that Amber was behind everything... Emilia tells her how she said to pick the highest bidder no matter what happens... describes him (or just maybe she'd done this to other girls before, to weed out the competition.... who knows, really?)... together with Emilia and Alejandro, they put on a show for Amber, which ends with Talia ordering Alejandro to never come back to the club...
- Amber confronts her, saying she can't do that... ends up taking the fall for what she did... and ends up explaining herself, how she knew Alejandro, etc, etc.
I don't want to push anything too far with my characters... I'd like them to have more depth than just running on one emotion... even someone like Amber who has every intention of getting everything she's ever wanted, she does have a soft side and/or weakness
It'd be kinda silly for her to say that if she knew sooner she would have tried to talk Alejandro into dating her and such, lol... but I'm pretty much for anything at this point
Yeah, I might have gotten a little too attached to that name... Carmen would have been her first name, but she changed it to her middle name to go with the amber waves in her brown hair.
