I’ll understand if this discussion isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but it’s something I have to get out of my head before I can move forward.
I’d
say it’s for posterity but it might only serve me in the end.
Platforms
and record keeping
Fun
fact: a lot of this story was actually written on the notes section on my
phone.
As
amazing as my favorite apps are, the whole idea I could type notes on my phone
and email them to myself was a revelation!
How
much of the story was sent over from my phone, I’m not sure but I must have
sent myself over a dozen emails.
Ask
any writer and I’m sure the majority would agree- If a certain platform is
conducive to your process, you embrace it and let the magic happen.
The same goes for the time of day when the magic happens. I’ve had to strike at the strangest times. I once had a streak of a few days (maybe weeks) where it kept happening after 11pm and I had to get up early the next morning for work.
Before
reaching this phase, I had my notebooks. Once I realized this would be the kind
of thing I’d spend ages planning out, I came prepared. I went from one notebook
of notes to three composition books- two were for three characters (Amber and
the twins) with substantial backstories and one for everything else.
And of course I have a folder in my documents with a few word documents and spreadsheets. One is literally a “deleted scenes” document- but I’ve actually gone back used some things I took out so holding onto everything like a hoarder wasn’t a complete waste.
It’s
the first time I wrote something out of sequence… it was a fun new of way of
doing things and it took some of the pressure off. Write only when there’s
inspiration.
This
stopped serving me in the final few months when I had huge gaps to fill in the
story and it wasn’t always easy figuring out where to start
A culmination of influences
Most
people who know me are well aware of the fact Prince has been my top musician
for a long time. To this day he’s still a huge influence.
The
big thing about him that created a lot of hype early on aside from the fact he
writes and produces his own songs and plays over 20 instruments… he was the
culmination of his influences. He absorbed nuances like a sponge and made them
his own.
Writers
do the same thing, of course, but with this story more than anything else I’ve
written, I feel like so many things I’ve experienced through various media came
out in this story. I’d also been working on this for so long that it’s almost
impossible to trace things back to their source, even when I know where they
came from.
This is especially true when it comes to all the music I’d listened to while writing it. Where does the song stop and where does my vision begin? Sometimes I’ll draw inspiration from one thing or I’ll have an idea and I trip across something that sums up the direction I want it to go.
I
doubt I’ll remember all of them but here’s a list of things that ultimately
figured into the story in some way:
- SuckerPunch
(mostly character archetypes and the idea of using dance to work through
past traumas. There’s also a “rescue” scene that calls back to one of the
earlier parts of the movie)
- Purple Rain (the
venues, the competition aspect, the three girl performance formation from
his girl groups)
- Glee (Emilia’s
first original concept, I couldn’t help but imagine it being performed by
Quinn, Santana and Brittany in their cheerleading uniforms)
- 50 Shades of Grey
(I actually read this series after I’d started working on this- just to
see if there was anything I could use- Amber had s&m as her specialty
before I read a single page. But after reading, a couple scenes did call
back to a traumatic scene in the last book)
- Dancing with the
stars and so you think you can dance (the girls all have the various Latin
styles in their repertoire, Emilia has ballet jazz and contemporary in her
background, Amber dabbles in hip hop… I use terminology so often, if this
becomes an actual book, I might include a few diagrams to demonstrate the
techniques)
- 50 first dates
(“you have to understand there is no future with me!”)
- All my children
(there’s a scene where Kendall offers to talk to JR and when she does, she
falls into a trap meant for the person she’s doing the favor for- when
Talia breaks up with her boyfriend, she offers to talk to her for him. She
gets more than she bargains but at least a mountain of bricks doesn’t fall
on top of her)
- Kiss kiss bang
bang (how Harmony’s sister was a victim of incest and that whole scene
talking about how the girls she works with are “damaged goods”)
- Bits and pieces of myself- Emilia is naive and inexperienced in MANY areas, Vanessa had a family that had high expectations of her but her dreams were against their wishes (that’s more of me as a teenager than present day), Scarlet and Talia are afraid of the vulnerability that comes with being in love. Amber… she’s very opinionated about things. I’m not as abrasive or upfront about these things but both of us have felt like outsiders
The
goals
My
goals for this project came down to these things
- I’ve never written
about female friendships before so I wanted a strong cast. When I start
posting chapters, you’ll notice that they’re the ones starting the action
or it’s their inner monologue you hear. It’s almost never from any of the
male characters
- I wanted to push
for more mature subject matter to go outside my comfort zone… of course
writing is half the battle. Actually sharing that stuff with other people,
I’m still nervous about cuz I’m afraid people I know will treat me
differently or at least get the wrong idea. The stuff I’d written even
with my complete lack of experience is sure to raise a few eyebrows
- I’ve always kinda
wanted to do my own karaoke musical. I tried to do this with maroon 5 back
when they only had 3 albums but it didn’t go far… and with Adam Levine
being a rotten cheater, that’ll probably never happen. I typically imagine
my stories as movies in my head and (for better or worse) the characters
as if I’m in their shoes. But music came intertwined with this so much
that the two are hard to separate. I doubt I’d get permission from all the
artists to use their work but that’d be so cool. Although with this running
close to 250 pages, it’d work better as a serial on hbo. Although without
the excessive cursing and nudity- I’d prefer enough to serve the story. No
joke: I actually had a few times where I wanted to watch my story as a
movie, thinking it really existed and being disappointed when I remembered
that it doesn’t… that’s how real this felt to me
Above all else, this became the manifestation of one of most common bits of advice writers hear all the time:
"Write
the story you want to read."
So
if the logic is off and some things aren’t realistic and don’t make sense,
that’s why.
We’re
told all the time that a story needs conflict or the protagonist needs to want
something to propel the story. Or you need to establish an antagonist early on.
Twilight got a lot of criticism but one of them was that the plot really didn’t
happen until 2/3 into the book.
Full
disclosure- Talia’s main goal is to maintain her lifestyle for as long as she
can even when deep down, she knows she can’t do it forever. And most of the
conflict or antagonism that happens- it’s mostly internal things like fear and
doubt.
Although you could argue at different points that Talia and Amber are the antagonists of the story. Just because all of the sirens have their bonds and friendships doesn’t mean they don’t get catty every now and then. But there’s almost always a reason whether it’s self preservation or advocating for their interests or that of others.
…
with all that said, I suppose it only makes sense to devote the new post to the
characters. I did a series of them a while back but now that I have a better
idea of who everyone is and how they change through the story, it makes sense
to pay them a revisit
