Brainstorming Part 1 of "White Tiger"

This is a tentative title that I will most likely be changing... at least to relieve my conscious of being plagued by the fact someone stole my story and tried to profit from it... not that I'd been losing sleep over it, but until this venture ends in a success story, it's going to bother me, if only for a little bit.

I'd been scribbling a couple of things in my notebook and have been coming up for a few ideas here and there for what I can do to make this story... fuller... I guess is a good word for it.

I decided that I was going to break the story into three parts, three parts of the story of this one character... who she dealt with adversity, overcame it, found love and sacrificed herself for it... 
Quite a bit of part 2 isn't going to change at all... if there are any changes, it will be omissions, particularly of conversations... not just taking out one or two people, but the repetition that, after a while, I just couldn't stomach... you know things are bad when you're a drama queen and that particular trait has you annoyed with yourself

Until now, I've, quite simply, skipped over explaining this part of the story entirely... all I'd written were that beatings from her kind were frequent, being ostracized was the norm, a fear of humans still linger despite the fact encountering them involved the few moments where the comforts of home were provided... food, water, shelter and a warm place to sleep...

Other than that, the only two solid events were meeting Lucas and finally finding a new home with her godfather... I simply skipped past all that because I didn't know what I could possibly add.

What I ended up with was a new use for the name "Silas" and seeds of doubt being planted that involve the only way of life she knew... 
albeit, it's a little dark... not to mention malicious...
It goes without saying that half-breeds are outcasts and being half-human entails not being able to belong among the race of the parent who raised you... so some violence will result from that... the degree of said violence ranges from bad to horrific... and there are only a handful of individuals that would participate in the horrific... 

When I was doing the initial work up of the logistics of this world I've created, I decided that the following things were given:

• Tigers are relatively peaceful, non-confrontational race in the "if you leave us alone, we'll leave you alone" school of thought
• Because of this supposed war that erupted between these two races, there are few tigers left
• Kirakotsu (Chihiro's mother) was one of the most powerful members of her race and greatly respected

As I'd worked through trying to map out how human interaction varies from interaction with her own race, I'd found a few road blocks...

If there are so few tigers left and humans are more fearful than violent, how she not only end up on the brink of starvation, but broken?

That would have to mean that some of the things she had grown up knowing prove to be false. The race is scattered and however many are left are extremely good about covering their tracks, assuring that their way of life is unable to be found by anyone outside of their own.

The end result is that she manages to track down a number of clans... somewhere between 8-10 along her journey, just to throw out a number... but she is unwelcome based on her parentage... once or twice, violence occurs in retaliation, fearing that humans might use her to track them down with or without her knowledge...

As she dwells further down this road, she learns more about her mother's relation to their race. Learns that she and her family were outcast simply based on her actions to consort with a human. Also learns that she had several suitors interested in her, all of which were infuriated when she chose a human over all of them... they don't find this out for several years because, as a general rule, "tigers are extremely good at hiding if they don't want to be found." 

On top of that, I added another "general rule" that, when I really thought about it, I found a lot of sense in...
Tigers are a race that believe in soul mates... once they find a mate, they are unable to [completely] fall in love with anyone else... it doesn't matter if the distance is in miles or life & death... once they pick someone to love, they will never have eyes for anyone else...
This also goes on to explain why Chihiro feels so strongly about Lucas... the mere idea of him dying being so unbearable that she'd rather die so he can live...

Eventually, she manages to cross paths with these former suitors... I think only one of them has a solidified territory... the others are part of nomad parties that travel around the region without settling down... I suppose there is a kind of poetic symmetry to this...

Chihiro's clan was predominately female... meaning almost all of her family was female... I don't know why, but I have trouble imagining any males being part of it... and yeah, I'm aware that in nature, tigers are solitary by nature and my model is closer to the lioness structure, this was never meant to be completely anatomically correct.

These nomad parties are made up of males... which goes on to explain why a select few individuals treat her in the way that they do... heck, their mentality is likely no sharper than that of a frat house... at least one of these parties shares that degree of mob mentality...

I should make it clear, though, that I DO NOT believe that all fraternities are made up of guys that want nothing more in life than to drink and get laid... sometimes when it comes to cheating spouses and such, I hate the increasingly viable fact that men seem genetically programmed to be that way... and that's more or less where I'm coming from with this.

The evidence starts to pile up little by little throughout this, eventually explaining to Chihiro why her mother wasn't as respected as she was raised to believe... 

part of me is still trying to determine whether or not to take some liberties with her age... it originally started with her being 9 and then I changed it to 11... playing out some scenarios, I had her going through an unexpected growth spirit in this time she's wandering... 

if I make her too old, she might seem ridiculously naive. Taking the plot this route, the idea being pounded into her skull (and the rest of her body) that Kirakotsu wasn't thought very highly of, and by extension, her life was worthless... I can't make her too old because there's no way she'd believe it.

Part of me is also leery about her being too young. Unless it's the way of the animal, there's no way I can have a huge growth spurt. The other way for that to happen is for her to be on the run for years... and with all the factors, there's no way she could make it past a couple of months.

I had a few late bursts of inspiration before I went to bed and also a couple after I laid down. In one of my random "alternate/deleted" scenes, she encountered a handful of individuals that trashed Kirakotsu's reputation... it's a given that she is on the offensive to protect her honor, only to pay the price.

It'd be cool if I could use some of that for the story, but I'd have to change the setting where this all takes place... otherwise, she wouldn't think to trespass into one of a series of caves to get out of a storm, where she happens upon her godfather's clan.

There's a natural progression that has to take place where it goes from bad to worse... oddly, the few bright spots that come into part one... other than the "bookends" of the journey, is when she's in the company of humans.

They're kinder as she goes further north, most likely because the aligning villages are in good standing with Kohaku... he has a great attitude about alliances and allegiances and such... as I will go into later

Humans originally start shooing her away. In the first case, one wants to go after her, thinking she'll lead others to them, but another in the group talks him out of it on the mere fact she most likely doesn't belong to anyone... some see her and out of pity, leave food out for her... only a handful invite her to talk with them, but by this point, they're doing most of the talking

The climax to this part comes down to Silas... who was to be Kirakotsu's life partner until she found love elsewhere... as a result, he "curses" (not in the literal sense) her family and wants to be sure they pay for whatever they may have done... humiliation, shame or just being turned down... and he has the powers of sorcery on his side...
symmetry again... Lucas has his adversary in Ivan... the same race, but its pure blood vs. half blood... Chihiro & Silas, same thing... 

By the time she does encounter him, she's close to the end of her rope... battered and bruised, both physically and mentally... although all of the dialogue will be available for the reader to see, she will attain none of it, falling in and out of consciousness... oddly enough, the one thing that saves her from him bewitching her mind to the point of torture is this powerful memory she has of Lucas... apparently he's unable to trifle with "true love"... or whatever pish-posh I wanna throw in for the benefit of the story... her heart is her strongest weapon in this and even though for a while it might not seem that way to the reader, her being a strong individual, hopefully I can bring that point across... 

It becomes clear that he has targeted her for a reason, bringing several of the nomads to do his bidding... getting his final revenge on Kirakotsu for spurning his affections by breaking her only daughter's spirit... 

Everything does connect later on... but it'll be an 11th hour thing when she finds out why the massacre happened, why her family was killed... that's reserved for Part 3 in the biggest of climaxes.

At the moment, I'm determining whether or not it'll make sense to bring Lucas into the narrative at that particularly important moment... before that, not really mentioning him again... because if I do, I might end up doing it excessively and I'd rather my readers not get bored in her pining for him... that's all of Part 2, lol

There's a decent chunk of time until he actually comes back INTO the picture... 

after Silas leaves her for dead, she makes her way to her final resting place... which becomes her new home... and the rest of Part 1 is about Kohaku picking up the pieces and building her back up... faith in family, which takes her a little while to accept...
along the way, he acquaints her with a neighboring wolf pack, whose leader is on his last legs and he thought she should get to know his successor...
Sandy doesn't make an official appearance until much later... ;) I liked him a little too much to take him completely out of the picture and I'm confident I know him well enough as a character that he's not going to become the Jacob of this story...

some of the circumstances echo "Twilight" in an eerie sort of way... 

while on that subject, I want to aim for part 1 to be a minimum of 20 pages... which is roughly how long "Twilight" was before Bella & Edward met for the first time...
not that I'm hinging the whole story on the same things, but I'd like to keep a certain few things in mind when it comes to how long these things are... 

I'd love for Part 1 to be 50 pages... then part 2 would be 100 and part 3 to be another 50... that would bring me to 200 pages... dream scenario... everything matches up the way I want it to and the grand total is 300+ pages

that would be just be incredible.

(to that end, my final Twilight reference for the entry... that book is 498 pages... I'm a LONG time away from 500 pages... so I'd like to at least manage 200 solid pages first... then shoot for 300)...

I guess the biggest key to all this is finding a sense of balance to the story... between how many pages each part is, to how many times "Lucas" comes into the conversation in part 1... I've got plenty of ideas down here all ready and hopefully soon, I can get this thing started.

The most important thing is for the morale of my character to be just right with the believability intact... how will these experiences shape her perceptions about people and life? 
I've already kinda figured that her fear of humans is a moot point, given that there were some pleasant encounters towards the end... maybe her initial fear of Bastian at the first meeting is because he know magic and at Silas's hand & will, she only knows the negatives about it... 

Although that might be a good reason why Kirakotsu didn't pursue him with any interest, he could have been dabbling even all that time again... I just know the dude has a major grudge and there's nothing he won't do to exact his revenge.

Returning from a Revisit: WTF was I thinking?

I'm sure we'd all come across that thought a number of times in our writing careers. I know that sometimes I can so monotonous and repetitious in my writing. But I had no idea that I was this bad.

One thing that gets under my skin whenever I read through submission guidelines is when they say they're looking for a certain word count. Or they're looking for this many pages. I've written much less than this in recent years, but the furthest I can get is just over 100. One day I'd love to peak at 200+ pages, and something like 200,000 words... heck, I'd love enough material for 400-500 pages, and it's all concise and stuff.

Recently I'd been reading "Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters" and noted how it's more character-driven. And plot is very slow to come across at some points. Usually the characters are discussing their relationships and such. Of course I know Jane Austen is one for exposition and length and all that.
But I don't necessarily want to be that kind of writer.

Having the comparison just made it easier for me to come to my conclusion:
I have such OCD when I write that I have cover all my bases. If my protagonist experiences something, either physically or mentally, s/he has to tell the other characters everything in her head.
But if the same stuff is repeating over and over, it gets pretty annoying.

I just spent the past couple days re-reading through "White Tiger"... it was my latest draft, which I stopped rewriting about halfway through and kinda, you know, stopped working on.
I loved the direction I was going on in too.

I'm pretty big on prologues and back stories in general and I'd love to keep my lengthy introduction to this story. But the main critique I'd gotten is that my prologues run too long and they should be considered part of the story starting with chapter 1.
That was another weird thing about this story: I never had designated chapters... my increments were always in lengths of time... so technically, I guess I could have Part 1, 2 and 3, but they'd have to be similar lengths.

If I do that, it's pretty obvious to me that the "meat" of the story will be part 2.
Supposing I stretch out my prologue until it can stand alone as its own entity, I'd have to write a bunch of story I never wanted to bother with.
That was my main issue with maintaining continuity and such. Whenever I didn't feel like writing about certain trials and tribulations, I keep the time stamps that range anywhere from a couple days, a week, to two months. Then in a few spots, 10 years and 2 years.

I'm also afraid that if I length my prologue, it's gonna get too dark and stay too dark for too long. And if it does get severely dark, it has to be a smooth transition to the next part. Meaning that it doesn't get too light right away.

It'd severely ironic of me to say I hate writing dark stuff when I actually do dabble in that frequently. I'd written a number of scenes off the record that stand as a testament how much I put Chihiro through over these years.
Doubtful I can use any of that because most of it is rewriting the same scenario repeatedly but the circumstances change.

Geesh... bar none, I can be really shitty to my protagonists and the stuff I put them through. It started with my fanfiction and progressed into original thought... and that was before I started watching "All My Children," my one & only soap.
The first original idea I had started with a session of health class where the question was why teens are driven to suicide.
Throughout my high school career, we received word of at least 5 suicides. We received the print-out in homeroom, where it explains what happens and that there is counseling stuff on site for anyone who needs. There was only one time where I knew the person. She was in my biology class and I had concert choir with her one year. I'd tell the story of what happened, but I'd be inaccurate and it wouldn't do her justice. We weren't particularly close, but a lot of people in the drama and choir programs were close with her.

For the sake of argument, my protagonist, like me, was very conscious about their grades and it was that pressure that they put on themselves that eventually drove them over the edge. But on top of that, I threw in all kinds of crap, whether his parents were going through a divorce, he was physically abused by his mother's new boyfriend... either way, he kept all that hurt inside and that's how it came to pass.
But of course, it was a failed attempt thwarted by his friends, to whom he never confessed anything to but they suspected something was wrong. Then he doubted his self-worth so much that when he got sick, he refused the antibiotics that would have made him better. Until he finally decides that he has something to live for.

The way I write about my characters sometimes makes me believe that I ought to be cited for literary abuse... I need to learn, if I do go down that path, to put as much as is NECESSARY for the plot... there's a point where it just gets excessive.

The one thing a lot of my characters seem to have in common with me is that they suffer from lack of self-confidence. And they sometimes have trouble speaking their mind about things. I have no trouble confessing to a computer screen, but forget it when it's actually asking for help or bringing something up verbally.

Jamie's lack of confidence... and it didn't start out that way... all this crap kept happening to him until he just gave up and cut himself.

Chihiro's lack of confidence eventually results in her giving her life for someone she loves because she believes "he can make a bigger difference in this world than I ever will" even if it means abandoning the duty she'd worked the entire story to get ready for.

Aside from repeating the thoughts I came across in narrative in dialogue to my characters, just to prove a point or make sure they knew everything I did... my biggest issue that I kept coming across was Chihiro tearing herself down, believing she isn't good enough.
Heck, she cried so much throughout this it almost felt like she'd give the protagonist of "Perks of Being a Wallflower" a run for his money... she was constantly apologetic if she didn't do things quite right or, in the case of one plot point, trying to kill the person she's in love with when she was under a spell the entire time.

I think it got to a point where I started to thinking that she's so pessimistic all the time that my readers aren't going to fall in love with her or want to continue reading to see how things are going to end.
Of course I've given away the ending a number of times throughout this that there's really no point.

I gotta find that ultimate ending believable. Taking a romantic rival out of the mix makes the romance a little more plausible, but at the same time, I cannot repeat the notion of sacrificing for love and the happiness of another person. So that's one element I need to eliminate...
this might be a good story to work on analyzing cause and effect.

I've been working with the idea for a different kind of antagonist... to make up for the elimination of the 2nd villain I borrowed from the InuYasha universe... someone from Chihiro's race. Possibly with a vendetta against her family because her mother rejected him and his proposition to merge their clans. The impasse was reached because he doesn't tolerate the human race the way she does.

So I have another way of orchestrating the first crucial plot point: Chihiro was sheltered from the outside world and its distrust/hatred of people like her, who have a half-human heritage... so few exist to begin with because of this predjuice.
Presumably, the humans declared war on her race, and her mother has no choice but to take action... which results in a bloody massacre. So Chihiro has no choice but to navigate this world on her own, an endeavour that proves very difficult.

I guess it could be good to add is that she has to find her only relative, her godfather... something that takes her a little while to figure out... for a time, she is wandering aimlessly in search of another clan to call her own where she might one day rule... although I'm not sure when to bring up that point because whenever it's mentioned, it puts the momentum back into the plot, drives it again.
I'd also considered the possibility of delaying the first time she comes in contact with Lucas. It's deciding the lesser of two evils: if I bring him up too soon, the memory of him might be in the mix too little or too much, if I bring him up too late, there could be issues there too.

The next thing I'll probably do, aside from the cause & effect outline, making sure all the bits and pieces of my storyline have relevance and work towards a goal... I'll go thru track changes and such, take out filler, remove characters and include a few notes to keep in mind.

cuz if I go anywhere further about those things here, this entry's never gonna end :-P

Animé Inspiration: InuYasha

One thing that's been a constant throughout my "writing" years... which is, at this point, half of my life... cuz I started when I was 13...

When I find a new source of interest, something I can totally leap into and get lost in, chances are extremely good (like, 90% if not 100 of the time) that it'll find its way into my writing at some point...
All of it blurs together eventually... where it's all that 4Kids animation making its way into my Pokémon fanfiction... or my new favorite movies being referenced in my novels ("Phantom of the Opera" into my sequel to Jonas's story... which is so weak in its overall storyline that I highly doubt anyone will be reading it)...

I have seen very little of that lately. The last huge inspiration I had was Mr. Downey, after whom I'd written a few accounts with his characters in mind... Larry Paul from "Ally McBeal" and Julian Wells from "Less than Zero"... characters pretty hard to let go of while watching their perspective source material.
Only difference is that I doubt I can stomach "Less than Zero" in its entirety ever again.

Other than that, all my writing has been blogging... whether it's mentioning my latest favorite movies and books and actors and musicians... or discussing ideas I'm considering writing about.
I've found it very hard to commit to any sort of long-term project because I don't know where to begin. Plus all the stuff I'd learn either in my creative writing class or online from my writer's digest newsletters puts a lot of extra pressure on me, things that I have to keep in mind, and honestly, it's a major hassle trying to get everything just right...

Supposing I develop that degree of OCD in my writing and I'd never get anything done...
Nothing really new to report on Cassandra (which I haven't looked at in MONTHS) or Te Busque (I'm golden as long as I don't tire of my 30+ song playlists)...

What I'm eventually gonna discuss happened during Bleach the other night...
the series is finally starting to pick back up again. Not just being back to the main story arc, but we're finally back to the main characters... Ichigo, Rukia, Orihime, Chad and Reji... which I haven't seen any of in what feels like FOREVER... certainly not in this story arc...

They showed a commercial that was a mish-mash of all the different animé on Toonami/Adult Swim... seeing the few clips they showed of InuYasha had me heart swell like it hadn't in a long time... not that it's been FOREVER since the last time I watched any of my DVD's (I think I blew close to $200 on those DVD's, money I had saved up on the side, within 3-5 month period, lol... but I have them, therefore I am grateful I'm able to look back).

For a number of reasons, I'd used the likeness of Sesshomaru as my avatar for a number of blogs I've operated over recent years. Around that time, I was starting to find a great deal of interest in him, and he kinda represented the next direction I was going in (blogging about the elusive musician Prince), having that same type of personality.

Anyways, I was basking in the glow of all those clips I hadn't seen in a long time and I brought out my iPod to listen to some animé themes I found online...
after putting the entirety of my fav animé soundtracks on my iPod, I had since removed all but three because, let's face it, I wasn't listening to them and they were taking up space for other music.
Luckily I left behind "Come"... I believe it's the 2nd to last ending theme used in InuYasha... it's one of those nighttime anthems I like to listen to before bed because the visual is rooted in darkness, night time imagery... very soothing and relaxing...
then right behind it was "Life" by Yui... one of the ending themes for Bleach... my god, the first time I heard it, I absolutely fell in love with it... they started using it during the latter part of the story arc where Ichigo is rescuing Rukia from execution in the Soul Society... when he actually starts to get around to achieving that objective

so anyway, between those two, I was feeling pretty good...
then any possibility of falling asleep was interrupted by the ice forming in my veins...
I double-checked online last night as well as this morning to make sure my complaint to Amazon held...

last September, I did an entry about someone who stole "White Tiger" and presented it as their own work... someone let me know about this, I made the complaint to Amazon and they had since removed the listing from their site (and I believe the rest of her works as well). I checked all through the Internet to submit the allegations if they weren't alleged already...
someone already got to her GoodReads account, posting on all of her "stories" that they were stolen

and for your viewing pleasure, I'll include someone's mention of the June Ashley scandal... she was either the person who clued me in or a friend of hers that was a victim
http://raicodoll.tumblr.com/post/32485276156
be sure to spread the word

I'd say that "thankfully" I took care of this before too much could be screwed up...
but it would seem none of the stuff she stole was good enough to receive any acclaim...
I don't think I saw a single one with more than a 2 star-review...
my story when it was on Amazon had maybe 3 positive reviews and the rest were very negative...

that has me seething on the inside in a "rolling in my grave" sort of way... I felt bad about the things they said about my story, that they didn't like it and, worse, it sounded like it was written by a kid... 
my ego took a hit, but perhaps it was for the best

I hadn't thought about this in quite a few months, but my peace of mind was immediately arrested... and I'm having trouble making bail... all proverbially, of course

One of these days, I do hope to make good on this story... but there's an overwhelming wealth of edits I still need to do...
as I'm sure I'd posted a couple of times, I want to avoid any sort of scandal, someone telling me that my material infringes on InuYasha and I shouldn't take complete credit for that...

I have a strong enough character (in her overall make-up, not so much as a person) that I can totally make good for her sake.
I thought this over last night when I was having trouble falling asleep.

How much of my original material, my fanfiction, could I change and/or would need to change for me to escape comparison?
One of the latest best sellers was "50 shades of grey"... which I have yet to read (and don't have any immediate plans to do so... but I wouldn't rule it out)... but originally started out as a fanfiction of "Twilight"... and nobody draws the comparisons anymore...
lol...
I'd say "If E.L. James can do it, I can do it too"... except I don't plan on turning my story into an X-rated S&M sex romp

The principle is the same though... if she can make a departure from a fanfiction and make it a success story, I can do the same...

My storyline is solid... for the most part...
if anything, I was thinking of changing a few character back stories and completely removing one villain from the equation...
so technically, some version of Sesshomaru will still be in the mix... but I'll have to make him less of what he is... he's a character where you can't be completely sure of how evil and bad he is because he has that duality, that grey area... he'll be more ruthless... and to eliminate Naraku from the equation, I might decide for my Sesshomaru character to have a partner or assistant who is versed in sorcery... he or she will make his/her way into the mix for one specific scene where Chihiro is possessed and under this possession or spell, rather, she'll fight Lucas (my Inuyasha character) to the death... or until love breaks the spell...

which leaves the matter of whether I need the Koga character in the story at all.. it's a little too much like the InuYasha story arc if I have all of his enemies in it in some form...
Koga was a great match for Chihiro in the fanfiction cuz they could stay toe-to-toe with one another in a fight and eventually they forge an alliance with one another...
which kinda goes bust at the end of things because Chihiro loses her life for Lucas

hmm... for that matter, do I need Anna (my version of Kagome) in there at all either?

all I really need from the InuYasha universe is him, (at minimum) one of his comrades in some form (Miroku was the most logic choice because he's good with healing too, something necessary for this story to work), and a villain (Sesshomaru is the best candidate, of course)

there's also the biological connotations... that's probably the biggest giveaway aside from Lucas's personality... Chihiro is shunned because she's a white tiger, something I conjured up as the result of her heritage... which is half-human...
same thing with Lucas because, like Inuyasha, he's half-human

I'd like to keep this as close to the source of inspiration as I can... in a "closest to the retail price  without going over" sort of way... 

I could easily take humans out of the equation and write that they were outcasts simply because they have white hair... I can blame it on albinism... or some genetic mutation... cuz albinism is white with red eyes and they have to have blue eyes
Either way, Chihiro's father has to be someone who exists outside her clan, her family... I penned that her father was a samurai that lacked in self-confidence and her mother helped train him after he saved her life... 

no, I don't think I have enough brain power to conjure up something more plausible than the idea I already have in place...

if I keep Anna in the story at all, the change I'd make is her about Bastian (my version of Miroku) being brother and sister... but I'm starting to think that it might be a good idea to take her out of the story to dispel similarities... 
meaning that I have Lucas's companion down to being like Miroku or Sango... but it's kinda hard to bring Sango back into the mix when I have things pretty solid with Miroku's likeness

in fact one things that Anna brought to the story was complication... and one that was kinda hard for me to wriggle out of...
Chihiro doesn't confess her feelings for Lucas until the end of the story... on her death bed... because she didn't want to get in the way of his relationship with Anna... and Anna (and for that matter, Kagome in my fanfiction) was so easy going with this the entire time... the impossible wriggle-room is that she's okay with Chihiro's developing relationship with Lucas rather than jealous or possessive... nobody is that perfect

I could work up a storyline bearing little similiarity to the original source material...
One of Inuyasha's deepest flaws that is a continued nuisance throughout the series is his love of Kikyo... whether in life or death, he's unable to get over her... when, meanwhile, he's in a relationship with Kagome, her reincarnation...
I took Kikyo out of the equation for my doctored-up fanfiction because it was one too many love interests...

I could pen up that Kagome was the one who died...
and it could work with the brother-sister idea I have with Anna & Bastian were brother and sister... although it could make for an uneasy alliance between him and Lucas... especially if it was Sesshomaru that killed her... ultimately she would have been targeted because of her relationship with him... 
the alliance could be made because Bastian wants to get revenge for Anna's death... it's a common goal for the two of them, but there's more than just this determining

Ultimately, it'll boil down to what I feel is right... making all these changes just to avoid myself getting pegged for plagiarizing... there's gotta be a little give and take if I'm really serious about trying to publish this thing...
and as of right now, I still have a long way to go. I started editing it, changing from 3rd POV to 1st... from Chihiro's POV... that included an ample backstory...

I can think of at least one character I can remove from the equation that I'd feel guilt-free about... InuYasha had the priestess Kaede, Kikyo's younger sister, whom Kagome met when she crossed over to the Feudal Era and learned a bit about Inuyasha and the type of world they live in with demons and about the sacred jewel... 
she only appeared in a couple scenes in my story under a different name... she told Chihiro about Lucas's past, what he was like and they exchanged a few bits of dialogue
she also sees her later on, after the story flashes forward, and updates her on how Lucas has been since the fateful night they all came into each other's company...

She's merely there to give some extra background information that the protagonist doesn't know and obviously can't divine clairvoyently...

I mean, what's more romantic... potentially... than coming in contact with a handsome stranger, on the brink of death... the only wrench in this is that Chihiro's young when she meets Lucas... Although I suppose a 5 year age difference wouldn't be a huge deal... 
It'd be interesting to revisit that part, if only to write that part again... 

It'd be hard to let go of Kagome/Anna... but to make things smoother, it might be necessary... 
Chihiro giving her life for Lucas is the ultimate sacrifice and this complicated relationship (beset by the relationship between Lucas and Anna) is the reason she has no regrets about it. Because she only wished for his happiness and her being there would only get in the way of them. 
hmm... come to think of it, that would be asking for too much... the only other time Lucas falling in love, the girl dies, and Chihiro dying would make it 2 for 2... talk about depressing...

why can't she be the one to melt his cold heart, who never saw any reason to put trust in anyone before meeting her? 

...
right now, I'm picturing an interesting scene... the day after Chihiro meets Lucas, heals his wounds and such, he wakes up to find himself alone but his close to fatal wounds being close to fully healed... then he's having a conversation with Bastian, musing about the interesting circumstance allowed... of course this can only be something I write on the side. It's Chihiro's story so it's not like this discussion can be in the same place as her narrative.

I still have a lot to figure out with this story, but I'm just saying it'd be nice if I can get things off the ground, there's more of me in there than my source of inspiration... a great, but tragic, love story
and her tragic flaw is that she lacked such self-confidence that she was afraid to love because she was afraid she'd never receive love in return.

..something like that...

Amber or Carmen? What's in a name?

When it comes to naming your characters, almost every source points you in the direction of "popular baby names"... looking through that list for inspiration...
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.

"Enchanted" by a daydream

One of the gifts I asked for this year was Taylor Swift's "Wonderstruck" perfume.
It happens to be a lyric from one of my favorite songs from her Speak Now album.

I don't know how to really describe perfumes cuz I'm not into it myself. Not much of a girly-girl. But it is light, somewhat floral and just has a gorgeous scent.
I wouldn't go as far to say it fits my idea of what the name of it all means, but Taylor was the one who wrote it and knows the true meaning behind it, etc. etc.

Supposedly she wrote it for the lead singer of the band Owl City, Adam Young, and once that came out in the press, he supposedly wrote his own version of it, but instead of it being more country, it was more... I guess I could just say it sounds like it's closer to their song "Fireflies"

Which I have not heard in quite some time, radio stopped playing it over a year ago.

Moving on...

Being the romantic I am, Taylor Swift feels like one of those kindred spirits I have in music. Picking all the right words to describe a relatable situation... that is a real gift that I enjoy each time I take part in it, listening to her albums and such.

With each album, I feel like she gets more mature with what she sings about, but the artistry of the music gets better each time as well. Like the central melodies for my favorite songs from that album, "Sparks Fly" and "Enchanted" sweep me off my feet because they literally sing to me.

Downside:
As great as those songs are from all angles, I have trouble figuring out the story in my own head  that I can put to the music.

I hope that they will go on to describe relationships I have in the future. Being enchanted by someone new, wanting to get to know them and that fear of the feelings not be reciporated. And being in a whirlwind relationship where all of the alarms are going off in your head, it goes against all your instincts, but as the title suggests, there's a spark there that makes it a powerful set of emotions you can't ignore.

And I'm just rattling this off the top of my head NOW. 
I love finding my own meaning in different songs (unless it's something by Prince, in which case, I try to figure out his original vision for it... I try to take myself out of the equation where I'm nothing more than an observer)

It isn't just the fact I haven't been in love or really haven't been in a legit relationship where there was a mutual attraction and all that. Usually when I listen to something, I have a certain person in mind for each occasion... some of which happen to be celebrity crushes and all that.

I find it difficult to really put anyone to fit those descriptions. Even with Mr. Downey where I'd been to the moon and back, have my own soundtrack (practically), he'd been different things to me at different times last year, but it feels forced trying to get him into the mix with these songs that I feel like I know pretty well, that know me pretty well.

Now that I think about it, "Sparks Fly" mentions someone with green eyes... the only crush I ever had that fit that description was Jesse McCartney and we're going back quite a ways.

When it comes to "Enchanted," the title fits the way I feel about the song itself. It feels like the fairytale beginning of "Love Story"... hitting it off with someone new, something too magical that you can't believe it can exist in real life. The entire song feels epic to me in that certain way where it screams a fairy tale relationship that you're so in awe of that you're almost afraid to seize it... and equally anagonized by the idea of not acting at all.

I see a huge estate. Parties are held regularly outside on the lawn. An evening outdoor gala where everyone from this rich neighborhood gets together, looking their best and all that.
Then you see someone in the crowd that you never met before.

Insecurity exists in the profiles of a lot of my protagonists and their deepest motivation is to break out of that insecurity and finding comfort in one's self. This came together coming into the  first chorus, when I fell into the shoes of the protagonist in the song. My personal touch is that when it comes to parties and social events, even around family (who I see pretty frequently as it is), I don't feel confident getting into conversations. I don't like to hang around because I feel like I have nothing to contribute to the discussion. Socially handicapped is a way I could describe it, the biggest thing holding me back from a life I could really seize and live.
At the same time, I consider that (via the philosophy of another of my female singer/songwriter role models) God created me in this mold, that I am shy and reserved as is... and it has to be for a reason. Otherwise I would have been born with a stronger drive to break out and succeed. 
Just in a general sense.

I entered the song, thinking of it being from my POV. I'm at this evening party where everyone looks amazing and I'm dressed up nice too. But I don't feel like keeping up with conversations in the crowd. Then he shows up, talks me out of this funk and I feel better... like he was the one person meant to make me feel strong enough to break away from old habits.

Cut to the 2nd verse: 
After the party, there's pacing in the bedroom after being unable to sleep that night... wondering about him.
I made another leap... where the pacing begins a dream sequence... and it includes this guy showing up at my door, taking me into a magical place that can only exist in a dream, waltzing with the same choreography (which is becoming clearer in my head, but cuz I'm not trained in ballroom or dance in general, I couldn't explain all the moves and such).

Could be tossing and turning going into the final chorus... waking up and singing the line "I was enchanted to meet you"... the rest comes in flashbacks...
then when I'm about to roll on my other side and turn off the light, the doorbell rings or there's a knock on the door and he's there... whoever he is, he shows up after all...

Originally I was thinking that, yeah, this has to end without resolution because that's kinda how the song goes. But since I'm breaking the rest of the rules anyway, why not?

I remember listening through the album a couple years ago... and it was on our way to Christmas with one of my aunts... it might have been the first time I really heard the song for what it was, a fairytale fantasy springing to life...
and there has been a handful of a times where I'd get so wrapped up in the beauty of the song that I start to cry... just impossible not to get swept up in the moment and that's pretty much all it is.

Tonight, I started to get choked up in the last 30 seconds because it was coming to the end... and just maybe, it snuck up on me ;)

Still kinda putting together how this song plays in my head, the scenes that comes to mind, who the leading man is... I might not know that until I meet him for the first time... but this is at least something.

Merry Christmas, everybody

Going Gaga- "living as free as my Hair"

This was a song from her Born this Way album that I can sometimes relate to.
It's about the desire to be free to make your own choices, being yourself and hoping that that's enough to attract other people to you, make them want to desire your friendship & company, etc.

She performed it as part of a GMA concert appearance promoting the album and it took on a different meaning entirely because it was all from a piano. Those tend to be her more intimate performances, the more personal ones. 
A lot of people know her for having those wigs and they come in varieties and all that. My favorite look she ever had was on an interview with "The View" and I think she might have even called it her "Cruella de Ville" look because she had the two-tone going on with the black and white. 



Unfortunately this was the best I could find on Google Images :-P 

On the album it starts out kinda slow and techno-fies into the 2nd verse and beyond...
Personally it felt like it took on its true meaning at that GMA performance. Throughout, she had her monologue, which usually coincides with playing at the piano. One of the things she said was how people making fun of her wigs and she responded by saying that her wigs allow her to be different people and she proceeded to put on a bunch because at that moment, she wanted to be a slew of different people.

listening to the song, I also got to thinking about "Les Miz" and how back then, hair was important for women like their social status. I don't remember much about the actual story other than a couple of casualties, Jean Val Jean was a reformed criminal that Javert always had his eye on ("all this for a loaf of bread?" I quote from Aladdin). Fantine was a prostitute in dire straits and apparently she asked Jean Val Jean to look after her daughter, Cosette
I didn't know that that Fantine was even a factory worker before being forced into prostitution.

I saw the movie (may/may not have been the version with Liam Neesom) in French class (in French) and this is going back quite a few years... maybe more than 10 :gasp: (I feel old, lol)
so I don't remember a lot

but it's gonna be heard at the end of the year. All these good movies coming out and I feel like I'll only get a chance to see a few. "Les Miz" I'll definitely have to see, but I also kinda want to see "Jack Reacher" (I've read one of Lee Child's books and found it interesting, my dad loves the series) and "Django Unchained" (it's Tarantino and Christophe Waltz... doesn't get much better than that... stir in a little Leo DiCaprio... perfecto)

going to see "The Hobbit" on sunday (weather permitting, lol)

but enough rambling...
hair was important to status... and Gaga tells an ancedote in this song about how her parents cut her hair at night whenever she misbehaved... how much truth there is to that, it's hard to say... but hair is a big deal to her.

My mind has been reeling a little bit here and there over the past couple days over "Te Busque"... almost to the point where I consider I'm ready to actually write it. But this will have to be a project that will have endless brainstorming before I even start from chapter one.

I thought about my characters Scarlet and Ruby.
Scarlet is being directly inspired by Jena Malone's character in "Suckerpunch" 
and Ruby happens to be a twin sister.

The storyline I'd drawn up for them was that they were abused by their father and one night, the two of them worked to make a getaway. Unfortunately, only Scarlet got away, but she promised she'd come back for Ruby whenever she could.
She immediately found a place of her own and supports herself by waitressing. There was an attraction to the "business they ran on the side," but it took some encouragment from Talia and Vanessa, who she immediately developed a friendship with, before she felt well enough to go into it. 
She has a certain spark to her, which makes her kinda popular on the nights that Talia isn't putting herself out there. 

I don't know how the hell or why the hell she would forget about Ruby. But it so happens that one day, Ruby finds the place and auditions. 
Scarlet is apologetic that she never came back for her, but Ruby wavers it, saying not to take the blame for it. I don't know how she made peace with it exactly, but somehow she does...

the song came to mind for me because Rocket had very short hair in "Suckerpunch"... so that image came to my mind for Scarlet
and Ruby has the same look. She might have more highlights in her hair, but other than that, there's a distinct similarity

So I summized that in addition to the abuse, their father might have kept their hair short so no boys would be interested in them.
Then for some unforseeable reason (I can't think of any), they decide not to grow their hair out even though they have the option.

I've also started to consider the possibility that, c'mon, the names are too coincidental for them to be the actual names they were born with...
but what were Scarlet and Ruby's names before they ran away from home?

Although... I might be able to get away with only one of them having the name change... one changing their name to pay homage to the other
and that's how they recognize each other at the audition... which Amber had been planning out for months, naturally she'll be pissed that the two are related, which makes her a shoe-in to be considered. 

Scarlet and Fiona Diaz

heck, it could have been an inside joke between them... when they run away, they'd change their names so their father would never be able to find them. 
Rusmussen was their mother's maiden name... whatever happened to her, I'm not quite sure... they wouldn't take her name if she ran out on them, so it had to have been something tragic...

her name could have been Ruby

I've also considered a few other exotic sounding names for anonymous back-up dancers... somehow, I don't think Ruby and Amber are going to stay in the background forever and I can't just bring them out in the 3rd act... advancing from heresay to the reader getting to know them

the funny thing is... I have a backstory for everybody... except for Vanessa

she's very closed up about her past and has lashed out a couple of times when Talia and Scarlet asked her about... so they just decided not to until she's ready to come forward
I mean, she could have been the proud & joy of her family or her promiscuity, spending time with a different boy every couple weeks, had her mom wanting to have her committed to a convent or something... 

I don't want the story to be that she got into this business to prove that she's her own person and bring away from those ties... I mean, nobody chooses prostitution for reasons like that... it makes their character questionable

Carmen is a name I like for a back-up dancer... I then considered Denise and Patricia because all three names have a common bond... maybe replace Denise with Taja... 
geesh, you'd think I'd know more of Prince's proteges...
Vanity and Apollonia would just be WAY too obvious... although I could easily make it a deadly sin thing where the girls would be nicknamed Lust, Envy and Vanity... nah, I don't feel like going to those lengths

Carmen and Taja I'll put in the mix for later

I'ma thinking that I'd like to have the back stories of each of these girls written down so solidly that that'll help with the characterization process. Later on, their actions will make sense.
Somehow I get the feeling that I won't be getting started until I have a specific scene in mind for my now overally lengthy playlist. For fun, I'll see how many songs I have... 

1. Dance in the Dark- Gaga
2. I like it rough- Gaga
3. Sex Shooter- apollonia 6
4. Afraid- furtado
5. Love Game- gaga
6. Womanizer- britney spears
7. Maneater-furtado
8. Circus- britney spears
9. Showtime- furtado
10. Promiscuous-furtado
11. No Hay Iqual-furtado
12. Mannequin-britney spears
13. Extraordinary Girl-green day
14. Lace & Leather-britney spears
15. Shattered glass-britney spears
16. If you seek amy-britney spears
17. Telephone-gaga
18. So Happy I could Die-gaga
19. Paper Gangsta-gaga
20. Wait for you-furtado
21. Say it right-furtado
22. Do it-furtado
23. Just Dance-gaga
24. Just sayin'-Karmin
25. All good things come to an end-furtado
26. Government Hooker-gaga
27. Bad Kids-gaga
28. Heavy Metal Lover-gaga
29. Monster-gaga
30. Alejandro-gaga
31. Te Busque-furtado

damn... that's over 30... and I might not use ALL of these...
other ones for consideration are all Gaga

Bad Romance
Hair
Schiebe
Bloody Mary 

good stuff... 
the creative process can be so fun sometimes

I had an interesting scene for Monster come to mind the other day...
it's been a week or two after Emilia "survived" her first VIP night and it could very well be her last... she and Talia have worked on a couple of performance numbers to send a message to Amber... getting back at her for all these repercussions

"Monster" starts to prove a little too much for Emilia after a while because coming into the bridge towards the end, she falls to her knees when she starts to have flashbacks that she's still working to get over.
She still pushes through the rest of it and more or less tells Talia to finish things off and make it good

Interestingly a bunch of the gaga numbers are about art imitating life... they're signature numbers for these girls

Ruby explained it to Emilia as them personifying events that actually happened to them, either as a testament to their pasts or as their way of conquering it
I only see her appearing the story once or twice prior to the tumalteous third act. Amber is the background, but makes a couple of appearances to show her dissatisfication with Talia and wanting to steal the show for herself

hmm... I get the feeling that Amber really doesn't get along with anybody... I can't really picture any alliances forming anywhere...
maybe Vanessa is the one she's closest with, but their "closeness" has nothing on what Talia has with Vanessa and Scarlet
naturally because of the audition day and how Ruby came to be there on what was to be Amber's big day, she'll harbor this grudge against her... to the point where Ruby always shows her up at their show 

I see Amber having a couple friends, but none of them could handle the high stakes of doing what they do. or Talia deemed they weren't good enough

It'd be nice to, at some point, figure out the grey areas surrounding Alejandro... how much of a relationship is this really? stuff like that
JP, I see undergoing a transformation... he starts out this lovesick puppy like Antony in "Sweeny Todd" and when he hears more of what Talia does, he turns into the would-be "white knight in shining armor"...

It'd be a little much for Amber to get news to Talia that JP wants to save her like a damsel in distress... I don't see her having that kind of instrumental role... but I guess, to establish her own following, she recruits Emilia, shows her the ropes, hoping for the night to have more oomph than anything Talia could have put together.
Except Ruby steals the show for her newest number "Heavy Metal Lover"

a lot of work left to do on this, but I think I'm headed on the right track. I'll try to average at least five papers of a backstory for each girl