The Sirens of Calypso- Chapter 1- "It's Only Human"

            The legend of the siren dates back to the days of Ancient Greece. Women of unsurpassed beauty whose mesmerizing voices drove many a sailor to wreck their ships on their shores. On a small island in the Caribbean halfway between Florida and the northern shores of South America, this tradition continues today.
            Instead of song, the sirens of Calypso, its most famous club, spellbound their audience through dance. They performed regularly year-round, but they drew the largest crowds in the summer months, the height of the island’s tourist season. This year’s busy season began with a particularly special occasion: the debut of their newest member.

            Spotlights crept across the velvet fabric, seemingly without aim, but with the music pumping softly in the background, tension built with each passing second. A voice then broke over the speakers. “On behalf of the sirens, a big thank you and gracias for being a wonderful audience. Please offer one final round of applause for our hard-working dancers as they take their bows. As always, feel free to cheer loudest for your favorite when they’re called by name.” The honor of M.C. typically fell to one of the girls, but this curtain call was so last minute, Alejandro, the bartender and nephew of the club’s owners, took the reins.

            As the music raced toward crescendo, the house lights transitioned, revealing four shadows behind the curtains hitting each beat on cue. Then as they drew apart, the sirens emerged one by one and retook their positions. Their steps combined the basics of samba and cha-cha as they brought the music to life. During the pre-chorus, the volume lowered slightly to alert the crowd of an impending announcement.

            The brunette with the red sequined belly dancing outfit stepped forward. “Yes, as Alejandro said, thank you again for your warm reception. Please, give a warm welcome again to our new sister, Emilia De La Rosa!” The musical volume resumed normal levels just in time for the chorus. Bursting into the spotlight was a girl no older than 18 in a powder blue dress. Her shoulder length blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail and her bangs arched just above her fair eyebrows. She started with the same quick-paced cha-cha steps but incorporated some contemporary leaps and spins to accentuate her great lines. It was this unique skillset, along with her youth, that earned her the new opening in the roster. The venue had gained such popularity among locals and tourists alike in the last two years, it became necessary to bring on someone new to expand upon the depth of routines.

            Further into the number, veterans Scarlet Castillo and Vanessa Zapata took solos in their own styles. Scarlet made quick work of the cha-cha with her short stature and precise footwork. Her tangerine mullet dress, its skirt open in the front to better highlight her legs, complimented the shade of her pixie cut well. Vanessa, donning a canary gown adorned with fringe, put all of her curvy 5’ 10” frame into her Samba-influenced shimmies. Her long ashy blonde hair made her silhouette particularly striking because it was always in constant motion. Small tinges of brown broke the outline, the unfortunate side-effect of excessive dying she did in the early years.

            Using this venue to make a fresh start was a common thread that bound the sisterhood of sirens together, some coming from more dire circumstances than others. Even though Emilia had no ghosts in her past, she was adored for her sweet personality as well as her innocence, something everyone else had long lost.

            Then their leader, Natalia Montez, had her turn and the audience was in the palm of her hand instantly. Not only could she do all the classic Latin styles, blending them in and out of her belly dancing, but she had the innate ability of commanding the attention of every room she walked into. While this particular routine had been a mainstay for years, tonight was different for two reasons. In addition to Emilia, it was the first time Alejandro shared the stage with Talia. The accompanying song had a rap she typically used for the full extent of her solo. Alejandro suggested, for this special night only, he perform the rapper interlude live while she belly-dances alongside him. Normally, she wouldn’t give his suggestions the time of day, but because he helped Emilia get the audition after what had been an exhausting process, Talia finally granted him the wish he’d had since the day he first laid eyes on her.

***

Featured Song: "Afraid" by Nelly Furtado feat. Attitude (which helped spark this idea in the first place)
Featured Dance Style(s): Cha-cha, Samba, contemporary jazz

(Some images I saved while brainstorming Talia's bellydancing outfit)

The Sirens of Calypso- Upload Schedule and introductions

I'd been wanting to upload the full story onto this blog for a while. 
After much delay, I think I'm finally ready to give it a try.

This post might be more for my use than anyone else's, but I'll include one or two things that will "enhance" the reading process. If only to give everyone else a few hints of how I envisioned it in my head if the writing itself doesn't make that super clear.

Scheduling

In terms of upload schedule, this is how things are going to work:
I'll reread the story in batches of chapters, make what remaining editing changes I need, and post them. One chapter at a time, one per day. And if I stop posting consistently for a while, I'm currently busy reading/editing the next batch.

Just to give an example: the first set of chapters all take place in the same night. 
The way I wrote this, I'll sometimes have several chapters taking place within hours of each other. Others, there's a bit of a time jump so the time between one to the next is days/weeks apart. 
I have no set timeline for everything to be uploaded, but I'll try to remain consistent if I can.

Editing Notes

Each chapter, I'll enter exactly as it's written in my 250+ page Word document... with one exception:
The handful of sex scenes will be edited down to a couple of sentences. For the sake of posting it on a blog only a few people (most of which will be family) will read, I'd rather leave the "full" content for whenever the book gets published. Assuming that's in my future. 
Nothing gratuitous- all of it has some sort of purpose for the story. And in Talia's case, that's just part of her character. A very complicated part of her character.

Also, all the inspiration for these moments came from some R-rated movies and TV series. Nothing is autobiographical, I promise. 

Setting the Scene(s)

At the end of each chapter, I'll include a few linear notes.
If the chapter features or was inspired by a particular song (and most of them are), I'll include them at the bottom. 
If there's a performance, I'll include the dance style.

In my mind, this story is a mix of Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, Broadway musicals, Purple Rain, and classic MTV music videos.

The story is located on a fictional island in somewhere in the Caribbean. Somewhat of a melting pot of different cultures. All of the characters have Spanish roots, but it's most prominent in Talia and Alejandro. Despite it being one of the main languages on the island, none of the other sirens know or speak Spanish.
It's one of those resort type islands that thrives on tourism. All of the main streets lead to Calypso, the venue where the sirens perform. Some of the buildings are thriving businesses, some have been condemned for some time. The rent is high in the apartment buildings where the sirens live, which is why the supplemental income from their side hustles is needed.

Then there's another side of town known as The Underground, which is the gritty side of town the tourists aren't meant to see. This comes into play later in the story, but it's noteworthy because of the streetwalkers that roam at night. They're the type of prostitutes most people would think of. They're controlled by their pimps, either by money or drugs, and have accepted their fate. And they hate the Calypso girls who "choose" to sell themselves for money when they actually have a choice to do otherwise. 
...I'm making sort of a big deal about this, but really, only a chapter or two focuses on the dark underbelly of the island. And it helps to set the scene.

The story takes place during the course of summer at the height of tourist season.
Emilia is making her debut as the newest siren at Calypso and Juan Paulo (Talia's future love interest) will be vacationing with former schoolmate, Javier, for the summer.

She won't come out and admit it, but Talia has been in a rut for some time. Whether or not she's ready for it, that's about to change.

What's in a Name?

Originally, my title for the project was "Te Busque", the middle track of Nelly Furtado's "Loose" album. (Not sure if this is the correct prounciation but in the song, I hear it pronounced as "ta-boos-kay"). But since I don't speak Spanish and don't want to imply the story will be in Spanish, I figured "The Sirens of Calypso" was a good substitute. 
I thought about using a character's name followed by "and the sirens of Calypso" but I couldn't choose a specific one. I began writing with Talia in mind as the main character, but her screentime takes a major hit at the halfway point. I could used a few other sirens in her place, but their screentime isn't significant enough to warrant them being in the title.
I thought for a second about Alejandro or Juan Paulo, but Talia wouldn't appreciate that very much. If that doesn't make sense yet, it will very soon. 

Jonas- a character in search/need of a [better] story

Introduction

It’s hard to believe that this was a story I wrote 20 years ago… 

I look back on this story and how I thought I was so sure it was ready to publish. Now I’m kinda glad it wasn’t. Clearly it wasn’t ready. But the line in my head since my last attempt has been- “I’m stuck in rewrites so it’ll finally be ready to try again.”
I got as far as maybe chapter 4 and I’d been stuck ever since.

Recent Difficulties

Nowadays, what’s been stopping me is doubt. The fact I knew nothing about romance (and still don’t) didn’t stop me from writing it in the first place, but in this current atmosphere, if rom-com classics like “sleepless in Seattle” aren’t considered romantic anymore, what is love supposed to look like?

My story takes place in high school and it was from a more innocent time where things like this weren’t constantly questioned. And part of me is terrified my story won’t come off the way I intended it to.

And I thought all I had to worry about were Twilight comparisons- despite the fact I wrote my story from start to finish back in 2003 (I didn't read Twilight until maybe 2007) and it has nothing to do with vampires.

On the Cutting Room Floor

I think back on the various plot lines that make up the story. Many of them I can’t get behind anymore because they’re exaggerated or borrow from every soap opera cliche you can think of.
I didn’t even start watching All My Children until a year after this so I can’t help wondering how I got some of these ideas in the first place.

These “throwaway” ideas include Jonas being thrown off his horse into a frozen pond and he temporarily loses his hearing. Another is where Nina has an accident during a pep rally cheerleader routine and she develops a temporary case of amnesia where Jonas is the only person familiar to her.

These things pad out the story and without them, there’s not much that happens between one major plot point to another.

But I think I can at least salvage the cheerleading accident and do something with it… if anything, concussion protocol could take her off the squad and she gets reacquainted with another hobby she hadn’t done in years. This hobby is an idea I’d been sort of tinkering with to give Nina more of a back story so she’s not just the new girl who later becomes a love interest.

The Necessary "Evils" of Conflict and Character Goals

One writing “rule” I’d read on every writing site: your protagonist HAS to have a goal they’re pursuing and some sort of conflict keeping them from achieving it and that moves the story.

Nothing I've written has anything like this...

Typically what I end with are characters I love spending time with and occasionally something happens involving outside stimuli and they respond to it.

But Twilight got published despite having similar issues. And technically the first Harry Potter book was Harry figuring out life at Hogwarts until finding more about the Philosophers Stone and that mystery propels the story forward. So having a character-driven story isn’t necessarily a deal breaker. 

But if I really look into whatever “plot” I have for this story, nothing really concrete happens until the last 20 pages. When the bad guy makes an appearance and Jonas fulfills a destiny that was unfulfilled in a former life.

Inspiration at its Sources

The origin story (which I fleshed out in greater length here https://romantasyland.blogspot.com/2020/10/angels-origin-story-of-jonas-and.html) that started this whole thing- I still vividly remember sitting down to write it after seeing Spirited Away for the first time.
I wanted to write something with a "chosen one", reincarnation, and good vs evil. Plus I wanted to do something with mythological creatures. That all came out in 2 pages and maybe half an hour of typing.

Then what ultimately followed was the kind of story I really wanted to read in that moment- I wanted Haku and Chihiro to meet again and their time together to last forever. 
Jonas has elements of Haku in him that’ll always be there but other than him and Nina possibly having a connection from a former life, there isn't a lot in the story that calls back to that initial spark. 

But as I worked on him in later years, I began to see him more as a reflection of myself. I’d never want the same fantastic destiny that he has. But into him, I poured a lot of insecurities and uncertainties I still deal with in my daily life.

It sounds ridiculous but I’ve always had this dream that I’d meet the perfect person that would magically erase all the things I don’t like about myself. That I’m socially awkward and shy and it’s hard for me to make the first move in a conversation. And my ever present difficulties with making friends.
The strange thing is that I’ve made friends over the years without really having to try. It's just sort of happened. But I don’t know how the hell I ever did it. If I did, I might have avoided a lot of the setbacks I've had in my life... but the devil's advocate would go "no, you'd just make another batch of mistakes altogether."

I think what my biggest issue is- I just had one too many times in elementary school where someone I wanted to be friends with didn't or I had a friend, come next school year, made new friends they liked better and cut me out of their life… so I just stopped making the effort. If I wasn’t going to have a positive result, why even bother?
This has followed me my whole life and it made me feel like there was something wrong with me. Like nobody wanted to give me a chance because of some missing ingredient or there was nothing interesting about me that made friendship worthwhile for them.
I could go into future detail about why I didn’t like recess or hated working on group projects but I think I've made my point. Wouldn’t want to bore anyone else still here reading this.

Jonas has a little more that’s abnormal about him than I do. 

On my own time, I’d sketched out how he’d had seizures as a kid and his last one was after he survived the same car accident that killed his parents. 

In the place of them came mind-reading abilities (physical contact is required) and telekinetic powers (it's essentially a defense mechanism but under extreme stress, he'll create a barrier of protection around himself).
I still have a lot of things to figure out but those are the basics. He isolates himself because he doesn’t want to hurt anyone or at least people to think he’s a freak. He doesn't know why he has these powers and the latter of the two, he doesn't know how to control it when it arises.

What IS the Story here?

In terms of story, this is all I have so far that’s going to stick

• Nina moves to a new house and new school
• There’s a thunderstorm where she hears some unexplained phenomena, including a voice that's familiar to her
• The meet cute with her and Jonas
• The early seeds of friendship are sown between the two of them, involving meeting his horses and iguanas
• One of the horses has a foal and Nina finds out that Jonas has been struck by lightning several times in his life- explaining his rumored periodic absences 
• The pep rally cheerleading accident
• The love triangle arc where two guys vie to be the head cheerleader's boyfriend
• The loser of the love triangle picks a fight with the winner and Jonas gets involved and his powers resurface
• Christmas- Nina finds out what happened to Jonas’s parents and why he still blames himself for what happened
• The antagonist finally makes an appearance
• The school dance
• The showdown between good and evil
• The aftermath of the duel

The story in its current form barely clocks over a hundred pages so I’ll have to figure out a lot of things to add padding.

Conclusion and Upcoming Ideas

Yeah, I get to the end of this and I’m thinking “I was worried for nothing. This is doable.”
But there are still a lot of incidentals I need to work out.

Among them: I need to find some part of balance about Jonas’s level of confidence. Because I feel like it flucuates a lot.

I’d done a lot of brainstorming over the last couple years, but not much that’ll make the final product. Some, I’m very excited to share on this blog and plan to soon.

Devil's Advocate- Why "Te Busque" may be doomed to fail...

This might apply to almost everything I've written, unfortunately.

I've been thinking about this for a while.
In the current P.C. culture we've been dealing with for the last several years, I can't help but feel that the world of Calypso would sooner be cancelled than make any sort of positive impact.

Although it deals with some controversial subjects like prostitution and there's a handful of sex scenes in it, there are other things that people could consider fatal flaws.

Red flag #1: Cultural misapproriation 

-the setting of Calypso is purely fictional but I picture it as an island in the Carribean that thrives on tourism. Many of the characters have Latin names, few of which actually have accents.

Considering nowadays where there's a lot of emphasis on diversity and people being true to their cultures, some people might not like the fact I'm writing about people from a background I don't belong to. And certainly not one I'm particularly knowledgable about. 
Like with a lot of things I write, I get an idea and I run with it and having this cast of character just felt right at the time.

Red flag #2: Stalker Alert and "No means No"

- Through the first part of the story, Juan Paulo runs into Talia a few times. She repeatedly turns him down and tries to explain she has no romantic interest in him. But in the end, he wears her down and she finally gives him the time of day

Technically, there's only one instance in the story that could be construed as stalking. After meeting the first time, JP winds up meeting with Talia again through his friend, Javier, who is beginning a relationship with Scarlet. Following this, he brings flowers to her workplace and says he'll come by to see her next show.
But the fact she turns him down multiple times and he doesn't seem to get the hint could be problematic for some people... the fact he's a nice guy might not make this completely ok. 

...the whole "no means no" thing is something I've taken issue with in a few movies, if I'm being completely honest. 

But the whole stalking thing... not only have a lot of my favorite romantic movies apparently involved stalking by today's standards, but the confusion is making me rethink a lot of my writing.

A high school couple I first wrote about 20 years ago- Jonas and Nina- he suffers from social anxiety and for other reasons, has kept away from people for most of his life. She's the new girl at his school and something about her makes him want to break down the walls he's put around himself. But he's not entirely sure how.
And I'm not entirely sure how to go about it without it making it seem like he's a stalker or he's coming on far too strong. 
The confusion is so bad- it's like I'm rethinking my entire life and everything I knew.

Red Flag #3- lack of diversity

If I was lucky enough to have this published and turned into a movie, I still imagine the cast being almost all white. Obviously, Talia and Alejandro would be played actors with distinct Spanish accents. And a handful of other characters.
If any of the characters was black, it'd probably be Amber. She'd be the easiest one to imagine being Afro-Latina.

There's also the question of queer representation. Any of the Calypso girls being lesbians wouldn't work in the grand scheme of things. 
The one exception to this, again, would probably be Amber. She geninuely cares about Scarlet and misses the days when they were best friends. The way she acts toward her when they finally get to spend time together could be construed as her having feelings for her. Despite the fact Amber's one goal is to get Alejandro to notice her, part of me could imagine Amber and Scarlet being a thing. Or Amber having a one-sided crush on her. 
I also considered the possibility of Ruby not being entirely straight. I gave romantic plot lines to several of the other girls but nothing ever came to mind for her. I wrote one line where she says Amber's an amazing dancer and she'd love to work with her. Maybe deep down she's harboring other feelings for her... I really don't know at this point. 

My reality is 99% white so I don't see a lot of diversity with my fiction anyway.
But my stance about this has the following: I'm all for diversity but it shouldn't be forced just for the sake of it. It has to make sense in the context of the story. 
I can't help the fact I wasn't around a diverse group of people growing up. I'm not going to change the outlook of what I write just to satisfy the masses. Would I object to some of my characters coming from different backgrounds? That ultimately depends on whether I have a vivid picture of them in my mind when I created them. 

***

As of writing this, I'd read through my story from start to finish. There's a couple of sections I highlighted that need to be tweaked, fixed or connected to other parts of the story.
Then there's the ending... the final frame is perfect for the story I'm telling, but something about the last few chapters isn't quite as satsifying as I'd hoped. Maybe because things got especially dark and the ultimate bad guy in the story gets a heavy dose of karma thrown back at him... I'm not sure how the readers will take it, but even though it's a happy ending for everyone, I can't help but feel a little depressed about it. Maybe I'm just sad about the fact it's ending but I'm also kinda afraid that the end feels like a completely different story from the many chapters that went before it. 

Behind the Calypso Curtain: Meeting the Cast

As of writing this post, it'd been several weeks since I finished this project and I'd given myself some separation from it.

During the brainstorming process, I initially saw three characters performing on the same stage because that was the whole setup of Prince's Vanity/Apollonia 6 girl group.
I knew I wanted to have a strong female cast with a variety of characters. I also figured I'd have two different casts that performed on different nights so there'd be a little rivalry to fuel things. Except it wasn't the typical rivalry- instead of it being one night vs. another, it became tension between the two girls who shared a bill on the off-nights. It was also some time before I decided to make one of those girls the sister of another character.

So this story already had two firsts for me: focusing on female cameraderie more than romance (although there is romance) and relationship between siblings. Every other character I'd created in my life was an only child.

There's a lot of talk when it comes to writing about where character names come from because usually there's some sort of significant meaning behind them. Look up any name on Google and you'll find that they're associated with certain keywords. 
I typically don't operate that way. I'll pick a name out of the blue because I like the sound of it and that's my final choice. In this case, I had more purposeful name choices that draw reference back to that initial spark.

***

I thought it'd be interesting to go through the cast members, their origins and various other details- hopefully without giving away too much about their story arcs. 

Natalia Montez

Namesake: 
Montez was Gabriella's last name in High School Musical. 
As for Natalia, the first time I heard that name, it belonged to a girl in my 12th grade English class. She had the goth thing going for her with the dark hair, piercings and pale skin. We never had any sort of interaction but it was an exotic name I'd always liked

Who I see when I read/write about her:
Nelly Furtado's music inspired a lot of her story arc so dark hair and tan skin.
But also a little Kate Beckett from "Castle" 
When she dances, Mayte Garcia- a famous bellydancer in her own right before entering Prince's orbit

Ghosts and Skeletons:
She was seduced by her stepfather at a young age. After learning he was only using her, she developed a deeply engrained trust of men. She'll use them to fulfill her sexual desires but the last thing she ever wanted to do was fall in love

Extra note:
Despite leaning on a Latino/Latina cast located on a fictional island somewhere in the Caribbean, she's the only siren I imagine having an accent. English is also her second language.
She's also the only one that doesn't correlate to a SuckerPunch character. If any connection can be made, it wasn't my intention when I created her.

Vanessa Zapata

Namesake:
I wanted a last name that started with a "Z" to draw reference back to UCLA gymnast Vanessa Zamarripa. She'd scored a few perfect 10's in her time and she had an interesting exotic look. Eventually I found Zapata, which was the last name of an FBI agent from the series "Blindspot."
Vanessa also draws reference back to Vanessa Hudgens, who played Blondie in SuckerPunch. Beyond that, there's no other connection.

Who I see when I read/write about her:
The honest answer is that I still haven't figured that out. I originally thought she'd look similiar to Rosalie from Twilight- tall, skinny, blonde like a swimsuit model. But later I wrote about her having a similar body type to another character who has more curves. 
Hopefully at some point I can decide on hair and eye color cuz I'm not sure if I want her to be blonde or dark haired

Ghosts and Skeletons:
She came from a well-to-do family but chose a different career path against her parent's wishes. Straight out of high school, she moved in with her boyfriend. This relationship became abusive over time. He was easily jealous of her talking to other men and physically berated her as a result. Then he'd come around the next day with a gift to apologize and the cycle continues. Reconnecting with Talia is what ultimately gets her away from him for good

Extra Notes:
In the group, she's the peacemaker. 
Because of her upbringing, I like incorporating some bigger words into her dialogue to set her apart. 

Amber Garcia

Namesake:
Garcia is a common Latina surname. I didn't give it a lot of thought when I decided to use it. Although it happens to be Mayte's last name and her family was from Puerto Rico originally.
Amber was another SuckerPunch character but my character only shares a name with her. Amber also wound up being the name of one of my coworkers. She's a badass in her own right, but as much as I want to connect the two, that was just another happy coincidence. 

One of her story arcs revolves around the fact she was a former employee of the club who returned years later under a different identity. A couple songs of pop duo Karmin's "Hello" EP helped inform this backstory so her original name was Carmen. Before she took on this more salacious identity. 

Who I see when I read/write about her:
Definitely some sort of mashup between Vanity and Apollonia. Curvy in all the right places and a commanding stage presence when the lights are on. 
For some reason, I always read her lines in the same voice Megan Fox used when she played Carla Santini in "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen"

Ghosts and Skeletons:
Her mom was a teenage runaway when she got mixed up in a prostitution ring. Then after she passed away, she was subjected to similar abuse for a number of years before one of her clients helped her escape. 
There are several other things after that, but this is a good enough preview. Of all the character, she's probably the one I have the most fleshed out in terms of backstory. Most of which won't make the final product. 

Extra Notes:
If this story ever manifested into visual media, and in today's world, diversity is considered essential- she's the only character I could imagine being played by a black or Afro-Latina actress. 
And despite her motivation involving around one of the lead male characters, I'm pretty sure she's bisexual. The way she relates to at least one of the sirens, possibly two, I can imagine her having feelings that go beyond friendship. 

Scarlet and Ruby Castillo

Namesakes:
The original last name I had in mind was Rasumusen- from American Idol finalist Carmen Rasmusen- but I changed it later on because I didn't think it'd work in a Latin setting. Cara Castillo was Jake Martin's ex-wife on "All My Children." 
I didn't give a lot of thought about their names other than the fact I imagined the twins as red heads. Although Scarlet has a lighter shade with red highlights and Ruby has red hair with lighter highlights. 

Who I see when I read/write about them:
For several reasons, Rocket (Jena Malone) was a character that really stuck with me throughout SuckerPunch. I saw the movie recently and seeing her again really felt like seeing Scarlet in the flesh. 
As for Ruby, she typically wears more makeup. Eyeliner and mascara. Scarlet's the more amiable twin while Ruby isn't quite as warm and fuzzy when you first meet her. If I had Jena Malone be the model for her, it'd probably be closer to her Hunger Games character Johanna. 

Ghosts and Skeletons:
Both experienced sexual abuse from their father. The whole situation is horrendous and I felt like it got more twisted over time. Particularly how Scarlet took the brunt of it to protect her sister but Ruby learns after she helps her sister get away to get a fresh start elsewhere that Scarlet's still the one he preferred. Much like she was always the more popular between the two of them when they were in school. 
Because Ruby spent a couple more years playing the part, she became a little more hardened and is the more realistic of the two of them. Scarlet is the more optimistic one, but her ghosts from her past still hold her back sometimes.

Extra Notes:
This is one of those moments where it's important to reiterate that none of the experiences these characters go through correlate to anything from my own life. But they show how much darkness I'd absorbed from various media and this was my way of expressing that.

Emilia De La Rosa

Namesake:
The last name is nothing but a stage name Talia created for her.
Emilia is a direct reference to Emily Browning, who played Babydoll in SuckerPunch. It's also a name I'd recently become very fond of through Animal Crossing, although her name is spelled the same as Amelia Earhart's

Who I see when I read/write about her:
...out of the all the inspiration I drew from that movie, this is probably has the most grounds for a copyright lawsuit. Not gonna lie. 
But I believe there's enough differences to set them apart. 
Emilia is very light on her feet, the newest member of the collective, her virginity is brought up a number of times and she's the flashpoint for multiple character arcs.
But aside from all that and her asethetic (pale skin and platinum blonde hair), she's the polar opposite of Babydoll in a lot of ways. She's much more lighthearted and optimistic. Her greatest draw is her youth and talent, but she still lacks the maturity that defines the "siren" model. 

Ghosts and Skeletons:
Like Vanessa, she moved in with her boyfriend straight out of high school. But when it was time to move in together, she found out that he's cheating on her. 
That's basically it... she has no sexual experience at all and her purity is the main reason Talia brings her into the group. And she sets up all kinds of rules to ensure her innocence remains intact. As the story progresses, it becomes abundantly clear that that approach isn't foulproof and she can't be protected from all the dangers that lurk in the shadows. 

Extra Notes:
At the start of the story, Emilia kinda has the innocence of Taylor Swift in the less dramatic moments of her "Red" era. But toward the end, she's a little closer to "Reputation" Taylor. A little hardened around the edges but she still maintains the same optimism.

The male part of the cast is small and won't get nearly as much discussion. Three are love interests and another has an antagonist role

Rodrigo named after the actor who played Carl in "Love Actually"- he's from Brazil but it's also a good Latin name to fit in with the group. My character couldn't be any more different from that role.  
Without giving too much away, he causes some trouble with a couple of the other sirens when Talia isn't returning his calls. 

Alejandro Guiterrez

...Alejandro had an interesting evolution as a character. I knew he and Talia worked together at Calypso but he was originally going to be the jealous boyfriend type. This role eventually got taken over by Rodrigo (as well as Vanessa's abusive ex). And after she falls in love with someone else, he winds up letting her go.

Now for the real version of the events:
It was pretty much a given that I was going to have someone named Alejandro in this story. The Lady Gaga song of the same name had been in my lexicon for years and it seemed like a natural fit. Especially since I decided to go in this direction with all the Latin names. 
He and Talia run Calypso together- he's the bartender but he also handles the logistical side of things while she handles the entertainment side. He fell for her the first time he saw her and he did ask her out. Unfortunately there's a misunderstanding when she catches him with another girl and he hadn't heard the end of it since. She never takes him seriously but he does a damn good job keeping the business together, especially during the times she's not around to handle things herself. 

Originally I had someone in mind like Romey's co-worker Ramon from "Romey & Michelle's HIgh School Reunion"- somewhat of a comic relief character.
But when I really think about it, Alejandro has probably went through the most changes of any other character I'd written for the story. He's more than just Talia's regular punching bag. He's also a confidant for the other sirens. 
But more importantly, he's Amber's key love interest. Since she first arrived at the business that became Calypso, she had an interest in him but by the time she found any courage to confess her feelings, other things kept getting in her way. He's the main reason she came back at all after the Carmen to Amber transition.

Like Talia, he has a pronounced accent and English is his second language. There's one scene where the two of them have an entire conversation in Spanish and the other sirens are left out of the loop because none of them know the language. 

Javier Taylor-Lopez
Javi was named after Spanish figure skater Javier Fernandez. He was also a last minute addition because Scarlet needed a love interest to kick her story arc into motion. Any sexual experience she had was her father's abuse and while she hadn't given up on the idea of love (like Talia), she's nervous about taking that first step. And things aren't as easy as "happily ever after" when they reach that point in their relationship- those demons finally need to be confronted and she has to reach that place on her own. 

Juan Paulo "JP" Esposito
Esposito was the last name of one of Beckett's fellow cops in Castle.
Paulo was the name of the Italian pop singer from the Lizzie McGuire movie.

For his singing voice, Ricky Manning's performance of "Wrecking Ball" on The Voice would be the base line. But he'd probably have a grittier rock voice like Chris Daughtry as well as a falsetto similar to Jesse McCartney or Ryan Cabrera

JP, like many men before him, fell in love with Talia the first time he met her. She invites him up on stage to do karaoke, something she regularly does with tourists during the busy summer season. He falls under the impression that there's some sort of spark between them, something she repeatedly denies. He and Javi were in a band together in high school and they reunite for the summer to hopefully record an album. Talia becomes his greatest inspiration and he writes dozens of songs about her. 
He's an all-around sweet guy and maybe a little clueless. But once he learns what he's dealing with, he wants to convince her to leave the business... which naturally doesn't go well. 

Behind the Calypso Curtain- a look back at the creative process

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 

11 years later- seeing a daydream to fruition [Te Busque]

Looking at some of my earlier posts where I was just brainstorming, it hardly feels like it came from the same person.
For sure, I'm not the same person I was 11 years ago. The story I wrote during this time isn't the same as how it started either but it's amazing to reach a point where I can say I finished it. 

"Te Busque" will always be my personal code name for the story, but it most likely won't be the name I publish it under.
It'll probably be something like "[insert character name] and the Sirens of Calypso."
The name came from a Nelly Furtado song where it's all English except the chorus, which is entirely in Spanish. An all-Spanish version (except a spoken section) also exists. 
The pronounciation is probably way off but on the song, I heard it as "ta boose-kay."
There's also a few characters that have significant involvement so it's hard to know exactly how to include in the title. 

***

Going back to the beginning, early May 2012 was when this idea started coming together in my head. All starting with a car ride where I'm listening to my iPod. I go from "Sex Shooter" by Apollonia 6 to Nelly Furtado's "Loose" album. Suddenly I'm seeing live performances play in my head to these songs.
Next thing I know, I have a vague idea of the kind of story I want to write. It changed a number of times early on but once I had the concept nailed, I was off to the races. 

For a couple of reasons, this story might go nowhere professionally. 
Looking into the sources of inspiration that fueled it, there's potential for copyright claims to come out. 
The whole concept behind it- dancers creating routines from their personal traumas and some being involved in the world's oldest profession- the similarities to "SuckerPunch" are hard to miss. That movie stuck with me in a BIG way that it was still very much on my mind a year later. Some of the names draw reference to the characters or the actresses that play them. But aside from there being twin sisters and the newest member of the group being the youngest and most naive, there isn't too much crossover.

Then there's all of the songs that inspired various scenes in the story. Sometimes I'll reference the story within the lyrics without implicitly namedropping the song or the singer. I spent so much time entrenched in this project that it's hard to remember which scenes came from which songs or some scenes were reverse engineered. I had an idea for a scene, found the perfect song to describe it and I go from there. 

What started as, possibly, a SuckerPunch fanfiction evolved into so much more. 
In my mind, I always saw it as a movie. In some cases, even a karaoke musical because music does have a big role in the story as a whole. I've constructed several playlists for different characters in the story to where each of them could even get their own soundtrack. All but a few songs were by female artists- Nelly Furtado, Lady Gaga, and Britney Spears are the biggest three influences. 
Bits of my personality and various insecurities went into the characters. And then maybe a sprinkle of 50 shades of grey. S&M was becoming more common in regular conversation because of those books/movies and I thought it'd fit one of my characters. 

I also had the idea for a while that I wanted to write a story about female friendships and rivalries. I've done the romance thing so many times as a teenager that I wanted to try something a little different.
Of couse I wound up throwing romance into the mix anyway. Three characters either struggling with the idea of being loved or wanting to get noticed by their love interests. 

***

So, what's next?

I'm considering posting the chapters on this blog one at a time. First I have to finish a couple of scenes I wanted to write but planned to come back to later.
This was also the first time I wrote something out of sequence. I waited for inspiration to hit and once it did, I let the brainstorming take over. Then I reached a point where I had to fill in the blanks and I'd been on that trek up just a few days ago when I found my ending. And by found, I mean that I didn't know how I was going to end this thing until very recently. I knew it'd be a bunch of happy endings, just not how they come about.

But as I do, I might edit a couple of things out... despite my complete lack of physical romantic experience, there are a couple of sex scenes in the story. Only one comes to mind that's a little over the top. The rest, I painted enough of a picture where you get the idea. 
I had one or two scenes written that I ultimately took out because they were too much. 
Several of these girls came from horrible circumstances where they were abused/assaulted. I wrote things down for myself so I knew what I was working with, but nothing I think I'd feel comfortable showing anyone else. Especially anyone that personally knows me... I don't wanna have that awkward conversation.
If they weren't so integral to the story, this content would be edited out altogether. 

And maybe as I go, I'll include my soundtrack "suggestions" so some sort of idea can be formed while reading... 

That's basically all there is to it. I won't be posting anything for a while, but it's an amazing feeling to reach the end. Now it'll be interesting to see it as a whole from the beginning... hopefully it won't have me freaking out because there's some sort of disconnect between where I started and where it alll ended.