Because rehearsals for the second production of "Wolves of Sherwood" are in full swing(YAY!!!!), I have done a tiny bit a time travelling for this post. Several characters from "Wolves" also make an appearance in "Fox", they also are part of my soundtrack. However, as most of these people are vastly different(in some cases) from the types of people they are in "Wolves", their music is slightly different too--and in some cases, their playlist is shorter--and they all come with music videos! Rather than deluge y'all with info you already know, I'll just say this: if you want more deets on these characters, just go here.
Jean-Luc Demons, by Imagine Dragons
Under Your Scars, by Godsmack
Passionate, by the Backstreet Boys
Survivor, by Olivier Dion
What Ifs(feat. Lauren Alaina), by Kane Brown
Dangerous Night, by Thirty Seconds to Mars
A Bird Without Wings, by Celtic Thunder
Heaven, by Kane Brown
Figure It Out, by Royal Blood
Bleeding Out, by Imagine Dragons
Home(from "Bright" Soundtrack), by Machine Gun Kelly, X-Ambassadors, and Bebe Rexha
Broken Hallelujah, by The Afters
Tirzah Creature, by BONES UK
Beltane, by Ron Allen
Lost in the Middle of Nowhere, by Kane Brown
Huron ‘Beltane’ Fire Dance, by Loreena McKennitt
Warrior, by Avril Lavigne
Break the Fall, by Laura Welsh
Tirzah and Jean-Luc
My Angel(from "Furious 7" soundtrack), by Prince Royce
One Thing Right, by Marshmellow & Kane Brown
Him & I, by G-Easy & Halsey
Cassian Young Volcanoes, by Fallout Boy
Bury It, by CHVRCHES
The Wolves(Acoustic Version), by Ben Howard
Rise(feat. Jack&Jack), by Jonas Blue
The way you dance for me, by Sebastien Agius
Never Say Die, by CHVRCHES
Shattered (Turn the Car Around), by O.A.R.
Younger, by French Wives
Ravenna Never Ending Circles, by CHVRCHES
Blackbird(Mocean Worker Re-Mix), by Nina Simone
Here With Me(feat. CHVRCHES), by Marshmellow
There's No Way(feat. Julia Michaels), by Lauv
You Set Me Free, by Michelle Branch
C’est Bientot La Fin(from "Mozart: L'Opera Rock" soundtrack), by Mikelangelo Laconte, Dianne Disigny, Maeva Meline, Florent Mothe, and Melissa Mars
Technicolor Beat, by Oh Wonder
But I Do Love You, by LeAnne Rimes
DeClaireIndestructible, by Disturbed
Coconut, by Fever Ray
Inertia Creeps, by Massive Attack
MalbeteDon’t You, by Candlebox
Blood//Water, by grandson
Cursum Perficio, by Enya
TarquinLike A Recall, by Sebastien Aguis
Crystal Visions, by The Big Pink
Way To Break My Heart(feat. Skrillix), by Ed Sheeran
Nowhere/Bloodlines Pt 1, by Sir Sly
Cross Me(feat. Chance the Rapper & PnB Rock), by Ed Sheeran
Ready to Run, by One Direction
Helpless/Bloodlines Pt 2, by Sir Sly
Last soundtrack had a lot of Blackamore's Night and Peter Crowley. This one's got Loreena McKennitt, Kane Brown, and CHVRCHES, for some reason.
Since this is a sequel to "Wolves of Sherwood", some of the characters you already know--if not, just can find out about Tarquin, Declaire, and Malbete here; Jean-Luc here; Cassian here; and Ravenna and Tirzah here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remember how I said I love Dark Horses?
And how I was really excited about this new play cause one of the characters was Chaotic Neutral?
Well, this is why.
His name is Declan, and he's one of the leading men in "Lure of the Fox"(and currently, my favorite).
My hopeless little romantic heart is Character Crushing so hard on this guy, it's ridiculous! Which makes him the third Character Crush I've had since creating this "Wolves" Universe, the first two being Tarquin and Jean-Luc.
I've already said how much I love the new Aladdin movie. As of this post, I've seen it six times, and I'm going to buy the DVD for my birthday as a gift to myself, just because I can(and I can, cause it comes out nine days after my birthday)! You know what's great? The celebrity model for Declan is also from that movie:
This is Mena Massoud aka Aladdin. If you haven't seen Aladdin, go see it!!!! If only to see this adorable face for two hours, because GAH!!!
He was also in Amazon Prime's "Jack Ryan"; and he has an amazing smile, which I would like to utilize at least once in my head. I have no idea how yet, but Declan is going to smile.
Declan is Chaotic Neutral, which is a fantastic challenge for me, since I've never written one of those before. For those not in the D&D Know, any character who's alignment is "Chaotic Neutral" are people who don't like being told how/where/why/when, and challenges the status quo(there's other places on the inter-webs that describe this more eloquently, but I like my definition).
Aka Declan's personality to a T.
He's got a "what's in it for me" attitude, and if he swings to the "good" or "evil" side, it's not because someone told him to. He cares about certain people and certain things, but he's not about to wear his heart on his sleeve. He's enigmatic, and dangerous, which (to me, anyway) makes him really sexy.
Currently, Declan's in the pay of Raynaud, the man who's holding Sorcha and Tarquin hostage(blog post on Raynaud forthcoming), and has a little bit of a crush on Sorcha, and....someone else, but he's not about to own up to it(see "not about to wear heart on sleeve" above).
Declan also has a connection to--and history with--Jean-Luc--which is so much fun to write! Some of my favorite scenes happen when these two are in the same room(which helps since I am still not--and probably will never be--over my Character Crush on Jean-Luc, see above); and, needless to say, some bits of Declan's personality rub off on Jean-Luc later.
Also, Declan is a Master Swordsman. In my head, he makes Inigo Montoya look like Stanley friggin Yelnats.
(if you don't know who either of those characters are a) that's just really sad and should be remedied ASAP; so b) go Google them because WOW)
I don't usually do this, but because I love Declan a little bit too much, I'm going to share his entire soundtrack with you, because why not?
Declan
Friend of the Devil, by Adam Jensen
Apologize, by grandson
Tombstone, by Adam Jensen
Somebody To Die For, by Hurts
So Cold, by Breaking Benjamin
Darkest Part, by Red
Great Wide Open, by Thirty Seconds to Mars
Where I Want to Be, by The Dangerous Summer
Declan on Sorcha
My Enemy (feat. Matt Berniger), by CHVRCHES
Into the Night(feat. Chad Kroeger), by Santana
Lead Me Into the Night, by The Cardigans
Declan on...Someone Else
Hunger, by The Score
Fuel on the Fire by Bear's Den
Declan and Jean-Luc
Hide, by Red
I Know Where The Bodies Are Buried, by Adam Jensen
Alibi, by Thirty Seconds to Mars
Forever, by Breaking Benjamin
Silence (feat. Khalid), by Marshmellow
Declan's Final Scene
The Fight, by The Phantoms
Home(from "Bright" soundtrack), by X-Ambassadors, Machine Gun Kelly, and Bebe Rexha
From the French word "oublier" meaning "to forget"(side note: this is where we get the English word "oblivion").
"The Forgotten Place".
Sounds creepy, right?
What would you say if I told you that an oubliette is one of the cruelest types of medieval torture ever utilized?
And that this medieval torture gets it's time in the spotlight in "Lure of the Fox"?
Oubliettes are usually pit dungeons ten to fifteen feet underground(and those are the "shallow" ones) with only one entrance/exit, like a trapdoor, that can only be accessed with difficulty.
Sometimes, prisoners were lowered into it via rope or chains or whatever; other times they were thrown(literally), which resulted in awesome things like broken bones. So comfortable, right?
If you were lucky, they fed you.
Otherwise, you starved and died.
You couldn't stand in some of them either. The "spacious" ones are bell-jar shaped--for lack of a better description--with a shaft for lowering prisoners which then opened into a literal pit.
Others were the equivalent of sewer shafts(and sometimes, they even were old sewage and toilet shafts that were given new--job descriptions? Yeah, we'll call it that). These ones were so small that I could maybe crouch or squat if I wanted to. My six-foot-one brother on the other hand? Not so much. He'd have to stand.
Can you think of a better way to give a person claustrophobia?
Anybody every been to the Lava Tubes in Flagstaff?
Or Muddy Putty Cave in Utah before they had to close it?
Or Timpanogos Cave when they turn off the tour lights?
Or any place where you have to take flashlights, or head-lamps or whatever so you can see the hand in front of your face and the potential dangers beyond that?
You guys, when you're in these places and the lights go out, or your head-lamp batteries fail, it's dark.
It. Is. So. Very. Very. Dark.
Not haunted-house-dark.
Not movie-theatre-pre-movie or stage-theatre-pre-show-or-blackout-dark,
Not the-building-is-closed-or-electricity-failed-dark.
Not even the comfortable it's-nighttime-time-to-go-to-sleep-until-the-sun-comes-up-dark.
You can't see the hand in front of your face.
You don't even know if your eyes are open.
Yeah. That's pretty dark.
And that kind of dark has heavy physical consequences.
From Lava River Cave in Flagstaff. I army-crawled through that. Oubliettes are that dark and some are that narrow. No joke.
Have you ever heard stories of old Hollywood where actors were told never to look into the klieg lights if they wanted to keep their sight? Well, the same warning should have been given to people thrown in an oubliette. Not that any captor was ever that thoughtful, but still.
People can go blind if they stay in the dark too long.
And oubliettes are dark.
Sometimes, if prisoners were released or rescued, the retinas of their eyes were so weak that they were blind for the rest of their lives.
And because they're so far underground, oubliettes are cold. Like, between 35 and 45 degrees Fahrenheit. That's cold. And you've got nothing between you and the cold, so you start to shiver and very possibly develop hypothermia and die. Which would be awesome--said no prisoner ever.
Wait, though, it gets worse.
Being alone is scary.
Being alone and cold is scary.
Being alone and cold and hungry is scary.
Being alone and cold and hungry and in the dark is scary.
But what if, on top of that, you started hearing voices?
Sounds like a horror film, right?
If your captors were particularly twisted, they'd also break you mentally. Not just by leaving you alone for days. They'd do other things too.
See, because of their shape, some oubliettes have really good acoustics. Anything from a shout to a whisper can be picked up and constantly echoed; and the echos get into prisoners' heads and drive them insane.
An oubliette is creepy.
It's dark and it's cold and most people who occupy the building that holds it have no idea it exists. This place has the power to destroy it's victims mentally, physically, and emotionally in a matter of days. People were thrown down there and left to be forgotten.
Sounds like something DeClaire and Malbete would love, right?
And they do. Oh, they do.
You want to know the most interesting discovery I made about oubliettes?
Since this is a sequel to "Wolves of Sherwood", some of the characters you already know--if not, just can find out about Tarquin, Declaire, and Malbete here; Jean-Luc here; Cassian here; and Ravenna and Tirzah here.
You know what I really love?
I really love a woman who knows who she is and what she believes in and will stand up for it--even if I don't necessarily agree with her beliefs or methods or whatever. When I was little, my favorite Disney princess was Belle, because she had spunk and attitude and stood up to people who tried to intimidate her--and she was willing to make sacrifices for people she loved.
That's the kind of person Sorcha is.
Sorcha is the older sister of Tirzah Massimo(from Wolves of Sherwood, see link above). Currently, she's being held hostage in Normandy, and she's also caught the eye of Tarquin. And let me tell you, when Sorcha and Tarquin are together, sparks fly!
Sorcha is stubborn, and independent, and knows her own mind. But she also knows that sometimes you have to make really hard choices in order to look out for and protect people you love. Being the writer I am, y'all know that I need a celebrity model who fits this picture in my head. Someone like this:
This is Nathalie Emmanuel--aka Missandei from "Game of Thrones", aka Ramsay from the "Fast and Furious" franchise(7, 8, and 9, to be specific), aka Harriet from "Maze Runner: The Death Cure". This actress--what can I say? She's fierce, she's got a spine of steel, and she's up for anything. She can play defiant, and vulnerable; she can make me cheer and she can make me cry. Which is why she fits Sorcha so well (plus, seeing Robb Stark and Missandei as a couple would make this fangirl really happy).
I'm also in love with Sorcha's soundtrack--especially her theme song. I don't care what anybody says, I loved the new Aladdin adaption, and not just cause my childhood got an (in my opinion) amazing live-action treatment. One of the best parts for me was Jasmine! I bought her new song and listened to it on loop for days! And it's the perfect theme for Sorcha because it fits her journey to a tea!
Sorcha's Theme: "Speechless" by Naomi Scott
There's more to her soundtrack, but it's ridiculously long, so I'm only gonna share the highlights. Such as:
Sorcha on Tarquin: "Bones" by MS MR, "I Still Remember" by Blackamore's Night and "Keep the Streets Empty" by Fever Ray
Sorcha's Hard Choices: "Crash and Burn" by Lifehouse, "Beggin for Thread" by Banks
and "Breathe" by Fleurie
And as a final intriguing tidbit:
Sorcha and Declan: "Lead Me Into the Night" by the Cardigans
Did you know a group of foxes is called a "skulk?"
Did you know foxes not only symbolize slyness, intelligence, and cunning, but also wealth, agility, charm, desire, and passion?
Did you know the word "shenanigan" comes from the old Irish expression meaning: "I play the fox?"
Well, you do now.
That's one of the many, many bits of trivia that I've picked up in the last little while.
So why am I writing random trivia about foxes?
Because recently, I saw the world premiere of my play "Wolves of Sherwood" (originally titled "Locksley of Sherwood" ) and it was BRILLIANT!!! I laughed, I cried, I grinned like a perfect loon. I had an amazing cast and artistic team and got to spout all kinds of behind the scenes trivia and stuff(which, if you know me, is one of my favorite things to do: spout trivia about everything.) Currently, I'm prepping for the Utah Premiere of this show and I can't even begin to describe how ridiculously excited I am!
So ridiculously excited, that I started to think.
Loyal followers of my little blog know that one of my artistic quirks is that I have a tendency to write spin-offs of all my scripts. It happens when I have questions about characters or plot points and then I have to write little blurbs to answer said questions that may or may not get into the finished script(and nine times out of ten this is a good thing).
Sometimes they go beyond fun little blog postings and sometimes they don't. This time, the former happened.
All of that trivia I spouted that wouldn't go away. It rattled around in my head more than when I was pounding out rough drafts of "Wolves" and I guess seeing the show onstage woke the idea back up again.
Two or three of the actors in particular had a question about an expositional plot point: "what happened in Normandy?" The question came about because of several references two of the characters--Jean-Luc and Cassian--make to this place, and the effects that whatever it was had on them.
King John I lost Normandy in 1203-04--which was kind of a big deal!
And I knew the answer--sort of.
I mean, I knew that there were a series of traumatic events that turned Jean-Luc and Cassian into the people they were; and I had a rough outline that I'd typed up back in early revision days(like late 2017ish?) so I as the author knew what I was talking about, but the curiosity of the cast sparked my curiosity too; so I did what I always do when this happens.
I started to write.
You guys, I say this about everything I write, but I love lovelove this sequel!
This story centers not on Cassian, but on Jean-Luc; not on the Wolf, but on the Fox(confession: there were times I found Jean-Luc far more interesting anyway, so this is cool).
And Tarquin is in it; and Tirzah and Ravenna are in it; and so are Malbete and Declaire--and there's a new character that I'm kind of head over heels in love with at the moment, cause I'm a sucker for dark horses and this guy is the Darkest Dark Horse I've ever written(for you D&D geeks, the New Guy is Chaotic Neutral. If you don't know what that means, Google it. Then, if you know me, you'll understand).
I suppose it's about time I shared more script tidbits anyway, so for the next little while, I get to share with y'all tidbits from my newest creative endeavor currently tentatively titled:
