B/V: Matheson, Sian and Xander

Since it's now the end of April and therefore ScriptFrenzy 2018 (and I skived off it this year, thank you adulating), I realized that I left y'all hanging back in February with my B/V character inspiration thingummies. I like to tie up loose threads when I can, so here's the final tidbit for the character inspirations of B/V.

You've met the goodies and the allies, so now it's time for the villains. Here's where it gets sticky. These guys aren't the typical type of villains I write, especially since the story I'm writing isn't the usual type I write. Because there are three of them, I'll start with the least dangerous and work my way up.

First, there's Xander. There is a celebrity model that I really like to have in my head whenever I write Xander's scenes. His name is JD Pardo:

Xander's and Agent with a moral compass. He's Riley's brother and follows the orders he is given with more or less reluctance, depending on what those orders are. Thanks to his moral compass, there are lines he isn't willing to cross. . Maybe--ok, certainly--it's typecasting because JD Pardo's played this type of gray-area character before, not once, but twice. The first time was in Eric Kripke's "Revolution" and the second was in Hulu's "East Los High". Is it any wonder I want to see him do it again?

So while Riley's got a brother in with the Agency, Jason has the same problem, only it's his sister, Sian. I saw several films that helped inspire the model for Sian--someone who can exhibit quiet inner fire and fierce independence one minute("Beyond the Lights") and warm sweet sisterly regard the next("Belle"); and also an actress I greatly respect for her talent and get all giddy when she does another movie. Sian's model is Gugu Mbatha Raw.

While Sian isn't exactly and Agent per se, she definitely has loyalties leaning that way thanks to things that happened with her and the Agents in the past(and it isn't what you think!). Sian is a baddie, but she's not the worst.

The biggest baddie of them all is Matheson.  In my head he's got one of those faces that can freeze into and emotionless mask; and makes you twitch every time you watch him do something because you know it's wrong, but Matheson knows he's in the right and nobody can tell him otherwise because it's necessary to do what he's doing for the greater good(twitch, twitch, twitch).

Naturally I need someone in my head who can pull that kind of facial expression off, and can still be bearable to watch(because there are some people who think they can do that face thing, but they totally can't and it hurts to watch--which is not a good thing). He's in both "Hawaii Five-O"(the 2005 reboot) and "Salvation"(which is FABOULOUS!!!); and not only do I like seeing his face I love hearing his voice: Ian Anthony Dale is Matheson's model. 

Not gonna lie, writing Matheson gives me the creeps. It's fun to write him but his motives are so eerie because they make perfect sense--if a little twisted. He's the head of the Agency, intent on making everything safe, and controlled, no matter the cost. Matheson's convinced he's saving lives, but is he going to end up ruining them instead?

So there you have it y'all--the entire B/V Cast Models. Phew! Maybe if you're lucky, I'll give you a peek into the soundtrack(cause I have that too!).

B/V: Lanae and Michael

I know,  I know, it's not NaNoWriMo anymore, but I haven't blogged in a while(ok two months) and I tend to leave things unfinished--which is sad. Currently, I am in the umpteeth revision of my Robin Hood project and not writing anything new; but I realized I never finished introducing y'all to the peeps in B/V--so I'm going to remedy that starting now. Indulge me.

You've met all the protagonists, so here's their allies--cause boy do these guys ever need allies. They're brother and sister, and they were the ones who started the rebellion in the first place. Well, the guy started it, and his sister joined not long after.

The leader of the Resistance is Michael--someone who thinks just enough to decide what the question is before getting the answer. He's also the only one who can reign in Deac if need be. Michael is the one who's got a lot of the answers, but not all of them; and he's only fault is that he stays in the shadows and sends other people out to do the dirty work. Which isn't necessarily a fault per se, but it does slow things down just a little bit as far as taking the Agency apart goes. Michael's model has changed several many times--probably because he's one of those awesome characters that you have to prod with a toothpick to get him to talk to you. But I think I finally pinned one down: Adam Beach.

I saw him in the trailer for "Windtalkers" back in 2002, and thought he was fabulous(though I have yet to see the movie). I did see "Cowboys and Aliens" plus the episode of the "Hawaii Five-O" reboot that he was in, and for some reason he became Michael in my head and he's kind of stuck. (Side note: He's also Slipknot in "Suicide Squad", another film I have yet to see.

Confession: I started writing this while in the middle of my investigation into the CW series "The 100"(I lost interest so didn't watch past the second season--BUT I read all the recaps, because, you know, librarian day job) so the model for Lanae is from the cast of "The 100"(the second season). Lanae's model is  actress Luisa D'Oliveira:

Lanae is the yin to Michael's yang, and she's the one person who can calm him down or pull him out of a funk if need be. She's tough as nails but also really warm and caring when she needs to be--and in some of the situations that Jason and co. get into, they really need a nice listening ear. 

So yes, both of these celeb models are from films I've only seen trailers to(except one) and a tv show that I watched for like a second, but they made enough of an impact on this writer to make them models for some of her characters, so I'd say that all worked out pretty well. 

NANOWRIMO B/V: Riley and Deac

November is almost over and I'm behind in the NaNoBlog!

Ok, fine, not really, but I should have posted about NaNo last week but was so crazed I forgot, so this week y'all get a twofer because--I'm awesome. Yeah.

The leading lady in any show I write tends to be both a firebrand and have the ability to be vulnerable. Because, let's face it, this two things are built into feminine DNA and there's nothing we can do about it. That's my opinion, anyway.

When the world does eventually blow up, it's nice to have someone who can always make the day a little brighter, fight for all she's worth, and never ever give up, no matter how much others try to break her.

Yes, that is the type of person Riley is. One of those amazing people who believes in things with every fiber of her being, and will do whatever it takes to do the right thing. And of course, she has to have a celebrity model who can carry that personality out.

Last year, I saw a movie called "Tracers", which was about a heist carried out via parkour. If you know me--or you've read this blog for a while--you know one of my weird obsessions is parkour...probably because I don't have the hand-eye coordination or athletic ability to do it, but whatever.  And one of the stars in this movie was Marie Avergapolous:
                                                                  

 Truthfully, I really wish I could see more of her work(I know she's in "The 100", but I mean things besides that). She has the ability to be fierce, fun, and fiery, yet also vulnerable when the occasion called for it. In other words, the perfect fit for Riley.

Besides a friend(Riley) the other thing a protagonist inevitably has is a mentor. Someone who can tell it like it is, and has seen what's happened--or what's going to happen--and prep the protagonist for whatever's to come(thank you Joseph Campbell). In the case of "B/V", he also has a dry sense of humor and a streak of sarcasm a mile wide. I'll even admit there are pieces of his persona that belong to some of my relatives, which adds to the fun. His name is Deac, and he's also one of my personal favorite characters.

So who's the best celebrity candidate to portray this character in my head? Actually, it wasn't that difficult to figure out; because about the time I pulled "B/V" out of my head and began putting it on paper a film got released, with an actor I had never heard of before. This film was actually this guy's film debut. He blew people away--and not just because of who he's related to. Who is this guy?  O'Shea Jackson Jr.

 

                                                                         Deac has been hurt in more ways than one. He's lost people, so he's ultra protective of those he's still got. The one thing he has no doubt about is the hatred be feels for the Agency who started tagging people in the first place.  Sarcasm is his defense mechanism along with dry humor. Based on what I've already seen, there's not doubt in my mind this guy could pull off Deac--if, that is, pigs could fly and he'd ever say yes. A girl can dream, right?

NANOWRIMO B/V: Jason

Those of you who have followed me for a while know what this means. Every NaNo, I get to share with y'all the celeb models I have in my head for each character. Because that happens to be my writer's quirk.

At the center of every story, you have the protagonist--the one who asks the questions and is a conduit for the readers and the audience members. Jason has grown up in a world where every thought, action and word is known by the Agency. Jason is actually being trained as an Agent, but he has questions that aren't answered by the Agency, so they'll have to be answered by someone else.

Once upon a time, I saw a film called ATL. It was your typical coming of age story, and being a sucker for these kind of things, of course I bought it. In this film, there was an actor--who is also a singer(and married to a singer). ATL was his first film, followed by According to Greta and....MOCKINGJAY. Know who it is yet? Does this help?

                                                      

This is Evan Ross. And yes, he's the perfect match for Jason. He's fiery, he's got that awesome glare down, and, his smile isn't too bad either. Plus, I'd love to see him with the rest of my cast--which is forthcoming. I promise!

NaNoWriTakeover: 2017: B/V

IIIIIIIT'S NANO TIME, Y'ALL!!!!

                                                         

What with being and adult with and adult life and all, this poor little blog has been neglected, except during NaNo time. This year, I also find myself in an interesting position: I'm a little bit cheating. Yes, yes, I know that NaNo is supposed to be written completely from scratch, but:

A) I  have this habit of "half-finishing" things that lie untouched for eons; and sooner or later I have to finish them and, 

B) Last year my life was so crazed I didn't even do a NaNo--or rather, I did, but I never posted about it.

Back in college, I overheard an interesting conversation between three friends of mine: one was a political science major; one a history major; the third was--well, he was someone with interesting ideas. PolySci was writing a paper about government officials and power (I forget exactly what) and she was asking History for advice on the paper--and Interesting Idea and I were eavesdropping. The gist of the conversation went something like this:

Hist: It’s kind of terrifying, the lengths officials--or anybody really--will go to assert their power.

PolySci: You know, if someone really wanted to takeover the US right now, they’d start                              

   with technology and social media. You take that over and everybody’s in trouble.

Interesting Idea: OR they could get rid of technology altogether--put it inside people;

            because you can’t hack human beings as easily as you can hack into

            technology.

PolySci: Can they can do that?

History:  What if they could?

Interesting Idea: Then the world as we know it would come to an end.

Me: That’s creepy.

Me: (That’s an interesting idea!)

Me: (That’s a VERY interesting idea)

Me: puts idea in back of head, then plays with it off and on for the next five years

Me(flashforward to 2016): Finally puts idea on paper and submits it to short play festival

Here's the REALLY interesting part--it JUST KEPT GOING!!!! I could not get the story out of my head! By the time the short version had premiered, my "long version" was just over ninety pages--granted, they were rough pages, but still! 

                                                   

That is what I will be sharing with you this time around--I can honestly say it's one of the most interesting pieces I've ever written(see conversation above). And because this is what I do every time I have a new project, y'all get to see the character sketches and tidbits that went into this thing.

The project for NaNoWriMo 2017:

B/V