(no subject)
So, a while ago, Eddy suggested I do profiles for each of the prominent characters in the series. I thought it was a great idea, and tried it out with Matt, but it was pages and pages and pages long, and I couldn't bear the thought of doing that again.
I get lots of emails with questions and comments - I guess emailing is the new reviewing? - so I thought I'd post the questions and answers here. If you have any of your own, please don't hesitate to ask. I'm making this post public, and will update it again in the future.
Before I get started, I'd like to say a huge thanks to everyone who does take the time to email me, it means a lot! Ok, here we go!
1: Character Sexuality
One of the main things I get asked is: who's gay, bisexual, or just in love with their partner? That's something that actually changes in my mind quite a bit, depending on where the plots take me, but here's the list as it stands:
Matt - confused
Fay - gay
Dave - gay
Jeff - straight
Adam - bisexual
Michael - is actually pretty straight. Adam is the first - and only - man he's been in love with
Sonny - gay
Skylar - bisexual
Kian - bisexual but favours men over women
Rayden - gay
Oscar - gay
Tristan - gay
Ivory - straight with one exception - his boyfriend, Jonny (bassist of Trainwrecks and Firewater)
Deo - bisexual but favours men over women
Aaron - gay
With Kian and Deo, you'll notice I've put "bisexual" but that they favour men. This just means that unlike the gay characters, Kian and Deo wouldn't rule out having an intimate relationship with women, but they probably won't. Adam is the only character in the story who genuinely has no preference when it comes to gender, although he is very happy with Michael. Matt's just confused, as he always is.
2: Was Matt in love with Deo? And how come he didn't realise that when Deo was alive?
I get asked this ALL the time. It's kinda cool, the lasting effect Deo has had on the series even though he was only in it briefly. I'm glad he's a favourite, because he's definitely one of my favourites! The simple answer is, yes, Matt was in love with Deo. He didn't realise at the time because he mistook his feelings for dependency - after all, they spent a lot of their early friendship on drugs. Matt's only really been in love twice, and what's funny is, it was with men and not women.
3: Why did Matt fall in love with Kian?
It's usually fans of Angel's character that ask me this! The honest truth is, I don't really know. I just had the idea one day and thought it'd be pretty cool. I've thought about it a lot since then, seeing as how both Matt and Aaron have tried to explain it in Forever Young and I think really, it was because Kian is a lot like Matt. They have a lot in common, and some times tragedy binds people together in a way that happiness can't. Plus, Matt was bored with his life and Kian is young, vibrant and passionate. But I'm sure it's a lot more complicated than that, and I'm just not deep enough to get it. Either way, I think it worked out pretty well.
4: Will Matt and Angel ever get back together?
No.
5: What is your inspiration behind the stories?
That really depends on which story. In the early days, I was inspired by teen movies and fiction and music. These days, I find my inspiration coming from more specific stories. Forever Young was inspired by a song of the same name, while my new story, The New Divide is inspired by the fight for gay rights - little things, like the Gus Van Sant movie Milk, Adam Lambert singing "A Change Is Gonna Come", a priest speaking on behalf of the No H8 campaign - things like that. Oh, and this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfPXcCroPJc
Because when Dustin Lance Black spoke that night, both gay and straight people applauded him. And, ok, I cried a little the first time I saw it.
6: Gay rights are obviously a recurring and important theme in the series. I thought you were straight?
I gotta admit, I laughed when I read this, and I'm sorry to the person who sent me it because I believe it was a honest question. Yes, I am straight and yes, gay rights are important in the series and they're important to me. What the issue with gay rights comes down to, in it's most basic form, is a fight for equality. I do truly believe that we are all created equal, and as such, we all deserve equal rights whether we are gay, straight, bisexual, in love with Edward Cullen or what the hell ever. Sexuality is an important part of you, but it's only one part, it shouldn't define who you are or how others see you. When I first introduced Fay and Dave into the series, there was a bit of backlash actually but none of it was from my readers - it was from their parents, who emailed me some really terrible things considering I was still in my teens at the time. And it made me realise that my generation, and even the generation after mine, is the generation that is going to really bring change and the thought of that excited me. So if a young person, who may isn't aware of the gay community and its struggles, reads about Fay, and likes him as a character, becomes more aware of the gay community and the discrimination people like Fay face every single day, if that kid is inspired to fight for that cause, then that's really great. So when Prop 8 comes up again in 2010, if there's someone in that voting booth who read my stories years ago and ticks the right box out of compassion or out of their own desire for equal rights, I'd be so, so happy.
7: Are any of the characters based on real people?
Yes, actually, but it always tends to be the more minor characters. David Mc, from The Best Deceptions, is a real person. Nikki, former bassist of Trainwrecks and Firewater, is a real person, as are current members of the band Lexi, Gill, Eddy and Jonny. Oh, and Michael was originally based on a real person, but has now evolved so much that he's not really like the person he was based on anymore. So personality wise, the main characters aren't really inspired by anyone, although visually they are. For example, new character Jasper Hart's image is inspired a lot by Frank Iero from My Chemical Romance:
^ Like that :)
8: I know Adam was raised Catholic, but were any of the other characters raised with a specific religion?
Adam is the only character who still practises his religion, but yes, some of the other characters were raised in a slightly religious home. New character Tristan is from Louisana and his parents are devout Christians - that's something that'll come up later. Oscar's father Jay was raised Jewish. Matt was sent to a Catholic private school as a child but was kicked out. Dave's dad believes in God, but never really attended church or anything like that. Fay and Michael's parents are agnostic, but don't practise a religion. Jasper's family is Catholic (his grandparents on both sides are Italian), but he doesn't practise either. Sonny's parents are Christians, but he's an athiest, as are most of the characters.
9: Do you have more stories planned?
...kind of. I'm just going to leave it at that :)
10: Has Fay always been in love with Dave?
Yup. No need for an explanation there, I think. Fay has always been in love with Dave, and vice versa. They hold the record for longest relationship in the series actually, so well done them!
11: Why do you use so much religious imagery?
You know, I think my use of religious imagery has died down now, but I have used a lot in the past. I think it's because so many people are familiar with it, and it can communicate a lot. For example, Fay has cut the palms of both his hands open, Adam was the first (and to date only) person Michael fell in love with etc etc. Those little hints communicate something about the characters that it'd take too long - or sound too crazy - to explain.
12: Where do the names come from? Some of them are pretty weird
Yes, they are. Um, let's think...I don't know where Fay's name comes from, actually, and I think he has the weirdest name out of everyone? I think the name "Fay" communicates a youth, enthusiasm and innocence that suits Fay perfectly. Matt's full name is Matthew Jay Harris, which I picked because I liked it really. Angel's name is short for Angelina. Dave's surname, Malvern, is a brand of bottled water - seriously. I couldn't think of anything and the water was just right there, so that's where his name comes from. Adam Eden is a killer name, I think, and he's named for the religious implications. Sonny's name is random, as is Skylar's. Oscar's full name is Oscar Harvey Alexander-Wild (Alexander-Wild is his surname) and he's named after Oscar Wilde and Harvey Milk, because he is the gayest character in the entire series. He even out-gays Sonny. Tristan's name I picked just because it was pretty. Ivory's real name is actually Ryan Ryan, which I know sounds crazy. His first name is Ryan, and his mother remarried and his stepdad's surname is Ryan, so he's known as Ivory Ryan. His nickname is a reference to his pale complexion, and the fact that as a session musician, he was deemed to be really valuable. The kids in the series actually have more thought out names than anyone else - Celeste's full name is Celeste Deo Andrews Harris. Her first name means "heavenly", and her middle name is reference to Deo. Adam and Michael's children are named Gabrielle and Janoah - Gabrielle is obviously named after the angel Gabriel and Janoah is Hebrew for "To rest". You only need to look at where he came into the series to get the full effect of that. Fay and Dave's son is called Aidan because it's my friend David's favourite boy's name (or at least it used to be?) and Fay's his favourite, so that's just an in joke thing. Kian's name came from nowhere, Rayden's name is more complicated. His first name is a variation of the name Raiden, which is the name of the mythological Japanese God of Thunder. His middle name "Finn" has its roots in Irish and Gaelic and means "fair" - he's blonde, so that fits, and his last name Emlynn means "eager". So he's a fair, eager, thunder god basically.
13: Do you ever picture the stories as movies?
Yes, I do actually. When I'm working on a story, I obviously do a lot of it in my head - creating scenes and characters and it's really visual, so I hope that comes across a little. Someone actually wrote a screenplay for "Emo Boys Do Cry" and it was really good! Also, my friend Nikki and I like to go through the list of characters and decide who would play who? It's a lot of fun! Here's a little taster of the kind of people we pick to play each character:
http://dravenvalentine.livejournal.com/48273.html
That was the most recent "cast list" and I don't think it's changed much since then.
Ok, I was going to do more as I haven't answered everything, but I'm running out of steam! I'll update this as questions come in, and these are the most common questions anyway so I hope that helps.