I've been meaning to do this for awhile, it might even be a little overdue, but there is a "history" surrounding this book for me that has made it challenging for me to talk about. Well, if I am going to publish it -- and I am -- then I'd better start getting used to pulling it out of the shadows!
Technically I guess I started doing that already by putting into Maladaptive and making it Cara's project, giving it a life in that world. But it turns out, I'm not ready to close the book on it, so while I've mentioned it a few times kind of in passing, I'm going to start giving it more of a spotlight as I'm finishing it.
So without further ado... I want to talk about Sixty-Six!
Actually, wait. One more ado. I won't be doing chapter-by-chapter discussions of Sixty-Six the way I did with Maladaptive when I was writing it. That is an excellent source of spoilers and this blog has a different purpose now (whoopsie!) so I'll be approaching the way I talk about it differently.
First, I should probably give a little background on what it's about. The story is set in the year 2066. Not that far off, just close enough that I think we can all kind of imagine where things might be headed, in a lot of different ways. It doesn't go into all of the various dystopian outlooks and outcomes we might be headed for. Instead it focuses on just one: popular music.
You know what, instead of rewriting the blurb, I'll just give it to you.
In the year 2066, access to music is controlled by a single, global commercial entity, colluding with a strict regulatory body to enforce that control.Punishment for crimes of music preservation has forced the elder generation to either give up the music and the fight, or go underground and risk their personal freedom.
The youth have never known any different. Music made by humans instead of AI programs? Yeah right! But when songs from 100 years ago suddenly start playing in their heads, the young band together with the old, taking up the charge to fight back for music freedom in the greatest music revolution the world has ever heard.
The blurb might need a little work, but that's what I've got at the moment.
Okay, so anyway... I think a good place to start is character introductions. This story has an ensemble cast. The story is essentially based around four main teenage characters: Mara, Joby, Vincent, and Sandy, and four sub-main adult characters: Mr. Rutherford, Pops, Daisy "Wah-Wah" Wabagishik, and Bertie Lockerby.
Each of the main teen characters has a core group that they are bringing along with them on their journey. Even though there is definitely one character who is "my heart", my goal is to not play favorites and try to give all the characters equal page-time. Because it's not about one person, it's about a community and all the roles each individual plays in the events and how they come together.
I do wonder if anyone who reads it will be able to figure out who "my heart... my star... my baby... my favorite" character is. Eventually I'd love to find out how obvious it might be! But for the purposes of the post, I'm going to introduce the characters in the order they appear in the book.
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Mara Wishbow is a 16-year-old A student in the United States. I'm not going to give her specific city away, because that's getting into spoiler territory. Her personal style is retro, and favorite class at school is music history, which is unfortunately, a corporate sponsored class (taught by Mr. Rutherford) that basically teaches music history propaganda, but it's the closest thing she can get to actually studying music.
She's a notorious "good girl", but when you light a fire under this good girl's ass, it reveals a tenacious and impetuous streak that runs deep. Some might call that streak passion! Ironically, her equally passionate, adoring mother might call it "trouble".
Coming along for the ride with Mara are her older sister Georgia and her best friend Jaycee, but I also want to mention her mother Melonna, who plays a key role in how Mara's thread is woven into the music revolution.
Who would I cast as Mara in the movie adaptation of Sixty-Six? I'd have to go with Priah Ferguson (Erica from Stranger Things). She has that effortless likeability and style along with that fire that burns inside Mara.
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The other main American teen character is Joby McLafferty, also 16 years old. Joby and his friends Woodsy and Des are skateboarders, though he's got more of a complex, emo streak than the rest of his crew.
Joby's world view is tinted by quasi-punk teenage angst, at the core of which is an emotional interior on the edge of exploding, likely the result of an absent mom and a downtrodden, hard-ass dad. Thank goodness for the grounding provided by his younger brother Zach, who, I'm gonna say it, has that "no one knows I'm actually the coolest, best person here - yet" energy about him that I really hope comes across. The other big light in Joby's life is his grumpy, basement-dwelling great-grandfather, known lovingly as Pops.
I can picture Joby clearly in my head. A slight, skinny, freckle-faced kid with a brooding brow and red-blonde roots under his dyed black shoulder length hair. A good fit for the on-screen version of Joby might be Jacob Bertrand (from the TV show Cobra Kai).
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Despite starting with the two main American characters, Sixty-Six is an international story, and Canadian representation comes in the form of Vincent Kiley, a 17-year-old artist-dreamer, who is constantly trying to escape his impoverished life and his deadbeat dad, and is willing to do whatever is necessary to occupy his mind to make that happen.
Tall and lumbering in his dapper yet disheveled second-hand, bespectacled style, Vincent's energy is like if the concept of nerdy introversion found a way to announce itself to the masses, cutting a wide berth around him.
The only person he is truly comfortable with is his cousin-slash-best-friend Cleo, a chic, petite poster child for how the wealthy "other half" live. Cleo might be the proverbial silver spoon girl, but she would gladly share that spoon with her cousin any day of the week. She'd probably even give it to him, if her parents would let her.
It's not all doom and gloom for Vincent though, as he is doted on by the people who practically raised him, his grandparents. Through them, he discovers a new world he was clearly destined for, leading him (and Cleo) to the ultimate bohemian crone goddess DJ Daisy Wah-Wah and everything her realm has in store for him.
When I think of who would be cast as Vincent in the movie adaptation, my mind goes to Paul Dano in his Little Miss Sunshine period, circa 2006. It's funny because his character Dwayne in that movie vibes much more closely with Joby, but I think Paul Dano would have made a fantastic Vincent. Maybe because of his portrayal of Brian Wilson in the biopic Love and Mercy, that could very well have something to do with it. Anyway, not sure who among the young actors of today have that "je ne sais quoi", so until I think of someone else, young Paul Dano will have to do.
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Of the four main teenage characters, 17-year-old Australian Sandy Duggan has probably been the most challenging to write. She's a competitive swimmer, a star athlete, the pride of her adoring (but overwhelmed) parents, and in another timeline, I have no doubt that she would make a name for herself bringing home Olympic gold. But in this timeline, Sandy's rebellious nature and her desire to be a part of history call her away toward the musical revolution, though her role takes on a different flavor from that of Mara, Joby and Vincent.
The force of Sandy's kinetic energy is so great that the people closest to her, her boyfriend Wade and best friend Gabby, are either haplessly pulled along in her wake, or tossed aside as she takes on a new trajectory.
When Bertie comes along to provide solace for Sandy in these uncertain, volatile times, their reluctant companionship is one that breaks my heart, almost more than any of the other poignant threads in the story.
In my mind, Mckenna Grace is an obvious choice to portray Sandy. She has that effervescent, magnetic energy of someone you might want to follow until you realize you shouldn't have but now it's too late to turn back.
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Whew! So I had intended on shedding some light on Mr. Rutherford, Pops, DJ Daisy Wah-Wah and Bertie -- the four grown up characters connected to Mara, Joby, Vincent and Sandy -- but I think I'll save them for another post... Sixty-Six Character Introductions, Part 2.
To be continued...
