I got 66 problems… Part 2

Before I get into it, I got some feedback via Reddit on my hand-drawn cover for Sixty-Six. Reddit has not exactly been a friendly place to me, apart from this one post where I asked what people thought of the cover I illustrated myself. In general, feedback on the cover has been positive, but one Redditor pointed out that it was unclear what genre the book is supposed to be, and that if they had to guess, it looks YA. Which is fair, given the fact that the main-main characters are teenagers, and I drew the cover with them in mind. But I don't believe this book is actually meant for a YA audience. 

The Redditor's suggestion was to adjust the childlike lettering to lean more in the direction of what standard adult fiction books tend to use to clarify that. Which honestly kind of broke my heart a little bit, because I spent SO MUCH TIME hand lettering the title, specifically. But after I finished sulking, I played around with some fonts, and I actually don't mind what came out of it, though I wouldn't say that I love it. My original is on the left, and the new one is on the right.

Side-by-side, I do see how my original version reads so much younger than the new one. But I think I'm probably going to give this to a professional for the final cover. 

Anyway...

Picking up where I left off with my previous post, I wanted to introduce the main grown-up characters in Sixty-Six. As I mentioned previously, this book has an ensemble cast and all the main characters have an important role in moving the story forward.

One of the most thrilling elements of this story is the “coming together” aspect of it. I’m fascinated by the idea of stepping back and watching things unfold from a distance, and seeing how people and events that at first might seem random or disconnected begin to sort of start being drawn into the same orbit and the connections between them start forming.

If I can reveal my true nerd nature for a moment, before Sixty-Six became a thing, I wrote this super cringe… I don’t know what to call it… a narrative essay I guess? A true story about how four young musicians moved into position and eventually ended up coming together to form a band called Queen. I’m a little bit embarrassed to say it was some of my best writing, LOL. So yeah, I’m not kidding when I say I get off on a good big bang slash planetary alignment origin story. Writing Sixty-Six has been like the epitome of that for me.

There are multiple convergence moments and events throughout Sixty-Six as the story unfolds, but one of my favorite concentric rings around the main event is the one where the teenagers begin to join forces with the old folks in their quest to “bring the music back”.

Just like I did with the kids, I’ll introduce each of the adult main characters in the order they appear in the story. Starting with…

Weston Rutherford is Mara’s music history teacher – her favorite teacher, in fact. Now, I have to be careful what I say, because there is a lot going on with this character that could very easily lead to me dropping spoilers. But I’ll just say that the class he teaches is essentially propaganda disguised as music history to high school students.

Mr. Rutherford is probably one of my favorite characters I’ve ever written, due to his complexity. I don’t want to give too much away, but at the risk of doing so, if I had the chance to cast Mr. Rutherford in the movie adaptation of Sixty-Six, he would 100% be played by Michael Emerson. From the moment he appeared in my mind, that’s who he has been.

***

Pops is Joby’s grandfather (great grandfather, actually). I just realized I never gave him a first and last name. He’s just Pops, and that’s enough! And yeah, he’s the oldest character in the book. He might be a grump who is low on patience in his advanced age, but he’d do anything for his grandkids, and they cherish him.

Now, my grandfathers were not of curmudgeonly temperament. They were funny and sweet. So it was kind of fun to write a grandfather character who was outwardly ornery, even if he was warm and sweet on the inside, where it counts. While I can picture Pops clearly in my mind, I haven’t been able to pinpoint an actor who might represent him the way I see him. I’m going to keep thinking about that and see if I can identify who might be a good Pops.

***

Bertie Lockerby is another character I need to restrain myself with in terms of how much I say about him. He’s a retired agent of the evil empire that has taken control of popular music, but he’s still very much part of that realm. As the music begins to come back and the seeds of the revolution are sewn, he and Sandy are brought together to form an unlikely connection.

Bertie is one of those under the radar sort of characters who is tough to describe. He’s unknowable in a way, because his life has really been about one thing. He’s a lone wolf, and a bit intimidating. I’d like to think that when Sandy enters his life, she’s filling a void for him to some extent. In the movie version of the book, he’s played by Brendan Gleeson.

***

Finally, I’d like to introduce another one of my all-time favorite characters I’ve ever written: DJ Daisy Wah-Wah is the untouchably cool boho guru. I almost don’t even want to talk about her, because her reveal in the story is so glorious for me that there is a part of me who wants to keep her a secret so that she’s a glorious surprise for everyone!

Obviously, Daisy’s a DJ, or at least she was one, once upon a time before popular music was annexed by malevolent forces and she retired from the scene. She’s jaded, magnetic, and so “of her time” that she’s practically a living relic of it. She’s the ultimate steward, and I kind of feel like she’s been waiting her whole life for Vincent to arrive at a time when young minds are begging to be blown. If I were in charge of casting decisions for the movie version of this story, she’d be played by Tantoo Cardinal.

***

And that’s a wrap on introductions of Sixty-Six’s main characters, at a very high level. I’m pretty stoked for them to be finally making their way out into the world. Now to finish revising the manuscript…