So this is my first story on Wattpad to actually pick up traction which is pretty cool. I love reading your comments and I'm thankful for all of the messages I've been getting and the following on TikTok! So here I thought I'd do a little bit of a get-to-know me as well as talking a little bit about the story.
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Why Did I Write The Halls of Westwood?
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I don't have one specific reason for this. I can't tell you much about why I wrote in what I did but I do know that I wanted to try and represent the growth and development of relatable characters of all levels of maturity. I wanted to write a story about opposites and coming together, especially in a world as split and diverse as ours.
I write because I love showing different sides of every story. I love breaking down the expectations and predictability of writing and most of all, I love giving under-represented people somebody to relate to. I'm Shawnee, like Aiden, and I grew up with Pocahontas or Brother Bear as the only movies where I could find someone from my culture. Every book or movie I watched made people's entire identity based on their culture or made them some sort of spiritual guide. It was always weird and uncomfortable to watch because all I wanted was just another Indigenous person who phased normal every-day struggles.
That is why I wrote in characters like Aiden and Markos. Although Aiden's culture has a lot to do with his upbringing and values, he doesn't revolve around it like every other Indigenous character I grew up watching on tv or reading about. And although Markos being trans is important to him, it isn't the only, for lack of a better word, struggle in his life. I didn't want to make their journeys revolve around that and I hope I'm doing a good job.
So writing Westwood isn't just important to me because I like writing or because I wanted to write a romance between characters. It's been about writing the growth and change of characters that have relatable struggles and relatable backgrounds.
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What Do My Characters Represent?
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Beau Martin
Beau is made to represent the darkness found in light or the ugliness in beauty. He is supposed to be everything good and bright in the world and is made to show that there's a lot more to somebody than how they present themselves. Beau's personality revolves around being kind and compassionate, always putting others first, and always being the first to accept and love people for who they are. He is also made to show the effects of grief and how much it can change someone. I once heard the quote, "Sometimes somebody lives so hard for another that they forget to live for themself" and that was what inspired Beau. If you read The Burning Barn you can see that Beau is not the same person he was in chapter one. You can see how different his mindset is and how much he's evolved emotionally. The thing I chose to symbolize Beau was the sunflower because it represents loyalty and adoration; something Beau is constantly receiving and giving throughout the story.
Aiden Coldwater
Aiden was written to be the opposite of Beau. While Beau is the darkness in the light and the ugly in beauty, Aiden is the light in the darkness and the beauty in the ugly. Aiden was written to come from a very dark and neglectful place. Although he is exposed to a lot more than the others, he is still the most ignorant. He gives so much of himself to the world and rarely receives any back. Aiden is made to show the challenges of not feeling as though you belong to yourself. He is made to be someone who will constantly throw himself at the world to shield those he loves. He represents the importance of boundaries and learning that some people just aren't worth keeping around. I chose the dream catcher to best symbolize him because it represents protection.
Jullian Sanders
Jullian is supposed to represent perfection and numbness. He is made to be physically and mentally flawless. He is made to compliment Austin who is firey and passionate whereas Jullian is numb and careless. Like Beau, Jullian struggles with grief but he handles it much differently. Jullian is a very private person and is made to show the effects of society's expectations. Everything from how he dresses to how he interacts with the world is made to be what is expected of him. He's the ideal son with good grades, a strong athlete, a good social life, and the perfect girlfriend. He's society's definition of what a man should be to the T. Although it hasn't been mentioned in the book yet, I chose Daffodils to symbolize Jullian since it is the flower of forgiveness, new beginnings, and rebirth.
Austin Blake
Austin is supposed to represent sin. Since Jullian is made to be pure and perfect, Austin is imperfection from lust to passion. Austin is far from the ideal son, he's reckless, he's not great in school, and is everything society tells him not to be. Austin represents fire and passion from his love life to his dancing. He's openly flawed and chooses to be different and to be someone he knows people won't like. But he also represents detachment from love, friends, and family. He has the freedom to be different from society but by detaching himself from expectations he detaches himself from the connections and reliability society can bring. I made Austin a dancer because dancing symbolizes happiness, sexuality, contentment, victory, confidence, and celebration which I think represents Austin pretty well.
Jayce Williams
Jayce represents stability and hard work. He and Aiden are both made to show the effects of poverty and the very different outcomes it brings. Jayce's entire life has lacked stability and reassurance from moving from home to home. He has done everything in his power to build a stable and consistent life despite this. Another thing Jayce is supposed to symbolize is injustice, normality, and misfortune. Jayce is given a pretty shitty hand from a young age and fights to make the best of it. He is hard work and dedication at its finest. His goals in life revolve around wanting to be normal and average. Wanting a simple nine-to-five job in a white picket fence neighborhood and despite everything he goes through he continues to work toward that. That's why I chose the black crystal to best represent him. It symbolizes power, masculinity, authority, and charisma.
Markos Ariti
It's no secret that I've been building the boy's personalities to complement one another, so obviously Markos is the opposite of Jayce. While Jayce represents stability, Markos represents freedom. It's the neverending differences between conservative and liberal. Markos also represents loneliness while Jayce represents togetherness. While Markos surrounds himself with hundreds of people, he doesn't make strong connections with them as Jayce does. Jayce is about building foundational relationships while Markos just wants to be liked and believes in quantity over quality. Markos is freedom and life. He is creativity and strives under constant change. That's why I chose the snake to best symbolize Markos. The snake represents rebirth, transformation, immortality, and healing.
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About Me
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I want to say hey! I'm "Bean" but that sounds super unoriginal and bland. Unfortunately, I can't think of anything else so we're rolling with this. So, hello, I was nicknamed after Jelly Beans and now too many people call me Bean for me to not go by Bean. That being said, my name is Bean. I vibe with any and all pronouns which is pretty cool. I'm sixteen and am going to school to become a Psychiatrist. I'm probably a bisexual or a Pansexual but we don't even know at this point.
Once upon a time, I was a total athlete but now my workouts consist of getting up in the morning. Now, instead of obsessing over sports, I write, read and use charcoal in my spare time. I'm from Washington State and grew up a few miles from a reservation (sadly not my tribe's reservation but it is what it is). I'm a percussionist so I can play the drums, a few related instruments, and a bit of piano. Although I am not bilingual (yet) I do know the basics of Italian and Spanish so that's fun.
Some music I listen to: Halsey, Panic! At the Disco, Waterparks, K.Flay, Coldplay, Jaymes Young, New Found Glory, Ramones, Anson Seabra, Blue October, and Jordan Suaste.
Fictional characters I'm madly in love with: Johan Seong (Lookism), Castiel (Supernatural, Dean (Supernatural), Harley Quinn (DC), literally anyone portrayed by Anna Kendrick no matter how annoying I'm literally in love with her, Gabriel (Supernatural), Quicksilver (X-men), Johanna (Hunger games), Katniss (Hunger Games), Uriah (Divergent), Peter (Divergent), Jack Frost (literally anywhere), Magnus Bane (The Mortal Instruments), Mystique (X-men)
So, um, yeah. That's me... I'm really bad at ending these types of things soooo have a good day/night/mid-life crisis and comment any questions you have about me or my story.
Before I forget!!! I'm putting up the full playlist on Spotify for my characters. The one in the intro is just a few songs that fit the characters best but these playlists have music that talks about their situations, music they'd listen to, and music that just reminds me of them.