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ABOUT THE STORY:
Toys For The Big Boys was the most complicated and even the longest story that I have ever written here in Wattpad. I was literally inches away from giving up on this because this wasn't the usual vibe that I was used to, but since readers enjoyed it, I continued the journey, and I could proudly say that I'm glad that I did.
What inspired you to write this?
⌲ It's not really complicated. I got inspired writing this when I watched a music video, and that music video is actually the one in Chapter (32) Unmask. After watching it, I suddenly had this crazy idea about mafias.
This is the video:
What's with the title?
⌲ Shockingly enough, while we were on our way to the airport, my father suddenly mentioned "Toys for the big boys " for some reason that I do not remember. I looked at my sister, and at that moment we knew, that THAT was the title that we'd be going for.
Why a Mafia-related Story?
⌲ I wanted to make a spin-off of Romeo & Juliet that had a little vibe of Bonnie & Clyde. And as we all know, Romeo & Juliet had this family related problem, so what better way to make a complicated family problem than through a Mafia Family?
Characters?
Romeo Valentino
⌲ Romeo Valentino was a character that I have always been thinking about, even before I made this story. A lot mentioned it before, and yes, the manga Ten Count inspired me with his character. I read that manga and I suddenly thought that I wanted to create a character like him who is weak but actually very monstrous and powerful. it just so happened that I ended up placing him in THIS story.
Julien Choi
⌲ Because of the music video, I ended up wanting an Asian partner for my godfather. And since I already established Romeo at that time, I thought that a person who is a complete opposite of Romeo would be perfect. Romeo wanted clean things, so I decided to make Julien a man who looked dirty, AKA a man who was covered with tattoos.
Romeo would find him dirty at first, but as time goes by, he found Julien's tattoos to be beautiful, like it was a work of art.
Johnson Pollock
⌲ Not to complicate him. I just wanted Romeo to have a father-figure since his father died. I know you're going to hate me for this but I NEVER planned on killing him off. But as I wrote the story, his death ended up being very necessary.
Matthew Luca
⌲ The "gardener" and Romeo's friend. I really made him look like the bad guy because I didn't want you guys to concentrate on the other characters. I knew that I was making it too obvious, but it was an option that I purposely gave you guys.
Antonio Valentino
⌲ Antonio was the man who I wanted everyone to like. He was going to be the cool badass uncle who will be beside Romeo till the end. Honestly when we were planning the story, Antonio was never going to be the bad guy, but since he showed such a good guy image, making him the bad guy would just be too epic.
Kim Jiyong
⌲ There's nothing to say about this character. He's just literally awesome and very fun to write. I imagined him as a brother that I wished I'd have. I made him look like the bad guy because we didn't know much about Julien's family's back story, so Jiyong being the bad guy would look acceptable. But as we unfolded his story, we end up just simply liking him.
Other Characters
Bryson King was a minor character but he had a very important role. And to make things clear, he didn't know that his father owned the club, but President King (A semi-minor character with an important role) purposely made sure Bryson would see the coin because he knew Bryson brings Romeo to places like that. And another fact about Bryson is that he actually likes Romeo. If you noticed the time Romeo described the type of man Bryson likes, Romeo just literally described himself.
(It was in chapter (2): Dirty)
Kwon Eric, another character who appeared in the middle of the story, was a character who also like the main character, who was actually Julien. Romeo wasn't lying about how sure he was about Eric liking Julien, but I didn't want to complicate it anymore so I never emphasized it.
The last character that I will be talking about is Elizabeth Roselli. Elizabeth genuinely loves her family, and she will do everything for their sake. I literally thought of her as Cersei Lannister in Game Of Thrones while I write about her. The problem with her was that I hated her when I was writing her, so somehow, the way I portrayed her ended up making her look bad. But, Elizabeth is a very selfless person, just not very likeable.
What Does Julien's Tattoo on the face mean?
⌲ It's actually the number 23. Twenty three is the official number of the Dark Saints. And the reason why Julien's number in the club is 24 is because it's a symbolism that he is no longer a part of the Dark Saints.
The plot-twists
⌲ Like Antonio, I wanted you to be in a state where you don't even know who to trust anymore. I wanted to make everyone look like the bad guy, but at the same time, I wanted everyone to look like the good guy too. It was a fun process to make, especially when the secrets unraveled one by one, so I hope you guys enjoyed the guessing game too.
Explain the ending
⌲ The ending showed you guys that what Romeo and Juliet did still hasn't ended but somehow, it did. Well, for them at least.
I wanted to make the ending very easy and very...how can I say this...not so complicated...because the whole story is already complicated. Complicating the ending too will just be the death of me.
And Antonio's death was very easy to acquire because I thought that Antonio has been doing all these kinds of shit to everyone so on his last dying breath, he didn't deserve to fight back.
Have you considered a different ending?
⌲ YES. I told you guys that I had so many endings in mind. One was the classic Romeo & Juliet death, but it was too much for me so I didn't do it. One was the cliché reincarnation ending. Romeo and Juliet will meet each other after so many years but like a typical reincarnation ending, they won't know each other, but they'd feel this connection because of their past life. It sounds stupid now but I guess I can put that in a different story later.
Were you supposed to kill other characters?
⌲ YES. At first I wanted to kill off Elizabeth, partly because I found her insignificant, and when she would die, Romeo would finally call her mother. BUT I thought that Romeo calling her mother is like a sign of forgiveness, and I knew that Romeo still couldn't forgive his mother because whether it was Elizabeth's fault or not, Romeo suffered for YEARS. So the hug on the end was the best thing Elizabeth could do for Romeo.
Mat was supposed to die too, but that also did not happen. Thankfully.
If you have any more questions about the book or about me, do not be afraid to ask. Thank you!
You may check some of my other stories:
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AND, this is not mandatory in any way, but if you enjoyed the book and would like to give some sort of tip/donation, I would be very very thankful as it can help me continue writing. Pledging to my Patreon account will greatly help me as an aspiring author.
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