I like doing this type of thing. A little "Behind the Scenes of BCIT." Why I named people what, where I got things from, inside jokes. Just, things you might be curious about. Anyway, you don't have to read it (obviously) but you can if you want to (obviously).
"Birds Coughing in the Trees" Behind the Scenes
NAMES:
1. Juliet Ira "Jig" Green- Her last name was originally supposed to be "Graham" but I couldn't resist having Juliet Green and Ephram Brown be friends. "Jig" actually comes from a short story I wrote long ago about a female thief who I, from somewhere, decided to name Jig. I've been looking for a way to use it since. (Actually, my family has a history of Scottish Country Dancing, so Jig is also kind of an inside joke as well.) Juliet was just great because of the idea associated with it and I love Shakespeare. Ira was random. Oh, the Juliet/ Julia thing was a huge coincidence, NOT intentional! Seriously! I screamed when I realized I had done that.
2. Desdemona "Desi" Quincampoix- Desdemona was named because I wanted her to be Black and have a Shakespearean name. Othello was a Shakespearean play actually named after a Black character. Plus I'm an "I Love Lucy" fan so "Desi" was nice. Quincampoix is from the movie "Amelie" which is cute. The main guy's name is Nino Quincampoix and I liked it. Actually she was first named Helena Bertram from Shakespeare. But, that was a little too Huntress (Helena Bertinelli). Desi is like the anti-Huntress. Not vindictive, and, well, not a mob princess. Plus, I don't think Desi likes purple. And, Desi listens to other people. Anyway, side tracked…
3. Orlando "Orrie" Jackson- Jackson was random. Orrie was actually named after the character out of Shakespeare's As You Like It.
4. Corin "Cory" Cather- Cory was out of Shakespeare's As You Like It just like his brother. I liked the Orrie/Cory thing. Now Cather is a joke. In Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe series there is a character named Orrie Cather. I couldn't just out use the name straight out so I gave the name to Cory instead.
5. Star Cather- I had given Cory the last name so his mom had to have it too. Now, Star, I bet you're wondering why on earth I'd name her that. When I was trying to think of a name, we drove past a Starbucks. Easy as that.
6. Murasaki Kasshoku- I once wrote a report on Murasaki Shikibu who was a woman who wrote the world's first novel. (Which I have also read.) Kasshoku is actually Japanese for "Brown." That was just cute.
7. Genji Kasshoku- Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji) was the novel written by Murasaki Shikibu.
8. Isaac Graham/De La Vega- Isaac is the name of the guy I had a crush on in the 3rd grade. ^_^;; Graham was originally supposed to be Jig's last name but when I switched to Green Isaac got Graham. My mom gave me the name De La Vega. I think it was Zorro's name.
9. Kamala/Nino- Desi's two novel characters. Kamala is the name of a character in Herman Hesse's Siddhartha, which I happened to be reading at the time. Nino is a joke of Desi's last name. I got it from a character name Nino Quincampoix, from "Amelie."
10. Maggie Harper- There's this old Scottish song I really like which is a man talking to his wife about times gone by. The wife's name was Maggie.
11. Mack Harper- I have no idea…
12. Ein- Corgi from Cowboy Bebop. Smart little thing. Hacks into computers.
13. The Gordon House was named after the Batman Gordons. James, Babs, take your pick.
14. If anyone wondered why I named the siblings Gordon killed. Because they're the names of Gregory Smith's siblings.
15. In one of the beginning chapters, Dr. Brown treats a baby girl named "Pamela." That's Treat Williams' wife's name.
TITLE:
You know, I originally only planned on making Jig… The title was from a quote about LA, where Jig grew up. I did have Ephram say it. It was like "LA is the only city in the world where you can wake up and hear the birds coughing in the trees." I forget who said it. Ask Ephram.
INSPIRATION:
1. Desi I got from a dream. Remember the football game scenes. I dreamt Jig sitting next to Amy and pointing to the other set of bleachers to Ephram sitting with another girl. So, I made up a girl.
2. I got Ein from a dream I had where I was being followed by a raccoon.
3. The novel idea that Desi has about a female thief, is an inside joke. I once wrote a short story about a female thief whose name was Jig. That's where I got Jig's name from.
4. What Ephram tells Desi about the stories his mom used to tell him about the little boy whose bed could take him any where, and who had a robotic teddy bear as a best friend… My dad used to tell me those stories, (only with a girl instead of a boy.)
5. Jig's wall of pictures. Hm… This is an odd one. No, I don't have my own wall! In the newspaper one day was a picture of Heath Ledger from "Four Feathers," I think… Anyway, it was a picture of him smiling enough to show his teeth and I kept it, I dunno why. It's lying at the bottom of a pile somewhere. Anyway, I thought "what a weird thing that would be to collect." So I had Jig start collecting them for her wall.
6. Orrie's black room! I'm taking a photography class for school. (I go to a high school for the arts.) So, I figured, I now know about photography and developing, let's use it!
7. The trip to see Spirited Away. My friend and her "boyfriend" asked if I wanted to go with them and I said something along the lines of "YES! I LOVE YOU!" So I went, and it was majorly cool. And I had them mention it before, so I thought, sure!
8. Why is Orrie 5'11" and is little brother 6'1"? Because Gregory Smith is 5'11" and his little brother is 6'1".
PAST WORK:
The Phantom- Treat Williams Harriet the Spy- Gregory Smith A movie I don't name but give strong idea of, Small Soldiers- Gregory Smith. Billboard Dad- Dr. Abbott (I don't want to misspell his name.)JIG:
I felt it was important to have Jig as a girl so there could be a constant female figure in the Brown's house. Someone who could help Delia (and Dr. Brown) when she reaches puberty. Someone who would always be there, (we don't know how often Nina will be able to come around when her husband gets home, plus, she has her own stuff to do.) I wanted her parents to be military so Edna would like Jig better. Plus, having Jig's dad die during his service, helped show how horrible fighting and war are. And Jig's mom, hmm, uh, I wanted her death to be brutal. To kind of make Jig look more pathetic than Ephram. And hate does tend to kill rather ugly, so I had to make Kathy one of those unpopular minorities. The instruments were done to show that even though Jig grew up in a less than "cultured" society, she can still do the same things people with money can do and, in this case, more. It was also done to show how much time Jig spent at home and that the whole apartment house was like a family, so moving in with Edna and Irv is more like just a step sideways than a step up. And the banjo, I just thought that was odd enough to be great. The reason I had Wendell fall for her was just me having fun. You see, the weekend I introduced Jig, giving Ephram a friend, the following Monday they introduced Wendell, giving Ephram a friend. So, having him fall for her was just my revenge at them. The anime thing I didn't have a choice on (not that I minded.) Ephram is a comic/anime/manga geek, so he would be have to be friends with someone else who is. See, he could love someone who didn't like anime, but not be their friend. Not in my opinion anyway. And Jig's dating Orrie, well, I won't get into that one yet. Actually there is a line I wanted to give Jig, but never got around to. I wanted to have someone ask her why she had no trouble breathing in Everwood, Colorado having such thin air way up there, and I wanted her to say "I'm from LA, I don't know what air is." But I never got a chance to.
DESI:
I had Desi as a reporter because I wanted her to get herself involved in Ephram's life. I didn't think it'd be realistic for Ephram to initiate a friendship, or Jig, and Amy pretty much has her friendships in order, so I wanted Desi to get herself in there. I also wanted her to be one of those reformed characters. You know, her love for Ephram makes her not write the story on him. Actually, I had their first kiss in mind awhile ago. I had her writing the article and calling Ephram to the spot where the Kissing Bridge used to be. And I wanted to have her throw the disc and printed copies of the unpublished article into the gorge, or river, or whatever you want to call it. Then she'd kiss him. And then, of course, Jig and Amy would fall out of a near by tree or something, and get pelted by snowballs. But, it just didn't end up that way. Desi and Ephram's relationship actually took its own course. Him asking her to see Spirited Away was as much of a surprise to you as it was to me. I wrote it and looked up and said "whoa, big step Ephram." Then that kiss, that wasn't planned until it happened. Now, Desi being the mayor's daughter caused some problems. I know Rose is mayor, but I wanted Desi to be the "mayor's daughter," so Rose was demoted to Deputy Mayor. Sorry Rose. What I wanted was her dad to be higher in Everwood society than Amy's dad, I wanted her dad to be important. Plus I thought having a Black mayor would be a good step for Everwood, having only six or seven Black people. (At least that we've seen, and only two have names.) Actually, the reason her dad is Black and not her mom is because in Othello that's how it was. Guy Black, girl White. Now, don't ask me why Desi's hair is darkish red and not black. I just thought that would be cool looking, plus, Ephram dyes his hair too. His and Hers hair dyes. Christopher was important because people weren't liking Desi and she needed a sob story. Originally I had him die in the Navy but that was "too Jig." So, killed in New York City was another connection to Ephram. The novel, hm, just reviving Desi's want of being famous nationwide for her work. The Brown article was axed so, a novel is her still working on it.
STAR & THE BOYS:
I was forgetting what a huge part of the story Dr. Brown is, so I wanted to bring in a story line that had a lot to do with him. And Dr. Brown having a big sister was just a fun idea. Andy the baby brother. He tries to act like he can handle anything thrown at him, but when Star walks into the room, he's just as scared as everyone else. More so, actually. I don't know if anyone thought this, but Star is kind of like all of the shrinks from Ally McBeal combined, which was ironic, seeing as how Trott was actually on Ally McBeal. Star needed to be a force to be reckoned with. She also needed to be the worst person in the world to help Dr. Brown raise kids. But, she needed to be honest, no matter how much it hurt. And she was, wasn't she? Star has never tip toed her way around anything.
Cory needed to be Ephram x553. He needed to be the worst kid you can imagine. Hated everything and yet, didn't give a damn. He needed to be horrible just, this little devil child, thing. Plus, I thought it would be interesting having the kid Ephram's age being the one Ephram hates and the kid Bright's age being the one Ephram likes.
Orrie is a sweet heart, isn't he? Actually, now that I think of it, he looks like Kira, from Angel Sanctuary. (The sword/devil guy Orrie and Ephram were talking about.) But, actually, he looks a lot like Ephram too. That was done to make them look more like brothers, which they seemed to act like. Plus, for Jig, on a subconscious level, she doesn't "like like" Ephram, but she can "like like" someone who looks like Ephram. I don't think I actually said this or just assumed you'd get it, but Orrie was Jewish. That was to give him and Ephram another thing in common. Oh, and for the LOTR fans, his name being Orlando was purely Shakespearean.
Um, that's all I can think of now. If I get more, I'll post it. Learn anything interesting?
