I usually listen to music constantly in the background while I conceptualize characters and plot out my stories, and oftentimes while I'm working on a story, I make a playlist of songs that I associate with the general "feel" or "vibe" of the piece, certain events and/or characters therein, imagining it as the ideal soundtrack were the story in question ever to be adapted into film. (These playlists are essentially the soundtracks to their respective stories as they play out as if cinematically in my head/imagination.) Even though it's now years after I published these two on BCTS, and judging by their view/kudos counts these stories have "run their course" on here (in the sense that everyone regularly on the site who's going to read/kudo/comment on them has done so by now), I figured I'd share the "soundtrack" playlists for "Aurora and Aurelia" and "Ships", if anyone's interested.
A maternal young woman and her very special big-little girl, Leah, share a wonderful and restorative day together at home and the park, learning and exploring some interesting things along the way.
Sabina is a cynical, homeless young trans woman who prioritizes hormones even over such necessities as food and shelter. Deborah is an anxious workaholic with social issues and an apparent softer side, a responsible up-and-coming professional who has just had surgery. A serendipitous encounter on the subway system brings these two women briefly into each other's orbit, where they leave powerful impressions on each other and reveal vulnerable aspects of themselves through their differences, without fully realizing all that they have in common.
Aurora is an intellectually precocious, depressed high-school senior at an existential crossroads, with a wounded heart and an intense inner conflict that leads to alienation, repression, sexual frustration and self-loathing. Aurelia is a nurturing, empathetic, emotionally sensitive, congenitally blind classmate who fast becomes her closest confidant. Together, these two special girls take solace in each other, cope with their respective challenges and ultimately find intimacy and fulfillment.
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Joyce Melton
1001 Third St.
Space 80
Calimesa, CA 92320
USA
Note: $6000 is the operating, maintenance and upgrade budget. Amounts received in excess of the $6000 will be applied to long term debt accrued over the last 19 years.
