~Basketcase FAQ~ What tale is it and why is it in reverse? Is it based on a true story? And why did I choose to turn a villain into a good guy?

In the past I've written about how millennials love to pay respect to Disney by poking fun at it (I promise this makes sense, click here to read the original post)  Although I've talked about it quite a bit, I haven't written much about how I used Disney-stalgia to write Basketcase, A Classic Tale in Reverse.

Being a millennial myself, I know that I too am drawn to the melodic opening credits that prefaced many-a couch potato session throughout my childhood.

Stand to attention, please!

The gist of it is... I have a story to tell. On the surface, though, the story isn't a very pleasant one. If told it exactly as it happened, my book would have turned out as more of a Lifetime Original than a fantasy novel.

But I wrote the story anyway, replacing the people involved with already known and beloved Disney characters (names are changed for copyright reasons) and using the Disney theme and setting to keep the story intriguing. The weirdest part is, it actually worked! Are you intrigued yet? I hope you are. :)

People have a lot of questions though, so I've taken the liberty to answer some of them below.

What's the true story? And how did you convert it into a fairy tale?

My story, as candid as I can tell it, is about my ex and me. He was abusive (physically, verbally, emotionally, mentally, and economically) and I know I'll never be the same after what we went through together. For better, for worse, and for the freak-outs in between, my story has been nothing short of an adventure.

Beauty and the Beast (originally written by Jeanne Beaumont in 1756) is a story of a woman who transforms a man-beast into a charming prince with the magic of true love. The two live happily ever after at the end. 

Though a great story, I think we can all agree that Beauty and the Beast isn't realistic. It has no basis for real world application. What is Happily Ever After, anyway? What happens the next day? And the day after that?

There's been a lot of buzz the past few years on how Beauty and the Beast is not a good story for young girls. It's essentially about Stockholm Syndrome, a real disorder in which someone held captive eventually bonds with the person who has imprisoned them.

While this was not the case with my story, I saw something in this angle. In the original story, the beast is not a kind person. The reason he's a beast to begin with is because he refused to accommodate the witch who asked him for a place to stay for the night.

The idea that the story's heroine uncovers the kind, sweet, gentle nature within a very bad man is pretty far fetched. There are warning signs all through the story that the beast is not a good spirit. This is where I was able to work my own story into this fairy tale's theme. 

Does that mean Basketcase has a sad ending?

I won't spoil too much, but Basketcase has an open ending, dropping its protagonists right in the midst of three other well-known fairy tales. Which one will carry the sequel/prequel? *Shrugs* You'll have to read to find out.

What is the title about?

Basketcase is the nickname of the story's heroine, Olive. It is given to her by a man she meets in town. Given her haggard appearance and improbable backstory, she comes across as a "crazy person". Though in the book this happens early on, this concept was supposed to mimic how people treated me much later on.

I found that people don't want to hear or believe stories about abuse, so they'd shrug me off when I'd try and talk about it. My ex also denied everything or he told people I was crazy for talking about what had happened. This seemed to sit easier than the truth with a lot of people, which is unfortunate.

The name Basketcase is also a giant poke at myself. Did I act like a crazy person in the true-to-life story? At times, yes. I was very upset and no one wanted to listen to me about why. I'd often overreact or throw temper tantrums while recovering from the trauma of it all, which also becomes a major theme in the book.

The heroine in Basketcase eventually embraces the nickname, as I eventually embraced the idea that I'd probably never be the same as I was before and that I could use the experience in positive ways to better my future.


Why did you decide to rework Gaston's character, Jepson, into a protagonist?

This is probably my favorite twist on the original story. In the original outline, Olive was by herself for most of the story, although I soon realized writing and reading that much internal monologue was boring and repetitive. I decided Olive needed a friend in order to introduce more dialogue, but I didn't want to add any characters not found in the original story.

Rose, one of Olive's servants who takes on an unexpected role twist from the original story, seemed to be the obvious choice. Unfortunately, because of other factors essential to the plot, this idea did not work.

I figured at that point that if I was going to write the story backwards, I might as well write it ass-backwards and make Gaston/Jepson a "good guy".

The problem that arose from there was that I DID NOT want Olive to jump from one relationship to the next, and so I had to write the dynamic between Olive and her senselessly macho guy friend as believably platonic. Was a successful in doing so? You'll have to read to find out. ;)

So there's a sequel? A prequel? What's that about?

Well, there's a book 2, which continues along the same story line but in a different setting and with different characters holding similar story dynamics. Nonetheless, the story continues, but it also begins and sort of leads up to the beginning of Basketcase. It's sort of a prequel as well as a sequel. It's also a different story all together based on an entirely different fairy tale. You'll have to stay tuned to find out :)


Where can I find Basketcase?

Right now it's on Amazon paperback and Kindle ebook. You can find by clicking here!
I have also be approved for a local Colorado authors program, so hopefully you will soon see it in Denver area bookstores as well.

Basketcase, A Classic Tale in Reverse on Amazon Paperback and Kindle Ebook

Soon to be popping up in Denver area bookstores

http://www.amazon.com/Basketcase-Classic-Reverse-Sarah-Jozwiak/dp/1519603517/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1459197808&sr=1-1

Elige su manzana intoxicada

I needed you, but not in the way our friends seem to think I did. I was broken and blue and I had nothing to look forward to. I thought I wanted you, but we soon realized that wasn’t the case.

I didn’t want you, but I did need you.

I knew the journey from Rock Bottom to Bikini Bottom wouldn’t be easy, but I never imagined I’d have to venture the whole way single-handedly...literally and figuratively.

I couldn't do it alone. I needed a boost. I needed hope. I needed a role model.

I’ve never met anyone with whom I’ve have so much in common. You and I are so much alike. Scarily alike. Eerily alike. It’s unnerving to the point where I don’t even enjoy being around you.

Although back when, when I needed you, that was all I wanted. You were so positive, so friendly, and so driven. You were kind. You listened to me when I spoke and you'd remember what I'd tell you. You used your intelligence in ways that made sense to me. Your creativity was a tool you used productively, and you weren’t afraid to be expulsive about it.

Why couldn’t I do that?

I think I knew all along that getting to where I wanted to be was a choice within me, but part of me didn’t really care to find out. Everything I had worked my whole life to accomplish was gone, and so I didn’t want to try anymore.

In my adolescence, I had been a lively and imaginative person, bursting with creativity and inspiration. I thought that part of me had passed though. I’d written her off as immature and outlandish. I thought the “newer”, more “mature” me was quiet and reserved and…

Afraid…I was terrified to be me. I didn’t think being myself had done me or anyone any good, and so I was afraid to try again. I was scared of myself and of people in general. I had more than a lot of stuff to figure out, but I didn’t want to try. I was tired and emotionally ravaged.

But you? You laughed at failure. You waived at tomorrow. You shook hands with slim chance before charming it over.

If we were so much alike in every other way, why couldn’t I be like that too? Why did I have to be so downtrodden?

I know you didn’t understand what was happening at the time. I don’t blame you at all for resenting me for the way I acted. I’m ashamed of myself for it. I’ve never been so embarrassed about anything in my life. Never before had I acted the way I did, and I wasn't okay with it.

I didn’t like that side of me, and I didn’t like where I was in life. But changing those things was MY CHOICE, was it not?

Anger? Muse? Dead weight? Compassion? Choose the avenue wisely.

And with that, I begin my second novel.

Hey look! I'm an author!

Hey, look what I did. I'm an author! 

Basketcase, a Classic Tale in Reverse, is NOW AVAILABLE on Amazon Paperback and Kindle EBook

A fairy-taled scope on the very real issue of domestic violence and spousal abuse, Basketcase tells an age old story in an empowering new direction. 

The royal wedding is over, and Prince Adam and his very new and royally inexperienced Princess Olive of Sidney are ready for happily-ever-after. The two are madly in love and have everything they need or ever could want, until a very unusual chain of events destroys the couple’s good fortune overnight. Adam and Olive awake to find an entirely different version of the Land of Sidney where there is no royalty and no record either of them has ever existed. Their brand new home has become decrepit and is falling apart and their physical appearances have grown inhumanly monstrous and ugly. 
With no explanation as to what might have caused the changes and a town full of people who shun them, Olive and Adam find they handle the unfortunate events very differently from one another. The couple’s true colors guide them in opposite directions, while their relationship with each other is put to the ultimate test.

Basketcase, a classic tale in reverse

NOW AVAILABLE direct from the publisher.
Will be available on Amazon and Kindle April 1st (links coming soon!)

Found out more HERE!

A fairy-taled scope on the very real issue of domestic violence and spousal abuse, Basketcase tells an age old story in an empowering new direction. 

The royal wedding is over, and Prince Adam and his very new and royally inexperienced Princess Olive of Sidney are ready for happily-ever-after. The two are madly in love and have everything they need or ever could want, until a very unusual chain of events destroys the couple's good fortune overnight. Adam and Olive awake to find an entirely different version of the Land of Sidney where there is no royalty and no record either of them has ever existed. Their brand new home has become decrepit and is falling apart and their physical appearances have grown inhumanly monstrous and ugly. 
With no explanation as to what might have caused the changes and a town full of people who shun them, Olive and Adam find they handle the unfortunate events very differently from one another. The couple's true colors guide them in opposite directions, while their relationship with each other is put to the ultimate test.

Blogger Hiatus FTW!

THANK YOU to everyone who reads this. Seriously... whoever you all are, THANK YOU THANK YOU! You like me! You really like me!

It's hugely encouraging to have fans, even though I still have little idea of most of you are or why you guys like the 2015, The Year that Forgot What Year it is post so much...

For the next few months, I will be focusing on the final edit of my upcoming novel, Basketcase, a Classic Tale in Reverse which is set to be released on Amazon as paperback and Ebook in January of 2016. 

I will most likely not be posting blogs during this time. Please check back early next year for more Words of Whatnot. There's sure to be plenty of it brewing in my chaotic jumble of a mindpit until then and it'll be dying to bust out once I start up again. ;)

Life, the Universe, and the Pursuit of Happiness,

Sarah

We Were the High School Alt Couple

Has anyone seen this commercial going around about the High-School-“It”-Couple”?

Yea it’s dumb as shit. It annoyed the hell out of me, and not because the couple is “annoyingly cute” or anything. What I don’t like is the generalization that the nerdy girl would follow them around and fawn over them. Who does that?

It got me thinking about my high school days. Did I ever care about who the popular kids were? Did I even know which cheerleader was dating which football player? Eh… no…

Did I envy the prom queen’s crown? Eh… I don’t even remember who the prom queen was…

Were any of my friends ever jealous when “Samantha” got asked out by “the hottest boy in school”? 

No… we didn’t even have a “hottest boy in school”.

It was more like...

“Nicole likes Jason and Jason likes Nicole but not that Nicole a different Nicole and I don’t even know why anyone even thinks Jason is cute because Rob is way hotter and he likes Nicole but not that Nicole a different Nicole but she likes Josh who used to be super weird but he got way cool over the summer and now everyone likes him but he only likes Nicole but She Likes Todd!”

It was high school… there were no “it” couples. We don’t live in a 1960s teen comedy, Verizon!

Then I got to over-thinking (because I tend to do that) that if there was one couple who I’d have considered the “it couple” at my high school, who was it? Who did my friends look to as the “quintessential display of teenage romance”? Who did my friends go to for dating advice? Who did everyone just assume would be together forever?

I concluded that (at least in my circle of friends at the time)… and as strange is this for me to admit… the answer was… me. My high school relationship was considered the epitome if coveted teenage love…

Were we happy? Yes. Were we in love? Yes. Did we fight in the halls and then make up publicly an hour later? Yes. Were we hot? Sure.

Were we popular, though, like the kids in the commercial are supposed to be? By what definition? What does that word actually even mean?

Were we in Varsity Club or on the yearbook committee or did we shop at Aeropostale or— no stop… no… why does any of that crap have anything to do with anything?

What does “popular” mean? What defines it? I didn’t feel like we were popular at all at the time, but looking back it would seem that we were.

We had a big circle of friends. We got invited to a lot of parties. We knew people who’d get us into shows. My little Toyota Corolla was ALWAYS filled to the brim with people who wanted to “go with us”.

But…I was a 16 year old pop punk princess rocking Jncos and a No Doubt tank top. The white laces in Airwalks were replaced with one green lace and one pink one. I played a bright red Telecaster in an all-girl band called Post Male Sanity (check the initials… biotch!)

My boyfriend at the time? Well, the tall, rugged metal head in the beat up pair of Converse and the Megadeath t-shirt, of course!

Were we happy? Yes. Were we in love? Yes. Did we fight in the halls and then make up publicly an hour later? Yes. Were we hot? Sure.

Did I curl into the fetal position and cry for 6 months when he had to move away a year and a half later?

Um...no...

I was very very sad for like a week until I woke up one day and realized I had sprouted boobs. I was a 17 year old hot little piece of ass and I was single. The world was my literally my burrito (that sounds weird... note to self remove the word "literally")

Well… shit….

So what am I saying with all this? Not much actually. It’s just a really long and cooler way to explain and over-explain that the ideal society wants us to look up to is bunk. And that YOU (no matter who you are) are probably a lot cooler than you think. It’s all about #perspective. ;)

Why We Poke Shit at Disney

We’ve all seen the media's take on our once beloved tales...

http://hellogiggles.com/heres-disney-princesses-look-like-wore-realistic-makeup/

https://youtu.be/eT2R3E7vDUc 

https://youtu.be/ct-CdyT4HkM

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/20/arts/banksy-dismaland-art-exhibition/

https://youtu.be/diU70KshcjA

Do you laugh at this? Does it make you angry? Can you commiserate? Can you relate to any of it?

Are we roasting Disney or Burning it? Why do we hate it so much? Or do we…?

Has anyone else questioned any of this?

I have, and I think I know the answer!

Storytime!

About a year ago, after many months and countless hours of pouring my innermost frustrations into the keyboard of my computer and clawing and prying into my brain in a desperate attempt to turn my jungle of conflicting paradoxical thoughts into something relatable and interesting, I wrote a single paragraph on a small sheet of paper and I left it be. The paper read…

The paragraph sounds a bit like a less-than-happy fairy tale, a theme I had been playing with quite a bit in the months past. I didn’t really see much potential in it right away.

I was standing in the shower later that day when it hit me. Not only HAD I written a fairy tale, but it was a fairy tale that already existed as a very well-known classic. More specifically, a Disney movie, only I had written it in REVERSE! *gasp*

Denver, we have a novel! 

But I digress. I’ll drop the shameless self-promotion for now and <NOT> plug my book just yet to focus in the subject at hand. 

Why did I do write the synopsis to a Disney movie that day and why did I write in in reverse? Did I do it on purpose? What does it mean?

It’s a known fact that artists of all kinds create from what they know. Painters, sculptors, writers, photographers, musicians, etc… ALL of us create from what is familiar. What we love or hate, enjoy or despise, memories or dreams, aspirations or regrets. Whatever makes us feel STRONGLY.

So why Disney?

Keep in mind that the generation that has the most influence in the media scene right now is part of the tail end of Generation X to the beginning of the Millennial Generation. We were the first generation to grow up with VHS and the first to have the capability to binge watch videos 7000 times.

And what videos did we have? Eh... mostly just Disney videos in those fabulous puffy cases.

We’d watch this crap after school, at our friend’s houses on the weekends, and with our siblings whenever it was too cold to play outside. Each sick day home from school was spent watching 101 Dalmatians followed by The Little Mermaid and then maybe some DuckTales on regular TV if we weren’t passed out by then. 

We had toys, books, dolls, cassette tapes, and stuffed animals modeled after our favorite Disney Characters. We cuddled with Simba and made Ariel fight with Barbie. We LOVED this shit!

So why do we pick on it now? Why do we poke shit at Disney? 

What did Disney ever do to us besides entertain us and lull us to sleep with the everfamous sound of...

Seriously though, if you've never played this clip for a room full of 4 year olds I highly recommend it. It's like a dog whistle for toddlers. Stand to attention, please! 

Exciting our tiny minds and sparking our interests while occasionally providing us with ill informed messages like "be pretty so a man will love you don't forget to change everything about yourself for him. Oh, and don't write out any kind of explanation to him because men don't like it when girls are smart...even though you are clearly able and literate as you so beautifully demonstrated while signing that contract when the evil sea witch took your voice..."

So....do we secretly still love this Disney crap and are in denial? Are we just looking for a more mature and creative way to relive our childhoods? Do we finally see the gaps and inconsistencies and terrible messages some of these movies put forth?

The answer is… ALL OF THE ABOVE. The psychological explanations behind the Alternative Disney ReCraze are not entirely important. The fact is that we KNOW it, we once LOVED it, and whether or not any of the themes and ideas in Disney movies transfer to any aspect of everyday adult life, there’s no denying that we can RELATE to it.

So whether you love or hate the fact that the entertainment world can so easily and enjoyably rip apart, diss, recreate, overanalyze, or psychoanalyze the beloved works of Walt Disney, it’s really all just good nostalgic fun, so sit back and ENJOY a slice of your childhood as it’s shown to you in a completely new and fucked up manner…. Because it’s awesome and you know it!