The Autumn Rain Plane Crash

In February, a few days before the crash of Colgan 3407 in the Clarence region of Buffalo, NY, I thought of an interesting scenario that would be unique to the world of the featherwings: A passenger airliner crashes because of icing problems, directly over a cold front backed up by an hard core arctic high pressure system. The aircraft is totally destroyed on impact, but at least two of the passengers survive the impact. The two ultimate survivors (anyone else surviving the impact would freeze to death in a few minutes.) One of them is the only featherwing passenger, badly injured, but able to survive the cold by deploying her wings, thus covering her body in the invisible featherwing down, increasing her metabolism, and escaping a quick death. The other is an uninjured human who is so badly underdressed for the weather that he can't build a shelter against the cold before freezing to death. He finds the injured featherwing being and takes shelter under her wings. The two quickly realize that their only hope of surviving is by sharing the wings, an extremely romantic act. The featherwing lady is unable to build a shelter because of her injuries. The wings alone are not enough to save them from the dropping temperatures (for several reasons.) The human is unable to build a shelter because, outside her wings, he will freeze to death before he can even get a decent start.

So they share the wings. At this point in the conception, the Storyvoice whispers, "He has a wife and two kids...deal with it." I, the author of this disaster, cried. I also realized that the story has an important message.

This is the Cascada Song, Track 6 of Perfect Day (Robbins Entertainment 2008)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyk5PDrP7YI (haleymeadows lyrics; rip has skips)

----Begin----
The Autumn Rain is falling down
through the clouds, hits the ground
wash away traces in the sand

And yesterday is so far away
You disappeared, love was here
I close my eyes to be with you again

You're still alive, the world is in your hand

Dream on dreamer
and the sun will always shine down on you
Keep on dreaming
It's alright, feel alive

Dream on dreamer
and the world keeps spinning 'round and 'round you go
Don't stop dreaming
It's alright, we're alive

We're alive

...

I'll light your name across the sky
I'll be with you 'til the end of time
Don't wake me up
I'm reaching for your hands

I'll never go to break your heart
No matter if you're near or far
Just close your eyes, to be with me again

You're still alive, the world is in your hand

Dream on dreamer
and the sun will always shine down on you
Keep on dreaming
It's alright, feel alive

Dream on dreamer
and the world keeps spinning 'round and 'round you go
Don't stop dreaming
It's alright, we're alive (We're alive)

Dream on dreamer
and the sun will always shine down on you
Keep on dreaming
It's alright, feel alive

Dream on dreamer
and the world keeps spinning 'round and 'round you go
Don't stop dreaming
It's alright, we're alive

----End----

Natalie, Yanou and Manian probably do not yet know that this song is about a plane crash. This song communicates the hope that the two characters have in their new life together.

This song gave the name to the aircraft, Autumn Rain: a NorSTOL K270 turboprop airliner on Mountain Lights Flight 929, which went down in the Rocky Mountains in either Alberta or BC, around 57deg lattitude north in early December of the year 12BFR (Before Flying Romance). The story has developed considerably since its conception, but I'll leave further details for publication.

On 16 June 2009, after the third pass of script work, I queried Youtube for "Autumn Rain" and found a shocker: Tears of Autumn Rain by Eternal Tears of Sorrow. It was the only significant hit. It is Track 3 of Children of The Dark (no North American distributor; Massacre Records for Europe; Marquee/Avalon for Asia)

I cried again. It even has the sound of an aircraft alarm in the background of the second verse:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSi5dJlVxcQ

----Begin----
It's autumn night, the pale moon reveals my emptiness
And the hollow wrath and fear inside
I close my eyes to sense her nightly lust again
But my rage and thirst won't fade away

The nightly mist, the scent of autumn in my heart
I can hear the winter's song again
My will of life falls away like golden leaves
I'm just a flame who dies in shades

Let me feel your pain, tears of Autumn Rain
Words of blood on shore: "There is light no more"
Freezing gale of night silent stream of night
Lay us down to sleep on the crimson leaves

...

Let me feel your pain, tears of Autumn Rain
Words of blood on shore: "There is light no more"
Freezing gale of night silent stream of light
Lay us down to sleep on the crimson leaves

Let me feel your pain, tears of Autumn Rain
Words of blood on shore: "There is light no more"
Freezing gale of night silent stream of light
Lay us down to sleep on the crimson leaves
----End----

The male character realizes later that he has destroyed his family worse than he would have if he had not accepted the gift of wings. This song confirms to me that he made the wrong decision. Storyvoice has affirmed that he made the wrong decision several different ways; I think it wants me to express why adultery is so destructive ... that adultery is so destructive in fact, that it is not worth committing to gain the wings of an angel!

(25 June edit: Buffalo, not Denver (sheesh), and several paragraph spacing glitches; also added exact discography for EToS ToAR)

Visions: Evacuate The Dance Floor

Latest Update: 4 August 2009

I corrected the lyrics based on this "unplugged" live version of the song, where Natalie's vocals are much clearer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KCFbhcLrMw

The most obvious thing about the song is well, if this were to suddenly happen at your party:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36560633@N04/3429729623/

... the song's title instruction would be followed in haste, no?

Now that I understand that last line, the "unplugged" version of the song brings up a completely different vision: that of disaster. Four years before the main story, the Featherwing Ranch clubhouse (where paraglider pilots and rocketeers gather when it is too dark to fly their devices) was struck by a tornado. Juubi's parents are the only people inside, fortunately. They call a Calgary radio station's weather hotline when they sense the tornado, but move too late to escape it. Juubi's mother is killed, his father permanently disabled. This was not inspired by the song, but has been in the story since about March, two months before Evacuate was released.

It is on Youtube here ... the official music video:

Cascada Channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nouuI63FSLQ (RT)
AATW Records: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTl1ajzq0bk

I want to do Cascada fans a favor and put up the lyrics:

Evacuate The Dance Floor:
------------
Turn up the music, let's get out on the floor
I like to move it, come and give me some more
Watch me gettin' physical, out of control (uh)
As people watching me (uh)
I never miss a beat

Still the night, kill the lights
Feel it under your skin
Time is right, keep it tight
'Cus it's pulling you in.
Wrap it up, you can't stop
'Cus it feels like an overdose (feels like an overdose)

(Oh, Oh) Evacuate the dance floor!
(Oh, Oh) I'm infected by the sound
(Oh, Oh) Stop! This beat is killing me
Hey, Dr. DJ, let the music take me underground

(Everybody on the floor) Evacuate the dance floor!
(Oh, Oh) I'm infected by the sound
(Everybody on the floor) Stop! This beat is killing me
Hey, Dr. DJ, come burn this place right down to the ground

My body's aching to some overload (overload) [Nat echos]
Temperature's rising, I'm about to explode [Could refer to involuntary deployment of wings]
Watch me, dead intoxicated
Digging the show (uh)
It's got me hypnotized (uh)
Everybody step aside

Still the night, kill the lights
Feel it under your skin
Time is right, keep it tight
'Cus it's pulling you in-n-n-n.
Wrap it up, you can't stop
'Cus it feels like an overdose (feels like an overdose)

(Oh, Oh) Evacuate the dance floor!
(Oh, Oh) I'm infected by the sound
(Oh, Oh) Stop! This beat is killing me
Hey, Dr. DJ, let the music take me underground

(Everybody on the floor) Evacuate the dance floor
(Oh, Oh) I'm infected by the sound
(Everybody on the floor) Stop! This beat is killing me
Hey, Dr. DJ, come burn this place right down to the ground

(Come on and evacuate, feel the covers heating up) [I'm sure this refers to music, not bedding]
(Moving on it, fella, now push it to the top)
(Come on and evacuate, feel the covers heating up)
(Moving on it, fella, right you don't have to be afraid)

{Now guess who's back on a brand new track
They got everybody in the club going mad
So everybody in the back, get your back up on the wall and just shake that thang
You're crazy, you're ready, yo baby, let me see you write that thang
And drop it down low, low; Let me see you take it to the dance floor, yo!}

(Everybody in the core) Evacuate the dance floor!
(Everybody in the core) I'm infected by the sound
(Everybody on the floor) Stop! This beat is killing me
Hey, Dr. DJ, let the music take me underground

(Oh, Oh) Evacuate the dance floor!
(Oh, Oh) I'm infected by the sound
(Oh, Oh) Stop! This beat is killing me
Hey, Dr. DJ, let the music take me underground

(Everybody on the floor) Evacuate the dance floor
(Oh, Oh) I'm infected by the sound
(Everybody on the floor) Stop! This beat is killing me
Hey, Dr. DJ, come burn this place right down to the ground

Everytime We Touch versions play on ideas of love

At http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXZ4h8GAjXE and elsewhere on Youtube, voiceless editions of Cascada's Candlelight Everytime We Touch, I posted this comment


"...we must kill our monsters, Haifun, and they only die through starvation," Juubi explains. Haifun slumps, sings "A strange kind of magic, running through my brain, think I'm in heaven, or going insane" [Reilly ver.] she breaks down bawling. "No, Haifun, that's not the song," he takes her hand. "It's 'I still hear your voice when you sleep next to me, I still feel your touch in my dreams. Forgive me my weakness, but I don't know why-" Haifun joins through her tears, "without you it's hard...

This is from Chapter テ ('te') in the middle of the plot. One of Featherwing Love's essential ideas is the difference between love that is improperly directed, and love that is pure. Imagine if your boyfriend/girlfriend fantasized about you in a way you didn't like. For a more specific example, [edited out, I don't want the GLBT community to get mad at me.] I won't explain the FWL situation because that would spoil an awful lot.

Featherwing Love: "Known" chapters

I have scripted about 40 chapters for Featherwing Love, and more continue to be added as the concept map is filled. "Concepts" (and I'm coming up with and refining those still very frequently) need to be presented through "Chapters", and those in turn have to fit into the plot. some concepts don't have chapters, and some will never have chapters in Featherwing Love because I want to leave room for sequels, and possibly fan fiction. I have a few for that phase of life called "adolescence", but I actually want to avoid those for now...this is why Haifun and Juubi are in their mid-twenties, a departure for most shojo manga (where the characters...at least the main girl...are in high school.) These are the ones I can blog about:

Rescue Glide: The first chapter, where Haifun jumps from her first marriage and high-rise home into the arms of her second love, Juubi, a featherwing being in a philanthropic mood that evening.

The chaotic, nailbiting courtship which I can't blog about yet...

Honeymoon Dance: The morning after their wedding, both Haifun and Juubi have wings. After a hug and a kiss, they both take off and fly, dancing in mid air.

A couple more chapters which I can't blog about yet...

Let's Tell The Story: Well into married life, Haifun and Juubi decide that they need a permanent record of their romantic tail...uh, tale, and scrounge the world for suitable artists and authors to take on the task. They ultimately settle for the manga rookie Terry Wilson. I playfully say this is how I got my inspiration for the story, but that too, is part of the fiction.

What is not fiction is the aspect that this story doesn't quite seem to be one I've made up, but is one which has, in my mind, rather walked up to me and asked to be told...a spark of creative concepts that want to be shared, that want a fictional story built around them to be a vehicle for their telling. I believe that they contain truths about human love which we have an awful tough time learning by any way other than experience, and sharing any other way than by fiction, a proxy experience. I've decided not to put it in this blog, but I welcome you to ask...and if you explore After Columbia Project, you can find out on your own...about my religion. If you share that same religion, I'd love to discuss with you more specifically where the spark of creative concepts comes from, and why I think it came to me.

Honeymoon Dance and Let's Tell The Story are the "promotional" chapters, which I will complete first. After this, I will complete Rescue Glide, and storyboard several more chapters, which is when I will start launching proposals to publishers. Hopefully, I will reach this phase before the end of August.

Featherwing Love Intro

The Japanese is pronounced "haoto no ai" (if you can't read romaji, "hayoto no ayee" is close enough), and means most literally, "buzzing love".

Style note: Couldn't find anything with feathers, so I decided to borrow a bit from After Columbia Project, and use the Minima Black style from ACP...and yes, it's me...same person, different account. This might explain to the very few ACP regulars why "aftercolumbia" has suddenly gone away.

http://ascentroadmap.blogspot.com/
http://aftercolumbiamars.blogspot.com/

2 February 2009 (after exactly 6 years as "aftercolumbia"), I was listening to the Cascada Song, Everytime We Touch, and had a vision of what is now "Honeymoon Dance", two featherwing beings dancing with each other in midair. The wings magically deployed from their back during the first chorus line "everytime we kiss, I swear I could fly." I develop this into a 29 frame manga script.

Same day: First drawing of Haifun (I named her that day, but not with kanji.) It was impressive for the level of manga I was at (I had been drawing manga since 28 January, a whopping five days), but it sucked.

4 February 2009: I drew "Frame 11" and designed the wings. This is actually a fairly nice drawing, even from an objective perspective. This wing design has been superceded, but the span and average chord dimensions remain the same.

9 February 2009: I redrew Haifun in the same pose as I did on 2 February, a 3/4 portrait. It took me 90 minutes to do the pencil master. After I finished, I pulled back and looked at it, and sat there quite stunned at my first piece of pro-quality manga. A pen detail is online at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36560633@N04/3370747293/

I begin to develop a trace method because of a desire to protect my erasable pencil masters. I thought that this would also aid in scanning and combining different details from the same frame. This latter concept is a failure, but I still use it to preserve the pencil masters. You will see this when I complete the HD Frame 5 second edition. [This is the "portrait" image in my profiles] The primary remiges and their faces will be the same, but the wing design has been overhauled. HD-5 is the only drawing that had the old wing design in them that had any hope of being recovered after I redesigned the wings.

17 Feburary 2009: "Flying Romance", the original 29 frame dance, becomes Honeymoon Dance, the last (now third-from-last) chapter in an enormous and complex storyline. Flying Romance becomes my main project, replacing a previous manga project, and After Columbia Project.

This manga remains very modest; acts and details remain out of frame, under calf-length nighties with sleeves, under four foot long overlapping remiges, or some other method. I don't think I'll ever need to draw Haifun, or any other female character, with bared breasts. I also don't anticipate using the word "sex" during the manga, since we have come up with so many other ways to refer to the act, and I come up with another of my own (it's a spoiler, so I won't share it here.) The word "rape" is impossible to avoid if I want to avoid using the word "sex", since other methods of describing rape either use the word (sex attack, sexual assault), or ambiguous ("having his way with her"). Fortunately, pictures clean up the words (i.e.: in Ayashi no Ceres, Aya nearly gets raped three times...not counting Yuuhi...once in Vol. 6, twice in Vol. 10, and Ceres actually gets raped in a flashback in Vol. 13. This word is never found in the manga dialogue, although author/artist Yuu Watase may have used it in a sidebar...I say "may" because the translator has some latitude and my memory isn't precise either.)

Now, I must say that the story concept around Featherwing Love (at this time, "Flying Romance") orbits around Cascada's music. This time I was listening to Bad Boy this time. The vision was very, very painful and I cried. Haifun was being raped by the husband she had before Juubi, who she flies with in Honeymoon Dance. She escapes to the balcony, takes off her wedding ring, throws it against the planter, then climbs the railing as her husband emerges behind her. Crounched, she rotates over the railing, then pushes herself as far away from the building as possible. It is a high-rise condominium...she can't fly...this is her suicide. As the chorus begins, Juubi snatches her out of midair, but she is uncooperative. She doesn't want to live, and fights to escape her rescuer. Juubi can't maintain altitude. This vision wasn't going to resolve itself, and I knew Juubi needed to land. I thought about bushes, but eventually decided that it had to be an apartment window. Juubi's own wouldn't be open, so he pulls out a cell phone and calls a friend. He drops the phone as he approaches the window, which is sliding open in front of him. He flares and makes his wings disappear ("furls") just before he touches, tumbling forward across the room inside, letting go of Haifun as soon as they've stopped. Haifun shakes off the surreal feeling of the most recent two minutes of her life and suddenly realizes that they aren't the _last_ two minutes of her life. Juubi's friend is panicking, because he has seen Haifun's horrible injuries. Knowing they can't reveal the wings that carried her from her condo to his apartment, he realizes that they must face the possibility of taking the blame for those injuries. I storyboarded this almost immediately.

From 17 February to 15 March, I developed the entire story of their courtship, which ends with Juubi sharing his wings with Haifun, his new wife. It is a tremendously chaotic tale exploring how human (and featherwing) love, friendship, and lust works (Greek words, "agape", "phileos", and "eros"), and how they must agree in romance.

More later...

(Kisure's the friend who opened the window; I added his tag later)