I would like to share my post on the Wattpad Block Party - Winter Edition II, which was hosted by KellyAnneBlount who has done a wonderful job in bringing hundreds of authors together for this event. I would strongly encourage you to check out her profile. Check out posts from your favourite authors from past parties, and keep an eye out for future Wattpad Block Parties.

Without further ado, this is what I wrote as my contribution to February 2016 party.

Losing Cinderella: Trivia & the Limbs I Broke and Tore Off

Deciding on what to post for the Wattpad Block Party has been difficult. I thought of doing an alternate ending to Losing Cinderella, but that may turn into a spoiler in the event that I don't finish the story before this post goes online. Should I write about "writing tips"? Interview my characters? Then I remembered a reader suggesting that George "Georgeous" Cavas should have his own romantic story–that could actually work, and it would be an interesting perspective; however, it may turn out to be too long of a piece for this event. After a couple of days thinking, I finally decided to share a bit of background/information and trivia about Losing Cinderella. Here they are:

1. The idea of Losing Cinderella came to me 15 years ago. It started as a thought: "It's about a girl with a secret. There will be some preposterous accusations; and then I will kill her."

2. From the idea in #1, the story developed with elements that would build up towards the "key" scenarios, which made it easy for me to plan where I'd put my foreshadowing and hide my easter eggs.

3. The story was meant to be written for my publisher, but I got rusty with the skills in writing in Filipino. When I decided to write it in English, I was hoping to submit it for Mills & Boon's Blush imprint, but during the process, I knew the word count will be exceeded.

4. In the attempt to follow the word count, these are the limbs I broke and tore off, including the characters I killed:

a. Sonia Cavas was meant to have a twin sister who was 5 months pregnant.

b. Details on the Cavas' family background was meant to be more elaborate. It was a good thing that I did trim the other details off, and I believe that there are more that I can take off.

c. Originally, Hayley took her sister under her care because home with her mother was not suitable.

d. Their mother and her abusive boyfriend had alcohol and substance issues.

e. I scrapped the character of the abusive boyfriend, and just kept them "normal".

f. With the idea of having a dysfunctional family deleted off, so did the scene where Hayley confronted her mother for negligence. It was a rather heated scene too, with a lot of verbal abuse and hands swiping across faces.

g. It was Ashtyn's birthday when Hayley lashed out at their mother for being high and was clueless of the special day. The house was cluttered with empty bottles, and reeked of the smell of drugs and rotting food. Hayley took her sister to a fast-food joint to celebrate, and decided that she wasn't going to let her go back home.

h. A musician contracted by Hart recognised Ashtyn, and asks her to jam with them. She does so in secret, which further raises Rosette's suspicion.

i. The idea of having a musician recognising Ashtyn was replaced by Martin Jansen, who appeared in Chapter 30.

j. Rosette was supposed to be Rhys' girlfriend.

k. Aside from Ted, there was meant to be another guy in Rhys' team.

l. One of the entertainers at one of the events gets an anaphylactic shock from eating something that was cooked in peanut oil.

m. Rhys, along with his team, were meant to have been with Megan and Ken when they went to The Andromeda for the first time.

n. If I pushed through with the idea above, it would have been Rhys in Ken's place in the scenario that took place towards the end of Chapter 14.

5. I am very thankful for Losing Cinderella to have had the opportunity to occupy the very elusive #1 spot in Chicklit on several occasions in 2015.

6. I love Japanese food, anime, the language, and Akira Kurosawa. Having said that, now you know what influenced me to decide on having the lead character speak Japanese as a second language instead of anything else.

7. When I decided on George's name, I was thinking of Hugo the Abominable Snowman in The Abominable Snow Rabbit (1961), featuring Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.

"Just what I always wanted. My own little bunny rabbit. I will name him George, and I will hug him and pet him and squeeze him..."

https://youtu.be/Ujh_bTaXI94

Also appeared in Spaced Out Bunny (1980), featuring Bugs Bunny and Marvin the Martian.

"Oh boy! Oh boy! At last my own little bunny rabbit...I will hug him and stroke him and cuddle him and sing to him and call him George..."

(You can watch Spaced Out Bunny by clicking on the external link or typing this on your browser: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2fgr88)

Did you know that this was Warner Brothers' take on John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men?

8. When I mapped George's character, I had the talents of Kurt Hugo Schneider and Jon McLaughlin in mind.

9. Now you know where I got Rhys McLaughlin's surname.

10. Ashtyn's eyes were originally hazel. In later chapters, my fingers just got used to typing green. So, I decided to "find and replace" her eye colour from hazel to green.

11. The story of Losing Cinderella and Death's Heart, along with The Broken Dollhouse (not available on Wattpad yet), were simultaneously running in my head, so you may notice some slight similarities:

a. Both characters start with "Ash".

b. Both live alone and trying to make both ends meet...I find that most of my leads have that quality.

c. Both can speak another language other than English.

d. They have secrets.

e. They've been pushed away.

12. I deliberately made myself cry to effectively write about Hayley in Chapter 2.

13. The charity event that was being hosted was originally for the benefit of the victims of Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi, which hit Queensland in 2011, thus, the original setting of Losing Cinderella was supposed to be 2012–when I started posting the story on Wattpad. When Typhoon Haiyan, also known as Typhoon Yolanda, hit the Philippines in 2013, I decided to change it, moving the setting of the story to 2014.

14. There were five alternatives of how people will discover Ashtyn's talent:

a. While setting up for an event in Forrest Chase, Ashtyn jams with a busker.

b. Hart employees walk into the studio while she jams with the contracted musicians (please refer to point 4.h).

c. George picks Ashtyn up from the Mosman Park mansion and sees the Steinway & Sons piano, which he absolutely adores. While everyone else has left, he coaxes Ashtyn to accompany him as he plays, Jon McLaughlin's So Close. Rhys wonders what was taking them so long, so he ends up walking in on them.

d. Ashtyn takes over an entertainer who ended up having an allergic reaction from one of the hors d'oeuvres that was cooked in peanut oil (please refer to point 4.l).

e. Rhys, and company, walk in on one of her performances (please refer to point 4.m).

15. Losing Cinderella, Death's Heart, 33 Hours, The Broken Dollhouse are all set in Perth, Western Australia, where I'm based.

16. Before deciding on the song Should I Stay or Should I Go? by The Clash as Ashtyn's entrance song at the charity event, I was considering the following:

a. Domino – Jesse J

https://youtu.be/FrLNwNg6n9k

b. Wicked World – Laura Jansen

https://youtu.be/y3vybPClCCk

c. Geronimo – Sheppard

https://youtu.be/zvw-y-bpVwU

d. My Song Knows What You Did in the Dark – Fall Out Boy

https://youtu.be/LkIWmsP3c_s

e. What Do I Stand For? – Fun

https://youtu.be/qQkBeOisNM0

17. Chapter 39, where George was talking to Ashtyn about a friend who explained to him what an amygdala hijacking is–he was referring to me. Yes, everyone, I'm that friend!

I hope you found the information interesting and enjoyable. Again, my infinite expression of gratitude to everyone who has given me their time in reading my stories, poems, articles, and random posts.