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"Taryn's Song" 7 & 8
The recent two chapters of "Taryn's Song" were a lot of fun to work on, personally...but planning them out ahead of time and trying to make the themes and events connect the way that I wanted them to was a MAJOR headache! Hehehe! In a good way, though! It was a challenge that may seem easy, but I wanted to make sure that I got it all just right. It was really important to the continuity of "Gone From Daylight" as well in my mind. So I tried to keep my notes straight on the details.
There are a number of factors that I needed to address with these new chapters, the biggest being what circumstances eventually led to Taryn leaving Alec behind, and what created such a feeling of hopelessness and desperation in him that would entice him to turn to someone like Trevor and crossover into darkness in the first place. I wanted these chapters to clearly show the downward spiral that would trap Taryn into having no other way out. Because he clearly LOVES his brother, Alec, and wants to protect him. And for the time being, he's convinced that he can go back home and 'fix' the things that have gone so horribly wrong in such a short amount of time. Then...you have Trevor giving him (What seems like) the 'easy' way out of his misery. Out of his loneliness. He's in a position to take advantage of Taryn's current plight and use it to gain his trust and loyalty and maybe even a bit of his 'love'. That gives Trevor a certain amount of power and control. And we all know how Trevor LOVES his power and control. :P
Something else that I really wanted to show in these prequel chapters was a vision of what the lot used to be like years ago. Readers are finally exposed to a much more relaxed version of their camp, where people just sort of come and go as needed and feel no real emotional connection to the place or to one another. At least not yet. People who have read through "Gone From Daylight" might find this place barely recognizable when compared to the tight ship that Bryson runs in the original series. In fact, you'll even see an intoxicated Bryson who's spent the evening partying outside of the lot, telling his girlfriend, Amanda, to "Chill out" and "Relax" when it comes to the others doing their chores. Something that would NEVER happen in "Gone From Daylight"! Hehehe!
Amanda and Dennis get their very first personal introduction to readers, but this is a version of the lot where the others haven't truly become a 'family' yet. The tragedy with Amanda has yet to happen, Dennis' corruption and leaving for good hasn't happened, Dion and Jenna are still relatively new to the place as well. So the events that truly inspire them to become as close knit as they are when Justin shows up at the gate for the first time haven't taken place. And there are other vampires who just sort of stop in for a bit and leave when they see the need to go. Nothing more. It isn't a 'home' for them in this period of time. As is shown with Sean and Milo, who suggest that they stayed at the lot for some time, and decided to move out on their own afterward.
One other issue that I wanted this prequel to tackle in a major way is Taryn's sexuality. Reading "Gone From Daylight" (Which takes place a full ten YEARS after the "Taryn's Song" series), it's clear that Taryn is still alone. Alone in darkness. And a 'virgin' on the night that he and Justin first make love. But why? How is it that Taryn could spend an entire decade without finding someone to love, or at least have 'sex' with? He's unnaturally beautiful, he's got Trevor making advances on him, and he's had plenty of time to find someone attractive to pursue and 'conquer' at some point. So I wanted the prequel to provide an answer for that question as well.
The reason that this story contains such sexual tones to it is because I wanted Taryn to be a true believer in 'love'...only to have that belief snatched away from him time and time again. You have a teenage boy who just wants to experience the real thing, who wants love and affection to be just as amazing and as magical as he always imagined it would be...but he's disappointed each and every single time. You have his stepfather who just treats him like a piece of meat, using him for his own sexual satisfaction and not caring about his feelings at all. You have Trevor who makes the 'offer', but treats his seductive ways more like a manipulation and an act of leverage than anything else. The boy he loved with his whole heart is not only giving his sexual attention to a girl (for sex's sake alone), but is disgusted and angered by Taryn's feelings for him. Even becoming violent in his rejection. Then...just when Taryn has been given shelter by Sean and Milo, and is trying to restore his faith in the love and affection that people are capable of, he's exposed to their lifestyle, where they just use sex as some sort of 'product'. A cheap commodity that can be bought and sold without any emotion necessary to make it worthwhile.
So ALL of Taryn's experiences with sexual affection have been misleading and horrible. It's nothing like he thought it would be. He wants romance and kisses and holding his lover's hand by the lake. But in these two chapters, you begin to see him doubt his own logic on what love and sex really are. You see his fantasy weakened, and the gap between falling in love and getting off getting wider by the minute. He's almost just willing to settle for whatever lust-filled, dirty, offer is tossed his way at this point. He begins to think, "Well, Trevor wants me. I can have him. Why not? Everything else is just a fairy tale."
And that's where Taryn's extended decade of loneliness comes from betwee "Taryn's Song" and "Gone From Daylight". I wanted him to have this really sick and wicked view of sexual intimacy. Almost an aversion to sex in general, seeing it as something disgusting as opposed to the loving and innocent vision that he had of it before. And in future updates, readers will be able to see that situation get much worse, not be revived until Justin comes along to finally show him that such a love and sexual expression really IS possible. Something that will ultimately pull Taryn back from the brink, and get him to believe again.
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