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RomanceClass Podcast Episode: The Rockstar Trope

Posted on February 28, 2021

RomanceClass Podcast is back with Season 4! Kicked off with the launch of The Tropetastic Kindness Bundle (available until April 14, 2021 here, all proceeds to charity!), and now with Episode 2: The Rockstar Trope. Alternate title: Why Are Rockstars??

Super cool to have been part of this panel because 1) I write about rockstars in romance, and 2) turns out it’s good to sit with the questions of why we are fascinated with these musician people and why and how we enjoy them, specially in our romance content.

Chatted with gig/music/writer friends Dawn Lanuza, Six de los Reyes, and Tara Frejas, with hosting by producer Mina V. Esguerra and direction from producer/the voice of god (lol) Tania Arpa.

The episode is up on RomanceClass Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. A few of my things from the discussion here, plus some stuff that came to me after, which is how the brain works sometimes.

  • Origin story. Seeing friends and classmates picking up instruments, forming bands, and performing in high school and college. Seeing how funny and cool and awkward it could be, kids trying to work together to create synchronized output, mess and art. The band dynamics that come out of the exercise. Picking up a guitar myself, to which when asked if I play, I can only answer as Lizzie Bennet said to Lady Catherine: “a little ma’am, and poorly.” Still fun though, always fascinating.
  • Influences. Sandwich, specially the dynamic of having three guitarists and the live performances. They will always be my favorite local band to see live. Alex Turner, for the words and lyrics. And for the album AM, bless him.
  • Characters inspired by real people who formed bands. Short answer is yes, they exist. Longer answer points to origin story. There is always that one cute boy in high school who got good with the guitar, then with the drums too. And maybe in college there was a cute boy who brought his acoustic guitar around and played and sang for anyone with little prodding.
  • Biggest rockstar moment. Parading into the wedding reception hall as part of the entourage, only to see Ebe Dancel performing live. Romanceclass also met Champ Lui Pio of Hale in a rockstar lecture, that was a teenage dream come true. Local gigs in the likes of Saguijo, Conspiracy, and Route 196 were chill spots for casual rockstar encounters, as were music festivals where musicians roam freely.
  • Hype and zone out songs. Submarine OST album, all songs by Alex Turner. Love Me/ Love Me Not by HONNE, on Spotify.
  • Recs for rockstars in media. Sunset Curve and Julie and the Phantoms in Julie and the Phantoms. Mido and Falasol in Hospital Playlist, on Netflix.
  • How do we like our rockstars. Six segued to our Summer Crush tagline, PEACE LOVE AND ROCK AND ROLL, which says it best. We fall for the charisma, the stage presence. Skill on instruments and with words is hot. But we want to see these things on good people having healthy relationships, which is what romance should be about

In summation, rockstars are cool, we like them a lot. Music is awesome. And I really, really, really miss live music. There’s something magical about being in a space with friends and strangers who’ve come together to soak up notes, rhythm, and words together, to receive energy and give it back. It’s a giving circuit. It’s potent joy. And even with the reach of technology, for me live streams don’t quite cut it.

I wish the pandemic is over and we are all safe and healthy and can go to gigs again. Until then, we have our rockstars in romance.

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Writing Now

Hello Ever After: Favorite Alarm (The One Where Kris and Ringo Helped Me Process)

Posted on August 29, 2020

It started with anger and a seemingly inevitable dive into hopelessness. We’re all wading into bleak waters these days, and sparks of joy can be hard to come by and take so much to grasp. Tara Frejas has a more coherent origin story for the Hello Ever After series. For me I learned it from her and Mina V. Esguerra, and then Mina shared her draft of the script. It was Ben and Naya from What Kind of Day, and it spoke of anger and love and pushing back.

It wasn’t difficult to start from there. I was at work then, because even when the world stopped our work did not. I guess like Ben, I was an essential. I opened a blank document and just alt+tabbed my way into finishing the script before lunch break.

I wrote Ringo and Kris (from You Out of Nowhere) in quarantine because of things I needed to process. How it’s scary, stepping out of the house when everyone else was staying in. How I had to, because I was a cog in a wheel and the wheel needed to turn.

Ringo was a corporate finance boy who actually liked his job but I knew despite that he’d feel cracks in his shield too, that innate positivity and drive to thrive that powered him. It’s weird driving out and seeing no other vehicles on the street, apart from the motorcycle of that policeman parked there to enforce the rules. (Whether those rules would keep us safe and alive or if that was even the goal was debatable.) It sucked to live away from the woman he loved, not be able to see her, much less touch her in ways that have been part of him now.

Kris, cookie shop boss, could stay in, because she had no choice, because her business was forced to close. And when the rules allowed her to open again she was left to her own devices, figuring out how to keep her staff and operations safe and their source of income running. And the cookies still needed to taste great.

In the script Ringo talked about how he had an epiphany, of how he had running water to come home to, and electricity, wifi, and security, because people were going outside and staying apart from their families to show up to do the work. He had to do his part too. It was such a Ringopiphany to have, and I thank him for that. Kris didn’t mind either. She just felt a little worried about how much she loved him.

Hello Ever After Episode 7: Favorite Alarm. Shooting with (from upper left) direk Tania Arpa, me (dying inside author), actors Raphael Robes and Gab Pangilinan. Photo by Mina V. Esguerra

Rap Robes and Gab Pangilinan were great as Ringo and Tita. I was virtually useless during recording, which was expected (I expected it, yes, I knew my limitations), and I just stayed there breathing on the mic (lol again SORRY) and watching art happen. I didn’t realize we’d run into trouble with bougainvillea (bogambilya). The ad libs stressed me out a little but they turned out great. I could never have come up with what Ringo ~did to that policeman.

Thank you to the Hello Ever After team, Mina V. Esguerra, Tania Arpa, Tara Frejas, Miles Tan, Layla Tanjutco, Ana Tejano. Thank you Jef Flores for the Jesus music.

If you watched Hello Ever After Episode 7: Favorite Alarm, thank you. If you haven’t yet, please see below. You’re welcome? Lol.

And please check out all the episodes currently up on the Romanceclass YouTube channel kilig.pub/youtube. Hit like and subscribe, please and thank you, and watch out for more to come. Next watch party is on Friday, September 4, 7PM for Bianca Mori‘s Kalad-Quarantine.

We’re angry, and at times devastated, but always there’s love, landi, and hope.

Episode list:

  1. June 26th, Make Good Days by Mina V. Esguerra (What Kind of Day)
  2. July 3rd, We Will Be Okay by Celestine Trinidad (Ghost of a Feeling)
  3. July 10th, Safe Space by Miles Tan (Finding X)
  4. July 24th, Happy Endings, Please, and Thank You by Tara Frejas (Like Nobody’s Watching)
  5. July 31st, Lab Notes by Six de los Reyes (Beginner’s Guide: Love and Other Chemical Reactions)
  6. August 7th, Midnight Melodies by Carla de Guzman (How She Likes It)
  7. August 21st, Favorite Alarm by Jay E. Tria (You Out of Nowhere)
  8. August 28th, No Giving Up by Ana Tejano (Keep the Faith)
  9. September 4th, Kalad-Quarantine by Bianca Mori (Chasing Waves)

Content warnings: set in the present time with the pandemic, community quarantine, thoughts of isolation, mention of COVID-19 deaths, mentions of parent with chronic illness, and film script with themes of sexual assault and suicide.

 

Writing Now

Second Wave Summer

Posted on June 15, 2018

As of this writing, our second summer anthology Second Wave Summer has been out in the bookish universe for 29 days (woohoo). I talk about this in the Author’s Note, how as each book is special in its own space, this one is memorable mostly because it wasn’t supposed to be here. After Summer Crush, Tara, Six and I ~might~ have been talking about doing something together again (or we could be only eating ube cheesecake, I dunno), but it wasn’t supposed to be a Summer Crush 2. But at the time, April was coming up–the top month of the hot season where we are, and the month of the first anniversary of Summer Crush, our beach-love-rock-n-roll anthology. We had to do something to celebrate. It was only right.

And so here it is. Second Wave Summer. The product of bursts of ideas and auto-affirmatives (the answer is always yes), born out of a stretch of writing dry spells and mini personal crises and moving deadlines.

Thank YOU for picking it up and reading, rating, reviewing, talking about it. Thank you for saying yes to us too. And if you haven’t yet, and you’re curious, here’s a quick look on what kind of romance the book has for you:

All roads lead back to beachside music festival Summer Crush for another weekend of high waves, rock & roll, and the promise of summer romance.

On any given day, Michael Brian doesn’t need to do much to hit the right notes with a girl, but there’s something about this day—and something about this girl—that’s got him out of tune. (A Taste of Summer, Six delos Reyes)

Indie filmmaker Datu puts on his dusty event videographer hat for Summer Crush. But memories of a love he let slip away resurface from every corner of this surf town. Now what he thought would be an easy job just isn’t so easy anymore. (Rushes, Tara Frejas)

Corporate-highflyer-on-vacation Ringo has a question to which cookie bar boss woman Kris has the answer, if only they’d stop getting in each other’s way. (Ask Me Nicely, Jay E. Tria)

Sounds like something that will make you crave champorado, right? No? Well it will. You’re welcome.

The ebook is available on Amazon here, and in print here. Find it in #romanceclass events too together with more more more moooore awesome romance titles.

As for if we will be working on something together again, well, maybe there’s more ube cheesecake out there for sharing. Until then, hope you like how we do summer ~ <3

Writing Now

What Summer Crush Means to Me by Six de los Reyes

Posted on April 11, 2017

Summer Crush Reflection Paper                                                                                                         11 April 2017

de los Reyes, Six                                                                                                                                     #romanceclass 2014

 

What Summer Crush Means to Me

 

As much fun as we had planning, plotting, and processing Summer Crush, it was not an easy wave to catch. First of all, it’s hard enough wrestling with all the ideas in our heads, multiply that by three and you get exponential the headaches. And we’re three very different people with very different stories, you see. So different you have to wonder what kind of cosmic event caused our universes to converge.

But there’s music, and bands, and I fan them. I stan Trainman and East Genesis Project. Of course I’d get myself together to do this.

Confession: I didn’t think Tara, Jay and I would work this well together. Sure, on the onset we were friends. In the #romanceclass-someone I see online all the time-goes to all the events sort of way. It wasn’t like I was about to jump on the last bus to La Union and spend the weekend with them or whatever. I had envisioned the process to be be strictly online, an exchange of emails, succinct messages on the chat, and a semi-regularly updated folder on Google Drive. Or so I thought.

I was wrong.

Instead we went out (actually went out and met up IRL) and had conversations that were 15% Summer Crush, 10% abs, and 75% shenanigans and crazy talk. Then we went to La Union, and can I just say I didn’t even want to go? I love the beach. You all know this. I’m a mermaid. What I don’t love is the idea of going outside, public transportation, and people. Many times I had to ask myself, “Am I really doing this?” Was I really going on a trip with new people? Yes, even then, even after a year or so of knowing them, I still thought of Jay and Tara as new people. But I went anyway. Because beach. And I sort of felt like I had to? HAHAHA. So I went. I’m glad I did.

La Union, according to our timetable, was supposed to be our reward for finishing a first draft. A trip to check on the detail work of our short stories and to fine-tune everything else that went with it. Naturally, we went on that trip with about a paragraph each written down, no substantial conflict, and essentially no story. But we had a lot of ideas, and jokes, and interactive moments between our characters so in order for all the fun things to happen, we had to plot around the crazy. We had to make it work somehow. We did. I like to think we made it work.

I also like to think the three of us worked out as well. You don’t spend an entire weekend with each other without all the stressors and anxieties and little things coming up to the surface. Oh, we were passive-aggressive about it, but we’re better friends because of it.

In retrospect, when we decided Friendship was our main objective (I think) we meant it as half a joke. A disclaimer that none of us want to fight over not getting along because, let’s face it, that’s just too much work and we still have to sit together at all the #romanceclass ~Things. Fast forward to today, Friendship is exactly what we got out of this project. Sure, the stress was how do I even describe it? levels, but if there’s one thing I learned from getting stranded at the bus terminal with these two, it’s that I don’t have to go at it on my own anymore.

What started out as a simple offhanded comment escalated into one of the most beautiful memories of this lifetime and I am eternally grateful I gave myself the chance to do this–that Jay and Tara also gave themselves the chance to part of this crazy journey with me. Thank you, ladies. It’s been an honor.

We’re doing this again. For sure.

Oh, and other things you don’t get to see in the book:

  • Tara daintily hopping over the hot sand
  • Sleepy-drunk Jay who can’t say no to a challenge
  • Sand in inappropriate places
  • 2AM heart-baring conversations under twinkly lights and paper lanterns
  • The answer is always YES

It wasn’t easy, but all the good things outweigh the bad. So much so I can’t even remember the bad anymore. I’m sure there’s a lot, we wrote a book after all. Having said that, special shoutout to Ines and Miles, thank you for taking this crazy ride with us. Thank you for giving us something to look forward to, thank you for making us look good, and thank you for believing in us.

Our characters have found something they thought they lost at sea at Summer Crush, as have we. Their journey is our journey. I am happy. I’m a happy mermaid who found home out of the sea. And if you’ve read Summer Crush, are reading it, or want to read it, thank you from the bottom of my ocean heart.

Let’s all dance and sing because the night is young and the beach is an embrace and, really, at this point, what’s there to lose?

 

Six

Writing Now

Summer Crush: A Reflection Paper

Posted on April 9, 2017

Submitted by: Tria, J.E.

Section: #romanceclass 2015

Submission date: April 9, 2017

*****************************

We found each other somehow.

That’s how I explain this. Six has a more organized and grounded version of this story in her Author’s Note for Summer Crush. The three of us–Six, Tara, and myself–had this whole thread where we tried to figure out and recall how this collaboration began before she wrote it. I remembered some of the things they said, volunteered some of my own memories. But I think it all came down to that. To how we are three girls who wrote about bands and found each other and tried to do something about that.

And HAHA we did do all the things. We plotted, we threw ideas around like they were free and free flowing. Brain farts and feels floods were welcome. We had many spreadsheets (we love them). We had thoughts and secrets, shared during the bright hours past midnight. We had a trip to La Union for an ocular, of course because we were planning a music festival. I asked for that trip. They ignored me when I first brought it up. So I brought it up again and again until YAY hostel booked! Date marked! Bus seats claimed! WE’RE HERE THERE’S THE BEACH IT’S SO HOT THE SAND IS EVERYWHERE I AM DROWNING IN FEELINGS! We went back home to write (almost forgot this part haha maybe. Kind of. Semi. Ish.) We sought the help of someone who we trusted to rein in our shenanigans while also be accepting of our crazy (we love you, Ines), and someone who could put our neon dreams to book cover life (we love you, Miles). And now after all the fun and agony and laughter and drunken confessions and cat feeding and all the food, TA-DAH! Summer Crush is live.

I’m still amazed that we made it. I guess it helped that we are first and foremost fans of each other’s bands and of each other as people (yes, Six and Tara. I fan you). We knew this interactive world would be a challenge to build, to move around in. We knew we’d low-key disagree on some things and low-key put our foot down on others. But it all worked out. I shit you not, we made it work. Camaraderie was the name of the game. We’re still friends. More so now than ever.

If, right this moment, you own a copy of Summer Crush, we thank you from the bottom of our sun-kissed, sand-covered, sea-drowned hearts. I hope you find joy and sun in our stories to balance out the achy bits. I hope reading it makes you wanna go to the beach, or to a music festival, or to a music festival at the beach. I hope it makes you want to dance like you mean it, like no one’s watching and who effing cares anyway if that’s how you wanna rock and roll. I hope you enjoy a few extra thousand words of our book people who you’ve graciously accepted into your bookish hearts before.

If you are new to our book people, however, a big warm sunshiny welcome to you! Thank you for coming. I hope that you like what you found.