12

Author's Note

Oh, hi there!

Normally, I just dive right in and let the story do all the talking, but I'm going to sneak in here for a minute. You are all a lovely, clever, imaginative bunch who don't need everything spelled out for you, (well, you know what I mean), but I think a little background on the style of 12 might help you enjoy it better so here goes...

12 was originally written as a script for an animated feature. Nobody asked me to write it. I'm just so in love with the old hand-drawn Disney classics that I was inspired to. Disney, meanwhile, is so in love with princesses that I thought what better fairy tale to adapt than the one with the most – The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

For those of you familiar with the story, it's a short one, and I had to find a way to flesh it out. I decided to style it after the Road-To movies of the 1940s starring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, as well as the 1955 Danny Kaye classic, The Court Jester. These silly, joke-a-minute comedies are worth checking out for their brilliant banter and pacing,  but I have to say, the Road pictures do contain some instances of offensive, discriminatory humour that was unfortunately commonplace for the era. We'll just be inspired by the good stuff here, thanks.

Now for the princesses! In keeping with the old-school tone, I modeled all the ladies after starlets of Hollywood's golden era, figuring of course they'd be drawn that way:

Rita, like Rita Hayworth

Ginger, like Ginger Rogers

Lena, like Lena Horne

Lana, like Lana Turner

Lucy, like Lucille Ball

Dorothy, like Dorothy Dandridge

Katherine, like Katherine Hepburn

Rosalind, like Rosalind Russell

Betty, like Betty Grable

Marilyn, like Marilyn Monroe

Ava, like Ava Gardner

Judy, like Judy Garland.

It isn't necessary to be familiar with these actresses to get to know the princesses in the story - though a couple of Katherine Hepburn jokes will go to shameful waste. I've intentionally gone pretty light on their physical descriptions so that you can imagine them however you like. The same goes for our heroes, Francis and Danny. If anything, it's more helpful to know what they sound like than look like, but again, not necessary.  Please feel free to envision whatever dreamy-dreamboats you wish.

Once last thing. Did I mention I wanted it to be a musical? In my head, it is, but it's too difficult to write musical numbers into a novel. (I sort of tried with my last story, High C, and I'm still not sure how it worked.) After every story part where I imagine a song would be, I'll post the lyrics in their own chapter. I don't write music, so just read them like poetry, or skip them all together if you want, but why would ya?

I've never posted anything to Wattpad that wasn't at least a second draft. My brother Randy and I worked on the 12 script to get it to a place I was happy with, but as far as the novelization goes, I'm adapting it as I post in a little experiment as part of my joining Wattpad's Creators Program. I'm excited to share this with you and I'd really love to hear what you all think, so please let me know. It's a little hokey, a lot jokey, a little campy, and absolutely cartoony. It's really for an audience of everyone, so I do hope everyone enjoys.

On with the show!

Steff xo