OK so y'all, i have a book idea !!
so i've been wanting to write a Corey Haim fan fic for a while, like for literally months by now but I haven't been able to decide a plot and what age he'd be blah blah blah. so, last week I watched Roman Holiday, a film starring the beautiful Audrey Hepburn (who is such a babe) and the FINE Gregory Peck.
SPOILERS :
so basically, the movie is about a princess who is in Italy for a visit. she's tired of her basic royalty life and she hates it. so one day, she freaks out from stress when she's about to sleep, and her doctor gives her a shot that is supposed to make her drowsy. she escapes her living area (the Coliseum) and goes out into town.
while on drugs, a man sees her passed out and wakes her up, offering to bring her to his place to sleep. so she sleeps there blah blah blah. the next day, her advisors and whatnot find that she's not in bed or in her living quarters, so they lie and say to the papers that she is sick and they cancel all her interviews.
now, the man who lets her sleep at his place is a news reporter and was supposed to interview the princess. eventually, he finds out that she is the princess. him and his friend take her for a day out on the town and his friend takes pictures of her without her knowledge, in order to make a cover story for the news.
but of course, the news reporter man and the princess fall in love and he ends up deciding not to publish her pictures or write an article about her. the princess is unknowing of any of this, but she still chooses to live life as a princess and the life she hates because she sort of has to. anyway, the next day, a bunch of reporters come to the Coliseum and ask her questions. of course the man she's in love with is there- he gives her the pictures he took of her and they say their tearful goodbyes at the Coliseum.
anyway, it was a real great movie! the ending was definitely a tearjerker but it was worth watching ! if you don't already know, I absolutely adore Italia and the language (which I'm learning, but it is literally so beautiful that I dead ass tear up when I'm learning it sometimes, no joke.) I love Italy and the culture of it all and it's just such a beautiful place, I'm infatuated!
so after watching Roman Holiday, I began to get some ideas in my head for a book. and basically, I found an idea for my Corey Haim fan fiction!
picture this ... a famous lady who will probably go by the name Dolce Vain (but her real name is something really average.) she's black, but was born and raised in Italy. she moved at the age of ten, and she had been living in America since. her parents got her into show business, where she acted and danced in plays. it wasn't exactly what she wanted to do, but she was brainwashed to believe she had fallen in love with it at a young age.
so, she grows up, she's 21/22, and by now she's a widely famous actress and dancer. the year is 1969 and she is very well respected, even by most white people. so, she is scheduled to visit Italy for a month (though she hadn't been there for 11/12 years, not even on tours for shows.) she doesn't exactly want to go, because she was scared that she would be surrounded by Europeans who did not like her because she is black.
however, she arrives in Italy (perhaps Rome or Tuscany), and she is bombarded by fans and paparazzi (which isn't even an Italian word y'all but it sounds like it would be.) basically, she's feeling the love.
so she gets a day off, and is told not to wander too far off from her living grounds. but of course since curiosity kills the cat, she ends up leaving her living grounds and going further into the city, where things are less quiet and more fun (so I'd have to choose a city/ province in Italy that's like that but I'm sure all cities in Italy have their sort of festive areas.) Anyway, she encounters some racism in the new place, or maybe she just gets tea spilled on her - haven't decided.
Then of course, the man of her dreams AKA Corey Haim just so happens to be near her when that happens and they have that whole awkward "Oh my goodness are you okay?" "Yes, I'm fine!" moment, and end up spending the day together. and also some of the next day.
anyway, they fall unrealistically in love like in the movie. and the rest of the plot I'll let y'all figure out when the book comes out.
but basically, I needed you guys' heads to help me with this. I researched racism in Italy in the 60s, and it mentioned hostility, but nothing serious. also, African slavery wasn't a thing in Italy, at least only in ancient Rome with subsaharan Africans. and anyway, you didn't have to be African to be a slave in Italy??? they had slaves who were captured from war or who were in jail??? so ??? it wouldn't really influence the book as much as my River Phoenix fan fiction "White Boys" is influenced.
but I wanted your help with how to portray the racism in Italy. because really in Italy, the Italians got along with African Americans. However, Sicilians who didn't want to be mistaken as black might have been a bit more harsh towards them. I really did research on this because if there's one thing that bothers me when I write books in completely different time periods(ESPECIALLY BECAUSE I MAKE HUGE EFFORTS TO MAKE ALL MY CHARACTERS BLACK), it's being historically inaccurate.
I won't paint Italy as this place full of race based hatred because from what I've learned, it wasn't. of course when African Americans moved into predominantly white Italian / Italian American neighborhoods, there was a reaction sometimes.
but the main character in this book is a superstar anyway, and she is loved worldwide. so it would kind of be like Michael Jackson and how him being black and talented took on the world, except in the 60s. Aretha Franklin, almost.
so let me know your thoughts about this book? would you read it? the plot is obviously more intricate than what I wrote, but I didn't wanna be too specific because I didn't wanna give away anything or just have you guys read a book where ya know what's gonna happen. because oftentimes, I reveal too much ahahaha.
anyway, are y'all down? does it sound realistic? famous black woman visiting Italy for a month (I might even narrow it down to a week, but I'm getting better ideas as we speak) meets an average white boy and they fall in love? of course the falling in love part is cliche, but that's Roman Holiday for you.
so ?? what do ya think ?? let me know !!
oh, and the title will be in Italian yay !! it'll probably be something like "La Donna in Italia" (The Woman in Italy) or "Chi Sono Oggi" (Who Am I Today" since she'd have to do an identity change for a day if she really wanted to relax.) OR "Una Gusto de Italia" (A Taste of Italy.) omg who knows !! any book title would sound good in Italian. "Io Taglio il Formaggio" (I Cut the Cheese) or "Tu Sei Una Mucca" (You Are a Cow.)
LMAO but ya lemme know what you guys think I've been trying to write this for days but for some reason I feel the need to sort of perfect this plot and I NEVER plan my plots before I write books. I think it makes me boring and it stresses me out so much to preplan. I just let shit happen, but nowadays I do have a sort of outline, but never do I write it out or stick to it strictly. Always flowing with the river yo !!
ok I'm gonna stop talking ahaha gn you guys !
#zuzaf
