Cara Cilento

Hi! Blaze’s thoughts were in italics but I guess it didn’t translate here

Shit.  How can it register 0.1?  There’s nothing on it. Blaze tapped her scale.  It flashed and returned to 0.1.  She turned it off and on.  Still 0.1.  God damn it!  Sitting cross-legged in the middle of her studio, Blaze looked around the room for answers to a question that had none. She had to use texture, not science to complete her acrylic pours.  The feel of the medium was guide, difficult but not impossible.

Blaze grabbed her earbuds.  What kind of day will it be? A positive affirmation day?  Music day?  She scrolled through her phone and pressed music; calm soothing music to drown out the voices buzzing in the distance.  They’re not real.  They’re not real.  

The hum of the voices faded with the first stroke of Pachelbel’s Cannon in D.  Ironically, Pachelbel’s Cannon was polyphonic.  The composition consists of many voices playing the same music entering in sequence, yet there is one independent base voice that rings out over the rest. Blaze wanted her schizophrenia to work like that, a beautiful composition of voices supporting each other, not the negative.  

Blaze took her graded plastic cups and laid them in a line.  She poured one color per cup, black, yellow, white and a light tan.  She poured her flow medium in a one-to-one ratio and stirred.  It rippled off the stirring stick into the pond of paint below it.  Perfect.  Now for the silicone.  Maybe ten drops per cup?  She wanted a lot of cells, so maybe fifteen.  Now comes the fun part.  She layered the colors into the same cup, placed the canvas on top of the mouth of the cup, then turned it upside down.  Each color spread out over the canvas in chaotic patterns.  She heated it with the hairdryer revealing the silicone cells like islands of lucidity in a scene of chaos.  Like Pachelbel’s Cannon, it all came together in a beautiful composition like Blaze strived to be.

Blaze stood up to look at her work.  The perspective was wrong.  She needed to wait until it dried but the pattern will do for now.  She pulled her earphones out of her ears revealing the ring of her phone.  

“Hello?”

“Blaze Delacroix?  This is Thiago Villa from Planke’s Gallery.  We received your proposal for the next exhibition as well as Dr. Coate’s letter of recommendation, so we would like you to come in for an interview.”

“That’s fantastic!  Thank you!”  Blaze paced the floor grinning.

“Yes.  We didn’t think we would be able to offer anyone a showing, but the Planke’s sold off part of the ownership and we thought it would be great to have you as the featured artist when we announce our grand re-opening.”

“Wow!  Everyone must be excited.  Who is the new part owner?”  Blaze quickly opened her portfolio to her proposal.

“That’s the thing.  Whoever it is requested anonymity.  The whole transaction took place through lawyers, but you didn’t hear that from me.”  Thiago laughed.   Blaze could picture him sitting in an office chair, leaning back and giggling like a schoolgirl who just got away with kissing a boy in the coat closet.

“Oh, that’s interesting and mysterious.” Said Blaze.

“Isn’t it though?  Brings the gallery some allure.  Anyway, we are excited about your concept and would love to hear about it in depth. Say tomorrow? Around three?”

“Okay.  I’ll be there with my portfolio and thank you again.”

“Oh no, thank you! When there is an opportunity to support local talent, Planke’s definitely wants to be associated with it.”

Blaze jumped up and down.  She plopped on her bed and sifted through the pages of her portfolio. This one is good.  I’ll take this one because it’s local.  Too bad they all suck.  Blaze started to hum to drown out the voice.  Focus. Focus.  Don’t let your mind wander.  I worked too hard to screw up this chance.

Blaze’s watch reminded her it was time for her jog. She found that keeping active and, on a schedule, helped her schizophrenia tremendously.  After her jog it was home, shower, and her appointment with Dr. Coates.  She needed therapy, not an extension of her parole.  It had been three years since the assault and she had done everything the court had told her to do.  She had a chance to prove it once and for all, no matter what Vivienne Thibodeau threw at her.

Polyphonic

 

 

Story Statement: 

 

Determined to get her life on track, artist Blaze Delacroix is doing everything necessary to be released from parole since she was incarcerated for an assault she committed while suffering from psychosis despite her ex-girlfriend, Vivienne Thibodeau, stacking the deck against her as an act of revenge.

 

Antagonist Sketch:

 

Vivienne Thibodeau will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Ever. Even as a child, she manipulated people and surreptitiously stacked the deck in her favor. Now, she wants to prevent Blaze Delacroix from achieving her freedom mentally or physically. Blaze embodies Vivienne’s failure as a narcissist. Unable to accept that Blaze’s mother, Cheryl Sullivan, left after an affair as a teen, Vivienne wants Blaze to pay. Some seem to be wise to Vivienne’s game, including her mother, JoAnne, and astute police officer, Captain Lewes, but they are all below her. They think they know better; little do they know she holds all the cards like her true allies do. Vivienne successfully manipulated her best friend, Lilly Mayberry, an IT specialist to help with surveillance, and Brenda Larkin, Blaze’s attorney, to obfuscate testimony and hide evidence receiving Vivienne’s intimate attention in return. Vivienne is also helped by her father, Lawrence, an attorney, who is in complete denial of his daughter’s borderline sociopathic ways.

 

Break Out Title:

1. Polyphonic
2. Quarter Notes
3. Under Fire

 

Comparables:

 

The story mixes She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb as well as Blood Sisters by Jane Corry to build a new suspense novel. Like Dolores Price, Blaze created a space between herself and the world around her.  Unlike Dolores, Blaze’s dissociation stems from her schizophrenic delusions and paranoia. Through therapy, the love and kindness of her girlfriend, Coyote Vargas, she sees there is no happiness in delusion as she works to rebuild her life. As in Blood Sisters, each character has a different version of the past and somewhere within those versions lies the truth.  Also, like Blood Sisters, people are watching Blaze. Some are leaving trinkets in her apartment, some are waiting to exact revenge, yet others are trying to intervene. Blaze Delacroix is paying the ultimate price for the bizarre circumstances her mother and Thibodeaus have created.

 

Hook Line:

As she prepares to be released from parole for an assault she committed while suffering from schizophrenic paranoia, Blaze Delacroix must confront the revenge of an ex-lover, fueled by family secrets, who will stop at nothing to destroy her.

 

Protagonist Conflict:

Blaze feels conflicted between some voices, delusions and paranoia of her schizophrenia and reality. For example, when her recurring delusion of “Hector” appears she aggressively tries to employ all her strategies to keep “him” at bay but when she needs comfort and familiarity, she interacts with “him” finding solace in the fact he knows and understands her. She wants to be rid of all her symptoms. She does not like the reaction she gets from people and predicted people’s reactions before they even occur. When trinkets are left around her home, she refuses to call the police because she does not want to be cast aside as “crazy”. Her symptoms, however, built bubble around her whether it be to her detriment or benefit. Further, Blaze struggles between fantasy and reality. When objects of her ex are appearing around her home, she considers the idea that “Hector” may be real and planting them. 

 

Secondary Conflict:

Coyote Vargas, Blaze’s love interest, cannot help but fall for Blaze however, she does not know if she can handle all that Blaze’s schizophrenia brings. Blaze takes on a laissez-faire attitude when approaching Coyote to the point Blaze is at her mercy. She had been rejected so many times she accepts whatever Coyote decides about their relationship. 

 

Third Conflict:

Estranged from Vivienne for most of her life, JoAnne struggles to reconcile the hopes and dreams she had Vivienne with the reality of who Vivienne is. Her conflict is further complicated, choosing to fulfill her secret obligation to Blaze’s mother or fulfill a maternal obligation to her daughter. 

 

Setting:

Polyphonic takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana, by strong people who can survive what is thrown at them with their intellect, wit, and a side hustle. Specifically, the antagonist lives in the Garden District surrounded by opulence and opportunity, further supporting her idea of superiority while the protagonist lives in the Quarter on Royal Street surrounded by art, music, and sometimes chaotic atmosphere. Since polyphonic music such as jazz and zydeco calm Blaze and keeps the chaos of her head at a distance, it is the perfect place for her to reside as it is an extension of herself. 

 

JoAnne Thibodeau spends most of her time driving a cab in New Orleans, weaving in and out of neighborhoods, highlighting her lack of connection to anyone and her transient nature. She is just as comfortable in the Quarter as she is in the Garden District and knows her way around each using back roads as easily as she uses main streets, just like she knows the inroads and out roads to get to people.

 

Lawrence Thibodeau works in Center City in an office high above the major streets, looking down upon all the poverty and people below him, literally. He is completely isolated from the outside world save for the criminals that call who need his services. He only cares about one thing, his daughter and himself, and he will also do anything to protect the bubble that he and Vivienne have created.

 

Police Captain Lewes frequents the neighborhood Irish Bar and has a home in the woods. The Irish Bar complements Lewes sense of community and heritage. He is most comfortable there and identifies with the atmosphere. This is depicted by the music lyrics reinforcing the conversations almost in a predictive nature. His cabin in the woods exemplifies his desire for something calm, organic and to call his own. This is illustrated by his self-reflection while he is alone and how his health deteriorates once he brings his work home with him.