The Halls of Westwood [BxB]

Authors Note/ About Me

So this is my first story on Wattpad to actually pick up traction which is pretty cool. I love reading your comments and I'm thankful for all of the messages I've been getting and the following on TikTok! So here I thought I'd do a little bit of a get-to-know me as well as talking a little bit about the story.

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Why Did I Write The Halls of Westwood?
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I don't have one specific reason for this. I can't tell you much about why I wrote in what I did but I do know that I wanted to try and represent the growth and development of relatable characters of all levels of maturity. I wanted to write a story about opposites and coming together, especially in a world as split and diverse as ours.

I write because I love showing different sides of every story. I love breaking down the expectations and predictability of writing and most of all, I love giving under-represented people somebody to relate to. I'm Shawnee, like Aiden, and I grew up with Pocahontas or Brother Bear as the only movies where I could find someone from my culture. Every book or movie I watched made people's entire identity based on their culture or made them some sort of spiritual guide. It was always weird and uncomfortable to watch because all I wanted was just another Indigenous person who phased normal every-day struggles.

That is why I wrote in characters like Aiden and Markos. Although Aiden's culture has a lot to do with his upbringing and values, he doesn't revolve around it like every other Indigenous character I grew up watching on tv or reading about. And although Markos being trans is important to him, it isn't the only, for lack of a better word, struggle in his life. I didn't want to make their journeys revolve around that and I hope I'm doing a good job.

So writing Westwood isn't just important to me because I like writing or because I wanted to write a romance between characters. It's been about writing the growth and change of characters that have relatable struggles and relatable backgrounds.

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What Do My Characters Represent?

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Beau Martin

Beau is made to represent the darkness found in light or the ugliness in beauty. He is supposed to be everything good and bright in the world and is made to show that there's a lot more to somebody than how they present themselves. Beau's personality revolves around being kind and compassionate, always putting others first, and always being the first to accept and love people for who they are. He is also made to show the effects of grief and how much it can change someone. I once heard the quote, "Sometimes somebody lives so hard for another that they forget to live for themself" and that was what inspired Beau. If you read The Burning Barn you can see that Beau is not the same person he was in chapter one. You can see how different his mindset is and how much he's evolved emotionally. The thing I chose to symbolize Beau was the sunflower because it represents loyalty and adoration; something Beau is constantly receiving and giving throughout the story.

Aiden Coldwater

Aiden was written to be the opposite of Beau. While Beau is the darkness in the light and the ugly in beauty, Aiden is the light in the darkness and the beauty in the ugly. Aiden was written to come from a very dark and neglectful place. Although he is exposed to a lot more than the others, he is still the most ignorant. He gives so much of himself to the world and rarely receives any back. Aiden is made to show the challenges of not feeling as though you belong to yourself. He is made to be someone who will constantly throw himself at the world to shield those he loves. He represents the importance of boundaries and learning that some people just aren't worth keeping around. I chose the dream catcher to best symbolize him because it represents protection.