Behind The Scenes:
Sour Muffin's Sweet First Day of School
Hi all! Welcome to another blog entry and this will answer your questions about Sour Muffin.
First of all, Sour Muffin is a character I created a couple of years ago with a bold audacious style to anchor what will be a series of interactive digital books for children. The character's behaviour and thought processes are based on my experiences - and things that would be fun to do! Of course, Sour Muffin is a little girl and I chose to make her female for a few reasons.
Most importantly is one of my favourite authors, Lawrence Hill, blew my mind when he made the protagonist in "The Book of Negroes / Somebody Knows My Name" female. He wrote the book from the perspective, and life, of a woman that he created. That is a challenge that took hold of my imagination and so, Sour Muffin became female.
Another factor in deciding to make her female is because the modern world still holds differences between men and women - and many times women finish second. Even now, gender role stereotyping continues and I wanted my protagonist to push through that foolishness. Sour Muffin simply isn't having any of that!! She, legitimately, will question everything and if it doesn't make sense, she will call it out. If she asks, "Why is the sky blue?" You had best give her an answer that makes sense!!!
Why choose cupcake kids instead of humans? This is the fantastical element for children. Everybody knows cupcakes aren't alive, that's silly! And silly is the starting point for absolutely inoffensive, non-judgmental, nonsensical fun. The Cupcake Crew are Sour Muffin's friends and they each have their own personalities and motivations. Yes, the cupcake kids were not randomly tossed in! For example, Rainbow Rodney.
Rainbow Rodney is the only cupcake that has rainbow frosting - and different coloured eyes! But what's important for Rodney is having fun and helping his friends. There are no other meanings other than his features are unique. Remember, these are stories and adventures for little children that are meant to entertain them with fantastical adventures, and interactions, that are simply fun. By the way, Rainbow Rodney is my favourite character and it's a lot of fun to become him.
Lastly is that I've had the privilege of being father to an only child. Although he wanted to have siblings, that wasn't in the cards! So I would make up stories, daily, to tell him at bedtime and when he asked questions, we would figure out the next action. Every night, no matter where I was in the world, I always had an entertaining story.
His favourite character was Archie, the AH-64 helicopter. The two of them would go off on missions every night and they would always begin and end the same way. Archie would fly over his daycare and call for him over his loudspeaker. Mason would say goodbye to his mates and fly off into all sorts of adventures. Imagine a 3-year-old piloting a helicopter all over the place and chasing "bad guys." Of course, every mission had to end in time for Archie to get him back to the daycare before his mom arrived!!!
Archie was Mason's best friend, for a few years, and then one day - Archie was no longer needed. A few years ago I found a comic book I had made for him to take to daycare to share his special world with his friends. He said seeing that again really made his day!!! It's been suggested I take Archie out of mothballs... I don't know if I can... Maybe...
So that's the silly fun behind Sour Muffin and her cupcake crew. I hope her first little adventure brings your little ones plenty of laughs, and I've been told her next adventure involves a little redheaded witch and Halloween. And yes, I will include an audio track!
Stay safe!
