Exploring Character Depth and Supernatural Intrigue: A Look at Julitza Ramirez Prescott in the Trilogy 'The Devil That Haunts Them'

Venture with us beneath the boughs of the Flamboyant Tree as we unravel the intricate life of Julitza Ramirez Prescott, a young woman ensnared in a legacy of secrets. On this episode of 'Have a Cup of Johanny,' peel back the layers of storytelling with me, your host, as we explore the artistry behind "Under the Flamboyant Tree," the pivotal novel in the "Devil that Haunts Them" trilogy. Delve into the heart of character creation and witness how a blend of Scrivener's organizational prowess and the fluidity of discovery writing can conjure depth within the pages of a gripping tale.

Prepare to traverse the emotional landscape of a protagonist shaped by the Pisces sign, where empathy surges like a tide and generational whispers echo through the branches of a silent, watchful tree. Julitza's narrative, rich with the essence of smart horror and magical realism, beckons you into a realm where the paranormal and psychological intertwine. As we navigate her coming-of-age challenges and the evolution of her emotional state, expect a story that not only captivates but also offers profound reflections on the unseen battles faced by many. Join us and immerse yourself in the art of crafting characters that resonate long after the tale has been told.

Enter a world of fear, resilience, and generational trauma in "The Devil That Haunts Me". Follow Isabella and Julitza as they confront their demons in a tale of suspense, mystery, and the supernatural.

Explore the first seven chapters here

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Oh, we could, we could fly. Welcome to this new season of the have a Cup of Johani podcast. So I want to title this new season that I'm embarking on with I'm Growing, so this is going to be the season of growth and that's what I'm going to share with you throughout the season. So I thank you for coming over here and sitting with me and I hope you enjoy. Hello everyone, welcome to this. I keep getting my enumeration wrong. I think I said like welcome to the first episode of May, last episode, and then I looked and I was like episode, and then I looked and I was like that was not the first day of May, I wasn't even the first day of May. Okay, so I'm going to count right now One, two, three, four. Welcome to the fourth episode of May, folks.

Speaker 1: 0:58

And, if you have remembered, we are discussing all about the trilogy, the Devil that Haunts them, and we're talking about the current work in progress that I have right now under the flamboyant tree and these three women, three generations of Ramirez, women that will have each a book of their own. So under the flamboyant tree is Isabela's book, then we're going to have another book that will be for La Doña, yet untitled. And then we're going to have another book for Julitsa, who is the daughter of Isabella, granddaughter of La Doña, and on today's episode we are talking about Julitsa. Are you ready? Of course you are. Let's go, all right, julitsa, julitsa. Julitsa. Julitsa Ramirez Prescott, 22 years old. So I have all these character cards on Scrivener, which is a program that I used to write A quick blurb about Scrivener.

Speaker 1: 2:26

I love it, so I can't say really bad things about it, other than the learning curve was wow, like really high, right. But and I feel like right now I'm still learning, even though I've been using the program for, like, I want to say, five years now. It is still something new to learn about this program because it just has so much that it can give a person who writes fiction, nonfiction, essays, whatever, but for fiction it is just so instrumental because it allows me to kind of like move things around easily, as opposed to having copy and pasting and having to find the right area where to put it in. It's just it's really easy, because sometimes, as you draft the story, I'm going to use myself as an example here. I'm a discovery writer, so I just I write to my heart's content and that's how I figure out about the characters and how they play into the story and for me that takes me quite a few quote unquote first drafts where I'm really discovering the story, until I end up with the final first draft. And because I write it in scenes format where each scene just has its own document within binders in Scrivener, it makes it that much easier to search for them, to allocate them, to change the order of them. It's just, it's so plug and play friendly, it is insane is so plug and play friendly, it is insane.

Speaker 1: 4:08

And one of the things that Scrivener has as well is it has like a file for everything. I have character sheets which are their own template on Scrivener and, like I said before, I've added to that template, so that way I get the things that I need from it. And then it also has templates for places, for the settings, and this is big for me because I tend to be a writer that tends to kind of like do dialogue and do internal monologue and all of that Right. And then it's like somebody told me you have like talking heads on a blank space. And yes, I got offended at first, yes, I got sensitive about it, but then I learned a little bit about myself once I was able to let go of the defensiveness and really listen to. This feedback tend to discount the setting. I tend to kind of like bypass it and then just go straight into a narrative and what the characters are doing. I tend to be very character focused, so I got to be very careful.

Speaker 1: 5:14

One of my passes as I rewrite and edit is just solely focused on setting, just so I can ensure that I don't have talking heads on a blank space. So on Scrivener, there's this whole format for it where you have the various settings that you'll be using in the story. So for me, I have a setting for Nantucket and I use sensory details of what the characters will see. I have one for like, off-campus Boston off-campus for Julissa because she's a college student. I have one for the morgue because Isabella, under like the second chapter, has to go to Boston and has to identify her daughter's body. So I have a setting sheet just for that. I have one for Julita's apartment. I have one for the house in San Francisco de Macori and I have one for the tree, because it's kind of like a setting and a character all of its own. So I have one for every bit of place of a thing that the characters will interact with in a detailed way.

Speaker 1: 6:28

If it's something that is important to that scene, I have a setting sheet for it, just so that way I can describe it well and know those things that the character will pay attention to when they go there. And now, thinking about it, I think I need to do one for Marisol Resorts in here, just so that way I can keep that in check. In this manuscript I have the resort several times in there and I just want to make sure that the things are jiving in there, right. I can't say, look, it has like a red carpet here, and then on the next scene that I'm talking about the Marisol Resort and I'm talking about that same office, then I'm saying that it has a yellow carpet in there, you know. So I got to make sure that I'm not inconsistent in my description. So that's why setting cards are important and that's why, in a nutshell, scrivener for me is very helpful, because I can have all of that in this one document for this manuscript and I don't have to leave Scrivener. Everything is there and if there's any research like I've done some research when it comes to legal stuff, because in this book we have Isabella that goes through a divorce, a contested divorce, and this is something that I researched because I had a lot of questions about it. So I have some of that research here which is just a copy and paste of the website, and you can do that on Scribner. You can just copy and paste it and then it takes like a screenshot of that website and you can look at it even if you're not online Another great thing about Scribner.

Speaker 1: 8:07

But nevertheless, let's talk about Julissa Ramirez Prescott and let me just pull up her character sheet. I'm so geeked out. She is the maiden. When we're talking about the maiden, the crone, and what is the other one? What did I say? Oh my God, hold on. Maiden crone, maiden mother crone. There we go. Okay, google approved. So Julissa.

Speaker 1: 11:00

I asked chat, gpt, right? I said this is the character Julissa. What sign do you think she fits in? And then the computer said Pisces. So Julitsa is a Pisces people, and this is so funny to me because I think my mom is a Pisces and Pisces are very, very sensitive individual.

Speaker 1: 11:22

I always think about how the water is kind of like fragile in a way, but so flexible at time and how it seems more sentimental, right, and our tears are kind of like water and it reminds me a lot of that movie, that cartoon movie elements, where the water beings are always crying, very sentimental, and they kind of like they have tapped into their sensitive side, which is a good thing, and we have the fire people that are not, are very kind of like, not in tune with that side. So when I think of Julitsa as a character, I think of the water beings in this movie that I watch. I think of her as someone that came into this world ready to cherish and to see and experience the beauty that the world has but unfortunately came face to face with the ugliness life has and was burdened throughout her life, the short 22 years that she had, with this burden of being unable to come out of the darkness, to come out of just being face-to-face with the devil, not being able to see nothing beautiful, after she experienced what she experienced and her personality reflection here is kind of like, goes in line right with what I just said. Pisces are empathetic, sensitive and often carry the weight of others' emotions and this is so much like Julitza. She carries it all inside and it's so hard for her to say anything. So she says nothing at all because she thinks her silence is helping her mother, without realizing that really the silence is part of that trauma that has been passed down from La Doña to Isabela, to Julissa, and she has a deep connection with the unseen. There will be some scenes in there where while she's staying with her grandma, she talks and connects really with the flamboyant tree and we end up figuring out that the tree itself, like I said, it's not just a setting, it's a character in itself. It's the repository of all the secrets that these women have, like their burdens, their joys, their fears. Everything has been kind of like dug into the roots of this tree and they're there and you will see that that's something that Isabella discovers and through that discovery she finds out.

Speaker 1: 14:23

In Julita's book you will see more of her path, how she got to the point where she was holding on to everything. For Julita's story it will be heavy on paranormal, heavy on the psychological, smart horror, then the flamboyantry, which is more contemporary magical realism, you see. So with these books I'm jumping genres, but every single one of them has a paranormal token in it. You know a bit of paranormal in it and that's what you will see. And she's no different than the other women. She has the devil that haunts her as well. For her it was the broken trust with her stepfather. That's the devil that haunts her and from that experience she becomes someone who can't see the light anymore. She becomes someone that doesn't see the beauty in the world anymore, and because she's a Pisces and she's very sensitive to everyone's emotions as well as her own, this really brings her down a downward spiral and in life her primary goal is really to escape the oppressive environment that she has, living under the same roof as the devil that haunts her.

Speaker 1: 16:06

But the thing is right that when you're that age, you are attached. It's like this is something that I really had to sit down with, because when you're that age, you're a young adult, you kind of are your own person, but you really are not, because you're still dependent on a lot of things. You're dependent on your parents for giving you the knowledge to be able to grasp and do certain things as a new adult. Right, you depend, if you're going to college, on the university to take care of certain things for you. You are so dependent on so many things, but the world sees you as an adult, but inside you really don't feel like one, and that is something that I had to articulate very carefully when it comes to Julitsa, because it is kind of like these painful emotions that she goes through as she understands this that while legally she is an adult, she is still very much like a child inside, like a hurt child inside, and you will see that when you get to read her book.

Speaker 1: 17:23

When it comes to her physical description, like I said, I don't really go too deep into physical descriptions for the characters. I tend to go more into how they feel inside and the things that make them tick. Nevertheless, for Julissa, she has her mother's dark brown eyes right, which are very sad, sad eyes, and then I make that differentiation so that way the reader can acknowledge that how, when she steps off the plane, she is very hopeful when she meets her mom, but then there's a point in the story where her gaze is no longer the same, and that is something that is so subtle sometimes in real life. But when you look back at it, particularly when somebody unlives themselves, then you think back on that moment and then you're like, ah, that's when that change happened. So I just wanted to kind of give that a minute in the page, right, so that way we can reference that there and educate the reader as well. Because you may have heard me say this before. But I mean, not only do I want my books to be representative, I want them to be realistic, I want them to be entertaining, but I also want the reader to learn something from it. And I think in this book, in Julita's book, the reader will learn just how delicate life is.

Speaker 1: 19:00

The theme for this book is that one that we have heard so many times, which is we don't really know what people are going through when we see them. There's so much weight that can be on somebody's shoulders that you don't really know when you just superficially talk to them. But if you do get to know them, or at least just give them that grace to treat them as if they are going through something, knowing that you don't really know the extent of it, then at the very least that will help with interactions with other people. But that's going to be the theme here just that unknown factor of the weight that people carry inside that no one really knows, unless eventually it happens to you and you know. But back to her physical description. She has curly hair like her mom. She rebels with her mom. This was something that I did put in here.

Speaker 1: 20:02

Isabella, you will see that she is very meticulous about straightening her hair and that is something that I went through. That was a phase that I went through, trying to kind of like renege on my culture where I came from, and I think it had to do with thinking without maturity or much knowledge that for me to embrace that but being in the United States, I had to let go of where I came from. Now that I'm a little older and mature, now I understand that I don't need to let go of that. I can embrace both and I can continue to be myself. So I used to straighten my hair quite a lot. I went through a lot of procedures and the curls will always come back and I have stopped doing that. I no longer do it. So I gave Julitsa that.

Speaker 1: 20:58

I gave Julitsa my latter stage of rebellion and she rebels against her mother asking her to straighten her hair because it will look better and instead she just leaves it natural. And this is kind of like a way that she fights back. Because one thing about Julitsa is that, while she feels a lot and she wants to say a lot, the way that she says it instead of words is through actions, which some people may think is like acting up or being a brat, but really for her it's kind of like having some sort of control, because, like I said, when you are on that precipice of being a new adult, you kind of want to assert adulthood but don't really know how and you still end up feeling like a big baby, while legally you are an adult, you know. So this is what we're going to see here with Julitsa a lot Okay, personality, and I'll be wrapping this up shortly.

Speaker 1: 22:08

She is like her mother, she is a close book. I'll be wrapping this up shortly. She is like her mother, she is a closed book, trained to guard her family secret because de eso no se habla people, you know that and she bears her burdens in silence. However, she possesses a silent strength and a yearning for freedom and authenticity. Her intelligence and introspection are evident, though she rarely opens up except with Natalia, and you will meet Natalia very briefly under the flamboyant tree, but in Julita's book she'll be there much longer. So you will really get to know Natalia.

Speaker 1: 22:46

I have gotten to know Natalia quite a lot. All right, habits and mannerism. I'll give you this one before I close off. She has a habit of retreating into herself, kind of like this physically closing off from the world. It's like it's a very visual shutdown that she does when something triggers her and Natalia. In her world and Yulita's world, natalia can catch on, can catch on to that, but others not so much, and others end up making the misconception once again that she's just being snooty or she's just being someone that is hard to be around and Natalia doesn't really know the scope of the trauma, what Julissa has been going through, and she won't find out until later. But you will kind of be able to see if you read under the flamboyant tree. You will see how Natalia plays a role on bringing in Isabella into what happened to Julitza and what Julitza knows. And that's the key right there, people, because that's the scene that ties Under the Flamboyant Tree with Julitza's book. So there's scenes in Under the Flamboyant Tree that ties into the other two books. For Julissa's book it's going to be the moment that Natalia meets Isabela. That's where that other book ties in. And when it comes to La Doña's book it will be during the flashback that Isabela has when she sees her mother getting married, and that's where her mother's story begins. So it's very interesting.

Speaker 1: 24:40

I don't know if this is my first time writing a series, I don't know if this is how you write series. I just it felt very organic to me to write it this way, to kind of have that link seen to the other books. So that way it's kind of like you have a road, right, so I have a road for Under the Flamboyant Tree, but there's intersections of other roads to the other books, right? But no matter which road you take, they all lead to the other one. Like you can take the road to La Doña's through La Doña's book and it will lead you to under the flamboyant tree and then it will lead you to Yulita's book. Or you can take Yulita's road and it will lead you to the flamboyant tree and then to La Doña's book. So they all lead. They're all interconnected and lead to one another. They're all interconnected and lead to one another. But once you read all three of them, then you will have a more complete picture of the puzzle, because they're all interconnected, but they're all different genres too, and that's what we're going to talk about in the next episode is how the Did I come up with a trilogy where each book falls under a different genre, and I'm going to let you know how I worked that one out.

Speaker 1: 26:04

All right, folks, I hope you enjoy this. I hope you are curious to get to know Julitsa a little bit more, not just in Under the Flamboyant Tree, but in the other two books. I can't wait for you to get to know these characters, these women, a whole lot more, and I will talk to you next Wednesday when we're going to talk about this mind genre bending trilogy. I'll see you next time, bye. Thank you so much for listening. I want to hear from you, leave me a comment, do a rating if you can on the podcast, share it with somebody you love, but, most importantly, come back. See you next time. Bye.