Save Forever for Me: The Inspiration

I'm obviously becoming more and more forgetful. A couple of days ago, I posted that my second tagalog romance novel, Save Forever for Me, had been released. I babbled on about it, but somehow I forgot to mention the main inspiration for the novel.

It's a song.

To be specific, it's Nina's version of Saving Forever for You.

I loved it, and listened to it over and over while writing Save Forever for Me. I even culled the title from the song. The song, basically, captures the way Warren and Lia, my main characters, feel about each other.

Here it is:

I've never been so sure

About anything before

But this loving feeling

Gonna be a feeling I feel forever more

Looking in your eyes

Tomorrow's all I see

Long as there's forever, baby

I will always be

Saving forever for you, oh oh oh

You are the only one

I'll ever give forever to

Love for a lifetime won't do, oh oh oh

Wanna always stay together

So I'm saving forever for you

You'll be my world

As long as there's a world turning 'round

And you'll be my heaven

Baby, till the heavens all come falling down

Look inside my heart [Oh, yeah]

Love is all you'll see

Loving you forever,

Living just to be

Saving forever for you, oh oh oh

You are the only one

I'll ever give forever to

Love for a lifetime won't do, oh oh oh

[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/saving-forever-for-you-lyrics-nina.html ]

Wanna always stay together

So I'm saving forever for you

Forever I'll be loving you

Long as time passes by

I'll be there beside you, ho

Through it all, I'll be standing by you

Saving forever for you, oh oh oh

You are the only one

I'll ever give forever to

Love for a lifetime won't do, oh oh oh

Wanna always stay together

So I'm saving forever, saving forever for you

Saving forever for you (Hoo…ooh…ooh…)

You are the only one

I'll ever give forever to (You are the only one)

Love for a lifetime won't do, (oh oh oh)

Wanna always stay together

So I'm saving forever for you, for you

Saving forever

Saving forever for you

Saving forever, (Saving forever)

Saving forever for you

Saving forever, (Saving forever)

Saving forever for you

Saving forever, (Saving forever)

Saving forever for you..

...thoughts on romance

Romance has always been my first love.

Since I was little, I’ve wished for the fantasy of falling head over heels for someone, and then, magically, finding out that they feel the exact same way. I wanted the fireworks, the sweet one-liners that could make my day, and the little musings that could be shared only by two people in love. Maybe I cultivated the fantasy because of the endless stream of romantic comedies I inhaled or being raised in the generation of boybands—hot guys singing about you being their only one could turn anyone into a blabbering romantic.

Admittedly, I’ve become a bit more cynical over the years, and romance soon sank to the bottom of my list of priorities. After getting burned a couple of times, the idea of finding that perfect person for me turned more than a little sour, but a part of me has always kept hoping.

And that part, I guess, is responsible for all the romance novels I’ve been writing. Making two people fall in love is never easy, but it’s quite an amazing job.

Six Months to Go

I'm currently working on my report for my Poetry class later. I need to report on W.H. Auden's Musee des Beaux Arts and T.S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Poetry and I have always had a bit of a love-hate relationship. I like reading it, but I can't write a decent poem to save my life. I'm actually looking forward to Fiction, Western Visayan Literature, and English Literature next semester, especially to Fiction.

I don't understand, though, why English Literature deserves to be a subject. Of course, there are a lot of English writers who made great contributions to the world of literature, but we had European Literature last year and we just glossed over all the other European writers. We studied James Joyce, Gunter Grass, etc, but Dumas never even came up in the discussion.

And what about South American Literature? Gabriel Garcia Marquez pioneered magical realism, and we never even discussed him. I think a subject that tackles literature from South America should really be included in our curriculum.

Well, whatever, I guess I'm just sourgraping because I'm graduating soon, and I feel like I still have a ton of writers to study.

Save Forever for Me (2010)

Save Forever for Me

Camryn Morrell

Hindi makapaniwala si Lia sa ginawa niya: Nilayasan niya ang ama at tinakasan ang kasal niya sa lalaking pinili nito para sa kanya. Okay na sana dahil sa wakas ay nakalaya siya mula sa manipulasyon ng papa niya, kung bakit naman si Warren Alcantara pa ang kailangang makasama niya sa bahay na pagtataguan niya gayong puwede namang ang ina na lang nito. Pero dahil wala siyang gaanong choice at siya ang nakikituloy lang sa pamamahay nito, minabuti niyang pagtiisan ang company ng lalaking reincarnation yata ni Hitler. And then he did what Lia thought was the worst—he denied falling for her, matapos niyang umamin na mahal na niya ito….

Acknowledgement

Thanks to my mother who tries to understand my obsession with writing, and why I have to be wrenched away from my computer.

I would also like to thank my various college friends, namely Kera, Dianne, Edgelyn, Jeffrey, and Elaine. Thank you for taking the time to buy my books, and actually forcing me to sign them in public.

My heartfelt thanks also go to Nang Danielle, Ma'am Arlene and Sir Elsed for promoting my work! Literature majors stick together, yeah?

Of course, I thank everyone who bought copies of my first novel, His Secondhand Heart. God bless you all.

Extra Info:

• While writing, I imagined Alfred Vargas as Warren Alcantara and Anne Curtis as Lia Olivares.
• As of this writing, the story of Warren's friend, Dave Silverio, has been accepted for publication. So, please stay tuned for that one.