Amanda Coney is named after a girl I had a crush on as a teenager. When I wrote Larsen #2: Exit, I used her name for the singer rescued from a stray assassin's bullet. My notes for her have her becoming known as The Canary, after her rescuer's nickname of Blue Canary (later her boyfriend).

Stories Based on Songs was a contest for writing stories based on a song chosen by the the previous contest's winner. For the first contest though, Stumpy49er gave everyone their choice of songs to base their characters on. I chose "Black Velvet," by Alannah Miles.

I called Amanda "Candy Girl" in the contest version after the song by New Edition. Mainly because I thought of the joke that went with it, but also because it was another song reference. There has been a Candy Girl on my character list since just after the song came out, so this was combining two characters for me. I'm tempted to leave this story the same as the contest version, but I have more use for Amanda as Canary. Besides, Candy Girl is a little harsh for the girl I knew in real life.

The contest version ended like this:

They left and got in the front of a black Lincoln Continental. "May," Violet said politely. "It is time?"

"It is," answered May. "Sally, we're on the way to see Amanda Coney."

"Candy Girl?" she asked.

May made a disapproving face.

"Sorry," said Sally. "It's how I've always known her, but I don't know why she got that name."

"Because it's appropriate," said May scornfully.

"How so?" asked Sally.

"Because like candy," said May tiredly, "everyone gets a piece."

Sally stifled a laugh as they pulled away. Violet smiled slightly while staring out the windshield.

I obviously changed it a bit for this version.

Yes, her name is based on the phrase, "April showers bring May flowers," which is why in Larsen #2: Exit, April Showers is her driver/ bodyguard. May and April were among the first of my wordplay names. I have a lot of notes on them, but very little in actual stories.

Her name is directly inspired by "Mustang Sally," by Wilson Pickett. I threw her into this story simply as a third song reference, but my notes have always had her as the second driver/ bodyguard for May Flowers. She's been on my character list for a long time, but she came much later than May Flowers or April Showers.

I resisted using the name for a long time, because I figured it had probably been done somewhere. I finally looked into a bit though, and have found no reference to it. So I thought about it some more, and started really liking the idea. I gave her some family, a couple of friends, and before I knew it she was in.

Viloet's name comes from "ultra violet." I got her last name by making a slight contraction of "ultra." I decided pretty quickly that I wanted her to be aka African Violet, so I decided that "U'tra" was a French-ish name (my brief research found that French is spoken in parts of Africa), and is pronounced "oo-tray."

Her other identity of Black Velvet comes from her past. I haven't officially revealed that past yet, but unofficially, the character that is meant to be Black Velvet appears in my G.I. Joe: New Missions two-parter as Purple Four. The CCC that the story was originally written for was specific to G.I. Joe, and I didn't want to put the actual characters out there yet. So I tweaked them to the Breakers idea, and she was renamed Purple Four. That's not going to be an official alias for Violet U'tra though.