St.Tosia - Inspiration for and Development of the stories

video introduction for those who rather listen than read a lot
yet, it will make you curious to read what follows below

Story inspiration		Story line development
About the author

Story inspiration

Two things inspired me to create St.Tosia. And it is not always about what I personally like, but rather what do audiences like and especially American audiences as it may be the largest source market for the stories, not just because of the language, but also because of their sense of humor.

# 1 The songs of Jimmy Buffett that where always ranked high in the hit parades and always dealt with "the tropical zone where the expatriated American is hoping to find some fun.... trying to find what is ailing in the land of the free". Think of "Changes in Latitude" and especially "Margaritaville". The latter was so much liked that it became a brand name. Now there is a franchise chain of Margaritaville hotels and there is also a chain of "5 o'Clock Somewhere Bar and Grill". Songs about what audiences obviously liked, became a business, because audiences identify with the text of the songs, and they also describe the environment they like.
So, why not St.Tosia in the tropical zone, I thought.

#2 The programs of Garrison Keillorr on PBS. His beloved show was called "Prairie Home Companion", but striking were his 15-20 minute "News from Lake Wobegon" stories. Lake Wobegan was a totally fictitious town. According to Keillor, the word Wobegon came from an old Native American word meaning "the place where we waited all day in the rain", which is nonsense, but it fits nicely between all other Native American names of towns and cities. The typical monologue began: "Well, it's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, my hometown, out there...". His news reports where about the events and adventures of the townspeople with a wealth of humorous and often touching stories.
So, why not stories about St.Tosia, the island Columbus forgot?

I had to come up with a name for the island. Typically, in the Caribbean many island names start with Saint. It also had to be short. A fictitious island should not be named after a real saint; that may be considered disrespectful. So, I decided for Tosia, a girl's name seldom seen and originating in the Balkan. St.Tosia is not listed in the Catholic register of Saints. Usually, a Saint is a patron of something. I came up with "Patron of the Martyrs of Dreadful Suffering". Why? Because I began the whole story that in December 1502 on his fourth voyage to the New World, Columbus found himself with his two caravels in hurricane conditions for two days. When the storms died down, he made sight of an island never seen before and because of the suffering they went through he named it after the Patron of the Martyrs of Dreadful Suffering, St.Tosia.

Important in my view is that he stories had to be almost believable, which means fictitious, but it could well be... I have tested the concept and stories several times in social media online and here are some reactions (I have the names of the people who commented but don't show them here. They are real persons and mainly from the USA):

"You have the makings for a great Caribbean tale with St.Tosia- all the characters we've come to know on a daily basis, not to mention pirates of every kind. It's funny, too."
"Cannot find St. Tosia on Google Earth, where is it?"
"Personally, I'm a fan of St. Tosia, and feel glad because Google Map cannot find it, no radar, it is the perfect shelter for any intellectual with imagination, and any thinking and critical mind."
"You sir, are tremendously inspiring!!"
"This would be "it" for me. I would never go back to mainland unless it was for a trip."
"Just great that such Hemmingway fellows are still around."
"St.Tosia sounds like paradise to me. I would like to run for Parliament?? It is good fun to read your stories. Should definitely be printed."
"I could see your chapters being a series in the papers...: chapter/day or /week."
"This is great. I keep checking back each day for the next installment. Please keep it going!"
"'Living the dream' Cdr, love the stories. Please keep it up."
"I'd such a laugh reading that piece ... there's probably more to that story than you're willing to tell no doubt!!"
"You know what this also tells me Bud ... besides a good story of course, is that you have surely become one heck of a good writer."
"I always enjoy reading your articles. I'll hope someday soon to read your first print. I'm also going to look up St.Tosia, sounds like the place to go for my vacation."

Last but not least:
The characters, incidents and locations portrayed, and the names used in these stories are fictional and any similarity to any vicious character, incident and location or biography of any person is purely coincidental and unintentional; the author offers a thousand humble apologies already for any unforgivable bewilderment. Behind every story there is a lot of research done. That is why sometimes things may sound fairly realistic.

And:
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED as well as ST.TOSIA™ (Trade Mark)

Story line development

To write a book and a series of episodes about a fictitious island, I had to create a story line. Timewise the build-up of St.Tosia goes rather fast through history and background to get to the more entertaining stories of the present everyday life on the island. New stories and episodes around St.Tosia will be published frequently.

And so...., it was discovered by Columbus and it was the Caribbean island that he forgot. That explains why it became fictious. After all, it completely fits the overall representation of Columbus that he didn't know where he was going, he didn't know where he was when he got there, and he didn't know where he had been when he came back home.

No mention of colonial powers. Besides eliminating any colonial issues, it was also important to me that there was never anything racial on the island and no slavery. It just appears to be a very international and intercultural island as all the names indicate.

It almost suggests that it was a pirate nest right from the beginning, which is acceptable for an audience wanting to read about the Caribbean. Plus, it offers the opportunity for me to make some humorous references at various occasions. For instance, that 17^th century piracy was ground layer of the Tosiatic off-shore banking of nowadays.

Tosiatic, by the way, is new invented word that could mean anything like ridiculous, crazy, naughty, unusual, or challenging.

A bit more decency came to the pirate island, when by co-incidence two God fearing monks landed on the island. They were passengers of the Spanish galleon "Nuestra Señora del Sol" which in bad weather hit and smashed violently on a notorious dangerous reef East of St.Tosia and it sank immediately. Padre Francesco and Padre Vicência were the only survivors. They constructed a simple chapel on the island as an act of gratitude for their survival. Padre Francesco and the pirate Captain Blaggard were able to find common ground in the word 'Manna' and agreed that a pirate prize that falls into their hands is like manna from heaven. For the prior it was needed to build up a mission geared to converse the pirates.

And from here on, I have the freedom to create a wide spectrum of stories which are entertaining. I have the opportunity to integrate anything that may insinuate being Caribbean. Anything that follows is Tosiatic. There is no particular role model for St.Tosia. I do a lot of research on anything happening now and in the past on locations in the Caribbean, from Cuba to Guyana. But once it is written, it will be hard to pinpoint what inspired me. Who cares anyway; most important is that it is entertaining. I also make sure that all the "actor's" names don't belong to real persons.

And thus...,
I claim that the almost true and almost believable stories about St.Tosia reflect what I have experienced while residing on the fictitious island St.Tosia, and when monitoring what else is going on in the rest of the Caribbean.

And when writing fiction, one also gets fictitious compliments:

- "Cdr. Bud's wonderful and truly Tosiatic observations are relaying exotic characteristics. Why tell more? He carries his readers to the sunny side of life on St.Tosia and a kind of warmness that the heart understands with a smile." - Safira Silverblum, Publisher and Managing Editor, STYLE ISLAND magazine (neither Safira nor Style Island magazine exist).

- "St.Tosia, the island Columbus forgot" was nominated three times for the prestigious Golden Goose Feather Award of the AWBSRP - Association for Writing that goes Beyond Sense of Reality and Psychosis. (of course, such association doesn't exist).

About the author

extensive professional profile