Turning Daydreams into the Caffrey Conversation stories

Some aspects of the Caffrey Conversation AU existed in my mind long before I started writing the stories. One of those elements was Neal and Henry's band: Urban Legend. As I listened to songs, I'd imagine Neal and Henry performing, pondering who would perform which parts. I even went so far as to create an Urban Legend playlist. As Angela became more real to me, I added songs for a female voice to the playlist. (Definitely a Mom thing. She liked to see that women got a fair shot, whether in music or Top Chef or anything else. So Urban Legend needs a female member, the White Collar team needs Tricia, etc.)
Warning: spoilers for Caffrey Flashback and White Collar episode Parting Shots at the end of this post.

Sometimes I spun stories around a set of songs, coming back to favorite stories again and again to add more details about the performance. Recently I shared one of those stories with Silbrith, and she suggested I should turn it into a blog post. Here's a flashback to pre-Caffrey Conversation days, with one of my daydreams about Urban Legend:

There's a dinner club. Let's call it "Sing for Your Supper." It's members only, and is known to have fantastic live music. Elizabeth Burke has heard about the club and would love to visit. Unfortunately, she doesn't know any members to invite her as a guest. Members are all singers or musicians, and new members have to be recommended (maybe sponsored is the better term) by existing members.

Grateful for Peter and El giving him a chance and making him feel like family, Neal decides to get them into the club for dinner. Song writer Miranda Garza finds him a sponsor. Neal goes to the club and auditions one evening to gain membership status. Neal's performance is impressive and he is approved for membership.

Then he takes Peter and El to the club. He might not tell them where they're going until they get there and El is ecstatic. They don't know he's a member; they think he knows a member and they are all guests. Peter's curious, of course, about who their benefactor is, and how Neal knows him or her.

Members who perform on a given night get a free dinner for themselves and up to two guests. Otherwise it might be a stretch to take them on Neal's budget. Therefore he must perform, letting Peter and El into the secret that he's a practiced singer. He sneaks away without telling them he's heading to the stage. Suddenly the spotlight is on him, and he sings. Peter and El are delighted with his performance.

Miranda arranged a surprise for Neal. She sends Henry (although back in those days I called him Shawn) to audition that night. He joins in during Neal's second song, and they perform together. They have some fun with it, darting in and out of the spotlights, trading places and challenging the audience to keep up with who's who. And that's how Peter and El meet Shawn. At the time I was thinking the group was Shawn Urban and Neal Legend, giving us Urban Legend.

Many of my daydreams did make it into stories eventually. The "Neal is given a drug overdose and must be airlifted to a hospital" merged with "Neal has nightmares and flashbacks about a childhood trauma" in Caffrey Flashback. However, in my original daydreams the nightmares & flashbacks weren't triggered by a drug overdose, but by Ellen Parker's death in canon. Several Urban Legend daydreams eventually converged in Caffrey Disclosure.

Daydreams are, in my opinion, an important part of the writing process. Some inspiration comes as I'm writing and hearing the characters' voices, but they also speak to me when I let my mind wander.

Or as Neil Gaiman put it, "You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we're doing it."