Keeping the mermaids alive! They do exist!

[MarkF]

Keeping the mermaids alive!
Lets use for a moment Disneyland as a example of unity of a message. If a child 2 yrs or 20 asks Cinderella, Mickey or Goofy are they real, whether mom’s there or not. They are always in character. If you ask any actor a question of their character the story is always the same.
Perhaps the Network could create a mermaid story everyone could use. And when we talk of two mermaids at the same event they are sisters or brothers. They could have different personality for the same event or a mermaid could own her personality and be the same everywhere.
You could tell stories about your sisters and the kids could relate.
If we use greek stories as a basis you will at least be teaching a history.

[Theta]

I think most of the pro or semi-pro mers on here already have their own backstories to tell kids or whoever. I'm not sure too much cohesion would be a good thing, as there are too many variable people floating around in this community.

Also, with everyone's different backgrounds, Greek stories don't fit everyone's persona. Also (history nerd here) I have to point out that most of the time, working with Greek myths, you wouldn't be teaching a history, you'd be teaching a mythology. Unless your mermaid character is going to talk about Greek naval battles, like Salamis or Artemisium or something if you wanted to be historically factual, or the Trojan War if you wanted to be a little bit historically sketchy. And those are not really child friendly topics :/

[Arella]

Yeah I like having my own story and I'm sure many mers feel the same.

[MarkF]

Greek was mean't as an example. Tunnels between waters, meetings with other Mermaids, problem family members. A lot of members use Greek names already. ( Mermaid Theta, what's your angle? :) )
Both of you are very real looking Mermaids. Do you realize that likely the little kids that see you will think of you whenever they hear "Mermaid" for the rest of their lives and quite possibly any cute plausible story you have they will tell their kids. Worked on me.

I enjoy reading threads of their experiences and sometimes Mer's cave to the unusual pressure or circumstances because they were caught off guard. Having even a simple story could help in the professionalism of a Mer or an experience poolside. The people of this Mernet are so very talented.

An example
Without being a Pro or in a tail, have you been asked if you were a Mermaid or Merman "for some of us" by kids or adults? Happen to me a second time couples weeks ago. I normally swim underwater and can hold my breath for up 3 minutes at a local pool with little kids and families almost every other day. I spent a week teaching one little boy to swim and when he use a kick board or started free swimming I swam underneath him looking up ready to catch him doing laps on the surface. A couple weeks ago I was confronted by a bunch of 4 to 7 year old's while drying off. "Are you a Merman, you don't need to breath and don't swim on the top?" I told them not so loud, that supposed to be a secret. Now they ask for a little more each time they see me at the pool. Before next summer my tail will be ready and then I can have more fun.
As you are real mermaids with tails-
Wow you guys could change some worlds.

[Kishiko]

I'm not sure I really understand what you're getting at.

We we all basically have our own back stories of where we came from and have developed our mersonas. We don't reall need to come up with a community wide story.

[MarkF]

When I talk to kids now I tell them of you. These little people are waiting for my mermaid friends to come over.
If you meet them would your meeting be cohesive with what they think? I believe children are allowed to be children and to them you are magic. I'd like to hear more success of exchanges so as a suggestion for the Mer's that haven't thought about what they'd say before it happens we could make suggestions.

There has never before been such a large organized group of Mermaids before, we are worldwide. What we could do with this is huge! Be huge. Kids are waiting, even parents.

Forgive if this comes out choppy, It's 90 out and I'm writing with welding gloves, leather jacket and a scaf.

[Mermaid Wesley]

Most kids aren't going to meet more than one mermaid, and if they do it's probably going to be all at once. (Like a meetup. Mers can coordinate a story among themselves to use for the day) Plus I like saying "all mermaids are different" so that the kids are more liable to accept multiple stories as the truth. We all enjoy coming up with our own stories and though in theory a standard story would make things more real, it would only happen with a few kids and it sortof squashes the creativity of individual mers.


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[MarkF]

Whats your story if asked

[Mermaid Wesley]

If asked what? Like generic stuff, I say I'm a mermaid and I have a sister who prefers to live on land and that different mermaids have different abilities and different kings/queens. It's not really a finalized story, just what I've made up on the spot.


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[Sherielle]

I think I get what you are saying, Mark. I work as a performer at a renaissance festival and it helps for the performers to have a common background whether it's the time period or the local of the fair (i.e. 16th century England). They all have the same king and when people ask the characters things, there is a continuity on the answers.
Only, you are suggesting this for all the performers here on this forum.
While it's an interesting thought, I really don't think it's feasible. Like it was mentioned, the chances that a child would see more than one mermaid from this forum is highly unlikely. Were we to be entertaining the same group of people, then I would say it's a capital idea. But we are all individuals here, I'm sure that some people wouldn't appreciate someone else's idea forced upon them (not to say that you are).
Now if a child sees me performing and says "I've seen Mermaid Raina! Or Mermaid Iona!" I would get happy and tell them that they are friends of mine and we speak though the ocean net. (or something like that). Plus, tbh, a child doesn't need an in depth history of a character. They quickly get bored of stuff that doesn't pertain to them. Or sure there are the rare few who enjoy that sort of thing, but for the most part, they just want to 'see the mermaid and say hi!'.

my two cents

[Echidna]

I understand Mark's vision.

MN is the biggest global mermaid connection, and we could take realism to a whole new level if we had some guidelines we'd all adhere to (not necessarily fleshed-out storylines, but things kids often ask, like; do you have a king/queen, do you know Ariel, how do you get legs, and so on).

While that is indeed a fascinating idea, Wesley & Aurelia have already pointed out why it'd largely be unnecessary:
most kids will only meet one mermaid in their region and thus never compare stories;
it's more diverse to have different stories (after all, if you ask normal people something, you'll get tons of different answers);
and then there's the fact not every mer is a children's entertainer, or willing to do a make-believe performance at any given time.

Personally, I think we already have this kind of "general cohesive story".
There are mers in every ocean of the world, one could say there is royalty (those who are very well known, for example), there are pods, there are friends or siblings who mermaid together, there are friendly mers who help people, and there are predatory mers who eat children :p

If we take Mn at face value, there is quite a lot of info that would be cohesive and thus realistic.
Don't forget though that mermaids and waterfairies from folklore are of a hundred different kinds, with different appearances, powers, habitat, and traits.
It's good how it is. :)

[PearlieMae]

I understand what you are getting at, but - and I was just pondering this very thing recently - I LIKE that there isn't 'an industry standard'. We all know how vampires are supposed to behave because of Dracula and all the vampire media that's followed...same for zombies, ghosts, wizards, etc...

Since there are so few mermaids in the popular culture...Splash! if you are of a certain age or Disney's The Little Mermaid, and that's pretty much it. I'm also glad there isn't much backstory to either one, because that way, we can all devise our own mythology.

I have in mind certain legends and rules for mermaids in a story I am writing, and I'm glad I don't have to deal with the mermaid equivalent of 'vampires can't go in the sunlight'.

Me, I like the idea of IMIUAIGA.

I'm Making It Up As I Go Along.

[Theta]

Greek was mean't as an example. Tunnels between waters, meetings with other Mermaids, problem family members. A lot of members use Greek names already. ( Mermaid Theta, what's your angle? :) )
Both of you are very real looking Mermaids. Do you realize that likely the little kids that see you will think of you whenever they hear "Mermaid" for the rest of their lives and quite possibly any cute plausible story you have they will tell their kids. Worked on me.

I enjoy reading threads of their experiences and sometimes Mer's cave to the unusual pressure or circumstances because they were caught off guard. Having even a simple story could help in the professionalism of a Mer or an experience poolside. The people of this Mernet are so very talented.

An example
Without being a Pro or in a tail, have you been asked if you were a Mermaid or Merman "for some of us" by kids or adults? Happen to me a second time couples weeks ago. I normally swim underwater and can hold my breath for up 3 minutes at a local pool with little kids and families almost every other day. I spent a week teaching one little boy to swim and when he use a kick board or started free swimming I swam underneath him looking up ready to catch him doing laps on the surface. A couple weeks ago I was confronted by a bunch of 4 to 7 year old's while drying off. "Are you a Merman, you don't need to breath and don't swim on the top?" I told them not so loud, that supposed to be a secret. Now they ask for a little more each time they see me at the pool. Before next summer my tail will be ready and then I can have more fun.
As you are real mermaids with tails-
Wow you guys could change some worlds.

Never said having a Greek name didn't work for me ;)

[Echidna]

I have in mind certain legends and rules for mermaids in a story I am writing, and I'm glad I don't have to deal with the mermaid equivalent of 'vampires can't go in the sunlight'.

only they can, both in real folklore tales, and even in Bram Stoker's idiotic book ;)
(they don't sparkle though)

the entire "crumbles to dust"-idea is very recent, and was conceived by the director of "Nosferatu".
Previously, such a thing was unknown, and the closest thing you can find is a fairy (Asrai), which dissolves into water in sunlight.

[Theta]

You're also assuming that we more or less exclusively market ourselves to children. Or that we're family friendly. I'm not.* I swear and growl and make inappropriate innuendos. Where's the room for a mermaid who says things like, "You can take your bubble kisses and shove them up your ass," in more or less cohesive world?

*I do occasionally do kids parties where I behave myself, obviously. But they're few and far between and I don't really seek them out, I do them as favors to people who can't cover it themselves and don't want to lose a booking. Then it's fake it til you make it! But my public mersona is otherwise quite salty.

[PearlieMae]

You're also assuming that we more or less exclusively market ourselves to children. Or that we're family friendly. I'm not.* I swear and growl and make inappropriate innuendos. Where's the room for a mermaid who says things like, "You can take your bubble kisses and shove them up your ass," in more or less cohesive world?

*I do occasionally do kids parties where I behave myself, obviously. But they're few and far between and I don't really seek them out, I do them as favors to people who can't cover it themselves and don't want to lose a booking. Then it's fake it til you make it! But my public mersona is otherwise quite salty.

Here here!

I plan on doing non-child events as Oracle of the Oceans, and I plan to have a busy Hallowe'en season.

I was going to say 'adult events' but that conjures some unsavory stuff.

[MarkF]

Aah! The Merstress of the Marsh and not Merfette. I’ll try and make this short, it's to easy to ramble.
I was talking with a manager at A&E Entertainment a couple weeks ago to see the feasibility of creating better Mermaid story. The one that was on cable was lame relative to what many Mers have going on here. “Mermaid corpses, Mermaids are far more discrete that that.” They don’t see any unity of story. The stories of old are crumbling and that last cable show didn’t help the case.
H2O people to Mermaids, Mako Mermaid to People. Splash had possibilies for storytelling.
Let’s add Magic- I like the idea of putting the magic back. Most people like big magic tricks, the one that you know can’t be real yet you leave scratching you head. We could do one better.
Magic- Ya know a lot of myth has bits of truth and room for imagination. We need more of a question with a question, let world fill in the blanks. Did you know all the continents of the world in ancient times had Mermaid stories, they didn’t have a way to tell each other. Yet each had them.
Maybe there Mermaids, that would be a plausible explanation. But we know that’s ridicules right?

It very likely we would have found Mermaid bodies or bones by now. Well if they had leg bones like ours we wouldn’t realize it. Dolphins, Seals, Whales have hands and finger don’t they.
http://www.tmmsn.org/education/dolphin_anatomy.htm
We just have some fun with facts. Why can’t Mermaids have legs? Do Mermaids shed their tails? I don’t know.
Could a mermaid grow their tail back? That’s impossible! Or is it impossible for a caterpillar to change into a butterfly? A lizard regrow it’s tail? If you haven’t seen it, it impossible or is it feasible.
Well someone would have had to seen them, right. The sighting are actually many over time.
Ok, say there was one. And it was walking, what would it do for work and hide, if there was more than one would they network?
Maybe they’d be Mermaid entertainers. They could even mingle with ones that had their tail and no one would know. If you asked one if they believed it was possible they’d likely misguide you. Maybe their tail be a little less real, maybe add glitter or something, Pearlie!
Well GOD would have said something- The Leviathan had limbs, it had references to parents wanting to capture one for their kids to keep in the house. They could lead it around on a line.

Maybe – that’s ridiculous.

[Merman Dan]

I was talking with a manager at A&E Entertainment a couple weeks ago to see the feasibility of creating better Mermaid story.
Admittedly, I have penned my own pitch for a mermaid-themed TV series for Syfy, in the genre of "Mermaids: The Body Found" meets "Man From Atlantis" meets "seaQuest DSV".


Let’s add Magic- I like the idea of putting the magic back.
My mer-sona involves just that, a human who becomes a merman through the quest for a sea hag's magic.... sorta ;)

[MarkF]

Have you contacted them for how they do their programming or where they buy their programs? Good luck with your idea.

I like to see the desire to meet mermaids grow, more opportunities for the family.
I'd like to make it easier for people to give into the MerMagic.

[MermaidCelesteFL]

When asked about other mermaids (because I have been spotted with other mermaids before, and other mermaids often swim in the same spring as me), I tell kids that all of the springs are linked together in the same network, so we can pick a spring that we swim in for the day and come home to our homes at night. I also get asked if I am a Weeki Wachee mermaid a lot, or if I know about them. I tell them that they are friends that swim in another spring, but I can visit them whenever I want.

I have a few answers here and there for common things like what mermaids eat, do I know the little mermaid, can I walk in the tail, when do I turn into a human, how do I leave the spring... etc.

When it is time for me to leave a spring, I tell kids that I need my magical amulet to change my tail into legs to move around on land, but I need someone to take me out of the water first. (And I actually do have a necklace with a glittery pendant.) I've mastered the art of putting a towel over my tail and pulling my legs out, so it looks like my tail turned into legs.

[MarkF]

That awesome MermaidCeleste!
When I was little maybe 5, someone told me and my little girlfriend that story of the Mermaids connected bodies of waters. We spent all that next afternoon doing our best to try and find the hidden door in our pool. A proper Mermaid can be a powerful thing.

Your definitely one. :)