Strange Goings-on

Sarah's aunt tells of strange happenings--spooky events over the previous year. Were these events meant as punishment? Who caused them? One story told of a local teenage boy, Billy, a boy who had become troublesome and who liked to disappear with his ne'er do well friends. were they into drugs? Or were they simply aggravating, annoying, teen boys?

Off to meet up with his no-good friends one evening, he is attacked by a pack of, what he said were wild dogs. His clothes are ripped, his arms and legs a quite badly bitten. Scratched and bleeding, he is forced to admit the dogs were mere local runaways, domestic pets--none of them were large, and most were even miniature versions.

Where did they come from? And what made them attack? They showed up, did their dastardly deeds, and disappeared into the woods.

But Billy didn't meet up with his friends--and he stayed home every night after that. So, what force of nature caused that deterrent?  Good? Or evil---hmmm.

In the beginning there were four

When Sarah first arrives at Ravenwood Hall, she is given a small carved wooden box. It is locked, but she is given the key. It contains a notebook, old manuscript pages, and a worn leather pouch containing two tarnished, gold-colored medallions. They are attached to a thin leather thong which is threaded through crude holes. They are embellished with what appear to be intricate letters.

Are they coins? Buttons? Or simply roundels used as ornamentation--adornment for a lady's cape (or a gentleman's)? Sarah reads the ancient manuscript--well, she reads the transcription contained in the notebook. And there is a letter of explanation written to her by her father (who has realized his illness is taking his life quickly.)

The manuscript, written by her paternal ancestor, sets forth a story which is almost word-for-word, action-for-action, a description of the dream that has haunted her for the last ten years while in Texas.

One thing is puzzling. The story tells of a leather pouch, but describes the contents as being four golden medallions. The pouch in the wooden box contains only two.  What has happened to the missing two? And is the decorative design on the medallions merely a beautiful pattern--or is it indeed, fancy lettering? It is difficult to tell, the objects are tarnished

Does Sarah find what happened to the missing two? What is their importance? If the fancy design is lettering, what does it say? And why have they come to her?

The Folly of Man

Everyone has quirks, the wealthy no less than mere men-in-the-street. One quirk of wealthy landowners over the last several hundred years--the building of ornate towers aptly called Follies. No purpose, except to show off what their money can do.

Ravenwood Hall has such a Folly--or did have. Sarah notices the tower when she first arrives at the Hall, late in the day . She glimpses the top of it along with the mellow roofs of Ravenwood. The setting sun lights up the lichen-covered slates with a rosy glow, and a haze softens the silhouetted chimneys and surrounding woods.

By the time the car stops outside the front door, the haze has thickened into a mist, Aunt Emma is there to greet Sarah, and the vision of the tower is forgotten.

The next day, when Sarah explores, she remembers the tower--but where is it? Aunt Emma doesn't know of any tower; did a tower ever exist? If it did, when? Evidently, if it did exist at one time, it must have fallen into ruins. But why did Sarah notice it last night? Imagination, brought on by jet-lag? Maybe her witch-ancestors are trying to tell her something?

Sarah's curiosity is seeded; she is determined to find out more about the mysterious monument. What does she discover? And what happens when the mist that greeted her on that day of arrival turns blue?

Not as bad as I thought

     Have you ever (and I'm sure you have) left several chapters of your work on one side and gone back to read through them after several weeks?  And when you did go back to read them, did you find they sounded perfectly fine after all? Much better than you thought, and needing little or no alteration?

     I did that with Ravenwood. After setting my middle (story, not beltline) on the right track, I intended to go back to the beginning and eliminate one or more characters. However, after reading the first three chapters with pleasure, I realize it's not as bad as I thought. In fact, the characters I didn't think should be there have shown me that they absolutely do have a part to play--so they stay

     One of the characters is a mysterious man-in-black (and it's not Johnny Cash.) His face is
hidden in the shadows of a dark gray "hoodie". He's wearing black pants, black shirt, and black shoes. When Sarah first sees him, he is at the airport having an intense conversation with Sarah's obnoxious seat-sharing-stranger (hmm, let's hear you say that five times quickly) the man she has nicknamed the Gingerbread Man.

     Does Sarah come across them again? Oho, yes she does. Do they mean her harm? At least one of them might. Which one? And where will Sarah meet them again?

Rethinking. Removing, and Adding

"The Husband" has been on vacation for the past week. We didn't go anywhere special, so those of you housebound wives know that I didn't get any vacation! Anyway, I didn't get to write--I should say, I didn't get to use my fingers on the keyboard. I did quite a lot in my head, though.

You see, the posts so far have been teasing about the middle part of my story; the reason for doing so is that I wrote three to four chapters of the beginning third, but writer's block formed a wall I could not break through, so I decided to forget the first chapters--put them on the back burner--and concentrate on the middle, as if I were writing a new story that began when Sarah and her friend fell into the passage and entered the parallel universe.

Now, though, I have my middle "story" sorted, I have to go back to the beginning, delete a couple of characters who apparently don't belong, but add at least one who has intruded into my mental draft.

Those of you who have kept up with my other blog probably know that I won an award for the first chapter of this book, I was one of the five Finalists in a contest through the East Texas Writer's Guild in cooperation with Venture Galleries and Caleb Pirtle. If so, you may have read the first 1500 words, words that introduced a scene from four hundred years ago--a pregnant Jane Bulcock being taken, with several other alleged witches, to be tried and executed by hanging.

Present day nineteen-year-old Sarah Jane Bulcock, born in England raised from the age of nine or ten in Texas, travels back to England to help her aunt settle the estate of her recently deceased English father. Sarah's father, a descendant of the original Bulcock family, left Sarah with some intriguing items--items which will become important in her quest to find her way back to the present and so define her future--and change her mind about a lot of things...

Conflict--a rethinking

In the middle of the night--or rather, the early hours of the morning, I realized the chapter I've been working on doesn't have enough (or any) conflict. So I've been re-writing it and adding as much as I can.

So far, I have intensified Sarah's dislike of Elijah (he really is a rude, uber-male) and since she herself is a "Miss Bossy-Knickers" (according to him) she feels the need to stubbornly oppose any of his ideas or suggestions. She accuses him of being controlling. He says if he doesn't take the lead, who will--he knows more about Lancashire and Ravenwood than she does; however he also says he doesn't think they are in Ravenwood at all, now--Sarah says of course they are. We shall see who is right.

The producers of the argumentative shouting seem to have disappeared in a puff of smoke--or at least, a billow of mist. The only things in the forest clearing are three black crows, two of which show evidence of a tussle--feathers flying, They bumble off as our two friends (or non-friends, if you like) arrive in the clearing.

With Sarah hanging back, and Elijah crashing through the undergrowth, they are about to encounter, well, let's see, will it be Herne the Hunter (or Herne the Horned god?) Whoever they meet, will they be help or hindrance? Friend or Foe?

I'll tell more when I get Sarah and Elijah--well, somewhere out of the woods.

What Light Breaks at the End of the Tunnel?

FACT:

During the reigns of Queen Elizabeth the First and King James the First, (of England, of course) it was a punishable offence to celebrate the Catholic Mass. It was dangerous to be known to do so, both for the Priest and the worshippers. So strong were those of the Catholic Faith, and so determined to continue to worship in that Faith, that they built “Priest’s Holes” into their homes (at least, those who could afford to)—secret hidey-holes where a Priest could be hidden away from the authorities. Some were so small a man couldn’t turn around—and sometimes a Priest would have to “lay low” for several days in such a hole while authorities conducted a search.

Passages, also secret, lead from some of these homes to neighboring houses, allowing a Priest access to other devout families. It was a dangerous time for Catholics.

MY FICTION:

Like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, Sarah and her friend Elijah accidentally fall into the hollow of an ancient oak tree while trying to retrieve the medallion stolen by a mischievous crow. This hollow tunnel deposits them in a passage man-made with rough-hewn stone blocks.

But the passage doesn’t lead to another house—so where do Sarah and Elijah find themselves? And to whom do the angry voices belong? Will they be involved in a fight—prevent a killing—form a friendship? And what happened to that medallion? Hmm, I shall have to keep writing to find out :-)

Is he good or is he bad?
Ooh, that Herne is quite a lad!