Portraits of the Living: A Ghost Tale- characters

music playing:  Stevie Nicks,  Nightbird

Things are very exciting right now.  I have a full out on POTL (whispers this as not to upset the Fates), and have started researching and taking notes on my next supernatural suspense novel.  Before blogging about the new novel,  I wanted to write a couple of posts regarding Portraits, which will then be put together in a separate page.

The first is the novel’s cast of characters:

1.  Anne Durrant:  fifteen-years-old, imaginative, clever,  intelligent, yet often foolish.   Definitely not as sensible as she believes.   Booksmart, but has a lot to learn about the dangers of real life. Her insatiable curiosity is both her greatest asset and her worst, for it might get her killed. . .

2. Daphne Hoffman Stowe: thirty two- years-old, married, highly intelligent, poised, and stoic.  Loves science, history, and linguistics.   Despite her scientific leanings,  she is addicted to having her fortune read.  Fears an ominous reading from a Gypsy. . .

3.  Beth Hoffman:  Daphne’s younger sister.   The reticent spinster loves art, poetry, tarot cards, and waxen dolls. . .

4.  Gerard Hoffman:  Anne’s uncle.  Father to Daphne and Beth.  Scholar of the Occult.  What does he do in his study?

5.  Sheridan Stowe:  Daphne’s husband.   Uses his charm to get away with his drinking and gambling.  What does he feel guilty about?

6.  Grace Cullwick: the utterly devoted house maid.  The only servant who remained after an exorcism went frighteningly wrong.   Tender to her “family”, she is cold to all outsiders.

7.  Mr. Raferat:   Family friend.  Retired anthropologist.  Studies the occult.  Larger-than-life world traveler who relishes good stories and obscure facts.

8.  Mrs. Brent:  Widow.  Not-so-discreet lover of Mr. Raferat.  Devoted Spiritualist.  Overbearing and a bit daft, but with a great heart.

9.  Mary- the young servant girl who haunts the Hoffmans’ house.

Who are the characters in your novel?

NaNo- Week One Report

Hey there,

So- the first week of NaNo has passed.  Word count: 18,955

I’m totally gushing now, because these  7 days have been a total blast.  Back in October,  I  posted about how much I wanted to return to the simple joys of writing when I was a kid.  Before I got caught in that web of, “I want to be published.  So I have to follow this rule and this rule but this other agent says don’t follow that rule, do it this way…ARGH!”

Well, NaNo came at the most perfect time.  I locked the inner editor in her closet and hid the key.  The story is flowing out of me.  Sure, the actual writing is horrid- but the story itself is tons of fun.  Not at all stilted like it felt when I spent eons trying to perfect one darn sentence at a time.

My novel has taken some interesting turns.  Now, instead of two protagonists- I have three.  A male character who had been written out in previous drafts has made a startling return.   My ghost who was twelve years -old  is now fifteen.   Instead of winter- it is now springtime.  I want the scenery to be as breathtaking as possible.  Lush greens in sharp contrast to the bleakness inside the household.

Today I had a ball with my fifteen year-old heroine (living- not the ghost) going to visit a Mesmerist.  And now she is searching the library because she thinks there is a secret passageway in there.

What are your heroines and heroes up to?

Hope you’re all having tons of fun.