Gakked from espresso_addict

[wiseheart]

I'm not going to take actual part of the challenge - I could never finish a story in just 30 days - but the questions are very interesting and might prove helpful with my next, long-planned Cadfael story. Now that I've finished Brothers-in-Arms, and not exactly to my satisfaction, I decided that I needed to know what will happen at the end before I start something into the blue as I often did in the past.


1- Name of current Project and back story of the name
"The Choices of Mistress Emma Vernold"

2- Genre of the story explained in detail
Historical fiction with a hint of romance - sort of - based on "St Peter's Fair" by Ellis Peters. Basically, it describes a period of one of the supporting characters' life immediately before, during and after the novel.

3- Explain your PoV and Style of writing used
I really don't know any of these things. I'm not such a conscious writer. But he story will be written from Emma's POV, in the third person. Does that answer the question? *is uncertain*

4- Describe your inspiration and what message you wish to bring across
To quote the great Professor Tolkien whom we all admire, the story isn't supposed to have a "message" at all. I am inspired to write it because I find Emma such a wonderfully ambivalent character and want to figure out her motivation.

5- Main Character Bio
Emma Vernold is an orphan, the only child of a master stone mason and a famous embroideress. She lives in Bristol, in the house of her uncle, Master Thomas of Bristol, a rich and influential merchant who supports the Empress Maud in the civil war against King Stephen in 12th century England. They come to the annual fair in Shrewsbury, during which Master Thomas hopes to deliver some crucial information to the secret supporters of the Empress, as Shropshire is King Stephen's territory. There he gets killed by someone who wants to betray the Empress's people to the King in the hope of an earldom, and Emma nearly gets killed in the process as well. She escapes, though, thanks to the efforts of Philip Corviser, the son of Shrewsbury's mayor, whom she marries shortly thereafter.

These are the canon facts. I intend to work out Emma's motivations and further actions. She'll have a secret affair with her business partner (also a canon character), but unfortunately, I haven't decided yet what will happen with her at the end. She features in my other story, Sparrows, which already contains certain elements of this novel but only passim, while here they will be fully unfolded.

6- Main Villain Bio
If the story has a main villain at all, it would be Ivo Corbière - the canon character who had Emma's uncle killed for the letter is from Robert of Gloucester to Earl Ranulf, urging him to support the Empress's cause and naming fifty nobles in Stephen's camp who secretly support her. He is wealthy and handsome lordling of 28 or 29 who owns much land, multiple manors. He is distant kin to Ranulf of Chester. He is attending the fair to furnish a manor in Cheshire, where most of his holdings lie. His one manor in Shropshire is Stanton Cobbold.

7- A third important characters Bio
That is a hard question. It could be Emma's husband, Philip Corviser, or her lover, Roger Clothier.

8- Descriptions of all other important characters
- Master Thomas of Bristol, Emma's uncle;
- Dame Adele van Necht, their housekeeper, a Flamish lady, widow of a Bristol seaman and a famous embroideress;
- Roger Dodd, 30-32, Master Thomas's journeyman, in hopeless love with Emma;
- Warin, a middle-aged, somewhat cowardly man, long in Master Thomas's service;
- Gregory, 20-22, a strong and good-natured simpleton in Master Thomas's service;
- Euan of Shotwick, a glower and an important man about Earl Ranulf's court in Chester;

- Brother Cadfael, 59, the herbalist of Shrewsbury Abbey, formerly a crusader;
- Geoffrey Corviser, master shoemaker and provost of Shrewsbury, Emma's father-in-law (eventually);
- Gilbert Prestcote, the sheriff of Shropshire;
- Hugh Beringar, the deputy sheriff, a friend of Brother Cadfael;
- Aline Beringar, Hugh's wife, a benefactor of Emma;
- Constance, Aline's maid and confidante, an expert spinstress;
- John Weaver, the original owner of the Weaver burgage and business, forced to sell both to Emma to pay his debts somehow;
- Roger Clothier, neighbour and former business partner of John Weaver; later the same and more for Emma;
- Margery Draper, Roger Clothier's intended bride;
- Rufus Draper, Margery's father, head of the powerful Drapers' Guild and also bailiff in Shrewsbury;
- Jacob of Bouldon, young lay clerk of the Abbey in early 1140. Bought free from jail by Emma, after having robbed Master William Rede and sent to Bristol where he and Roger Dodd could keep a wary eye on each other;

There will be countless other people of Shrewsbury making an appearance, but these are the most important ones. All these characters are canon, from the one or other Cadfael novel.

9- Explain the main basis of the plot
There isn't much of a plot beyond the canon levels, I'm afraid. What I want to examine in this story are the motivations of the various characters.

10- Describe the world that the story happens in (use photos or graphics if you want)
Wikipedia did that for me here better than I ever could.

11- All the Ships in your novel/ Story
Hugh Beringar/Aline Beringar, Emma Vernon/Ivo Corbière (sort of), Emma Vernon/Philip Corviser, Emma Vernon/Roger Clothier, Roger Clothier/Margery Draper, Cecily Corde/Daniel Aurifaber, Daniel Aurifaber/Margery Bele (husband & wife).

12- Your favourite character to write about and why
Brother Cadfael. He reminds me of a real-life Benedictine brother I used to know and like very much.

13- Your least favourite character to write about and why
Ivo Corbière. He is a worm.

14- Which character you are most like
None, actually, though I'd like to be like Brother Cadfael. *g*

15- Your favourite part of the story
Waits to be written yet...

16- Describe any other books related to this one (eg. Prequel, sequel, follow up) or If it’s a stand alone, a sequel or prequel that you could write
None, though it could be seen as a complementary piece to Sparrows.

17- Which published book it is most like
I'm trying to write it in a similar style to the Cadfael chronicles, though I hope I'm not actually copying anything.

18- What stage of editing/ writing are you at?
I'm busily planning out what should happen and why - have been doing so for a couple of years, in truth.

19- Writing Playlist
None, though I like to listen to Gregorian chants when I'm writing the bits taking part within the Abbey, to get myself into the right mood.

20- If it were made into a movie, which Director would direct it and which band would make the soundtrack
I would never allow a director to butcher it, like they did with the Ellis Peters novels.

21- Dream Cast (with pictures)
Just Brother Cadfael, who, for me, has the face and attitude of Brother Servatius:


22- The Ten best things about your story
Once I've actually written the story, I might even be able to answer that.

23- The ten things you could improve
See above.

24- Why are you going to do with it when it’s done?
Why, post it to FF.Net, LJ and perhaps AO3, and then whine that people don't appreciate the genius of it, of course! *g*

25- What is the main twist/ plot point?
Good question. I guess Emma's relationship to Roger Clothier, but I'm not sure yet.

26- What is the most exciting scene/ chapter/ part
See the answer to questions 22 and 23.

27- How often do you write it and in what environment?
Whenever inspiration hits. As I write everything longhand first, I can basically write in any environment.

28- Who else has read it? Or heard about it? Does anyone know you’re writing?
The good folks at picowrimo may learn about it sooner or later.

29- Pretend you’re a critic and give a fair but concise criticism of your project so far
Well, I've done a lot of background work, so that's progress, no? The rest we'll see when I've started the actual writing.

30- Post a chapter or so for everyone to read and review
I'll need to write it first, so sorry, no chapter yet.

Comments

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

I'd love to edit this for you, if I may.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

You did them all at once! That was diligent! Perhaps you could have another go at the later ones when you've written some of it.

I agree Emma's an intriguing character and I'd like to see more of her. It's an interesting choice to give her a lover; it's not something Ellis Peters would have done, I think, being too much of a romantic, but no less of a valid choice for that.

One thing that interests me -- you ran into trouble with the ?Summer of the Danes Cadfael story when you hit canon events, but this is largely based around canon events. How are you planning to handle that?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I would be honoured! Editing my stuff will become a full-time job for you if you're not careful. ;)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

It is a different situation. In St Peter's Fair things are mostly written from Cadfael's POV. I'll write everything from Emma's, fleshing out things that were only hinted at in the novel, like Roger Dodd's unrequited love for Emma.

As for giving her a lover, if you remember, Ms Peters had Cecily Corde have an affair with Daniel Aurifaber in The Sanctuary Sparrow and was deadly afraid that her husband (who was thrice her age) may learn about it. I got the idea by thinking about how Philip Corviser was but a child (intellectually) compared with Emma, and that she might have married him mostly to get away from Roger Dodd. But after a while she would get bored of Philip and Roger Clothier, who had certain traits in common with her much-respected uncle, might become too much a temptation. Especially with them being neighbours and safely out of the sight of Mistress Corviser, Philip's mother.

I imagine Emma as those unsung medieval women who were married to a man who was either often absent (being a merchant) or beneath them, and thus they had to grow beyond the usual role of a woman at that time. Some women indeed owned their own business, or at least de facto ran everything under the mantle of a husband, and she would be able to do that. Philip was no real match for her, I think.

[saki101.livejournal.com]

This is a very thorough approach! (I wonder if I could ever do it. I must ponder that bit.)

Looking forward to seeing this in pico as it develops.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Indeed, Emma gets lumbered with being the romantic lead, doesn't she, so her love has to be true. I'm sure medieval women married for all sorts of reasons that had nothing at all to do with love. I can definitely see it could be an advantage to marry someone weak and plan to work through him.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell, medieval women married for very practical reasons, and it were mostly their parents or guardians who chose a suitable husband for them. They also married a great deal younger than Ellis Peters's heroines did. The men too. Unless they were already widowed several times, that is.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

To tell the truth, i've been procrastinating this plot idea for years by now and have done lots of research and made copious notices to it. Now if I just could come up with ár first paragraph I actually like...

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

I think they probably died much earlier than Ellis Peters' characters often do. Women especially; I read somewhere recently that in pre-tech societies women tend to die at about half the age of men usually of pregnancy-related sepsis or just plain malnutrition because women weren't fed as well. I expect war skews it heavily the other way, though.

[saki101.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, when a first sentence or paragraph won't come to me, but the rest of the story seems ready to start, I just begin writing the first bit that's clear and add the introductory paragraph later. I know it's not the best way forward, but it has worked a few times for me.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

True. I think she gave her characters an age more acceptable for the modern mind because portraying women getting married at the age of 14 or so would come dangerously close to kiddie pr0n for people in our era. Even though a woman of 20 was more often than not widowed and remarried in the Middle Ages and had grandchildren by the age of 30.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I'm familiar with the effect. This story, however, needs a really good kick start first.

Edited ' cos auto-correct is a bloody nuisance.