Distractions and Progress on that novella

I’m exploring new strategies with Randy Ingermanson’s SNOWFLAKE method of planning a novel, because I’m working on plotting and scaffolding and character descriptions instead of simply spinning out scenes.

Because my story is set in Scotland in the 1840's, I keep running into research plot holes where I need to know something. So I'm researching the food eaten by various classes, living conditions, slums in Edinburgh and Inverness, epidemics of cholera/typhus, emigration of the Irish to Scotland, various working conditions, and railroads in and around Edinburgh and Glasgow in the 1840's. And I keep finding fascinating little bits that tell me 'what life was like.'

If I keep in mind the GOAL, that is to write a prequel of about 40K to tell what happened with Dylan and Moira after the end of Standing Stones, I’m encouraged as all this information swirls around and informs the story, even as I doubt the story will hold to 40K words.

And I want to go back to Scotland. Maybe another research trip of two months in September and October this year? Another 6-floor walk-up on the Royal Mile, just about halfway between Edinburgh Castle (where, yes, the royal crown jewels are under guard) and the Holyrood Abby, a ruin . . . but so beautiful. Around the corner, a lovely library; I already have the library card! 

View from Edinburgh Castle (Camp 2009)

Bagpipers coming down the Royal Mile (Camp 2009)

Maybe a day trip up to Inverness to visit Ardkeen House once again (now a private home, but still, once it was a home for wayward women. 

Now I’m checking the internet to confirm that Ardkeen House was built in 1834-1836 by the Inverness United Charities Institution to house the Inverness Juvenile Female School, the Ladies' Female Work Society, and the Inverness Infant School. 

Moira

Moira lived here at Ardkeen House in Inverness until her daughter Rose was born (in Standing Stones). In the novella, she will return to Ardkeen House.

Oh, how the plot thickens.

Here's GERARD BUTLER
(Wikipedia)

The next step in Randy's SNOWFLAKE is to develop character sketches that reveal everything. Some people use Excel to organize all those factors that make a character unique.  

I couldn’t quite visualize what my main characters looked like, so turned once again to the internet.

Gerard Butler jumped off the page as Dylan. And a nameless model became his brother, Michael -- at least nameless, until someone pointed out he's Michael Fassbender.

This is MICHAEL FASSBENDER (Wikipedia)

Now, truly the plot thickens. I have to tell their story. Don't you want to know what happens next?