Although I’ve not finished the current draft of my novel, I believe I have worked out all the things I want to change about the characters and story. The bits I rushed through before I now know what I want to happen in them, and so I’ll make all those changes and then maybe a couple drafts refining them.
What I’m saying, I think I can now write a summary of everything that happens and it’s more than just ‘we’re screwed’. And maybe I will because then I will have an actual plan to work to and I can show it to people who don’t mind all those spoilers.
Reminds me though I was uploading the current draft to a password blog for some folks here on Tumblr, but I’ve been forgetting. I’ve got to go and babysit right now, but I’ll start uploading again later.
The kids went to sleep, and while I was keeping an eye on them I started writing the whole outline. Below the break will be a two thousand word summary of Act 1. Actually 2,351 words apparently. It’s a blow by blow account of everything that happens without any embellishment, and there are only slight changes in this section from the drafts I’ve already shown people (most of the changes I’ll be making in the next are just some scenes, like when Kaya goes to the nightclub, are a bit rushed):
I suppose really this could all be Act I as well, but I would say definitely after all this we’re into Act II (I won’t post anymore of this outline, but maybe I’ll share the rest with some people):
Act I or II maybe
The next morning, Jennifer Airhart isn’t really feeling
motivated to get out of bed. She lives in her own cottage next to a lighthouse outside
Irongate (there isn’t any ocean nearby so it’s a bit odd). Eventually the alarms she’s set do force her
up and begins to go about her daily routine, having breakfast while the news
(which upsets her so she turns it off). She reflects on her middle name, ‘Willow’
and how much she hates it despite her father trying to convince her it was cool
as Willow carvings are used by Taoist witches to talk to the dead. Her father
isn’t around anymore.
She proceeds into the lighthouse proper, which is inactive
but now houses a giant computer called Hull. Hull flags to her some strange occurrences
he monitored during the night including the inexplicable loss of power in part
of town. Jen begins to theorise about who and how could do such a thing, but
realises it’s pointless – she’s not going to go out to investigate as she has
no one to go with her. Her melancholy is interrupted as Hull detects a group of
children approaching the lighthouse. Jen deters them by playing spooky noises
and when that doesn’t work she tells Hull to emit a tone that makes them
nauseous and turns them away.
In town, the police, including Chance and his partner
Francis Daramy, have discovered the bodies from the previous night. One of the
investigators explains that the victim in the alley was killed by a stab that
came from below, maybe someone on the ground or on their knees. Chance
speculates that it could have just been someone small, for which he is mocked.
Francis then informs them that they’ve discovered an upturned car belonging to
Kaya Cade, but no sign of her. Chance concludes that she’s either been abducted
or witnessed something and is on the run.
Kaya is wandering around town rather dazed and confused. She’s
avoiding the police as she has no idea how to explain what happened without
anyone thinking she’s mad. She thinks it might have been a faerie, but that’s
insane. Then she remembers the witch Amara mentioned and as she has no other
ideas she might as well give it shot. To get there, she steals a moped from
Stan Greif.
At the lighthouse Jennifer is testing a kind of smoke bomb.
It works far better than she expected. Then Doctor Jana Sarkis arrives, an old
colleague of her father’s who occasionally stops by to check on her. Over lunch
Doctor Sarkis expresses concern about the lonely life Jen leads as after the
disappearance of her parents Jana promised to look after her. She asks Jen if
she would like a boyfriend or girlfriend or anything, but Jen insists she has
Hull and her bots for company. Jana then suggests that Jen should go to
university to carry out her experiments, but Jen dismisses that idea as well as
she’s just not comfortable around people. Doctor Sarkis gives up as she has to
go to work, but tells Jen to think things over.
Of course Jen does little else but think up here and wanders
her home reflecting on her life. She remembers being happy as a child, but
after her parents were called away and never returned her friends all left her
too. As she’s wandering she notices that someone else has arrived at the gate
on a moped and is puzzled why Hull didn’t tell her anyone was coming (only people
she knows are allowed in). The arrival removes their helmet and she sees that
it’s Kaya.
Jennifer is not happy to see her old friend though,
remembering that in their teens Kaya and the gang she was with would bully her.
She tries to run, but Kaya catches up, expressing her surprise as well and
tries to explain what happened. Jen eventually listens, but suspects it’s some
kind of trick like they used to play on her in school, and makes Kaya leave.
Kaya does but leaves a bag behind. Jen then demands to know why Hull let her
in, and Hulls explains that he identified Kaya, and after her parents Kaya is
the person she talks about most in all of her journals. Jen retorts that most
of that is her complaining about the horrible things Kaya did to her, but Hull
maintains that is not the case. Jen calms herself down and investigates the bag
Kaya left, finding the blade with the creature’s blood on it. She then tells
Hull to get the gene reader ready.
In town, Tenley Tych watches some other children play. She
remembers once wishing she could have joined them, but now she can’t. All that’s
left for her is revenge. She also laments that she can’t sleep without her
music box. She notices a magpie that’s gotten its head stuck and at first she
mocks the dumb animal, but then she remembers getting her own head stuck once
and mother leaving her there for a long time as punishment, so she frees the
bird which then flies off. Then another child arrives to inform her that
another target has been found.
Kaya returns to town without any plan. She abandons the
moped then bumps into Sayuri who the police had questioned about her. Kaya
tells Sayuri that she thinks a faerie killed someone then attacked her. Sayuri
obviously thinks she’s in shock and probably mad, but takes Kaya to see Madame
Lumina, a local mystic who she assures her can solve her fae problems. But a
child watches them as they leave.
At the lighthouse Jen has taken a shower as she waits for
Hull to finish analysing the blood. The analysis finishes much faster than she
expected, and when Jen sees the results she realises that Kaya was telling the
truth. Jen tries to call Kaya but she doesn’t answer, so she tells Hull to
track Kaya’s phone and then goes to the rescue, only pausing when Hull informs
her that she hasn’t yet dressed.
Sayuri explains the situation to Madame Lumina who then
begins to recommend various charms and things to do to appease the far, but
Kaya is not convinced believing Lumina to be little more than a showperson.
Nevertheless she plays along, but her phone rings as Madame Lumina is
performing an incantation, the old woman demanding that she turn it off.
Now dressed and in her van, but still unable to contact
Kaya, Jennifer suggests that Hull drive faster. Hull says he is at the speed
limit, which Jen accepts but then sees on her tablet that power in the area
they’re heading to has gone out and she suspects some kind of dampening field.
She demands that Hull drive faster.
At Lumina’s Kaya notices that a clock has stopped running.
She then checks her phone and asks Sayuri to do the same. They’re dead. Lumina is furious that they’re not paying
attention to her, but they look out and see the streetlights are out too.
Lumina insists its just a brown-out, but Kaya points out that wouldn’t affect
their phones. This is exactly what happened last time.
In the van, Jen is unable to track Kaya’s phone. Fortunately
Hull is unaffected and they deploy aerials to home in on the source of the interference,
but they’ll have to circle around.
Kaya and Sayuri hear a window smash. Shortly after a door
opens and Madame Lumina’s ‘butler’ is there, but he’s missing his eyes. He
falls forward then the creature enters the room. Kaya and Sayuri both run out
the back, but Lumina stays throwing nails at the thing, which then grabs her head
and gouges her eyes out with it’s thumbs. It does buy Kaya and Sayuri precious
seconds to get out the back door and they flee down the street, running through
the gate of a school and collapsing on the other side of the wall. They take a
moment to catch their breaths, but Kaya sees the power is still out here so
they haven’t escaped. A janitor sees them and is holding an oil lamp, then the
creatures kills him too. Kaya and Sayuri are too exhausted to run. Then, a van
roars through the gates and slams into the creature, sending it flying. The van
slides around to face the creature with it’s side, doors opening to reveal a cannon.
The creature recovers and leaps at the vehicle, but is caught in a vortex fired
by the cannon and is smashed through the school wall. Jennifer gets out and
tells Kaya and Sayuri that the vortex cannon takes a very long time to recharge
so they should get in before their ‘friend’ gets up again.
Deep underground, Titania awakes on her throne and says ‘Airhart…’
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