I briefly set aside work on what I call “Treasure Island Her Way.” More about that later.
But I am still working on draft four of Lady Tedey’s adventure story. I’ve set up Theodosia Bryant’s 1834 pre-adventure life, sent her “across the threshold” to deal with allies and enemies, brought her close to death, and brought her back home.
So how do I end the story?
Robert Louis Stevenson isn’t much help. Jim Hawkins returned to his mother and the inn and declared he was done with adventure. So I’m on my own.
Research revealed an event in Princess Victoria’s life that provided a great bookend to end the story with a second cameo by the future queen. I manipulated the story timeline to situate Lady Tedey in the right time and place. But my attempts to wind up the tale were unsatisfactory.
Dog walks and barn time are excellent for mulling over story problems. Not sure which critter I can credit, but I realized two lines of dialogue near the conclusion of the story provided an opportunity to demonstrate how the character of Tedey has evolved. So I rearranged some scenes, drafted the new scene, and ended up with what for now seems to be a usable ending.
I still have to tweak the final chapters. But now I have something to work with before initiating draft five.
Brief Diversion:
Among the local library’s summer programs is a short story contest. I don’t normally work with a 1,500-word limit but thought I’d give it a try. Years ago I wrote a Christmas story where ponies save the day. Since the original tale was much longer than the contest limit, I really had to condense it. Good exercise to determine what scenes and elements are critical to the story. Anyway, I have what I think is a tale worth submitting. I have until the end of the month, so I’ll let it sit a few days before going over it again. Each time I reread it I made edits. Good thing there’s a submittal deadline!
Anyway — fun project.
Additional Diversion:
I have a folder on my computer labeled “Magical Mashup.” Trying to mine “cool” ideas from various story ideas can be overwhelming. Obviously, I can’t cram them all into a single tale. But deciding which ones I want to use is proving difficult. No sooner do I have an idea, a new one pops up. I have a protagonist. I have a MacGuffin that instigates turmoil. And I have inspirations for the story world. So I’ve returned to adventure stories for inspiration with a thought to again changing the main character into a female. I’m Googling plot summaries, and highlighting as I reread novels that might prove helpful. We’ll see what comes of it.
Mary S. Potter 