NaNoWriMo 2017 prep – Notes for Days 12-14

  • UNSETIC has developed an understanding of a lot of supernatural forces in their world, but it has taken time for the new regional lead to forge connections with some of the more traditionally insular groups—such as the nahuali. There were some incidents under the command of the former regional lead that have made the enclave in Central Park very gun-shy when it comes to the organization.
  • In contrast, UNSTEIC has connections to one of the more powerful vampires in New York, though they don’t have the ear of the current Primarch or most of his court. Cassidy Beckett, a largely independent but well-respected figure within the New York Brethren, has been their contact for several years, initially through then-Detectives Ryce Marshall and Jesse Stole, who later introduced her to other members of UNSETIC in the region.
  • Cassidy and Becca knew each other in college, before Cassidy was brought across by Andras Cross. Their friendship remained despite Cassidy’s transformation and Becca’s disappearance has always deeply bothered Cassidy, who long suspected foul play but had no way to prove it.

Timeline of events immediately before the beginning of the story

  • John McCullough heads out for a pre-semester camping trip with his niece, Roiya Kanton, and her partner, Adam “Decker” Ford, Jr., in Alberta, Canada. The trip is half training exercise, half vacation for the two young UNSETIC recruits, both slated to start their freshman year of college at NYU within weeks of their trip.
  • The enchantments woven over the town of Spiritscrossing finally break down.
  • Seth Montgomery is sent in to lead the investigation team. He is normally assigned to one of UNSETIC’s Washington, DC office, part of Brigid O’Connell’s region.

NaNoWriMo 2017 prep – Days 10 and 11

Notes for Day 10 and 11

Characters

Rebecca Ariel Reid (RA/Becca)

John McCullough

Seth Montgomery

Eleanor Stone (Ellie)

Jade McCullough

Brigid O’Connell

Tyne Johansen

Daisha Copeland (Rainsong)

AJ McConaway

Adam Ford, Jr. (Decker)

Roiya Kanton (Spooks)

Cassidy Beckett

Orestes St. Cyr?

 

Notes

  • The nahuali and UNSETIC are working in parallel but also at cross-purposes when it comes to Becca Reid. Both are trying to figure out what happened to her, but the nahuali don’t necessarily trust the investigation that UNSETIC is undertaking, in part because their interaction with the organization has been limited in New York up to this point.  As far as the nahuali are concerned, it is their responsibility to sort out what happened to Becca and why—and how it connects to the destruction of her pack.

Becca, once she regains consciousness, wants to know what the hell happened to her—and the people she loves.  She ends up running to Cassidy, dragging the young Tyne Johansen with her after Daisha’s apparent death outside the hospital where Becca was being monitored.

NaNoWriMo 2017 prep – Day 9

I took yesterday off for various reasons, but back at it this evening!

Organization notes

  • Project: Hope is an overarching organization that many of the nahauli are involved in. It is a social justice and environmentalist organization with chapters across the country and around the world.  While not all of its members are nahauli, many of them are and some others—though by no means all—know about the nahuali and sometimes work with them.  Becca was a part of a small Project: Hope chapter in high school, but she fell out of working with the organization until she moved to New York.
  • New York is a unique location for organized supernatural activity. There are several known Order covens in the city and dozens of solitary practitioners; the Concordat in the city is not strong, but does claim several well-connected mages among its numbers.  The vampires of the city are incredibly well-organized, with the city’s Primarch enjoying a great deal of power over the Brethren there, though not absolute power (some minor players, such as Cassidy Beckett, toe the line but remain inside the rules—for now—and have quietly begun to garner their own power in the city).  The nahuali enclave in Central Park is much smaller than it used to be, with sister enclaves on Staten Island and on Long Island, but remains influential.  The Hunters are still numerous in the city and have regained their previous footing in the years since the ascendance of the new General of New York.  And then, of course, there’s UNSETIC—Brigid has been the regional lead in the city for roughly two years and has started to really settle into the role, supported by an increasingly close-knit team, some of whom worked with her while she was interim Midwest lead.
    • There are a few locations in the city that are generally considered neutral ground for the supernatural elements of the city. One is Ariel’s Grotto in Hell’s Kitchen, another is St. Malachy’s parish, and a third is the Meeting Place, Brigid’s bar in Spanish Harlem and the headquarters for UNSETIC in New York City.

NaNoWriMo 2017 prep – Day 7

Becca Reid backstory/notes

Rebecca Ariel Reid (RA Reid professionally, Becca to her friends) was born 12 January, 1984, in northern Michigan, the daughter of Michael Reid, a storied and heroic elder of the Midwestern enclaves of nahuali, and his human Amelia Patterson, a teacher and environmental activist.  Reid disappeared in 2000 and is presumed dead.  Amelia died in 2004, reportedly from cancer, though there are some that have long suspected some kind of foul play involved in her death at a relatively young age.  Becca was doing her undergraduate work at a public university in Michigan at the time.  During her time as an undergraduate, Becca formed a friendship with fellow anthropology student Cassidy Beckett, someone who would remain her lifelong friend despite future events that would threaten to destroy their friendship.  She graduated with her bachelor of arts in 2005 (anthropology) and then went on to study linguistics and liberal studies at the University of California, obtaining a Ph.D. in the latter and a master of arts in the former in May 2010.  She moved to New York City in the summer of 2010 and by September had opened up a New Age bookstore in the city, Ariel’s Grotto, with Cassidy as her partner in the business.  At the same time, while interviewing for various teaching jobs in the area, Becca got involved with the nahuali enclave in Central Park, then led by the enigmatic Lacey Talbertson, an elder nahuali of feline extraction, unlike many of her lupine allies in the city.  It was in New York that Becca reunited with Taylor Ross and Henry Kuhn, friends from Michigan and California respectively, and through them met Ioan Griffon, alpha of one of the enclave’s leading packs.  Becca ended up joining that pack, at first assisting as a researcher and later in the field when it became apparent that she wasn’t completely without supernatural gift—and that she was a better shot than anyone else in the pack.  Her intervention proved life-saving on more than a few occasions and within six weeks, she was generally—if sometimes grudgingly—an accepted member of the pack.  She was also becoming increasingly well-known in New York’s supernatural community through the shop and her involvement with not only the Central Park enclave, but also her close friendship with Cassidy, who had been brought across as a vampire by the almost-notorious Adrias Cross in 2005, shortly after both she and Becca graduated from their undergraduate program.

At the same time, her relationship with Ioan Griffon had begun to transform from one of grudging respect, to admiration, to affection and love.  Both had initially tried to deny any attraction, but by Christmas 2010, it was clear to anyone associated with the pair that they were a couple, and one that was growing increasingly serious about each other.  Both of them orphans from storied families, each had something to prove through their actions, legacies to live up to, albeit sometimes grudgingly.  Ioan was often concerned by Becca’s lack of concern for her own personal safety, which was mirrored in Becca’s worries for him—as a pack alpha, he was typically the first into nasty situations and the last out, often the one taking the brunt of any beatings—or worse—meted out.  Both took their responsibilities very seriously—Becca as one of the two healers for the pack and Ioan as its leader.  In July 2011, the pair agreed to marry, and on September 1, 2011, they were married in Spiritscrossing, Alberta, Canada, with licensing and paperwork to be filed in both Alberta and in New York City.

Becca was reported missing by Cassidy Beckett on 11 September 2011, when she didn’t come home or contact the store in the five days after she was supposed to return from Canada.  Her case was officially ruled a cold case a year later.

NaNoWriMo 2017 prep – Day 6, upon which there is a change of plans…

So after talking to folks on Thursday night and stewing over it all night and all day…there’s been a change of plans.  Which is to say, there’s been a change in project for this year.  In writing notes for Universe, I’m not sure there’s enough there for a book.  There’s a lot of background.  There’s a lot of character.  But I’m not sure there’s a ton of coherent plot–at least not necessarily a coherent plot that I feel like exploring in less than a month.

There is, however, a lot of coherent plot for Becca Reid’s story, and it’s about time I get around to actually telling it, since Girl from a Brigadoon (intended to be her story) was originally supposed to be the first UNSETIC book (which clearly didn’t happen).

So…change of plans.  Enjoy the initial note-scribbles.

 

Day 6 – And then a different project rears its fair head

  • Rebecca Ariel Reid has been missing since 2011, disappeared during a trip to Alberta, Canada, with the werewolf pack led by her significant other, Ioan Adam Griffon (Stands-to-the-Last). She was one of the few non-shifters to run with a nahuali pack.
  • Becca was a business partner and longtime friend of Cassidy Beckett. The two opened a store together in Hell’s Kitchen—a New Age bookstore that was also a front for supplying New York’s supernatural community with necessary items.  The shop, Ariel’s Grotto, is also considered neutral ground.
    • Many of the nahuali avoided the place for a time after Becca’s disappearance. Some of them blamed Cassidy for the loss they suffered in Alberta.  Most of Becca’s pack has never resurfaced and an entire community, Spiritscrossing, was lost.
  • Becca is discovered unconscious in Spiritscrossing (a ‘brigadoon’ in UNSETIC and Order parlance) in 2027, by John McCullough, who is vacationing in the area with his niece, Roiya, and Adam “Decker” Ford, Jr., for the Labor Day weekend. He ships the two teenagers home while he calls in Seth Montgomery and an UNSETIC sweep team to determine what, exactly, is going on in the area.
  • Becca and Ioan were married in Canada before he took the rest of the pack on a mission to infiltrate a facility owned by a Bachman-Koch shell company and operated by an individual with ties to the Methuselah.

Ioan’s (and Becca’s) pack

Home base: Central Park, Manhattan, NY
Alpha: Ioan Adam Griffon
Beta: Taylor Ross
Members: Daisha Copeland (Rainsong), Yoshi Farragut, Padraig Graylan, Henry Kuhn, Orion Warner-Mills, Becca Reid

NaNoWriMo 2017 Prep – Day 5

I had a fight with my apartment wifi and my laptop last night and went to bed without posting these.  I wrote them yesterday, I swear!

Notes for Day 5

  • Marissa, Peter, and Jason’s mother was exposed to something while she was pregnant with Peter which may have been the source for his disorder.
    • This fact has been largely and quietly covered up to the point where even Peter doesn’t know. Ezecaius eventually finds out and is the one to tell the kids.
      • That ends up part of being the key to fixing what’s going wrong with Peter.

NaNoWriMo 2017 prep – Day 4

And then there were more notes….

Notes for Day 4

  • Elaine and Peter meet through Joslyn and Jason in the game. Elaine is fairly certain that Peter doesn’t think much of her, which isn’t the case at all, but continues to believe this until Jason sets her straight.
  • Peter’s condition flares up again—badly enough to warrant drastic action—after two years of relative quiet, right before the launch of their full-immersion gaming experiment. In a phone conversation with his brother Jason, he tells him to go on with everything as planned as if nothing is wrong.
    • As far as Peter’s concerned, their work on the Universe game is more important than his survival—the game and the technology they’ve developed to supplement it is their legacy for Jason’s someday family and for their niece, Wynter (and any additional children Marissa and Brannon may have).
    • Jason calls Marissa to let her know what’s going on. She’s torn between letting their parents know and keeping quiet about what’s happening.  At the outset, she decides not to tell them.  She does, however, call their Uncle Ezecaius.
  • Peter’s condition eventually deteriorates to the point where he’s placed in a medically induced coma as the doctors charged with his care work to scrape together what’s needed to treat him.
    • With the help of their uncle and Brannon, Marissa and Jason manage to get Peter into full immersion in the game during this period of time so he doesn’t suffer cognitive deterioration, a possibility that concerns some of his doctors—and his family.
      • They face some challenges before they’re allowed to do it, including arranging for Peter to be transferred to a private facility and a change to some of his medical team.
    • Peter’s family faces challenges from various quarters regarding the game itself—and the VR technology they’ve developed, as well as the predictive AI that Peter and Brannon programmed together.
      • The family faces some pressure to use the technology to help law enforcement and the Department of Defense in ways that they find morally questionable.