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.

When projects attack…

Anyone who follows me in any social media venue knows that I’ve got a new project chewing on my synapses lately.  I’m one of those unfortunates who can’t shove ideas away because they just keep coming back again.  They become relentless and won’t let me work on anything else, regardless of how much I may need to.  This was the case a few weeks ago, when I started working on an UNSETIC short.

At least, it was supposed to be a a short.  It was also supposed to be freewriting, something to just get the tale out of my system so I could get back to work on Redeemer, When All’s Said and Done, and other various projects.  Instead, it’s become all-consuming.

It all began with this:

            “There are places in the world, Doctor, that we leave off maps because no one can get inside in the first place,” the Canadian G-man shouted over the sound of the wind.  “You try to drive into them and suddenly pop out on the other side.  We don’t understand how it works, we just know it happens.”

            “I’m aware of the phenomenon,” El Stone yelled back over the sound of the rotors.  The former crime scene investigator held on to one of the oh-shit bars as she peered out the helicopter’s window at the trees below.  “But that doesn’t tell me why I’m here.”  Here was the ass-end of Alberta, somewhere up in forests so damned thick that no one would’ve noticed if they’d missed a twenty-mile stretch even if they’d been looking for the gap.  The sort of places they were discussing were rarely that large–mostly, the places omitted from the maps were two to five square mile areas, tops.  In the business, they called them Brigadoons when they reappeared, for the musical.  She knew that because she’d read the files on the flight up to Edmonton from the States.  There had been little else to do on the flight.

            The G-man pointed to a clearing that hosted a small village and a narrow roadway that spiraled out of the forest.  It hadn’t been on the maps she’d seen before they’d left the RCAF base.  Her heart began to beat a little faster.

            “One of them just opened up.”

Now, let’s be honest, I’ve tweaked it a touch since I wrote that first bit, but that’s literally how it began.  The dialogue and the images caught me in the side of the head, much like the idea for What Angels Fear did a couple years ago.  Unlike What Angels Fear, however, I knew fairly quickly who the story was actually about.  It took me until this past weekend to come up with a title, however, and the title is Girl from a Brigadoon.

The story, of course, is about the titular girl–a woman, actually–who’s been missing for fifteen years.  It’s a paranormal yarn, a mix of mystery, fantasy, and suspense.  In other words, it’s something that I’m a bit out of my depth trying to write, since mysteries have never been my bag.  I don’t tend to read them and I’m feeling a bit beyond my ken trying to write one.  But the idea has been persistent and it won’t let me not write it.

I keep having to revise my word count goal upward as the ideas trickle in, because there’s no way it’s going to be anything under 40k words at this point.  I’m already nearing 14k words, and it’s only chapter three.  It’s going to be some hard work, but it feels right.

For people who have known me for a long time–as a writer and as a gamer both–there will be some familiar faces in the text.  Brigid O’Connell figures prominently in the story as one of the investigators and AJ McConaway is playing quirky, perky sidekick every so often, thanks to an (annoying) absence of her twin brother Tim.  Then of course, there’s Rebecca Reid, who the story really belongs to.

She is, after all, the girl from the Brigadoon.

Keep an eye on Twitter and such for ranting, whining, and occasional progress updates.


You can find Erin on GoodReads these days @ http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5211226.Erin_Klitzke And on Smashwords @ http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/EMBKlitzke

And Amazon @ http://www.amazon.com/author/erin-klitzke

She offers two free fiction serials @ http://www.embklitzke.com/e557 and http://awakenings.embklitzke.com.  Stop on by and check it out.