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And the after that follows......

Once again, I have come out of NaNoWrimo triumphant!

Triumphant, that is, as far as word count goes.

Year 4 found me completing my entry in a Baton Rouge hotel room. But, exactly what it is that I completed, I have not, as yet, figured out. I squeaked out a 50,023-word victory on Nov. 29th. I had hoped to be finished long before then, but life--as it always does--had other plans.

But, I did finish....though what I'm left with is FAR from complete.

"Tangle of Matter Ghost" had started as a tragic Victorian-ghost love-story, with a not-so-subtle nod to Gothic Lit....that was my intent anyway. Buuuuuuut.....

somewhere along the way, about 5 or 10 thousand words into it, the story suddenly became a Civil War novel, centering on Voodoo, the horrors of war and what can happen if you take more than you can pay for....and what can happen if you take magic and you can not pay for that either.

So, I have some 15 characters, 137 pages of mixed plot-lines, which is interspersed with all sorts of inane babble. Had someone told me, before now, that I would be writing a story such as this, I would have more than just laughed in their face, I would have cackled until my oxygen-depleted legs could no longer hold me upright.

Right now, I have a faint notion of how these strange derivations can form a sensible story, but the idea of piecing all of that together sounds far worse than the battles I intend for my characters.

I have:
Aggie (Aunt Agnes) who's sworn herself to be Legba's mate

Joseph who's sworn himself to Aggie

Painted Man (Billy) whose tongueless mouth cannot form the words he needs to speak

Ralph (Anubis) whose sightless eyes cannot hide him from the horrors of the world

Chester (Charon) whose soundless ears don't protect his heart from the truths he hears

Jefferson Miller whose plantation is the site for all rituals and curses as Aunt Agnes roams the woods

Ambrose Carmichael whose rich property becomes a beacon of freedom along the Underground Railroad

Marie whose purpose is to see to the well-being of little Aldia

Aldia whose purpose is to drive her mother's household insane

Eli whose purpose is to drive Aldia insane

Letty whose oaths to Legba freed her daughter from future abuse

Mistress whose initial motive in going to Aggie was to free her daughter from a life of solitude
 
Everyone in this mishmash screams for the lead role in my "story". It's almost impossible to please them all, and no matter what I do write, someone is going to scream. And, at some point, that someone will, most assuredly, be me.........

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