List of Characters

Here are all the characters I have sketched out (in my mind) so far:

Name	Role
Nina Xochitl	The Heroine
Palmer (or Aiyetoro)	The Hero
Chahta Apokni	The Contact
Isi Palli	Apokni's Wild Granddaughter
General Calvin Lloyd Beech	The Villian
Jim Blackfeather	Isi's Troubled Friend
Truman	The Hero's "Brother"

Killing two birds with one scene

Yes, I mean killing those birds...
Nina blows up some military barracks after escaping from the jail. Unbeknownst to her, Isi had come in desperation to plead with the general. Jim rides over to fetch Isi and sees what Nina is doing...tells her in a panic that Isi is there but is to late. She was in fact, in the barracks.
Killing Isi brings her to the realization that violence will always end up hurting the people she cares about. Perhaps she also believes that the Hero has been captured and killed (due to a public lie of the general's) and feels despondent for this reason as well until she finds out that it wasn't him and she rides out to find him and meets her own demise (gotta love that word).


Thank you, Sister, for helping me work that out or rather coming up with the whole frelling thing.

Isi's Demise

Isi's demise (there is no resolution for her) is part of what transforms Nina at the end of the story. Whereas before she believed that violence would protect them, after Isi succumbs to alcohol Nina sees that it's not just militar forces that they should fear but weapons that come in other forms such as alcohol and other drugs; she finds out ultimately that the problem is far more insidious than she previously believed.

Ultimately however, the conclusion of this story is still weak. It was not when I believed that an outside company was hired to relocate the people by force. Now that that isn't true, I'm somewhat uncertain about the effective way to change Nina's mind. Afterall, no matter how powerful the military they couldn't beat the guerrilla fighters in Vietnam so what's to say she couldn't have won her battle? Why should she go write in papers and talk to people? Why is this so much more effective? In the end, she is portrayed as simply an evil terrorist and an excuse to bring in more forces but I don't want to make it seem like she was the reason for the relocation when she wasn't. It's clear in the story that relocation is being considered from the beginning. But what is it that changes Nina? What is her epiphany? Surely, seeing people being herded like cattle would make her even more angry and violent...

Well, where to start? At the middle?

I have a lot to post about the book. A lot of new developments/scenes. I have 35 scenes so far and am aiming for 60. As soon as I have 60 scenes in order, I'll start the writing. With approximately one scene per weekday, I could finish the first draft in about three months. Can't wait.

1. Isi's mother may have started the drinking in the family. She actually died from it...was out drinking with fellow miscreants in the rain and caught pneumonia. Isi doesn't start/fights drinking until being abandoned by the General (though her friend Jim, who is in love with her, does drink all the time.) Nina was friends with Isi's mother when they were children and that is part of the reason she agrees to try to turn around Isi upon the request of Isi's grandmother.

2. General Beech loves Isi and hates himself for it. He dreams that she has become the woman that his ailing mother wants him to marry. That they are all happy and then he wakes at first happy and then when fully awake and back in reality, is angry that he is even fantasizing about what cannot be, never will be.

3. Isi goes to a church meeting in a futile effort to try to assimilate and become someone the General would marry.

4. There is an scare- a scene of hysteria in town when people hear about alleged slave revolts similar to the recent Nat Turner's Rebellion (everyone has been on edge since then) They heard that slaves are headed to town to kill everyone and everyone is hysterical including the woman General's Mama was trying to marry him off to. She and his mother look to the General for protection. They arrest some innocent people (some of the "buffalo soldiers"?) This elaborates on the atmosphere of hysteria and might also give Truman and friends a reason for helping free Nina.

5. Palmer dreams of his own separation from his family as a boy. Then, in the dream, the boy becomes his and Nina's child.

The latest link between characters

So basically I know what characters I have now and I am just watching them and seeing how they interact with each other if at all. One potential relationship is of the heroine as a attempted mentor to Isi. She tries to help her see the error of her ways but the teacher is betrayed by her student.

The Heroine, Nina

Agh, not another Title...

I am going through my earlier documents related to the novel and just came across another title I had considered using, SMOKE RISING. I really like this one. It has a lot to do with the story. She creates smoke (often a way of signalling to others) by burning down buildings. He creates smoke with words...

Sex Change?

No, I think the person/parent pushing the villain to increase his political power should be a man instead because we already have a number of women in the story (the contact, her daughter, and the heroine). If I make this character a woman, then it may also have the psychological effect of weakening the villain, making him seem less masculine (no girly men here, huh?) Well, guess I'm not quite decided on this piece yet but I'm thinking this character could be his father.....Nahhhh, I think this character being a woman is fine. If it were his father then he could be just as immasculating. On the other hand, as his mother, this character could be really insidious and unrelenting. A kind of psycho mom, nahhhh,....how about a mother who just is very nagging and suggesting he try to marry various eligible woman and that he try to speak with various muckymucks about getting promoted, etc.

Speaking of Titles and A Villain to Write Home About

So, I did come up with that stand-in title, Running with Buffalo, but I'm thinking it might be even better without the "with" in the title and also sound a little less like Dances with Wolves which it is not. Titles are pretty important. However, I think one is of minimal importance when I am hammering out the details of the story since the title I feel should come from the story and not vice versa. Therefore, I will keep this temporary title for now and keep the formation of a title in mind as I continue my career in construction (hammering away?).

New developments in the story? Well, philosophers have posed the question of whether you can believe something that you cannot conceive. I cannot conceive the villain fully and therefore I and my readers will not be able to believe in him. I am going to give him however a sister or other female relative who is pushing him to rise in political position (in order to deepen his character). Then the two women represent his two consciences almost. He is pulled on the one hand to follow his desires, escape from stricture, and be someone other than would be though christian, etc (by being with Isi)...and on the other hand, he wants to fill the expectations of the world he grew up in. This is a battle of the mind (and internal character/beliefs) worthy of this story and this gives me the material to make the villain real. He has his own demons, his own battles and his extreme behaviours come out of compensating for his wayward fantasies and actions (hair trigger reactions) . Then part of the narration could tell/show some of his thoughts in 3rd/1st person as he embarks on various plans of action.

It's the little stuff that makes the Novel

I will be including snipets on life at that time such as what they ate, wore, what were people gossiping about at the time...how was food prepared specifically...see connection/convergance of two cultures in the way the heroine prepares her food and what food the hero has learned to make from his "people", as a slave. This could be an entire conversation. Also, perhaps a passage from the hero's point of view about how she looks, what she wears, etc. To him, she is very beautiful...we will see why. Her independent/strong spirit and determination and to her kindness in caring for him and also her looks which in some ways seem to embody her determined spirit.

She is attracted to him physically but also to his kindness, gentleness, and also determination. She notes his hair like the fur of the buffalo, his eyes (searching glances at her when he doesn't know she sees him...) He has some resemblance to her father who was killed trying to stop the encroachment of the settlers..

Gossip is a largely local phenomenon in that they discuss what people are doing back in the community (less about settlers) and this could be where something comes up about the wild goings on of the contact's daughter and of the other young people in the community and the reader and/or heroine first learn of this element in our story.

Note that the important development to the story today then is that of the significance of cultural differences. This element alone creates interest and plot development in the story because the hero and heroine must learn about each other culturally (as well as about each other's past) before they can interact on a real and functional level.

To be continued aka Ain't Love Wonderful

So there is no other admirer. To recap, the love pairings will include the hero and heroine and the contact's daughter and the villain. That's it for now.

The heroine is stealing gunpowder from the army and this creates some tense/suspense-filled scenes where the likelihood of her being discovered seems very high.