Chain Story Authors Chapter Ideas (SPOILERS inside, beware)

[Whispersecret]

Someone (I think it was Mickie) suggested we all post our thoughts about our chapters, so we all have an idea of what everyone else is doing.

Muff's story in a nutshell:

Erica is a student of art history. One of her professors notices her preoccupation with touching sculpture and how much she enjoys it. He invites her to his home to view his personal collection. While she is there at his direction, she disrobes for him, touches her own body as if it too was a sculpture, and masturbates while he watches.

In doing so, she makes a committment to him to allow him to teach her how to enjoy her body to it's fullest and to take on a role as companion to men/women, much like a modern-day mistress.

In the end, even though Erica loves the professor, he finds her a benefactor. Realizing that her dreams of life with the professor are never going to happen, she accepts the assignment.
_____

I have Chapter Two. Here's my story in a nutshell.

Erica reluctantly leaves the professor to service her first benefactor, Cristoforo De Medici. The professor hints that the man needs her in some way. He does.

Cristoforo is a world-reknown sculptor whose work is in high demand. He is a workaholic who appeases his physical needs (including sex) as swiftly as he can, always anxious to return to his all-important work.

At one point, Cristoforo gets drunk and has a breakdown in which he destroys one of his precious sculptures. Erica finds out that he is losing his sight. Because of this he has been forcing himself to complete as much work as he can before he goes blind.

Erica takes it upon herself to show him, through sex, that he can use his sense of touch and re-train himself to sculpt. There is beauty he can create, even if he can't see. At the end, he succeeds in forging a new path for himself in art. With his spirit renewed, he sculpts a likeness of Erica standing on her toes, looking over her shoulder at a lover who approaches from behind.
_____

Okay, everyone, what sorts of things do you have planned? If you want, just post the kernels of your ideas and let us help you discuss how to expand them.

 

[cymbidia]

In my bit, Erica will be living very comfortably in a villa overlooking some warm ocean or another. (I'm sure someone else will write that part in for me and i'll simply reiterate.) She'll be older, wiser, and her life will be somewhat slower and more contemplative, for now.

A letter will come to her from a long-ago lover, someone with whom she spent only a few wildly passionate days. She was still very young when this occurred, he was a just a bit older, and they were maroon together by time and tide (chance and a bad thunderstorm that knocked out electricity, to be more specific). Their meeting was a complete and utter matter of fate, not planned as were many of her other relationships. The letter will spark her memory, and that memory, replayed in first person, will be the gist of my chapter.

The only real twist will be that this may be Erica's intro to some light BDSM practices. Is anyone before me doing any of that? And, you knew i would, didn't you? Additionally, i'm going write this from an infatuation perspective; she falls deeply for this near-stranger, knowing their time together is only a matter of days and that she has obligation to another after her freedom of movement is restored. She's never actually chosen love for herself and it's a heady experience, if wistfully and ultimately ephemeral.

Oh, and most of the hot wild sex in my chapter will take place in a wondrous, large, cedar-lined closet. Additionally, this will all take place in the US, in a wild and barren southwestern desert. (The fans go wild as the writer gets rid of the necessity of knowing/using *too* much Italian in one bold stroke of the location pen!)

Y'all may know that i don't do plots, so this chapter is big-time plotting for me. Feel the burn, baby!

Comments, anyone? http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/otn/ez/ezbill.gif

 

[Ulyssa]

Erica and a past life

I have an idea of Erica undergoing hypnotic regression in order to discover something about herself in a past life. I suspect I will put her in a brothel at the time of the impressionists (approx 1840-1860)--Cezanne, Pisarro, Monet, Sisley etc. since I know a lot about the Emperor Napolean III and art history--the great courtesans exerted lot of influence on society --the double standard of course-- society did not accept them at all. But in Paris all the diplomatic set from other countries did!

There should be lots of interesting little traits which will reinforce Erica's character as she is now. I'll be combing the pieces prior to mine for those traits.

Cym I'll be happy to look at your chapter and make positive suggestions.

How do we get ahold of the early chapters?

 

[KillerMuffin]

Email me swearing to gawd ya'll won't laugh. It's saved in .rtf format from word perfect, and the formatting will fuck with some of the words when you open it with word, they'll run together. The submitted copy is clean.

 

[cymbidia]

Gaucho's plot/Lyss msg

I'm getting email from diferent Erica authors wanting to talk about plot lines. Very cool. However, I think this kind discussion belongs here, out in public, where EVERYONE can see the turning of tides, so to speak. Do you agree? We can correct specific comments to specific people, but the generalities might be of help to others who come after us.

Of course, holding your plot-details card close to your chest is just fine, as is privately emailing people who share elements of your plot or of whom you have questions. Whatever scheme makes you the more comfy writer will, of course, be the best way for you to go.

Here's Gaucho's thoughts, straight from the pages of Hotmail with only small bits of personal stuff removed. (He said i could do this; i'd never otherwise.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Gaucho

Although I am normally loath to
reveal anything that I'm writing about until I have it
pretty much squared away in my head (pure and simple
insecurity on my part - if an idea for a story doesn't
pan out, I don't want to feel guilty giving up on it
after I've told someone else about it) I understand
that this is a collaborative effort and I'm more than
willing to share.

I was actually thinking that her descent into BEDS
(however mild) might be in part because of her guilty
feelings regarding the events in my chapter. That
she's willing to let herself be treated in that
fashion at first because she does feel responsible for
what came before, only then as she gets into it she
discovers that she really enjoys it, that it touches
something in her that she didn't know was there and it
actually helps her to deal with the events in my
chapter. At least, of course, until she receives the
blood-stained letter many years later and the whole
thing rears its ugly head again. Does any of this
make sense or appeal to you at all?

Please feel free to say no if it doesn't. At this
stage of the game things are still quite fluid and
there are many directions for this to go.

Again, please feel free to post any or all of this
that seems pertinent. I'd do it myself but the last
two days have been a bear time-wise and I'm due to
head into work again. I wrote to you because you
seemed to be heading up the committee (and quite well,
I might add) and I didn't want anyone to think I
wasn't going to participate.

-- cym

Hi Gaucho,

Yes, definitely, let's talk about our chapters. Yours is, of course, far more intricately plotted than mine. Mine will be a simple telling of what was a bittersweet memory from her youth, from a time when she was still very young and almost-innocent. I see mine as set, perhaps, between KM and WS in terms of her experience with men. In any case, it's a very short term duration and the memory still warms her, although with sadly longing overtones, after all these years.

Your chapter is far darker, and has tendrils that thread ominously into her present. What a challenge for you to write. No, wait. That would be challenge for ME to write-likely just perfect for you!

Do you think I may need to change anything in my chapter to accommodate what you'll have in yours?

Do you think a public, BB, thread discussion of this sort of thing would be of benefit to all? If so, may I post the contents of this email, my part and yours, to WS's thread? If you'd rather not, of course, that's just peachy, too.
cym

--Gaucho

>You know, Cymbi, we might just want to get together on this. My idea for my chapter is sounding eerily similar to yours, with a few exceptions. Mine was to revolve around a mysterious, hand delivered letter that she discovers is from a man she met in Mexico and had a brief sexual experience with that ended tragically. The man she was with got into a fight and killed another man over her and was sent to prison for it.

>The letter was written several years earlier and in it the man recounts his longing for her and the events that led up to the act of violence. The bulk of the chapter will be her reading his letter, which will be told through his POV.

>At the end of the letter, we (and she) will discover that he has killed again and broken out of prison (although how long before this no one can be sure). And although he professes an undying love for her, the reader will be left with the feeling that his feelings for her may not be completely loving (she ran away after it happened and he feels that she betrayed him by doing this) and that he may just show up again in her life, to who knows what end.

>After reading your synopsis in the chapters thread, I thought we might want to talk and see if either of us needs to make any changes or if we might want to see if our chapters can kind of work together. What do you think?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lyss: i see some places for your Erica's need for regression therapy to be a result of the tragic events she was a part of when with Gaucho's character. Just a small tiny little suggestion. cym.

 

[MunchinMark]

I'm thinking that in my chapter (which is towards the end), Erica returns to Artistic scholarship, this time as a teacher. She has become a mature and sophisticated lady shows some young artists the importance of touch and sensuality in sculpture, (perhaps she has always had a thing for firm, chisled figures) and eventually trains a replacement (male, i think, for a certain balance) for herself. In a way that will of course evoke memories (in her) of the professor of her youth. This will provide some closure near the end, but still with plenty of potential for the even later authors.

Perhaps by this time Erica will be haunted by her past, which will become more and more important to her, and so she misses the affection that her protege has for her and sends him away, perpetuating one of the tragedies of her own life, her love for her own professor.

[Edited by MunchinMark on 05-03-2001 at 07:44 PM]

 

[Whispersecret]

MAN OH MAN, PEOPLE.

This is so fantastic. THIS is what I was talking about when I brought up the idea of sharing ideas and plotting together. See how it's all intertwining? God, this is great.

I'm thinking that later perhaps Mexican Escapee could come back into the picture... Your thoughts? Nothing ratchets up a reader's interest like the threat of death to the main character.

I want to hear more!

 

[Ulyssa]

Erica's psychological quirk # 1.

Ummm, guys is it okay with everyone that Erica has a fear of horses? It's pretty important in my hypnotic regression chapter.

 

[Whispersecret]

I have no objections, Ulyssa.

 

[cymbidia]

Any more quirks?

I'm already working the whisper of a mention of her fear of horses into my bit, Lyssa. Thanks!

Anyone else with any quirks the rest of us might be able to use to (a) tie our stuff together and (b) make Erica more well-rounded?

 

[KillerMuffin]

In case ya'll don't read mine prior to writing yours, the professor at the university (unnamed and unlocated) is never seen again. He doesn't find her "benefactors" for her, I just couldn't see her having a pimp.

Quirks from me:

She adores sculpture, her favorite is Martin Russell. I took a little artistic license with the fact that he was probably a baby when she was with the professor. Georgian is the piece I used in my story. A special thanks to Pyper for finding him for me!

She loves to touch herself. Not just sexually, but just to feel her skin. Fingers on the face, in the hair, on the neck, stuff like that.

She's never read a memoir. She "isn't given to such things."

When writing from the present looking back, I used the watchword "introspective." And that's the tone I seemed to have set for it.

 

[Guest]

Remember this is my first time....

My idea (although I am still piecing it together), is her remembering a time when she came close to marriage. She had met an elderly German diplomat who was so fond of her he wanted her to meet his son Lawrence. He has very high hopes for this son and a very old fashioned way of thinking. The family has "old money" from a jewelry fortune. She dates Lawrence for a short time and he asks her to marry. She wonders about his physical distance from her.

Now the horse part may effect my story so let me know how you go with it. My plans were that she finds Lawrence in the stable with another lover ... not wanting to give away too much, you can E-mail me if you feel you need to know more or think it will effect your story in anyway.

Am I on the right track? I will accept any guidence with my "first time".

 

[Whispersecret]

Re: Remember this is my first time....

Suzie, here are my random thoughts in no particular order.
Please don't think I'm criticizing your ideas or saying they're bad in any way.


--Depending on how much time has passed between her "love" for the professor and the diplomat's son will be important. She won't likely trust her heart again so soon after. Unless she doesn't fall in love with Lawrence at all. Then there isn't a problem.

--Is Lawrence a German name? Just curious. I have a book with four pages of male German names. Let me know if you'd like me to help you pick one. If you're set on Lawrence, that's fine too.

--What do you mean when you say she wonders about his physical distance from her? Do they live in separate countries? However would they get to know each other well enough without meeting each other? Yes, I know this is the age of the internet, but I am cynical enough to believe that you can't know even half of what a person is unless you meet them.

--If the old guy is old-fashioned, obviously there will be some conflict involved because his son, upon whom he has pinned such high hopes, is set on marrying a "companion," a woman who hires herself out to men on a long term basis.

--I immediately wonder what motivates Lawrence to propose and then cheat? Is he really a cad? Is he using Erica for something?

--Remember if she's deathly afraid of horses, she will have to have a serious reason to go to the stables. I also imagine that you might have difficulty getting her to stand there and watch if you were planning a voyeurism scene.

--I don't know why you'd worry about giving away too much. No one comes to this section of the BB much except a few of us crazy authors. Plus, we clearly labeled there were spoilers inside. Are you worried someone will steal your story idea? I would hope that everyone who signed up to this project has enough integrity not to steal ideas. Besides, it would be obvious who stole them and from where.

 

[Samuari]

Additionally, this will all take place in the US, in a wild and barren southwestern desert. (The fans go wild as the writer gets rid of the necessity of knowing/using *too* much Italian in one bold stroke of the location pen!)

Y'all may know that i don't do plots, so this chapter is big-time plotting for me. Feel the burn, baby!

Comments, anyone? http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/otn/ez/ezbill.gif

A Spaghetti-Western? "The Good, The Bad, and The Nakked"?

 

[Ulyssa]

About the horses

Although she has a fear of horses don't let it get in the way. I wrote to Suzie and told her that she would go in the stables as long as there were gates between her and the horses.

Erica is trying to cope with what her friend and family see as an unnatural fear of horses---which is based upon a past life memory in which she is killed by a horse...okay?

I think this may help everyone. The fear is there but she isn't paralyzed!

 

[Guest]

OK thanks, (letting everyone else know) I might be able to work with the fear of horses with the angle of Lawrence meeting his lover there because he knows about her fear. Him supposing the fear will keep her away he thinks it is a safe meeting place.

I wasn't sure if we were supposed to give away too much. But ... since you seem to be OK with knowing , Lawrence is gay ... trying to please his father by living a "normal" life with a woman. She doesn't really love Lawrence, but she adores his father and doesn't want to hurt him. She feels closer to him than her own father and she does not want to loose that father figure so she agreed to the relationship to please the Diplomat. Unless I missed it, no one has mentioned Erica's parents. Could we have her mother known as being killed when she was 4 years old? Then perhaps her father will have put her in an expensive private school for girls until she reached adulthood. That would leave her looking most of her life for a strong male to connect with. I am picturing "Dad" as a Military man (think George C. Scott as Patton) who had trouble dealing with females including his daughter. If someone went another way with her parents ... let me know.

As far as the name goes, I was going to look for a German surname for the family. We can assume the first name was chosen by his mother who may or may not be German.
I need to get more of this down on paper so let me know if any of this steps out of the other parts.

 

[Whispersecret]

Again, I'm not trying to pin anyone to the wall. I'm just trying to clarify Erica's character in a logical way. So that when we write about her, she seems "true" and not like a puppet.

I wonder what type of behavior she exhibits to friends and family for them to assume she has an UNNATURAL fear of horses. Lots of people are afraid of horses. Lots of people don't want to be around them and go their whole lives never coming in contact with one. So, my questions are:

--Where has she come into contact with horses in the past in order for her modern persona to realize she has a fear?
--Has she really exhibited this fear to friends and family? Maybe she just realizes she has an unnnatural fear herself.
--Or does this EVEN make a difference in Ulyssa's chapter to decide this stuff? If her chapter revolves around the previous life, then it's the REST of the writers who may have to answer these questions (if they even HAVE Erica encounter horses in their chapters.)

 

[Whispersecret]

She doesn't really love Lawrence, but she adores his father and doesn't want to hurt him. She feels closer to him than her own father and she does not want to loose that father figure so she agreed to the relationship to please the Diplomat.

Personally, and it may just be me, but I think that's going to be hard to pull off. I always want to identify with a character, and when they do something that I think is illogical, I pull back from the story.

I think Erica is looking for male attention, obviously. She's put herself into the position of being a companion, for God's sake. However, is she desperate enough for a father figure to promise marriage to a man she doesn't love just so she can be his daughter-in-law?

I think you can convince us that this action is logical for Erica, but it's going to be tricky.

Unless I missed it, no one has mentioned Erica's parents. Could we have her mother known as being killed when she was 4 years old? Then perhaps her father will have put her in an expensive private school for girls until she reached adulthood. That would leave her looking most of her life for a strong male to connect with. I am picturing "Dad" as a Military man (think George C. Scott as Patton) who had trouble dealing with females including his daughter.

Sounds good to me.

 

[Guest]

Let's say she wanted to TRY and love Lawrence. He is very attractive to her but she "feels" something is not quite right between the two of them when he keeps pulling back. She ultimately will not go through with the marriage, she becomes at angry with Lawrence for not allowing her to fall in love with him. Keeping his distance from her he insists they wait until they are married to have sex, even though he knows she is not a virgin. When she finds out about Lawrence being gay she can't face telling his father and breaking his heart.

So basically, she WANTS to love Lawrence...but she cant, her heart is telling her something is wrong.

 

[Samuari]

Just Wondering

Have we selected a time frame to work with? Atr history sounds post WWII to me. Oh I know that they studyied the subject, but did they call it that? It may have been delt with somewhere, but I didn't see it. Just an itch, if some one can help me out?

 

[Ulyssa]

Erica and Horses

Then perhaps her father will have put her in an expensive private school for girls until she reached adulthood.

If that expensive private school has a stable and an equestrianship program there is our link to the present.
See folks--we're solving probs as they come along.

Even a brief mention might set the stage.

I have the best of both worlds in my beginning. There are two castings of Leonardo di Vinci's Bronze horse in the world--a forty plus foot tall abso-gorgeous-freaking-beautiful- frightening sculpture which the true casting stands in Florence and the one single cast replica stands in exotic Grand Rapids, Michigan---probably 45 minutes from me. I was inspired, in awe, and totally stunned by its magnificence.

She even states as much to her friend: "This isn't a horse, silly. This is a Leonardo sculpture..."

But when Erica looks up at the horse from ONE specific angle, she's finds herself caught in a mental fugue. After her friends pull her out of the Frederick Meijer Gardens where the statue is, she is then sent to an psychologist/psychiatrist who's big on hypnotherapy.

From there we go into her past life story.

Note: even though she listens to a tape which recounts her story, she isn't CURED! I don't believe in the Freudian identify and cure nonsense.

[Edited by Ulyssa on 05-08-2001 at 11:20 AM]

 

[KillerMuffin]

One thing we should watch for is that she remains in character. From what I've seen she's a self-confident, fiesty woman who wouldn't put up with a great deal of guff. As time passes, she would grow more jaded I think and the concept of "love" would be something she'd see in a somewhat cynical setting. After all she'd be in plenty of contact with men who cheat on their spouses, etc.

Suze's story line is confusing me. Let me regurgitate what I read and see if I got it right.

She has a relationship with Lawrence and wants to marry him, but doesn't because she discovers him with another woman. She doesn't love Lawrence, she just wants to marry him to please his father, who she does like.

If I got this right, I think this last part is totally out of character. I don't see her having a permanent relationship in the first place, let alone capitulating into having one that she's unsure about to please someone else entirely. Somehow, I'm finding such a story line more difficult to believe than Lyss's, which stretches credulity. But that's just my view on things.

As for the stables thing, is that incidental or integral to the story? After all she could just as easy discover them doing the thang in the greenhouse, poolhouse, garconniere, conservatory, kitchen, garage, front lawn, etc.

 

[Guest]

Read past posts...

Lawrence is gay, Erica does not find him with a woman, she finds him with the stable boy. He goes there to have sex with him BECAUSE of her fear of horses hoping that would keep her away. She believes at first she can have a relationship with Lawrence and be happy. She is attracted to him but never connects with him and later finds out why(because he is gay). The reason she wants to remain close to the father is she would be marrying into a FAMILY something she has never had. The father feels she is the ideal daughter in law and loves her dearly, he lavishes her with gift and does all he can to make her feel like she his part of his family. This could be the experience that makes her decide she does not need anyone else.

Am I so far off base that that you guys would rather I pull out of this story?

 

[Samuari]

nah, don't you Leave

We are just tring to understand and keep it together. Your storyline can work, but you will have to be carefull to keep her character one that would develop out of the one that KM and Whisper have started. I'm going to have the same kind of problem, and keeping her in character and
voice is going to be a big challenge

 

[cymbidia]

Re: Erica and Horses

But when Erica looks up at the horse from ONE specific angle, she's finds herself caught in a mental fugue. After her friends pull her out of the Frederick Meijer Gardens where the statue is, she is then sent to an psychologist/psychiatrist who's big on hypnotherapy.

Hey darlin', the answer to your email question (which, quite frankly hasn't made a whole lot of sense to me until right now, reading this here, but i assumed the lack of understanding was mine and not in your explanation. See what kind of a friend i am?) is: Santa Fe.

However, if you'd like a different answer, i can do that too. Just tell me the answer you'd like...