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Printed from https://writing.com/main/books/item_id/2059739-October-PrepMo-2015
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by Bernie Author IconMail Icon
Rated: 13+ · Book · Activity · #2059739
The daily assignments for PrepMo 2015
Let's see where this year takes us.
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October 29, 2015 at 9:02pm
October 29, 2015 at 9:02pm
#864521
Before

Protagonists:
         Margot Louise Baxter: 26 years old and the great great great granddaughter of Francis Danbury, one of the four founding fathers of Pleasantgate Point.
         Sebastian Harper: 32 years old and a genealogist and family historian that Margot has hired to do a family history and family tree on her family.

Goals
         Margot has always been curious about her family and that her great great great grandfather was a founding father of Pleasantgate Point. She has also heard the dark rumors that surround the found fathers, especially her great great great grandfather. She wants to learn the truth and hires Sebastian Harper to find it out, plus she wants to explore the old family homestead, which hasn't been lived in since after the mysterious death of Francis Danbury's grandson in 1917 and then when Francis' son and wife who lived in the house both died in an automobile accident in 1928.

Conflict(s)
         Margot and Sebastian begin to learn what the founding fathers were up to and the reason that Pleasantgate Point was founded. They also realize that the reason also still exists deep under the family homestead.

Antagonist(s)
         The secret hiding inside the family homestead, plus some of the residents of Pleasantgate Point who are trying to get Margot to stop researching her family.


After

Protagonists:
         Margot Louise Baxter: 26 years old and the great great great granddaughter of Francis Danbury, one of the four founding fathers of Pleasantgate Point.
         Sebastian Harper: 32 years old and a genealogist and family historian that Margot has hired to do a family history and family tree on her family.

Goals
         Margot wants to get to the bottom of the rumors about her family and the old family homestead. She does but it is not what she thought they'd be.

Conflict(s)
         Margot finds the "experiment" in the basement and she along with Sebastian try to find a reason to get rid of it and get the bottom of what the experiment is and why.

Antagonist(s)
         Francis Danbury and the "experiment" in the basement. Also the residents of Pleasantgate Point who realize what Margot is trying to do and try to get her to stop.
October 29, 2015 at 8:39pm
October 29, 2015 at 8:39pm
#864518
Margot changes by learning the truth of her ancestry and having her foundation rattled. She is someone who doesn't normally believe in supernatural, but because of the events in the book begins to wonder if those kinds of things actually exist.

She also second guesses a lot of her decisions also because of the events of the book and the type of town she lives in. The only person she can ground herself with is Sebastian since he is going through the same thing with him. Otherwise, she has difficulty establishing herself in realty.

By the end of the book, she isn't as confident as she was in the beginning and I think it allows her to connect with herself in ways she never thought she'd have to.
October 29, 2015 at 8:32pm
October 29, 2015 at 8:32pm
#864516
Vestibule & Entrance Hall

You walk through the heavy front doors of 13 Curves and you're now in the vestibule. It's a small little room with tall ceilings. You figure it's about five feet by ten feet. The walls are covered in mahogany paneling, with a grey stone floor covered in a now threadbare rug, too old and covered in dust to tell what the design and colors are. You can tell you're the first person in the house in a long time, there's a heavy dust and musty smell that you can taste it on your tongue. It makes you sneeze.

There are two small alcoves on either side of you, with small intricately designed tables nestled inside. Upon them are ornate iron cherub candelabras covered in layers of cobwebs. You imagine the room would be warm and welcoming once it was cleaned and lit up. Even the windows behind you would bring in welcoming light if they weren't boarded.

It's time to take that step through into the entrance hall. The ceiling is slightly higher than in the vestibule and there are two ways to leave this room: straight ahead and to the right. To your left is a grand fireplace, made of mahogany. You turn to look at it, in awe at the gorgeous carvings on either side of the fireplace. They're woman angels, gracious with large feathered wings and their arms are holding up the mantelpiece. The overmantel is ornately carved and inlaid to where you feel as if you stared at it for hours, you'd still find something new you hadn't seen before. Reaching up you touch the face of one of the angels which is almost as tall as you are. The face is so real that you expect to feel smooth skin underneath only to realize the wood is hard and cold. Dust and web catch on your finger and you wipe it on your pants.

You notice the marble flooring with alternating medallion mosaic, Grecian white, and a brown marble tiles. Again, you imagine how gorgeous the floor must've been now all covered in layers of caked dust and leaves. There is dark mahogany wainscoting with some inlaid oak.

Throughout this, you notice how eerily quiet the house is. With a house this old, this large, you'd expect some settling or some weird groaning, but it has been eerily quiet. You hear the sound of your breathing and the thudding of your heart in your chest.

Now it's time to take a step forward.
October 29, 2015 at 2:36pm
October 29, 2015 at 2:36pm
#864482
I am Margaret Emille Danbury-Reinhardt, I am 75 years old and my grandfather was the great and wondrous Francis Danbury. My siblings and I grew up knowing what a great man and a terrible father he was. My father often talked about how bad he felt for his mother who never knew happiness except for the last few years of her life when she lived in France. There was even a bitterness in himself for feeling as if he was less important than the rest of his siblings and often felt as if he didn't exist. Though, considering a lot of the craziness associated with the name, Danbury, maybe he was better off.

I grew up during a horrible time for our country, but where we lived and how we lived, we never realized it. Never as a child did I see the horror, the sadness, the ugliness of what was going on. Life was perfect and I had a nanny and tutors and was sent off to a boarding school in France until the ugliness of WWII would send me back. We lived in a ritzy beautiful neighborhood about an hour north of New York City. My father wanted nothing to do with Pleasantgate Point and none of us knew it even existed until much later in life.

Our mother was a beautiful and resourceful woman who knew how to rule without any of the men realizing it. I envied that and if there is one thing I took from her, it was that. Women were (and are) considered the weaker sex, the idiots, that we're only good for pleasure and producing heirs to one throne or another. Growing up I wanted to be a scientist! To be smart and create things from the simplest matters on Earth and yet I was told so often that I was a woman and a woman has a duty to her home, to her husband, to her children, that I realized that was all I was good for.

When I was twenty years old, I would marry a man twelve years older than myself, whom I had courted for nearly two years. We loved each other in a respectful way, but never in the careless abandon that I'd read in novels or that even the regular people got to enjoy. I never was unhappy, but there was never excitement or enjoyment in our marriage. We did produce six of the most beautiful children, even if I am a bit bias. My daughters grew up knowing that they could be whatever they wanted. My husband fought me on it for the longest time, but I kept my foot down and didn't waiver. I regretted not defying my parents and I wanted my daughters to have the opportunity.

There are times when I'd remember my father talking about my grandfather, usually with his siblings. Us children weren't allowed to talk about 14 Curves...or rather 13 Curves. It was expressly forbidden. My brother, Charles, God rest his soul, was trying to scare the rest of us (since he was the eldest) with horrible stories and legendary atrocities that had happened inside the walls of 13 Curves and when father heard him...Oh Charles had gotten the supreme wrath that day.

I've heard the stories, the claims, but I try not to think of them. It's hard to think that you might have come from something like that. As hard as it is to try and live a normal life, it's sometimes more difficult when you share the family name. I even carry it to this day, refusing to totally give up the Danbury name as when I was married I felt it was a badge of some kind of honor to keep it. To show I wasn't afraid of whatever lie behind the 13 Curves door. Now, I'm just too old to bother.

I would by lying if I didn't say I wasn't curious about what really happened. If there was any kind of merit to the stories. I'd love to hear it, even though there's a part of my soul that trembles knowing that there is some merit to it and that my life would be better off not knowing. Even so....
October 29, 2015 at 2:05pm
October 29, 2015 at 2:05pm
#864480
13 Curves

I. Prologue
         A. Journal Entry
                   1. Do one from Yvette's POV
                             a. Post-Seth's birth.
                             b. Distance from Francis
                                       i. Divorce
                   2. Do one from Francis' POV
                             From the labratory
II. Margot Baxter buys 13 Curves
         A. Gets teaching job
         B. Learns of Sebastian Harper
         C. Desire of learning family heritage
                   1. Parents talking about mom's connection
                   2. Dad's interest in Danbury name
III. Sebastian Harper Introduction
         A. Sebastian's background
         B. Two characters meeting
IV. Incorporate Danbury/Pleasantgate Point History
         A. Journal Entry from Francis Danbury
         B. Sebastian tells stories of family history
         C. Talk about history of Pleasantgate Point
         D. Talk about 4 co-founders
V. Exploring 13 Curves
         A. Reason for name
         B. Exploring the house
                   1. Finding more history
         C. Exploring the house a second time
                   1. Finding something in the basement laboratory
VI. Secret of the Laboratory
         A. Explain what secret is
                   1. The Dobagi
                   2. "Paidir foirfeacht"
         B. Researching secret
                   1. Francis Danbury disappearance connection
         D. Find out reason for Pleasantgate Point
                   1. Connection to disappearances
VII. Fighting the Secret
         A. Margot's connection to the secret
                   Finds out she is related to "the experiment"
         B. Sebastian helps discover a way to beat it
                   1. Reads "An Phaidir Black"
VIII. All is right in the world
         A. Relationship between Sebastian and Margot?
         B. Burn 13 Curves to the ground
October 27, 2015 at 10:03pm
October 27, 2015 at 10:03pm
#864324
There was something about him that made Erin sigh. She'd been a waitress for just a few weeks. She was eighteen years old and needed a car. She was walking from school to work and then her father (he really was her stepfather, but he was more of a father to her than her real dad was) would pick her up on his way home from work. And now, she was glad for it. For there was Phillip Baxter, the son of Christian Baxter, a very ridiculously rich lawyer who worked downtown Albany and had his own private practice. Phillip was to also become a lawyer and Erin assumed this would be the last summer before he would be off to some great college or university.

She wanted to flirt and say hi to him, but she knew she was a nobody in comparison. She'd stumble and make a fool of herself.
October 27, 2015 at 9:53pm
October 27, 2015 at 9:53pm
#864322
The library was a nice break from the blistering wind and ice daggers outside. Francis, Thomas, Daniel, and Arthur were at a table in the far back corner; their usual spot for getting together and studying or discussing. It was Sunday, their usual day of relaxation from their intense studying. Today appeared to be a day of discussing.

“Before we get down to business, I wanted to show you guys this. I found it while looking through the old texts for something I needed for a paper I’m writing. I think it’s one of the oldest books this campus has.” He set the old book down on the table and the four boys just stared at it.

“What is it, Art?” Thomas asked.

“This book is about a cult called the Dobagi.”

Francis leaned back in his chair. “The Dobagi huh? Where were they from?”

“Northern Ireland. It’s pretty informative on them from the little bit I scanned on it, but I also spotted something in there I thought you guys might…find interesting.”

Art pulled back a chair and sat down. He took the book in his hand and ran his thumb over the cover. The cover was leather, with “THE DOBAGI” engraved on the front. “This book was published in 1476. This book is 382 years old. Have any of you seen a book so old and yet…so well kept together?”

They were quiet and Art opened the book. His soft deep voice began to read:

“The Dobagi were a cult that lasted for centuries and even to this day, no one is quite sure what has happened to them, whether they disbanded or went deep underground. What we do know, which might seem vast, is only very little compared to the extensive knowledge the group seems to have.

“The Dobagi was started by a man named Colm Ó Faoláin in 1148, as that seems to be the first time the group is seen out in public. By 1159, Colm had nearly twenty followers and they would meet outside of town in what barely passed for a shack. They would be seen as harmless for over a hundred years until there would be gossip talking of magic and devil worship.”

Daniel had been quiet the entire time and looked at the others before speaking, choosing his words wisely. “I take it there was some truth to this magic. That’s why we’re here aren’t we?”

Again, quiet came around the table.
October 26, 2015 at 7:46pm
October 26, 2015 at 7:46pm
#864219
Pleasantgate Point is a small town without much influence from other areas, as it’s pretty secluded thanks to the surrounding forest. The nearest town is nearly twenty miles in either direction. They are primarily a Christian town, with one major church that most of the citizens go to. There is a small church on the far edge of town. The town is “ruled” by a mayor, much like any other town in the United States, his name is Robert Downy, a descendent of Daniel Craig. There is a small police force that enforces the laws and keeps the peace. They also have a small municipal building that houses the jail, police department, and court. This town is run very similarly like any and every other town in the United States.
October 24, 2015 at 11:42pm
October 24, 2015 at 11:42pm
#864010
A book called The Dobagi located in the library of Dartmouth University. The book, published in the 15th century, includes a history on the Dobagi, an ancient cult located in Northern Ireland. The Dobagi are not very well known, even though there was quite a bit of information gathered on them, including "prayers" and "stories" they would tell among themselves.

The Dobagi were believed to have existed in the mid to late 14th century, eventually going entirely underground to where scholars believe they either disbanded entirely or have just continued to meet in secrecy. They were a pagan cult, who's Gods they believed in were often animal like and often believed in the purification of the human body. It also led, much in speculation, that they performed magic and did experiments. It also led to the fact that their prayers were instead magic spells.

The book was over 800 pages in length, leather bound with parchment pages. It, along with other old books are kept in a temperature controlled room.
October 21, 2015 at 8:19pm
October 21, 2015 at 8:19pm
#863691
The Four Forefathers of Pleasantgate Point and their focus
         Francis Danbury - a psychiatrist, who was both a behaviorist and experimental, and did his study on people and how certain things affected them
         Arthur Johnson - an epidemiologist, studied diseases and how they were spread
         Daniel Craig - a botanist, studied the plant life and experimented on hybridization
         Thomas McAntry - a pharmacologist with also a strong knowledge of organic chemistry, studied the affects of drugs (whether it be man-made or natural) on
         the human body

Locations
         Pleasantgate Point
         Bridgeton
         New York City
         Albany



Needs Definition
         Dobagi - Need to do some ancient cult research
                     - Develop Dobagi more - flesh it out


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