Category: NaNoWriMo

Mistaken Identity – The Third Editor’s Draft – Day 12

I have been working on the story, the editor is asking for a second draft after making suggested changes – and I’m now working on it

…

Today I’m dealing with the art of elusiveness, and trying to emulate what it would be like to hide the truth from someone. It would require a great deal of elusiveness and guile to carry it off as though whatever you’ve been lying about for so long doesn’t come back to bite you.

Of course, if I tried it in practice I’d fail miserably, because I don’t have a poke face, and worse, I can’t keep a secret.

So, best not to ask me if I can keep a secret because I will say yes very earnestly, and then give it up when the pressure is on.

I’d never make a good spy either.

But it does make me wonder about all those people out there that constantly tell lies about everything, their past, whether or not they’re having an affair, where they’ve been, and what happened to the money.

Some people are very good at it, especially those who change their names, or have a half dozen different passports.

But, here, in this story, Jack’s mother probably just wanted to believe her twin sister had perished a long time ago, and the longer it became since she last heard from her, the more it was likely she was gone.

Pity. She’s about to come back from the dead.

And, of course, she does know about the doppelganger Jacob, because he had already visited her.

But as to why Jacob has come out of the woodwork, well that has something to do with the past, and an old flame Jack’s mother had a long time ago.

He too has come out of the past for different reasons, none of them good for her health.

More tomorrow.

The Things We Do For Love – The final editor’s draft – Day 16

…

There’s plotting and scheming afoot.

Michelle is dreaming about the many ways she can dispose of her boss, Emile, and equally ticking them off the list when reality sets in.

It’s another long night, and a customer, one with a difference, and he has this strange request, that she try a concoction on one of her customers he’s invented so he can embarrass the boy who stole his girlfriend.

It’s an opportunity and another brick in the wall. 

Despaired that Henry hasn’t discovered her hidden missive, she starts staking out the Henshaw house to see when he returns, and he does not turn up.  She cannot keep going there lest Felix gets suspicious.  She calls on the phone but gets no answers.

Next time she arrives at his house Harry is there waiting and they talk.

It’s not the conversation she wants to have, or hear, and realises that it’s going to be a lot more difficult to get Henry back.

A talk with Emile, she tries to set his mind at rest that she wants to escape again, and he leaves unsatisfied.

She realises that she has to deal with Felix first.  But, on the other hand, she would be testing the drops given to her by a client, and if it works, another part of the plan might come to fruition.

She also knows she needs another way to communicate with Henry.

…

The Things We Do For Love – The final editor’s draft – Day 15

…

Time, it seems, does not heal all wounds.

It’s time for Michelle to return to the snake pit, her nickname for the Parlour she had been sent to work, and the only good thing about it, she is reunited with her two friends, Angie and Millie.

She’s also back to dulling the senses with the drugs left at the house, and when Felix comes to make sure she is ready to return, he realises she has gone back to her old ways.  He is not pleased.

Henry is getting to the end of another tour, with a few weeks to go, and is admiring the sunset from the bridge.  The captain, hoping he does not have to put him off the ship, finds that a  talk to the Chief Officer has put him back on track.

At least one of them is happy.

Henry is still trying to reconcile the girl he met in Morganville with the girl he met last break and finds no suitable answers, just a whole host more questions.

Perhaps he should accept that he doesn’t understand women and one in particular.

…

The Things We Do For Love – The final editor’s draft – Day 15

…

Time, it seems, does not heal all wounds.

It’s time for Michelle to return to the snake pit, her nickname for the Parlour she had been sent to work, and the only good thing about it, she is reunited with her two friends, Angie and Millie.

She’s also back to dulling the senses with the drugs left at the house, and when Felix comes to make sure she is ready to return, he realises she has gone back to her old ways.  He is not pleased.

Henry is getting to the end of another tour, with a few weeks to go, and is admiring the sunset from the bridge.  The captain, hoping he does not have to put him off the ship, finds that a  talk to the Chief Officer has put him back on track.

At least one of them is happy.

Henry is still trying to reconcile the girl he met in Morganville with the girl he met last break and finds no suitable answers, just a whole host more questions.

Perhaps he should accept that he doesn’t understand women and one in particular.

…

Mistaken Identity – The Third Editor’s Draft – Day 12

I have been working on the story, the editor is asking for a second draft after making suggested changes – and I’m now working on it

…

Today I’m dealing with the art of elusiveness, and trying to emulate what it would be like to hide the truth from someone. It would require a great deal of elusiveness and guile to carry it off as though whatever you’ve been lying about for so long doesn’t come back to bite you.

Of course, if I tried it in practice I’d fail miserably, because I don’t have a poke face, and worse, I can’t keep a secret.

So, best not to ask me if I can keep a secret because I will say yes very earnestly, and then give it up when the pressure is on.

I’d never make a good spy either.

But it does make me wonder about all those people out there that constantly tell lies about everything, their past, whether or not they’re having an affair, where they’ve been, and what happened to the money.

Some people are very good at it, especially those who change their names, or have a half dozen different passports.

But, here, in this story, Jack’s mother probably just wanted to believe her twin sister had perished a long time ago, and the longer it became since she last heard from her, the more it was likely she was gone.

Pity. She’s about to come back from the dead.

And, of course, she does know about the doppelganger Jacob, because he had already visited her.

But as to why Jacob has come out of the woodwork, well that has something to do with the past, and an old flame Jack’s mother had a long time ago.

He too has come out of the past for different reasons, none of them good for her health.

More tomorrow.

The Things We Do For Love – The final editor’s draft – Day 16

…

There’s plotting and scheming afoot.

Michelle is dreaming about the many ways she can dispose of her boss, Emile, and equally ticking them off the list when reality sets in.

It’s another long night, and a customer, one with a difference, and he has this strange request, that she try a concoction on one of her customers he’s invented so he can embarrass the boy who stole his girlfriend.

It’s an opportunity and another brick in the wall. 

Despaired that Henry hasn’t discovered her hidden missive, she starts staking out the Henshaw house to see when he returns, and he does not turn up.  She cannot keep going there lest Felix gets suspicious.  She calls on the phone but gets no answers.

Next time she arrives at his house Harry is there waiting and they talk.

It’s not the conversation she wants to have, or hear, and realises that it’s going to be a lot more difficult to get Henry back.

A talk with Emile, she tries to set his mind at rest that she wants to escape again, and he leaves unsatisfied.

She realises that she has to deal with Felix first.  But, on the other hand, she would be testing the drops given to her by a client, and if it works, another part of the plan might come to fruition.

She also knows she needs another way to communicate with Henry.

…

The Things We Do For Love – The final editor’s draft – Day 16

…

There’s plotting and scheming afoot.

Michelle is dreaming about the many ways she can dispose of her boss, Emile, and equally ticking them off the list when reality sets in.

It’s another long night, and a customer, one with a difference, and he has this strange request, that she try a concoction on one of her customers he’s invented so he can embarrass the boy who stole his girlfriend.

It’s an opportunity and another brick in the wall. 

Despaired that Henry hasn’t discovered her hidden missive, she starts staking out the Henshaw house to see when he returns, and he does not turn up.  She cannot keep going there lest Felix gets suspicious.  She calls on the phone but gets no answers.

Next time she arrives at his house Harry is there waiting and they talk.

It’s not the conversation she wants to have, or hear, and realises that it’s going to be a lot more difficult to get Henry back.

A talk with Emile, she tries to set his mind at rest that she wants to escape again, and he leaves unsatisfied.

She realises that she has to deal with Felix first.  But, on the other hand, she would be testing the drops given to her by a client, and if it works, another part of the plan might come to fruition.

She also knows she needs another way to communicate with Henry.

…

Mistaken Identity – The Third Editor’s Draft – Day 11

I have been working on the story, the editor is asking for a second draft after making suggested changes – and I’m now working on it

…

So now the truth, or a version of it, is out there, Jack now needs to find out who this Jacob is.

Well, he thinks he knows who it is, but he needs some confirmation from his mother about what she apparently has been hiding from him all his life.

Of course, as expected, his mother is being elusive.

In the meantime, I’ve been playing around with the backstory, which, sometimes never finds its way into the book. It serves me to get a better understanding of a character, of several, in what some might call a background paper.

I also wonder if this type of scenario plays out in other families, and if they were, or are, referred to as the skeletons in the closet.

We didn’t have any in our family, well, none that I knew about, anyway. I’m sure there were, we just never got to hear about them.

I guess that’s why often members of a family will go searching the genealogical records, and find out if they are related to someone famous. My wife reckons that she is somehow related to Harriet Beecher Stowe, the writer of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. On our side, we had a Luddite (who wasn’t really a Luddite – long story) transported to Van Diemen’s Land from England.

I know who won that forebear contest!

Today’s effort amounts to 2,438 words, for a total, so far, of 27,923.

More tomorrow.

The Things We Do For Love – The final editor’s draft – Day 15

…

Time, it seems, does not heal all wounds.

It’s time for Michelle to return to the snake pit, her nickname for the Parlour she had been sent to work, and the only good thing about it, she is reunited with her two friends, Angie and Millie.

She’s also back to dulling the senses with the drugs left at the house, and when Felix comes to make sure she is ready to return, he realises she has gone back to her old ways.  He is not pleased.

Henry is getting to the end of another tour, with a few weeks to go, and is admiring the sunset from the bridge.  The captain, hoping he does not have to put him off the ship, finds that a  talk to the Chief Officer has put him back on track.

At least one of them is happy.

Henry is still trying to reconcile the girl he met in Morganville with the girl he met last break and finds no suitable answers, just a whole host more questions.

Perhaps he should accept that he doesn’t understand women and one in particular.

…

The Things We Do For Love – The final editor’s draft – Day 14

…

Michelle meets Henry on the dock in the pouring rain.

It only takes one look between them, for both of them to know this is not going to end.

But…

She is going to tell him the truth.

They go to her place, and selfishly she decides to consummate the relationship.  He is surprised but does not refuse.

…

It wasn’t my first idea to do this, I was going to have her deliver the truth and have him leave in disgust.  But, after giving them a lead in at the wharf, it could not just simmer and die. 

I decided then that she has to make a decision on whether or not she wanted to find a way for them to be together.  Angie makes the suggestion, earlier when she finally had to give in, that the only way they would get free of the Turk was to kill him.  And Felix.

It’s why I’ve kept the truth, and she relates it even when he doesn’t want to hear it, and refuses his help when he offers it, because he would not survive in her world. 

…

She succeeds in getting him to leave, and it almost breaks her heart to do so in such a fashion.  Little does he know he left with something else.

He doesn’t go home, he finds another hideaway hotel and retreats back into himself.  Back on the ship a month or so later, the pain is no less than before, and it changes him to the extent the shipboard crew are dismayed, and the captain seriously considers making him ‘walk the plank’.

…