Early Deletions

Early Deletions:

Nearly every story goes through some changes during the editing process, a good thing, too. I shudder to think what elements might have remained had I written Bryony twenty years ago.

* Snowbell would have been Melissa’s cat.
* Melissa would have wandered the grounds at Simons Mansion searching for the cat while her mother and Brian had left her home alone in favor of the movies (There are no movie theaters in Munsonville. Besides, what parent would leave her fourteen year old home alone at night in the middle of the woods)?
* Henry Matthews would have resembled Sebastian Cabot’s Mr. French fromthe 1960’s television show, A Family Affair. He would have been sagely, not charming (GACK!).
* John Simons would have been dark and slender, sort of the way Melissa dreams him in the Grover’s Park house (You’ll have to wait for the book to read that part).
* Fr. Alexis would have vampire slaying powers.
* Melissa would have first met John near Lake Munson, not realizing he was a vampire.
* Simons Mansion would have existed only in Melissa’s dreams.
* Melissa would have become a critically ill, unwed mother.

Denise M. Baran-Unland