BryonySeries: Beulah County

In the early days of this blog, I wrote about various elements of the BryonySeries: defining them, sharing the inspiration behind them, etc., since the series is the primary driver of the blog.

Over time, I wrote less about these elements, so now I'm correcting that with weekly (overall) posts on these elements. You can find past blogs under the tag "About the BryonySeries."

This week's post is short: a definition of Beulah County and an even shorter on why Beulah County is significant.

Enjoy! :)

Beulah County: A fictional county in Northern Michigan, that encompasses Thornton (city), Shelby (tourist village), Jenson (college town), and Munsonville (fishing village). Mentioned in “House on Top of the Hill.”

That's according to the BryonySeries guidebook "Welcome to Munsonville: The People, Places and Things of the BryonySeries."

But Beulah County by name also appears in the BryonySeries Ruthless trilogy by Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara: "Ruthless," "The Fifth," and "Recovering Ruthless."

Here is the encyclopedia-style entry on Munsonville.

But what really makes Beulah County interesting are the seven mysteries surrounding it.

BryonySeries: Munsonville, Michigan

Anyone who's heard of the BryonySeries (and if you're on this blog, you have), may also heard of Munsonville, Michigan, and wondered where it's located and why it was even included in the series (especially the novels) in the first place.

So here is an encyclopedia-style explanation along with a reminder of the BryonySeries graduation special at The Book Market in Crest Hill.

What is Munsonville, Michigan?

Munsonville is an imaginary fishing village in the equally imaginary Beulah County in the northern part of U.S. state of Michigan, almost to Canada.

When was it founded?

Owen Munson, a wealthy Scottish/Italian mustang runner and mill owner, founded Munsonville in 1835 when he bought a large parcel of land (actual size undetermined) and established a Utopian community

History

Nearly two hundred years before Owen Munson visited the area, French fur trapper and fisherman Pierre Sicard established a small community that never thrived.

By 1875 and under Owen Munson’s leadership, Munsonville population swelled to 150. By then Munsonville had a general store, a church, a row of fishing cabins, and housing development on its hill.

A sickness spread through the village in late 1876 and killed 50 residents. But Munsonville continued to grow and thrive. Major industries by the end of the nineteenth century included fishing, lumbering, construction, and furniture-building.

On Christmas Day 1893, renowned pianist and composer John Simons married Bryony Marseilles, daughter of Munsonville’s church pastor, built a mansion in the woods for their home, and planted specially bred bryony – a noxious weed – around and through the estate.

John Simons left the area two years later after the death of his wife and daughter and economic progress froze, except for a surge in tourism during the Great Depression. Only fishing remained a primary industry, until Beulah County started clamping down on quotes in the 1960s.

The village of Munsonville bought the old Simons Mansion in July of 1975 to remodel into a museum and transform the village into a tourist spot. But the mansion burned to the ground in December 1975, and progress stalled once more.

The Simons estate became a public park in the early 1980s and a robust community garden by 1990. 

Munsonville became renowned in 2020 when its residents were the last to contract COVID-19.

Geography

Munsonville is bordered by the village town of Jenson, the tourist village of Shelby, and the city of Thorton on its west, Simons Woods and the town of Evansville on its east, a steep hill with three home-lined streets and vast woods to its north, and Lake Munson to the south.

Climate

Munsonville, like many locales in Northern Michigan, experiences four distinct seasons.

Spring and fall are typically mild.

Summers range from hot and humid to cool and breezy.

Winters are bitterly cold and filled with heavy snowfall, sometimes starting as early as October.

Census

Munsonville’s population has held at 386 since the 1950s.

Religion

Munsonville has one nondenominational church and pastors that come and go due to its ghost legend.

Current pastor is Jason Frye.

Economy

Munsonville has few businesses, and they are all located on Main Street. Its most famous business is Sue’s Diner, which attracts diners from all over Michigan and beyond the state’s borders.

Sue’s Diner is owned and operated by Chef Brian Marchellis, a graduate of Joliet Junior College’s culinary artist program. Joliet Junior College is located in Joliet, Illinois.

Employers

Most businesses are family-owned. Munsonville has few to no opportunities for employment.

Government

The village of Munsonville is led by a mayor and a village board.

It’s governance is often irregular. Elections occasionally occur. At other times, officials volunteer for their roles and remain in them for decades. See "Mayors of Munsonville." (entry yet to be written).

Police protection is provided by the Beulah County Sheriff’s Department.

Arts and Culture

None

Sports

None - except one fishing tournament during Munsonville's centennial celebration in October 1975.

Parks and Recreation

Simons Woods has a bike path and a nature center.

Simons Woods is ideal for berry picking.

Fishing is enjoyed year-round, by boat and from the docks.

Education

All twelve grades attend Munsonville School. Class sizes are small.

Infrastructure

Munsonville has only one paved road: Main Street.

Munsonville has no airports, bridges, major highways, public transit systems, or railways.

The source of its water supply is unknown. Each home has a crude septic system that was most likely installed in the 1950s, when running water became available.

Munsonville also received access to electricity in the early 1950s.

Internet connectivity and broadband access is poor to none. Most homes didn’t have telephones or televisions until the late 1970s to early 1980s.

Hospitals

The closest hospital is Jenson Memorial Hospital.

Munsonville has not had a doctor onsite since 2020.

Notable People

John Simons. See "History."

In popular culture

Munsonville became part of popular culture through the phantastic book series called the BryonySeries.

Illustration of Munsonville, Michigan's aerial view by Jennifer Wainright

Welcome to Munsonville: A Quick Tour of a Fictional Fishing Village in Northern Michigan

In 1985, I had an idea for a vampire story, that I never started writing with any real progress and persistence until the fall of 2007.

That story has expanded into titles for people of all ages, and most (but not all) feature a supernatural theme.

You know the expression "all roads lead to Rome?"

Well, in the BryonySeries, all roads eventually, somehow, lead back to Munsonville, the main setting for the books.

Munsonville is a fictional fishing village in  Beulah County, Northern Michigan. It was founded by Owen Munson (the equally fictional Scottish/Italian mill owner) in 1875 and has not progressed much through the years. 

The illustration at the bottom of this post gives you an aerial view of the drive into the village. The entrance is also the best exit out, if you're able to leave, that is.

It's not just the villagers who get stuck. So, apparently, do my handful (less than ten) of super loyal readers, who can't let the characters go. When they finish one book, they eventually circle back to an older one, while waiting for me to scribble out yet another.

Now Daniel did create driving directions from Chicago to Munsonville, but I wouldn't travel to Munsonville that way. Use your imagination instead. It's bound to be more accurate.

Now as you leave reality and enter Main Street, you'll pass a large, smiling fish on a dented sign that reads: Munsonville. Population: 386. Everyone Welcome Here. 

You'll see shiny blacktop, plank sidewalks, and weathered brick buildings on your left, and Sue's Diner and the fishing cabins to your right.

The painted wood signs on the buildings read Village Hall, Joe's General Store, Harper’s Grocery, Dalton’s Dry Goods, Walker’s Apothecary, and Munsonville Public Library. 

Past the store buildings is Munsonville Inn, which has a three-story turret. 

Sitting further back is Munsonville Congregational Church, a cream-colored, clapboard building with arched windows and an ornate steeple.

Munsonville School, a three-story, redbrick building, is the last building in the row. 

Lake Munson is the "back yard" to Sue's Diner and the fishing cabins. 

A house-lined hill is to the far left, behind the shops, etc.. The hill has only three streets: Pike Street, Blue Gill Road, and Bas Street. All are named for early settlers. 

The houses were built in graduated sizes; the small, four-room houses are at the bottom; the largest houses - a salt box, a colonial, and a Queen Anne - are at the top. 

Beyond the houses is Munsonville Cemetery and the woods. Again, you'll want to avoid the woods.

Now if you continue East on Main Street, you will drive straight into Simons Woods. Deep into the woods and at the top of a hill is a playground and community garden. 

That space is the former the estate of renowned nineteenth century pianist and composer John Simons, who married Bryony Marseilles, a village girl, shortly before the turn of the twentieth century. Bryony died giving birth two years later. It's the village's claim to fame even though John left town shortly after Bryony's birth and never returned, so "they" say.

If you drive into the woods anyway, you should reach the other side, Evansville, in an about an hour, if you're fortunate.

But I don't recommend traveling through those woods.

Welcome to Munsonville!

Illustration by Jennifer Wainwright for the BryonySeries website.

"Respect and a New Hire" by Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara

 Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, sent this piece earlier in the week. 

I'm guessing it's an excerpt from a sequel to Ruthless that he's currently writing, for the piece features Sheriff Matt from the first book.

It's got a nice O. Henry twist at the end. Enjoy!

The sheriff was polite enough but didn’t seem to think that a five-year veteran of the CPD had the right stuff to patrol the roads of Munsonville. What was his problem? Black, female, being by the book …or did he hold suspect her roommate; which of those was the real reason? He deployed her as temporary but insisted on riding with her every shift. It had been nearly a week and not one peep out of the overnight dispatcher. At the end of her last shift, Marsha heard Sheriff Matt telling someone that tonight likely would be her last.

              “Home invasion in progress,” came over the radio.

              She drove hot; Matt knew the place and person. Dome lights, police cam, action – but Sheriff Matt wasn’t about body cams. Anyway, they were at the disturbance inspecting the entrances.

              “No evidence of break in,” she told him.

              That pompous sheriff seemed awfully relaxed.

              “Break down the door?” But smartass lifted the doormat and pulled a key.

              “Go first. Show me what you got.”

              Two minutes later, they were back in the cruiser and Marsha was fuming. The perpetrator was still in the house, and Matt looked like he found the flaw he’d been looking for all along.

              “What!” she snapped.

              “Could have done worse, but you could have done better.”

              “Did you know that a brownie was washing dishes?” she fumed.

              “Yeah,” the sheriff allowed. “Ramon cleans old man Daven’s place every Saturday. Do you think we shouldn’t have responded?”

              “Of course not,” Marsha conceded. “It’s just…”

              “That a brownie was doing the cleaning? The first thing you did right, by the way, is seeing a brownie and not a dangerous burglar. You didn’t shoot him when he didn’t freeze or mix it up with him when he told you to find your own old man to clean for. Don’t worry, we’ve got plenty of mythical creatures that are dangerous. That’s why we came out this way. Could have been a ghost, werewolf, or vampire that just so happen to terrorize the old man the same night Ramon cleans…dementia, get it?”

              “You should have told me. What if I did shoot?”

              “Ramon would have fixed the bullet holes. He doesn’t believe in revolvers. You believe in brownies.”

              Marsha sighed and spilled.

              “My wife is an old world farmer,” she said. “That’s why I quit Chicago for a place we could raise food and our two baby boys.”

              “Still want the job?”

              “That depends on what I did wrong,” Marsha responded suspiciously.

              “Not too much. You could have showed more respect to Ramon. He takes care of the old man because we humans don’t. It might have helped if you’d picked up a dry cloth and started drying the dishes while you talked to him. Brownies are good friends to cops looking for bad elves and fairies.”

              She got it.

              “So what do we write in our report?” Marsha asked.

              “Nobody hears about this but our own DMC.”

              “Detroit Medical Center?”

              “Department of Mythical Creators…I’ll introduce you tomorrow.”

            

Hudsonville, Michigan (And More Cool Discoveries)

So Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, is still insisting that Munsonville, Munsonville in the BryonySeries is, if not a real place, then based off a real place.

He did some digging and decided I must have based it off Hudsonville, Michigan, which was also founded by one man buying up a parcel of land.

I insisted it's only a coincidence. 

But then I wondered...how many more coincidences might I find?

So I started searching online for some of the pretend places in the BryonySeries and came up with these and passed them to Ed and Nancy Calkins for their "road trip."

Michigan has a village named Beulah, but not a county

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beulah,_Michigan

Hudsonville, Michigan appears to be more west, than north

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudsonville,_Michigan#/media/File:Ottawa_County_Michigan_Incorporated_and_Unincorporated_areas_Hudsonville_Highlighted.svg

 https://www.hudsonville.org/about-hudsonville

https://www.hudsonville.org/history-of-hudsonville

https://hudsonvillechamber.com/about-hudsonville.html

There is a Jenison, Michigan (not Jenson, Michigan) in Ottawa County - the same county as Hudsonville. It's unincorporated and has no legal status.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenison,_Michigan

There is a Shelby Township, Michigan in Macomb County

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_Township,_Michigan

There is no Thornton in Michigan, but there is one in Illinois

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornton,_Illinois

There is not an Evansville, Michigan but there is one in Indiana - with some similarities in backstories.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evansville,_Indiana#History

There is no Grover's Park in Illinois but there is a Grove Park in Chiago.

https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks-facilities/grove-park

There is no Wraith Park in Michigan but there is a Wraith Falls Trail at Yellowstone National Park

https://www.nps.gov/thingstodo/yell-trail-wraith-falls.htm

AND LET'S NOT FORGET...

Calkins Nature Area in Iowa

https://www.hardincountyia.gov/555/Calkins-Nature-Area

It Has Begun...

Thanks (or "no thanks") to covid, I am not gong to Raleigh this year to spend a week with Sarah and her family.

I also won't be seeing my parents, who live near her and are in their mid-80s.

So I'm off to Munsonville instead, which exists nowhere except in my mind and in the mind of anyone who's read my books, and in this beautiful piece of art at the bottom of this blog.

Translation: I'm taking an at-home writing retreat.

I have an ambitious list and don't intend to waste the time or the coffee.

Having taken a similar retreat a couple of these two years ago when airfare was prohibitive, I know how the progression works.

The first few days feel awesome, like a kid on summer vacation. My schedule and my routine is gone, and the alarm clock is silenced. No deadlines! No homework! Just "play" writing! Yay!!!

But the feeling is a lie. Because I have a self-made list of goals and deadlines sitting at my left. I can't miss it anytime I glance down. And if I'm sipping coffee, i'm glancing down a lot.

And like any summer vacation, the at-home writing retreat will get stale, usually by Tuesday afternoon. You know that feeling when all you eat is confectionery? Yeah, it's like that. The first few bites of a dark chocolate bar are amazing. But try working your way through a three-pound bar, ugh.

By Wednesday, I'm still waking up early and immediately staggering to the computer. By now I'm cranky and sick of everything: sick of writing, computers, coffee (hard to believe, but true), my BryonySeries, walking, music, the current project - all of it.

By Thursday afternoon, the pressure returns. My list of uncrossed items stares me in the face as I write, reminding me the list was way to prolific and that I won't get it done.

By Friday, I'm wondering where the week went and where I lost the time.

And by Saturday, even though it's a weekend, my mind is straying back to work and preparing itself for Monday.

So what's on the list?

All the even chapters of The Phoenix or fifteen chapters. This is first and foremost. And I started on it yesterday afternoon and wrote until my brain shut off at 9:30 p.m. (but I did have an extremely short night of sleep Thursday into Friday).

Finish formatting Lycanthropic Summer. Since I want to release it by October 1, this is important

Finish the last two chapters of Cornell Dyer and the Old Folks Home and copy edit it. My goal is three books a year. I'm just on the first one. So I'm way behind.

Finish formatting WriteOn Joliet's fourth anthology. This is even more first and foremost than The Phoenix.

Get the content Rebekah needs for a new website. Can't move forward without this. Better make it a priority.

Get Rebekah the photos she needs for the new Bertrand book. The goal is three a year. We released one last year. Again, way behind.

Wish me luck. I'm gonna need it.

(First side note: Why do I do this? Especially since, you know, I'm a local self-published author with a handful of readers. Well, I do it for the readers. This is paramount, and I'm very serious. If just one person wants to read it, I want to write it. Second, it develops me as a writer, which is useful for my work writing, the most important writing I will ever write. Third, it develops my imagination, which I think keeps me creative and mentally young. Both are traits for a good life, I think).

(Second side note: An interview with this very talented artist of the illustration will be coming the week after the retreat. And she, along with my other artists, are available for hire).

(Third note: Please excuse any typos, please and thank you).

BryonySeries Throwback Thursday: I Spent Some Time In Munsonville After All

Monday, May 19, 2014

I Spent Some Time In Munsonville After All

Friday I hit the sack fairly early (for a Friday night) as I was the on-call editor for the weekend, and I also had two stories to cover.

Before running to the bank, I did some postings for one newspaper, edited next Monday's pet feature, wrote a nice draft for Friday's A&E feature, and then, that afternoon, covered a cook-off benefit for homeless and disabled veterans and had coffee with one really nice poet. I headed back to The Herald-News to write those stories, got back to the apartment about six-thirty, worked out in the fitness center with Daniel, and then grabbed some poor boy sandwiches with Daniel and Timothy. Rebekah was spending the weekend in Morris, so I had our room all to ourselves.

:)

At eight o'clock, I settled down at the computer for a lovely four and a half hours of working on the prequel, racking it up well after midnight for a shower, into bed oneish, and then up at seven to start my postings for two newspapers, church, a visit from Joshua and company, grocery shopping, etc. etc. et all.

One of the smartest things I have ever done, prequel-wise, was to print out all my chapter notes to this sixty-chapter tome and three-hole punch them into a binder. This allows me to carry the story around with me at all times, constantly reviewing the story every spare few minutes I have to keep the entire storyline fresh in my mind and jotting down ideas, dialogue, descriptions, phraseology etc., as they come to mind.

So,  yes, under this new regime, I am working on the novel every day(finally, as I can hear some of you say), and my extended time at the keyboard has become far, far more productive.

This week, with a three-day holiday at its end, The Herald-News has early deadlines. I plan to give the next five days the intensity it needs to ensure three days of no official work at the end of it. With the exception of church on Sunday (dedication at Joshua and Amber's church for Ezekiel and Jessica), I intend to spend those three days round or about the nineteenth century.

Cannot wait, cannot wait, cannot wait.

Website Experiments

Ever since Timothy Baran took a marketing class last year, he's combined his love for visual art with some of the information he's learned.

He's still playing around with the BryonySeries website and, rather spontaneously, spent quite a few hours with it over the last couple of days.

Now he hasn't published everything yet, but the work so far looks great, I think.

Of course, Jenny Rosenboom's rendition of Main Street for the landing page is absolutely brilliant in its detail and in capturing our vision, and we are extremely thankful to her for creating it.

Have a look: bryonyseries.com.

Illustration by Jennifer Rosenboom for the BryonySeries

The Artwork is Framed

At Christmas, BryonySeries artist Christopher Gleason surprised me with the original pieces of all five frontispieces he created for Before the blood.

This past weekend, Timothy framed them all. Timothy also framed the "aerial view" of Munsonville's Main Street an artist known only to me "Jenny" created. 

Timothy also framed a painting and note Bertrand "created" as my birthday present last year (with the help of Cindy, Daniel's girl friend). Since then, Cindy's son Justin has become a Bertrand fan and finally got to meet Bertrand in his real crocheted person last night.

Here are the framed pieces. Have a great Monday, readers, writers, and vampire fans! :)

He had vowed to play or die; he just might get the latter.

Flying overhead was a feminine creature of perfect proportions, dressed in skeins of red hair. 

She was the lake, and the lake was she. From deep beyond deep, it called to her from depths.

Although your father commissioned these oils for your parlor, I poured my very spirit into their creation

She wanted his best, not the beast. But so did he. Hence, the beast. She could not escape it. And neither could he.

The aerial view of Munsonville

By Bertrand and Cindy

When Three People See The Same Thing

Over the last few months, Timothy has been redesigning the BryonySeries website to encompass the feel of all the books.

We do "converse" (bicker) back and forth sometimes regarding concepts.

One of those conversations revolved around an illustration he placed on landing page. He wanted a page before the home page, and I had no problem with it.

But this illustration from Bryony by Kathleen Rose Van Pelt didn't work as an all-encompassing piece of art for the landing page.

So we talked concepts until we agreed.

Then he asked his girlfriend's sister, whom I only know right now as "Jenny" to create it.

Jasmine (Timothy's girlfriend) has read Bryony and Visage. The scene Jenny was to draw is featured early in Bryony.

From time to time, Jenny sent a draft or texted a question. But mostly she turned to Jasmine for guidance, as apparently Jasmine had some definite ideas, too.

It took Jenny a few months. But the final piece came home shortly after midnight. Timothy placed it to the website this morning and then showed it to me.

Jasmine was pretty excited for me to see it. Jenny's piece, to her, looked pretty close to the way Jasmine envisioned it.

I was astonished. Because Jenny had captured, pretty much, the way I see it, too.

It's an amazing thing to take a story out of one's head and fabricate it into a story.

It's quite another to have someone else do the same with pen and ink.

Wanna check it out: Visit www.bryonyseries.com.

But please look the page from your desktop. The mobile view is not yet tweaked, and you won't be able to scroll up and down to see the complete image.

BryonySeries Throwback Thursday: Found: The 1975 Home Inspection for Simons Mansion

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Found: The 1975 Home Inspection for Simons Mansion

My father, who is designing a couple of Munsonville "surprises" for Vamp Fest, showed me the file yesterday. Here's what happened:

In the fall of 1975, shortly after Melissa Marchellis and her family moved into the servant's cottage on John Simons' estate, the Village of Munsonville contracted with Transaction Home Inspections to inspect the mansion, assess its damage, and offer suggestions for repair and updating.

As I turned the pages, the story sprang to life before my eyes: the actual signature of Joe Roberts, the restoration's project manager; written and visual documentation of the gas lighting, boiler heat, rudimentary wiring, fixtures used; and vivid descriptions of all structures, including the stables. It even referred to damage on the outdoor columns.

Also included in this report were some amazing discoveries: original photographs hidden beneath floorboards, a section on the roof where lightening had struck, and recent fireplace activity (although the house had been vacant for 82 years).

Now, one might suppose such a valuable treasure should be safely secured for future generations, but it will actually be a companion piece to a very cool silent auction item: a gift certificate toward an actual home inspection by Transaction Home Inspections, my father's company.

I guess the art of fiction writing runs deeply in my family. ;)

BryonySeries Throwback Thursday: Assorted News from Munsonville

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Assorted News from Munsonville

The Bryony team is busy! Here's what we've been doing:

* The author is working hard on her editorial notes and even pulled at twenty-four plus day last week before calling it a night (morning?). She hopes to finish by the end of the month, so more long days are ahead.

* The filming of the official Bryony book trailer and music video is scheduled for next week. In the meantime, we are feverishly seeking two men's Victorian suits.

* There is a possibility of a second music video in an historic theatre.

* James Onohan (Bryony's pianist/composer) has written several songs for the 10-song CD, The Best-Loved Compositions of John Simons (http://www.jamesonohan.com/).

* The author will be re-recording the audio documentary on vampires, hopefully this weekend.

* The Big Brothers Big Sisters Bowl for Kids' Sake statistics are posted. The two Bryony teams--Just Steve and Stake and Blade--beat their $1000 goal by $105!

* We may have a sponsor for the Bryony cookbook.

* Almost 2000 Bryony business cards have been dispersed. They are FREE. To get yours, contact BryonySeries@gmail.com, and we will send some to you.

This Weekend, I Returned to Munsonville

I have not spent time in Munsonville, my fictional Northern Michigan fishing village, since I finished editing Staked! in the fall of 2013.

Since then, I have written my first story in the Bertrand the Mouse series, The Adventures of Cornell Dyer series, and the prequel for the BryonySeries, Before the Blood. Neither John's Story, nor Kellen's story (both written now) take place in Munsonville.

Yesterday, I wrote the first chaper in Bryony's Story. At the end, I had my first glimpse of Munsonville, and, boy, did it feel good. 

Parts of the remaining forty chapters (which includes Henry's Story and the epilogue) will lead me away from Munsonville, but, for the most part, I am in the fishing village.

It feels good to be home.

A Change in Setting

“You know, John-Peter, this is what pleases me about Munsonville. Nothing ever changes. Look at this snow. It snows like this year after year. I have no reason to expect that this winter will be any different from all the other winters I have known. Munsonville is safe, dependable, just like God.” Staked! Chapter 17, The Gift from the Grave


If any words were so untrue, it's these. Munsonville, like any locale, DOES change.

By the time Melissa experiences it for the first time in Bryony, it's changed. The background chatter is all about how the village wants to restore parts of the Simons estate for tourism. 

Of course, John Simons taking up residence in the village changes it, as we eventually learn in Before the Blood, but don't worry. You'll be able to see Munsonville even before John's appearance. 

By the end of Bryony, the landscape has again changed and so has Melissa.

It's a different Munsonville in Visage. In Staked!, we find John-Peter and Karla naively unaware  that the Munsonville they inhabit is not the same Munsonville the readers have previously experienced, and even that is changed by the end of the story.

Again, so is Melissa. And then it, and she, changes again.

Setting is not static, nor should we, as fiction writers, write it that way. Show the changes, subtle or not. Show how those changes affect your characters, subtle or not. Our suroundings shift and change. We cannot help but shift and change to accomodate them.

This past weekend, we moved, the fourth move in less than eighteen months. 

We broke down our Channahon house, disposed of most of our belongings, stored the rest in a 10' by 10' foot storage unit - yes, the lifetime possessions of four people - and moved into a relative's home that we "affectionately" called Stalag 17.

Nine months later, the four of us moved into a four-room apartment we dubbed Ellis Island - the transition from one life to the next.

A month later, we broke down the storage unit and tossed away more stuff. The remaining items went to the apartment.

And here we are, seven months later, moving into a townhome across the street from the apartment. We have a nickname for this place, too.

We're calling it "home."

Never did the four of us think that we, together under one roof, would call a place "home" again. We're all adults now and moving at a steady pace into new lives. But God had one more transitional surprise for us. It feels good. We like it. We're happy.

Surprise your characters. Surprise your readers. Shake up your landscape.

Grow and change them all. 

For more ideas: http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2015/03/the-importance-of-change-in-setting.html

BryonySeries Throwback Thursday: Playing God

Playing God

“God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light.” Genesis 1:3.

As a Christian, I mostly focus on “God is love.” Except for the joyful experience of carrying seven children (one at a time), I’ve only given “God as creator” a polite nod.

Then I wrote three novels.

With fiction-writing, I caught a glimpse of God’s joy to speak something into being. “Let there be Munsonville,” I cried, and lo! Munsonville was, including Simons Woods and Lake Munson. I breathed the breath of life into my characters, and they lived (and died) at my word.

Anyone who sweats long hours at the keyboard knows building an imaginary world is not that simple, nor is it done in seven days. There's writing, rewriting, editing, and more rewriting. Yet, even God’s creation is not static, but ever-transforming.

But glorious? Heck yeah!

Have you checked out Bryony's "Sue's Diner" page lately?

Her mother parked in front of a dingy, squat-looking building, Sue’s Diner. Brian turned and rolled his eyes. Melissa mouthed back, Probably get food poisoning.

“Let’s go, guys!” Darlene peered in the mirror and patted her short hair, the color and texture of corn silk. “Don’t judge a book by its cover. I’ll bet the food is terrific.”

Stiff and cramped from the long ride, Melissa and Brian slowly emerged from the car and entered the dreary building. Brian poked Melissa, and her jaw dropped.

For a small, lakefront village restaurant, throngs of people packed the dining room. There were men in overalls and plaid shirts; women wearing faded, print dresses; and kids in jeans. Darlene asked the gum-cracking, pony-tailed hostess for a table, and the girl led the trio to a booth by the picture window overlooking Main Street. Melissa slid close to the fingerprinted window and glanced down. Clear tape sealed cracks in the vinyl blue-green seats. The table’s smooth top was peppered with gold speckles and imbedded with coffee stains. From Bryony, Chapter 1, Welcome to Munsonville.

Sue's Diner's food, however, as Melissa soon found out, was "surprisingly good," and so are the recipes Sarah Stegall, Bryony's online administrator, is posting on the BryonySeries website each month. Browse, sample, or submit your favorite dish (bryonyseries@gmail.com) to share; the choice is yours. Either way, do visit often and see what's cooking at Munsonville's only eatery.

http://www.bryonyseries.com/Sue_s_Diner.html

One Weekend, Three Book Signings

On Friday, I dropped Rebekah and Daniel off at the warehouse to clean and await the arrival of inserts, while I had lunch with the "real" Julie Drake.

Julie is one Melissa's (Bryony's main character) Munsonville friends, but is also the name of a very nice local woman whom I met by phone quite by accident while working on a story. This is what happened.

One of the features I write for the Herald News is called An Extraordinary Life. These are memorial pieces on recently deceased, local people who lived interesting an/or inspiring lives. While interviewing one woman about her mother, the woman asked if I would also call her sister. I did and requested the phone number and name, which was "Julie Drake." Of course, I told her about Bryony.

We've kept in touch via email and phone over the last two years it took to bring Bryony to print, so it was wonderful to finally meet this very nice lady in person, who treated me to lunch, brought me a box of Fannie May pixies, and entertained me with verbal snapshots of her family while I signed books. We're hoping to release Visage late next year, so Julie's already suggesting we have a standard, traditional, pre-Christmas date. She's on!

On Saturday, I heard interesting speakers at the HS Healing and Wellness Center's second paranormal cafe and sold a few books. One man who bought a copy of Bryony is part of a large vampire role-laying community and, through his independent film studio, created a three-minute film based on his character for next month's international convention of this vampire community. He sent me the unreleased trailer last night. His work shows promise! I will definitely share that trailer once he officially uploads it onto YouTube.

Sunday at Aunt Nina's Sweets N Treats in Crest Hill was much slower, but I made some nice connections, so it really was a good day. One woman from the local writer's guild was soooo happy to finally have Bryony, she kept hugging it. The venue itself was particulary interesting. It's a 7500 square foot candy store with every type of candy you can buy, along with a full bakery, party room, and some of the best coffee you can buy.

Both places will have copies of Bryony for purchase. You may check them out at www.hshealingandwellnesscenter.com and www.auntninas.net/Home.

And, of course, Bryony is available on the website: www.bryonyseries.com.

NaNoWriMo Day #16 & 17 and Driving Directions to Munsonville

Bryony Preqel, Section One, Etc: Nothing :(

Word Count: 0

The plan is to return to the prequel tomorrow, barring additional unforseen disasters, etc.

On a brighter note, my sixteen year old son Daniel, who has a fascination for maps and geography, worked out "driving directions" to fictional Munsonville based on reading the Bryony books. Warning: Munsonville exists solely in the imagination. I'm sure where one might end up by traveling this route.

Assuming Grovers Park, Illinois, is near Highland Park, Illinois:

1) Go south on Highway 94 to Highway 196 (114.96 miles; 2 hours, 16 minutes)

2) Go north on Highway 196 until Highway 131 in Grand Rapids, Michigan (79.80 miles; 1 hour, 19 minutes)

3) Go north on Highway 131 to Exit 15 (Black Spruce Road) in Thornton (164.30 miles; 2 hours, 45 minutes)

4) Stay east through the towns of Shelby (30 minutes), Jenson (30 minutes), and into Munsonville (30 minutes). (82 miles; 1 hour, 30 minutes)

Estimated travel distance and time: 359.85 miles; 9 hours, 10 minutes

NaNoWriMo Day #2

Yesterday: First section, Chapter 1,  rough draft: Check!

Word Count: 1968

It's only Day two of National Novel Writing Month, and I'm already losing heart.

I overslept, so my already bursting at the seams "to do" list for today is shouting out for attention and doing a good job of squashing any fledgling good intentions of writing Chapter 2 today.

Luckily for me, yesterday, I tucked the outline I had previously written into the back of my head and allowed ideas to simmer there all afternoon and evening. At bedtime, I was still jotting ideas, so I'm not starting with am empty slate.

I'm going to do it. I'm going to write that prequel's first draft this month. Period.

The schedule is now face-down on my desk; my appointment book is closed. I'm ignoring all the frustrating red tape that's preventing the first and current Bryony book--already dressed in its glorious proof clothing--from hitting final publication. I'm posting this blog, turning off the objections, turning on the right mood music, and getting those half-germinated ideas into my computer where they belong.

Then, and only then, will I turn my attention to the rest of duties clamoring to be heard.

Nineteenth century Munsonville, here I come!

Found: The 1975 Home Inspection for Simons Mansion

My father, who is designing a couple of Munsonville "surprises" for Vamp Fest, showed me the file yesterday. Here's what happened:

In the fall of 1975, shortly after Melissa Marchellis and her familiy moved into the servant's cottage on John Simons' estate, the Village of Munsonville contracted with Transaction Home Inspections to inspect the mansion, assess its damage, and offer suggestions for repair and updating.

As I turned the pages, the story sprang to life before my eyes: the actual signature of Joe Roberts, the restoration's project manager; written and visual documentation of the gas lighting, boiler heat, rudimentary wiring, fixtures used; and vivid descriptions of all structures, including the stables. It even referred to damage on the outdoor columns.

Also included in this report were some amazing discoveries: original photographs hidden beneath floorboards, a section on the roof where lightening had struck, and recent fireplace activity (although the house had been vacant for 82 years).

Now, one might suppose such a valuable treasure should be safely secured for future generations, but it will actually be a companion piece to a very cool silent auction item: a gift certificate toward an actual home inspection by Transaction Home Inspections, my father's company.

I guess the art of fiction writing runs deeply in my family. ;)