Category: Fiction Friday

Hanging Out with Some Favorite Characters

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fiction Friday1 Comment

In keeping with this week’s focus on picture books, I thought I’d share a drawing for Fiction Friday.  I never claimed to be a great artist, but every so often–usually when I’m having writer’s block–I’ll turn my hand towards drawing instead of writing for a little while.  I still think in terms of stories, so most of the time my drawings will still end up being of characters or some kind of story in themselves.

One of my favorite and by far most complicated drawings is a scene I did of the main characters from each of my major stories hanging out together.  If you click, you can see it larger.

 

The setting is The Nightingale, an inn which features in The People the Fairies Forget.

Starting from the far left, we have Erik, the Phantom of the Opera, playing the piano.  With him is Meg Giry, who has a small role in Leroux’s Phantom, a larger role in Webber’s, and a lead role in my Phantom story.

Behind the counter are Catherine and Anthony, major characters in the later part of The People the Fairies Forget.  Catherine gets into trouble when Cinderella’s shoe fits her.  When not dealing with problems like that, they run The Nightingale

Floating in midair in front of the counter is my fairy, Tarragon.  Tarry is magically repairing the eggs which were broken by Sam Jones, who tripped and fell across the floor.  Jones could be from any of these stories; he has at least a cameo in all of them, and is apt to trip in all of them too.

Sitting at the back table are Dr. McCoy, Captain Kirk, and Mr. Spock, who beamed down from the Enterprise.

At the other table we have Captain Red Ballantyne with his feet up on an adjoining chair, deep in conversation with Captain Jack Sparrow.  Tamara, who comes from the same story as Red, is sitting by the table chatting with Rodney the squirrel, who Jack met in my Pirates of the Caribbean story.  Red’s Girl isn’t a fantasy, but if I’m going to stretch things to bring all of these people together, I decided Tam could talk to Rodney.

If you’re curious about the little details, the pictures on the back wall are, from left, a nightingale, a cornfield, a sailing ship, the Paris Opera House, and the Starship Enterprise.

I find that when I spend a lot of time writing about characters, they stay in my head in a way that no other characters do.  So in a way, it makes perfect sense to think about them spending time together.  And it’s fun to imagine how they would interact.

If you could bring characters from any fictional source together to hang out for the evening, who would you choose?

Jones and the Pigs

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fiction FridayLeave a comment

A few weeks ago I wrote about my recurring character, Sam Jones, and shared one of his early adventures aboard the Enterprise.  I thought it would be fun to share a more recent adventure too.  Today I have a story about another Jones-incarnation.  This Jones is less law-abiding than the security guard from the Enterprise, considering he’s a pirate aboard Captain Red Ballantyne’s Ocean Rose.  Some things, however, like Jones’ clumsiness, never change.

This scene is pretty far along in Red’s Girl, but most of the context isn’t necessary.  All you really need to know is that the Rose is in port, and Red, Tam and Jones have come ashore, where they need to, ah, borrow a wagon.  Red specifically brought Jones with the idea that he might need some uproar, commenting earlier in the chapter, “Jones might’ve seemed like a strange choice [to bring], but I had a hunch I’d need to create some chaos.  Jones can create more chaos just walking down the street than most folk could with a week of planning.”

The group splits up to explore the docks and look for any wagons that aren’t being watched.  Red continues to narrate this scene.

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           When we regrouped, Tam hadn’t seen any wagons without people and with horses, and Jones had only seen one, which had a dozen pigs in the back.

            “Pigs could complicate things,” I acknowledged.  “Fortunately, I saw a wagon with only one person watching it.  He looked bored and probably happy to be distracted.”

            No one was watching the pigs.  Time to take advantage of Jones’ chaos-creating talents.  Continue reading “Jones and the Pigs” →

On the Run from the Royal British Navy

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fiction FridayLeave a comment

I already shared the beginning of my Golden Age of Piracy story, and this week I want to give you another scene.  The last excerpt introduced you to my pirate captain, Red Ballantyne, but you get to know him better here, especially since he takes over the narration.  Red and Tam go on to alternate narrating the rest of the story.

This is early, so there isn’t a lot of background needed–you can read the preceding scene here.  In sum, Tam has already asked Red for a job on his ship and been turned down, but when officers of the Royal British Navy showed up at the tavern, Red needed Tam’s help to lead him through the crowd to the back door.  That’s about it so far–except that “Tam” is short for “Tamara,” something Red doesn’t know yet.

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            I don’t know why Navy men can’t stay in their own kind of tavern—do you suppose Navy officers even go into taverns for the pleasure in it, or are they too restrained for that?—and just leave me alone.  Me, I’m Red Ballantyne, captain of the Ocean Rose, handsome, debonair and charming, effective with any make of weapon and loved by many women in many ports.  That’s what the stories say.  If they’re not saying that, I’d like to know the reason why not.  The stories should also be telling you that my Rosie is the finest ship that ever sailed any seven of the Seven Seas.  Sure, I’m only intimately familiar with ships in the Caribbean, but I’d still wager money that Rosie’s the best anywhere, barring none.  I’d give you my word on it except that I’m a liar and a rogue, so my word isn’t worth much. 

            Rosie really is something special, though.  I was very much wanting to get back to her, as I pushed through a crowded tavern with the Navy in pursuit.  It was lucky that me and the kid I was following belonged in this sort of place.  We were suitably unkempt; my coat’s the same color blue as the Navy’s, but the effect is different when you wear it open and cut off the cuffs and lapels.  We belonged, the Navy didn’t, and in some crowds that makes a difference.  This crowd let us through without hardly noticing they were doing it.  They tripped the Navy when they thought they could get away with it.

Continue reading “On the Run from the Royal British Navy” →

Watching Opera with the Phantom

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fiction Friday3 Comments

Looking back over my Fiction Fridays, I find there’s at least one representative of almost all my major writing projects.  My Golden Age of Piracy story and my Fairy Tale Retelling, as well as the significant interests of my fanfiction years, Star Trek and Pirates of the Caribbean.  But–I am missing my one other fanfiction interest.  And the Phantom of the Opera does not like to be ignored (somewhat paradoxically, he also doesn’t like being noticed–a complex character).

My Phantom Programs

To round things out, and keep the Phantom happy 🙂 I thought I’d share a scene from my Phantom novel.  There’s not a lot of context needed for this particular scene.  Backstory (spoilers for the original, you have been warned)–the Phantom is a masked musical genius who lives beneath the Paris Opera House.  One of his demands for the opera company is that Box Five be reserved for his exclusive use.  He falls in love with Christine, a singer at the Opera, there’s a romantic triangle and a lot of upheaval, and she eventually leaves and he’s left at the Opera House with a broken heart.

My story picks up from there.  It’s mostly but not exclusively based on the Webber musical (the original, NOT in any way, in any form, in the slightest bit, on the sequel–and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, good, you’ve been spared).  It primarily focuses on the Phantom, whose name is Erik (not something Webber mentioned), and on Meg Giry, a supporting character in the original.  She’s not actually in this scene, although she’s loosely referenced in the remarks about blondes.

This scene is a little while into the story, a few months after the original ends, and the management of the Opera has just decided to sell Box Five for the first time.

I think I’m okay on copyright here…Leroux’s Phantom has got to be public domain by now, and nothing here is directly from any other version.

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            The young man who bought the seats in Box Five was named Pierre.  His lady friend, whom he had met exactly two days previously, was named Jacqueline, and so far he had done very well impressing her.  They greatly enjoyed Act One.  Then, in the middle of Act Two, the voice started.

            “You’re in my box, you know.”  It was really a very nice sounding voice.  Definitely male, almost melodious in nature, and conversational in tone.

            That didn’t stop Pierre from taking issue with the words.  He rose from his seat and turned to address the apparent direction of the speaker.  “It so happens that I paid for these seats—”  He broke off abruptly, looking wildly around the box.  There was no one there.

Continue reading “Watching Opera with the Phantom” →

Ensign Jones and the Orange Juice

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fiction Friday6 Comments

Having recently written about my recurring character, Sam Jones, I thought it would be fun to share some excerpts featuring Jones from a very old Star Trek story I wrote.  This was a long Star Trek serial, and Jones frequently appeared as a supporting character.  It leaned toward a parody, so sometimes very odd things happened–often to Jones.

If you’re not familiar with Star Trek, all you really need to know here is that Kirk is the captain of the Enterprise, Spock is the eternally calm Vulcan first officer, Jones is a security guard aboard said-Enterprise, the Klingons are the villains, and the replicators are these fairly awesome machines you can walk up to and request food, and it’ll appear.  At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work…

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           It was coming on towards ship’s night, and the Mess Hall was deserted as Ensign Jones walked over to the replicators to order his drink.

            “Orange juice, please.”

            “Specify quantity,” the computer said crisply.

            Jones shrugged.  “Oh, lots of orange juice, lots and lots.”

            Orange juice began gushing out of the replicators at an alarming rate.  And kept gushing.  And gushing and gushing and gushing.  Jones began to feel alarmed, as the orange juice spread rapidly across the floor.

Continue reading “Ensign Jones and the Orange Juice” →