Fortress: a novel in progress

Before I begin, I just wanted to say a few things.

First: this is not a finished story. Far from it. It was begun feverishly many years ago and then abandoned. I am still trying to sort out the end.

Second: The previous version had some characters I have removed from this version. It was originally a story of obsession, but as I am much older now and have seen some major changes in my life and the lives of those around me as well, the obsession angle seems juvenile. For this project to hold my interest it will have to have depth of character much more than it's had in the past. And it must have a story line I am comfortable with, both in writing it and in reading it. When I was a teenager I had no problem writing a horror scene with children being murdered. Now that I am a mother, however, those tales just aren't possible coming from my words. The same is true with the obsession. I still have a great desire to write a horror tale, but I want one without love interests and sappy romances that go nowhere.

Third: I am aware that I may have to take back everything I just said. If it turns out the girl was a good thing and kept the story moving, I'll put her back in. At the moment though, I am satisfied that she is gone. I created her originally when I was about eight years old. Nothing like holding onto a childhood fantasy. Make that FIERCELY holding onto a childhood fantasy.

Fourth: The reason I wanted to put this up on a weblog - well actually, there were several. The reasons I wanted to write this story on a weblog were; I can upload pictures of things that inspired the particular scene I'm working on at the moment, I can force myself to stay focused and not get too wrapped up in research (easy for me to do - I love researching things), I can force myself to be regular and write something everyday, etc. I just thought it would keep me going. This may turn out to be a stupid idea, but at the moment, it seems kind of fun.

So, I turn on my music (The soundtrack for Myst: Exile is playing at the moment...) poured a fresh glass of Dr Pepper and now I can settle down to start...