Draft #???

I've begun rewriting A Place of Safety - Derry with what little I know now about the people. But I'm also making notes about where I need to emphasize the sociology and attitudes of the people involved. I'm through the first two chapters and am getting a sense of what needs to be shifted elsewhere or just plain cut. The story is being told in a semi-linear fashion, where Brendan lays out his family but also has memories that pop up to illustrate one of them, so I can still play with it, some.

For example, he catches his older sister, Mairead, steaming open a letter from their Aunt Mari to their mother. Mai's noticed Ma doesn't tell them everything in the letters and wants to find out what's up. She freaks out when he appears and tries to put it back like it was, but Brendan's curiosity is up now, as well. So she opens it and finds a photo of an uncle they never knew about, forty pounds in cash, and the knowledge Bernadette had seven older brothers, all of whom abandoned her and Aunt Mari to an orphanage. Their aunt's been trying to track them down but Bernadette is against it.

Her family's from Derry so Brendan finds it hard to believe they've never been told about this, and it sets him off to learn more about why. But he hits roadblocks and dismissals, and when his mother finds out what he's doing, serious punishment. So he sets it aside, for now...and then events take over.

I'm also building a map of where both the Kinsellas and their neighbors are situated. I'm going to change the location from Nailors Row to Nailors Terrace, which would keep it in the same general area but does not really exist. I can't write this with any character living on an actual street because Derry-folk will know who lived in what house when. That's been made plain by reading the comments in Derry of the Past's postings, on Facebook. I don't want to get into that mess.

But...that may make this a bit easier...I hope...