Are harpies really evil?

I think I may have found a way into Darian's Point that brings back the initial excitement I had over the story. Which apparently means this is going to be my next writing project.

I first wrote Darian's Point as an assignment for a screenwriting class I was taking, with Edward Dmytryk, in grad school. The story he gave me was about harpies that live in the caves of the Cliffs of Moher who come out during storms to feed on fish in the sea. What I wrote wasn't very good; I didn't have a handle on the story I was trying to write or characters, so it just sat there.

I've rewritten it, several times, finally settling on it taking place in 1910, and that one copped a couple of screenwriting awards. It followed Thomas and Marion, a married couple having difficulties. He was born and raised on Inish Ciuin, a small island off the western coast of Ireland in the shadow of the Cliffs. His mother still lives there, and they're en-route to visit her.

He'd moved to America and become an architect, and Marion was part of Boston's finest society. They married very much against the wishes of her family because he was not of their class. Now they're close to breaking up, so have returned to his home to see if they can repair their relationship.

But there's a curse on his family. Three thousand years earlier, his ancestors joined forces with the Tuatha Dé Danann to stop seven harpies from wreaking death and chaos across the country. After killing four of them, both sides agreed to a pact--the harpies would live in the caves of the Cliffs and come out only during storms to feed on fish, in the sea. 

Then every hundred years, a young man from Thomas' lineage would be sacrificed to them. His father was the latest offering. It happened when Thomas was five. Now for some reason, the harpies have broken the pact and are back to their slaughter, and it looks as if Thomas must sacrifice himself to rebuild the pact.

When Marion realizes what is happening, she sets out to stop it. After all, it's the 20th Century. Harpies are mythical creatures from Greek mythology, not Irish. They can't possibly exist.

Or can they?

Well...my new insight into the story is...the harpies aren't evil. They abide by their instincts, like any creature does. They were forced to relinquish part of their true meaning by threat of annihilation. Threat of extinction. Any being would do what is needed to prevent that.

So now I can work out the beginning of the story, when it was set up. I hadn't realized it, but the harpies are as important to that part, as characters, as all the humans I had in it. Their cruelty is only like that of cats who catch mice and feed upon them. It's normal, to them.

So here we go....