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The Weaver's Second Tale - The Earl Bites the Dust

9/4/2012

Medieval Poisoning

I finally got to the Earl of Perth's demise in The Weaver's Second Tale. Unfortunately I haven't found the motivation yet to continue further. The storyline has become so intricate that I'll have to put together a corkboard with different coloured cards to plot the action and keep track of all the charactersd and their descriptions / character traits.

In the interim, last week I knocked out my shortest ever Canterbury Tale (The Tapestry-Maker's Second Tale) - more of that next week.

Meantime, here are eight lines from The Weaver's Second Tale dealing with James, the Earl of Perth's death:

Then suddenly the castle’s joyous mood
Transformed, replacing merriment with fear;
For struggling to his feet ’twas crystal clear
From James’s features something was amiss.
His face was pale as chalk, as if the kiss
Of scything Death had brushed against his cheek.
His lips turned blue, and when he tried to speak
No words, just laboured grunts and gasps, emerged.

Anyhow, that's it for this week!

Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment:

http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness

Happy writing!

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The Weaver's Second Tale - Friar Ted Arrives on the Scene

7/18/2012

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The Miller

When it comes to research for a story, I'm a bit of a minimalist. The way I look at it, facts can get in the way of imagination - or maybe I'm just a bit lazy. Anyhow, the problem is that once you start researching a topic, you end up with tonnes of data and there's the temptation to shoehorn it into your story.

So what's the point? Well, I needed to know if bagpipes existed in medieval times, and strangely enough, the earliest mention of them in England appears to be from Chaucer's General Prologue, which says of the Miller:

A baggepipe wel koude he blowe and sowne,
And therwithal he broghte us out of towne.

Getting back to my Weaver's Second Tale, written in the style of a Sherlock Holmes story, Arthur Conan Doyle often had Holmes make reference to a previous case early on in his stories. So I decided to do the same. Below is that 60-word section, with Friar Ted arriving on the scene and explaining to Doctor Weston what he's been up to:

“Myself? I’ve been residing with the Thane
Of Ayr who was afflicted by the bane
Of other-worldly bagpipes late at night.
The purpose was to cause a fatal fright,
To scare the man to death whilst in his bed
By cunning use of superstitious dread.
The culprit I unmasked within a day -
No more am I at liberty to say.”

More news on The Weaver's Second Tale next week.

Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment:

http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness

Happy writing!

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Sherlock Holmes Canterbury Tale - Friar Ted Rides Again - The Weaver's Second Tale

7/3/2012

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Fat Friar

Whoops! A month since my last posting. Naughty, naughty!

Anyhow, I've just started on The Weaver's Second Tale. The Weaver is one of Chaucer's 'orphan pilgrims', i.e. he doesn't get to tell a Tale in The Canterbury Tales and doesn't appear in any verbal interactions, prologues or epilogues.

From my point of view, the orphan pilgrims are very useful. Although they are described physically (or rather sketched), their characters are not fleshed out, leaving them as 2-dimensional figures that I am at liberty to expand on more or less as I like.

My Weaver's Second Tale will feature Friar Ted, the sleuth and wandering, medieval monk who appeared in The Doctor of Physics Second Tale. This new Tale will also see the reappearance of the unnamed Doctor who helped Friar Ted unravel the mystery of a blugeoned stranger's death in the previous Tale.

Since the plot of The Weaver's Second Tale involves both Friar Ted and the Doctor being constantly in close proximity, I've therefore decided to write the story in the first person, from the point of view of the Doctor, in a similar style to Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories.

Below is the first eight lines:

By thirteen fifty-six I’d been retired
For sev’ral years and ardently desired
Before my joints and acumen seized up
To travel to exotic realms and sup
With learnéd scholars, knights and kings and queens,
To ponder panoramic, foreign scenes.
So once spring’s thaw set in, I ventured forth
Upon my ancient nag and headed north.

That's it for this week. I'll keep you informed of my progress.

Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment:

http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness

Happy writing!

3 Comments

The Weaver's Second Tale - The Earl Bites the Dust

The Weaver's Second Tale - Friar Ted Arrives on the Scene

Sherlock Holmes Canterbury Tale - Friar Ted Rides Again - The Weaver's Second Tale

Paul A. Freeman

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