(Nanowrimo 2011)

Buried beneath piles of snow, an unbalanced family struggles to survival the winter in frontier Nebraska.  Unfortunately, there is something out there in the snow, stalking them…

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You can read the first 2 chapters here.

WRITING PROCESS

Up until about Oct. 25th I had no idea what I was going to write about, so I went over to the site Seventh Sanctum and used one of their story idea generators, which gave me a plot about combining the legend of the Jersey Devil with something else (I can’t remember what it was, now).  Then I looked up the Jersey Devil on Wikipedia and it’s actually pretty fascinating – a winged creature with two hooved feet and the head of a horse that was seen by various people in the winter of 1909 in New Jersey.  Reading all the origin stories and about the sightings gave me this image of a family trapped in a house in the winter, hearing sounds on their roof… which reminded me of a story I’d started back in high school called “Cabin Fever,” about a family trapped in a snowstorm and how they all go murderously crazy.  I don’t know where that original story is, although I can remember scenes of wolves jumping up out of a frozen pond and attacking people, and family members freezing to death on the side of the road a short ways from safety.

This time around, I have a mother who may or may not be mentally ill, an older brother with a fascination about sciences and becoming a surgeon, a flighty sister, and a little brother who has night terrors, trapped in a monster of a storm.

Characters

Lee Montgomery – age 17.  A recent student of Lawrence Academy who hoped to attend Harvard to become a doctor.  Needless to say he’s a little angry about being sent out to Nebraska.

Rosella “Rose” Montgomery – age 15.  Your average girl who is more into fashion, boys, and social gatherings than caring for a mentally ill mother and hyperactive younger brother, and who is certainly not pleased about the move.

Henry Arthur Montgomery – age 5/6.  Growing up with a slightly crazy mother has made him a little unbalanced…

Status

Halfway through Nanowrimo, I decided that I didn’t like the alternating first-person POVs I was using, and began rewriting the novel in third-person.  Needless to say, I made the 50,000 word count goal, but did not finish this draft.

Alternate Covers

These covers were inspired by the cheesy early 90s teen horror novels I was reading.  Just for fun.