A Heroine (and Maybe a Plot) For the New Novella

It’s Monday, January 4th.  We’re all back at work after a marvelous Christmas break, and of course the morning has been spent in a series of interminable staff meetings.  Nevermind that tomorrow is our annual retreat, which is nothing BUT an all day staff meeting at a different location.  Given that I was bored out of my gord and more interested in the snow out the window than what anybody was saying (It’s Mississippi, people.  It doesn’t snow here but maybe once in a blue moon.  I’m allowed to go “Ooo, pretty.”), I found myself thinking about the heroine of the second novella.

Over the weekend, I realized that she’s an archivist/historian for the Mirus people.  She’s kind of bookish.  And I don’t know what her race is yet, but she either belongs to a race that doesn’t do a lot in the cool/powerful/strong/immortal range of things, or she herself is something of a squib of her race.  I spent some time trying to name her last night and settled on Finn (short for Finnoula, a fact which she guards like the last chocolate bar in a roomful of PMSing demon hunters).  As an aside, while looking for a name on Nymbler, one of the suggestions was “Novella.”  Apparently it really is a name.  It’s Latin for “newcomer.”  I thought that was kind of random.

Anyway, Finn either works for or is somehow related to the leader of or emissary of her people who’s going to the big Council of Races summit that’s being called based on intel presented in the previous story.  She gets ahold of the missive giving the grounds for the meeting and immediately recognizes that it’s not just a coming War Between the Races, but the Apocalypse (which, in my world, means something different than the end of the world).  She immediately takes her concerns to Mr. Big Shot, who doesn’t take her seriously and thinks she’s just trying to get attention.  Knowing that she’s stubborn and liable to make a scene, he assigns some enforcer type guy (hero, as yet unnamed) to make sure the stays put and doesn’t interrupt the summit.  Finn escapes.  Hero catches her.  She has to convince him of her position, recruit his help to not only get her to the summit, but also help her get face time with the Council and all the visiting dignitaries to voice her concerns.  Mayhem ensues.

Look at that.  A plot.  Or the basis of one.

And that was way more interesting than 2 hours of staff meetings.

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