THE SAGA OF AMBERLIN: Chapter 1
Several years ago, one of my favorite speculative fiction
writers, Orson Scott Card, started creating an online community
of readers at http://www.hatrack.com/, a community that
continues to thrive to this day. As I recall, during my first
exposure to the community Scott was posting chapters of the book
he was writing at the time, and giving people the opportunity to
comment and make suggestions.
I thought, "What a great idea," and promptly stored it away for
future use. Well, the future is here now as I pull a writing
Purpose Project from the backburner to the front burner. I
envision the Amberlin Series to be just that -- a series of
books chronicling the life and times of Amberlin Gentry, a
spiritual genius who's born into an ultra conservative spiritual
community known as Golden Acres. There she is raised by her
grandmother, Rose, who is the great-granddaughter of the
founding father of Golden Acres, and her grandfather, Jonathan,
who quietly practices an 'eclectic spirituality' while living in
the fundamentalist community.
Since I started writing this visionary novel about a year ago, I
already have several chapters roughed out which I will be
posting over the next several days. My plan is to then continue
to post chapters as they are written.
I invite your participation by reading the saga of Amberlin as
it's being written and offering constructive questions and
comments. I'll also post more about what I'm particularly
looking for that falls under the heading of "constructive
questions and comments."
Ok, here's the start of Chapter 1 of The Goddess Returns:
7-year-old Amberlin watched as her favorite ducky drifted
towards the spiraling waterspout as the water drained from the
mammoth Victorian-style tub. As the clockwise current of water
drew the floating toy into its influence, she smiled and waved
her index finger in a counterclockwise motion, then giggled
lightly as the spout changed direction and the toy duck followed
suit soon after. After a few moments, Amberlin stopped her
finger, and the water quickly resumed its customary clockwise
motion, until once again she impressed her own will upon the
water. She continued playing like this for several moments,
enchanted by the game without noticing her grandmother, Rose,
quietly observing her, until suddenly:
"What in God's name are you doing? Oh my Lord," Rose shrieked.
"Jon, Jon. Come up here at once," She yelled to her husband, but
even before he arrived, she took matters into her own hands, as
she was accustomed to doing. "You stop that right now, you hear.
That's a bad girl." Rose grabbed Amberlin's hand and slapped it
sharply across the knuckles. "You mustn't do such things. Dear
God. Jon, Jon. Are you coming or not?" Amberlin tried to stifle
her cry of alarm and pain, but a whimper escaped despite her
best effort. As she tried to pull her hand from danger, a pair
of tears escaped, coursing down her ruddy cheeks.
Continue the chapter by going to:
http://lifeonpurpose.typepad.com/life_on_purpose_weblog/2005/11/c
hapter_1.html