Linden

Lynda Daymor and her best friend Kyle live in a small village surrounded by walls and unscalable mountains to protect them from the dangerous wolves that dwell in the woods. Lynda, the daughter of the town Keeper, who through the use of magic helps protect the village and leads the town in worship of their gods, the Melak, has never ventured outside the walls. When one of their gods delivers a cryptic message threatening her best friend, Lynda is forced to journey outside the walls and escort him to safety, but along the way they discover a dark secret behind the basic infrastructure holding their kingdom together... or pulling it apart. (This was my senior thesis, which I am continuing to write.)

Inspiration

"Linden" was inspired by a dream I had my sophomore year of high school (2003 - 2004), in which a little red riding hood figure sneaks into a magic shop late at night, lets in a "wolf" (werewolf) and then helps him steal a magic wand by standing guard outside the shop in case the owner comes back.  Sure enough, she does - and as a light snow begins to fall, the little girl shouts "Hello Miss Murdoch" very loudly as a warning to the wolf, who runs out the back door.  The owner, hearing this and suspecting foul play, runs to chase the wolf, but in her old age she is unable to keep up with him, and so she collapses to her knees into a layer of inch thick snow. The little girl walks over to her and hugs her.  Needless to say, I have strange dreams.

Perplexed by this little girls actions - first betraying the shop keeper and then comforting her - I set out to find out what happened in this story by developing it. Linden is the result.

Progress

Linden was my senior thesis in college.  I wrote 69 pages for the project, plus chapter summaries for the remaining plot.  I am currently at ## pages but in the process of editing this section before moving on and adding more. The story is about halfway through.