This writing train just keeps on churning forward, and I’m having lots of fun along the way! Plenty of words added in today, over 2.5k which I’m very happy about. Started writing around 1:00 and ended close to 5:30. During that time I got a ton of words in and plenty of research as well. Luckily Kelley has a bunch of books on the paranormal and the occult which I’ve been able to pull for research purposes. As far as other inspiration, here are a few that have really been helpful.

How the Wild West REALLY looked – Beautiful sepia-tinted shots from the late 1800s. Really gives you a feel for how vast and empty the west was, and helps me get a feel for the place and the people who live there. See that picture on the right? Those tiny white dots on the bottom are tents. Yeah, it’s that freaking big.

What did cowgirls wear? – A few interesting pictures and descriptions of women’s clothing during the 1800s. More importantly, it talks about what women wore who needed to ride horses all the time. I was fascinated to see that up until the late 1800s, if women *had* to wear pants so that they didn’t have to ride side-saddle, they wore them beneath long ankle-length skirts so that they could keep their decency. Women who wore even split skirts in the late 1800s were considered brazen.

Ghosts and Spirits – This research is probably the most telling of what I’m working on in this section of the story. I found the section labeled Demons in the Occult to be the most useful though and I was surprised to find it mixed quite nicely into the world I’ve already been crafting in this story. Unfortunately this write-up is full of spelling errors and grammatical headaches (hello, run-on sentences!), but if you can try to look past that, the information that’s given is actually quite interesting. It even goes into Time Slips, other dimensions, and how that might play into interpreting the paranormal world. I find that sort of thing intriguing, especially since it’s at the crux of another novel I’m working on.

As you can see, today’s work took quite a bit of research and maybe you’ll find some of this stuff as interesting as I did, but there was also quite a bit of character fun mixed in as well. A couple of characters in particular just can’t seem to be able to stay in the same room for ten minutes before breaking out into another argument. You’ll understand why that’s in italics when you read the entire book too. Promise.

Project: Ghosts of Pikes Peak

Summary: The old, abandoned Davis Farm just outside the bustling city of Pikes Peak is riddled with malicious spirits. Werewolf detective Colton Fen has been assigned to a half-vampire partner, Rennick Dalton, to handle the troublesome ghosts, but even their combined strength may not be enough to dissuade the poltergeists from plucking victims from the outskirts of town. Is this a simple case of ghost infestation or is there something far more malicious going on beneath the farmhouse?

Current total words: 42,908
New words written: 2,689

Progress in Story: Some new clothes get purchased and more detailed plans get made. We also learn how inexperienced our experts are, but get a bit more information on the creature. They’ve even planned out how they’re going to get rid of him, but we’ll see how well that works out. As you could probably tell from yesterday’s snippet, Mary doesn’t seem to think they know much more than she does. Guess they’ll have to wait and see who’s right.

Total Words for 2012: 52,489

Snippet*:

Colton sighed, “One thing I’ve learned is that you need to know what you’re hunting before you get on the saddle and head out. Rabbits and quail are two completely different animals, and you need to know what to expect. So let’s try and figure out what kind of creature he is. How long has he been doing this? How strong is he?” He grabbed a couple of pieces of pork and nibbled on them.

“He’s been doing this a long time,” Rennick crossed his arms behind his head. “And I do mean a long time. I’d guess maybe a hundred years? Two perhaps? He’s definitely one of the strongest I’ve ever heard about.”

* You could probably tell this is the censored version. Don’t want to give too much away after all. 😉