In the first two blogs, I shared information focused on the geographic locations of the story and the general timelines. I told you a bit about the main characters, but I thought you’d like to get to know them a little better.
New York City – present day:
Jenna Hickson is 32 (an only child), medium height, and has thick, brown, curly hair. Her parents live in Arizona, and she has some Slovakian ancestry on her mother’s side of the family. She works as a travel agent at Posey Travel in Tribeca and also writes travel blogs that she posts on the agency’s website. Some of the blogs are from her personal travel experiences while others provide helpful, practical travel tips. She has a great relationship with her boss, Penny Posey, who’s in her mid-fifties. They’re good friends, which will prove to be very helpful as the story advances. She had a serious relationship with Kirby Taylor for two-three years before he blew it (details in the book!). Devastated and humiliated, Jenna ended the relationship and never looked back. But you know this is going to affect her future relationships…
Scotland – 14th century:
Sophia deKeith is the youngest of three children in the family. She has two older brothers, John and William (who are real deKeith siblings from that time period). Her hair is black like the wings of a raven, and she has fair skin and dark eyes. They’ve arrived at their new home (Dunnottar Castle, facing the North Sea) on her seventeenth birthday. Eby, the daughter of one of the servants, has been her constant companion and childhood friend; they are still fast friends, and Eby has become Sophia’s lady’s maid. The two look so much alike that they could be sisters, except for Sophia’s small, oval birthmark under her right ear. She has a close relationship with her brother John (the oldest) and a somewhat adversarial one with William who takes after their father, Robert deKeith.
There’s much more to come and more characters to be created! You’ll have to excuse me, as I need to get busy with the antagonists! In the meantime, here’s a short bit from the 14th century (Nell is Sophia’s black, Friesian mare).
A large, flat boulder provided the perfect seat in the sun where she removed her shawl, dangled her feet, and picked at stones on the sandy bottom. She sang softly to herself as she saved a few favorites and tossed others into the larger pool downstream. Relaxed in her solitude, she thought nothing of intruders until Nell lifted her head and snorted in alarm.
Until next time…
Every Day Writer 