I have been toying with this idea for a story for a while now. It is part of the back story of the novel I am writing and I have wanted to flesh it out. Since I have been out of the swing of things with my novel and the world it is in I have decided to work on a few short stories based on the world. Here is the synopsis of the story:
The mayor of a small city is only a year away from an election. Not having done much to impress the voters and seal his next election, he decides to raise a specter of fear among the people so that he may be seen as a savior to the people. He decrees that the city is under a major threat from sorcery and that he will be creating a task force designed to stop this threat. Because of this new regime, a sorcerer living in the nearby forest is flushed out and is forced to confront the mayor. He attempts to first solve the problem peaceably but when that fails he is forced to use drastic measures to defend himself.
Starting off, we have two main characters:
Mayor Frances Dupree – He has been mayor of Windale for the last 3 years. He has been a fairly mundane leader and has not done anything real meaningful. He wants to be remembered by the people for many years to come and especially wants to make a good impression on the citizens and win the coming election.
Sorcerer Hawthorne Grendel – He mostly keeps to himself and lives in the woods that border the north side of Windale. He has a strong knack for potions, spells and transformations. He has been mostly unknown by those in the town until a decree from the mayor flushes him out.
The Basic Outline for the story:
- Frances discusses his coming election with his advisers
- Frances announces his new anti-sorcery program to the people
- The program weeds out a few “token” sorcerers
- Hawthorne is flushed out and confronts the mayor
- Hawthorne curses Frances in a bout of rage at not finding a solution
- Hawthorne leaves and is not heard from for several months.
- The people of Windale prepare for the planting season
- Nightmarish begin attacking the people after dark
- In response to the threat, the mayor decides that the only way to protect the people is to cut back the forest.
- The people spend the entire planting and growing season to cut back the forest to prevent the creatures from attacking.
- Frances loses his next election as the people lose favor of him and his policies.
So that is the start of it. Over the next week or so, I will be fleshing it out and writing the first couple of drafts. Look for more of it here.
