A Twilight Reel

For several years now--in between husbanding and fathering and schooling (from both sides of the classroom)--I've been working on a collection of short stories that I'm calling "A Twilight Reel." The collection is to include twelve stories, each of which takes place in a different month of a recent year in my fictional North Carolina mountain town of Runion (and its surrounding area). Several of the stories are already written: "The Wine of Astonishment" (January), "The Loves of a Romantic Sensualist" (February), "Overwinter" (March), "Jamboree" (June), "Grist for the Mill" (August) and "A Poster of Marilyn Monroe" (September). That's six. Four other stories are named and some bits and pieces are written: "Decoration Day" (May), "A Fiddle and a Twilight Reel" (October), "Two Floors above the Dead" (November) and "Witness Tree" (December). I'm still working on April and July ideas.

Although it rarely works out completely, I like to work on the individual stories during the months in which they're set. That way I hope I can get a little more realism into the ambience of each piece, making each feel like the month that is its setting.

I began tinkering with "Witness Tree" today, and after the decks are somewhat cleared at the end of this semester I'm going to begin serious drafting and see how far I can take it. Either daily or periodically, I'll post what I'm writing here. I have only a vague sense of the plot at the moment, but I'm fairly certain the following will appear in the story: a giant oak tree, possibly cut or blown down sometime before the story begins; an old country church (pictured here), closed down due to low attendance and purchased by a local man to use, in part, as storage for his collection of Santa Claus figures (from miniature to life-sized); a community Christmas party held in this old church.

I hope to begin this sometime in the coming week and see where it leads.