I’ve also decided that this story takes place in the same world as Lament of the Dove, only in an entirely different country, clear over on the other side of the continent. I’m still toying with what I know about the country in question but I’m halfway suspecting that it’s called Vreyland, that it’s farther north than Adalonia and has proportionally colder weather, and that the people there tend to be of hearty and fair stock. I do definitely also know that they are magic-friendly and elf-friendly, and in fact, there is interbreeding with the elves in the national background, which is how magic got into their general gene pool.

And as of tonight, I just coredumped about three chapters’ worth of initial outline, covering the rough beginning of the story–as well as a later, almost complete scene that resulted from the brainstorm.

Man. If I can get a few more character names into place I think I’ll be able to start writing this thing. Bitchin’.

My hero is a mage who’s in service to the local royal court, and it’s six months since his death. He is survived by his wife and children, who are devastated by his passing–and who, like everyone else in the court and the city, believe that his death was an unfortunate magical accident since he was found dead in his spell-room amidst the shattered remnants of his scrying mirror and other magical implements.

Since then, his wife has striven to ward off her grief by focusing on caring for their children. But the mood of the city has turned dark and strange, for there are rumors of sightings of ghostly figures and creatures on the streets and even in the houses. People are seeing glimpses of loved ones both human and animal who were thought to be dead–only these glimpses are often warped and dire, and the people are beginning to fear.

Disturbed, our heroine retreats with her children to the shelter of her uncle’s church, in the hope that holy ground will shelter them. But that doesn’t stop her from discovering that someone else is wandering the city, a man who should not exist–a man with no memories, and her dead husband’s face.

I decided I wanted to do this as a fantasy novel, mostly because I’m kind of burned out on urban fantasy right now and would like to swing back into some traditional fantasy. Also, this will be a first for me: writing principle characters who are already an established family, which will be a nice switch.

This is going to be fun.