May 4th 2005
Short Introduction to Redcross & Winterborough
Not unexpectedly, what I originally wrote first for what I then called The Devil, the World, and the Flesh isn't even a part of the current manuscript, now called The Redcross and Winterborough Cycle. In the process of adding plot (or something resembling it) and working out the characters, that first scene never quite fitted in anywhere.
The original title was taken from a reference to three enemies of (Christian) faith. They also represent the struggle between virtue and vice in morality plays, where enemy armies are usually led by the Devil, the World, and(/or) the Flesh. If at all possible, I'll use it for a title one day, but we'll just have to see.
I have the bad habit of writing very unchronologically, which also means I'm continuously going back and forth between parts of the story, adjusting, rewriting, and editing. All in all it's a very dynamic process, but it often results in discarding a large part of what was written at earlier moments in time.
As it stands now, there are three parts, the first one taking place in Leiden, the Netherlands, the second in Cambridgeshire, England, and the third in both. The first part is slowly taking shape, but is weak plot-wise, and I'm intensively rewriting it. The second part is growing at a faster pace, with the interaction between the main characters being a lot smoother there. The third part is still largely in the development stage.
In short:
In his youth, Astin Redcross narrowly escaped being charged for the apparent suicide of one of his best friends. Despite the many rumours and accusations working against him at the time, he was cleared of all allegations.
He has lived with the suspicion someone tried to frame him ever since.
Years later, he is unexpectedly confronted with someone much more closely connected to the past than he could ever have expected. At first he believes it will give him the opportunity to find answers he has been attempting to find for years, but he is drawn in more and more, finally confronted with the possibility he might not like the answers he wished for so desperately before.
For Redcross it becomes a struggle in faith; faith in himself, in others, in society, and in love, centring on an essential theme, a question of life: Who am I?
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