NaNoWriMo: A Victim

• Posted on October 29, 2005 at 5:21 pm

The victim (both the most and least important character in any murder mystery) of my novel is a woman by the name of Lynn Clancey. She is 32 at the time of her death and has been a practicing Fire mage for 10 years.

Lynn was raised in a small farming community of religious folk who reject magic in the same way that the Amish reject technology. These folk, the Weltlich, originated in Germany as an echo of Martin Luther’s new church. They are a protestant group who feel that magic contaminates the soul. Lynn was taught how to avoid using her gifts, and how to bottle them up. In her late teens, Lynn had a crisis of conscious, learned more about other religions’ takes on magic, and left the community. Though her parents disowned her, her grandmother gave her a nest egg and wished her the best. Lynn has not been in touch with her parents or younger brother (Charles) since Grandma died 5 years ago.

Lynn took the nest egg and used the tidy sum to live off of while she explored the Denver’s spiritual communities. In the end she joined a Wiccan circle and became fast friends with a Priestess and Wiccan seminarian by the name of Cora. After a year in Denver, Lynn used her nest egg and pristine credit to buy a building in Denver with 2 store fronts and a large second story apartment.

She lived above the stores, renting one store and operating a religious supplies shop out of the other. Instead of selling cheap knick knacks and other low quality items to a single faith, she chose to carry high quality items of “all” faiths. She began with Wiccan and Christian books, vestments, and important do-dads and slowly built her way up to representing all of the established religions within 30 miles of her shop. While she turned only a very small profit (after paying the mortgage and utilities), she was content and very active in her community.

After 5 years the business in her store was healthy enough to warrant an expansion. Since the other storefront she owned had changed faces 3 times in 5 years and was currently vacant, she chose to take it over herself. After a full remodel and refinance, “Trappings Religious Supply” doubled in size and the clientele grew with it. Lynn’s friend from the circle was a fully ordained High Priestess now, and was working part-time at a local bookstore to make ends meet since their circle didn’t provide a salary to the clergy. Hence, Cora becomes Lynn’s first employee.

Lynn is a hard worker who is the perfect murder victim. She works in a slightly controversial setting and receives threats regularly for ‘tainting’ religious good by selling them beside other religions’ sacred goodies. She is estranged from her family for religious reasons. She is celibate and socially inept, though a whiz at customer service. Her life focuses around a very small number of friends, all made within her spiritual community.

Physically, she is unremarkable. She’s 5’6” and a bit on the heavy side. Her ‘dishwater’ blonde hair and gray eyes are less than memorable. She dresses conservatively, in somber colors and tailored styles. This is a holdover from her upbringing, where men and women all wore quiet colors in order to better focus on Godly things. She always wears slacks, a button down shirt, and loafers. The make-up she wears is minimal and subtle. Her hair is cut in a very practical shoulder length style that defies fashion.

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