Newest Story Plot

I'm gearing up for another marathon writing spree. I don't have to wait for November for NaNo, they have a sister contest called Camp NaNoWriMo. This year they're writing in April & I think June or July. So I have 3 months to plot out another story, and I already have one percolating in my grey matter.

Jenna, a singer-songwriter, buys an old farmhouse after her second album tanks. There's a mystery connected with the house. Back in the day, I'm leaning toward WWI or WWII, the owner, a popular local woman, was found strangled in her bed. Her killer was never found. Cue spooky music.

Jenna starts renovating the house & finds a hidden room set up for a nursery or young child's room. In the room she finds the owner's diary, full of juicy details about her affair with a local handyman. A negro handyman. Clutch your pearls, Aunt Martha. The birds & the bees ended up with a visit from the stork.

I'm kind of hazy on the details. Abigail, the dead woman, might be single & hides the entire pregnancy, or might be married to a drunken lout & doesn't know if the baby's his or her handyman's. When it pops out black they decide to fake it's death & hide the baby, but I think even a drunk would eventually notice. I'm thinking maybe the deadbeat husband goes off to war & that's when she gets pregnant. That would explain the hidden room. They just hide the baby when company comes knocking.

They do have a plan. Maybe not the best plan, but a plan. They're going to run away together. She's dark-haired. Hispanic or Italian or maybe Jewish. His family's from near New Orleans, maybe Baton Rouge. They're going to move down there & say she's a light skinned black woman who had been passing as white up north.

I'm just not sure why they don't just move down there right away. Maybe they're waiting to save money, maybe she's caring for a sick parent. Maybe they're waiting to see if her husband comes back from war or not. Maybe if he dies she inherits a fortune. Maybe her handyman dies. Maybe he's lynched when someone realizes he's spending too much time with the lovely young Abigail & then she's trapped there hiding her baby, waiting for a husband who might never come home.

Then, one day, it happens. Her baby gets sick. She's too afraid to take the baby to a doctor & the little boy or girl dies. She goes crazy & kills herself but whoever finds her doesn't want everybody to know how she died. Or maybe her husband doesn't die in the war. When he comes back she goes crazy & kills her baby & then kills herself.

Like I said, I'm kind of hazy on the details.

There has to be something connecting Jenna and Abigail. I think Jenna is hiding a secret of her own. She's gay & trying to hide her girlfriend. Maybe they broke up because she wasn't ready to come out of the closet herself. The story would go back & forth between the two relationships. Of course, Jenna's story would end a lot happier than Abigail's. She'll have a hit single about poor Abigail & maybe even get her girlfriend back.