Story

The originally written prologue (originally also the only thing I was going to try to stick to throughout the story) has now been changed. Initially, it was Carrington breaking down after all of the events had taken place, including the relief of the bodies that he took part in etc, but now it's John Portugee Phillips, the civilian miner, arriving from his long, epic ride across hostile Indian territory 240 miles in a blizzard, at Fort Laramie, to deliver the news of the massacre to General Palmer and his Officers there. Reality has, at this point, turned up with another great event too because when he at last arrived there, freezing cold and exhausted, there was a Christmas ball taking place near the Officers quarters so that means I can use lots of comparisons and contrasts ! Also, because of the day he arrives, I can also try and compare it to the three Kings in Bethlehem, following the star (in this case, the lights of the ball) and also Santa (in this case, John Phillips arriving with an almost white beard!) . That's if Santa was celebrated over there then....Have to check that ^^
I changed the whole Carrington thing because after writing his profile, I thought that I'd been working up to get him a big cover up for his truly worried and stressed personality so he comes across relatively calm and level headed to his men. Having him immediately break this facade would downplay all this it would be more dramatic if it was built up to, rather than said immediately.
Plus, I have to change some of the parts I've written already - namely the parts with Captain Brown in the first section, as I've written him as quite impatient and irritable about Powell who is riding with back from the wood train. In fact, he was quite good natured and happy go lucky so instead of acting so miserable around Powell like he is at the moment in the story, he's going to act pretty respectful around him but when Powell turns his back, he shakes his head like he thinks he's just a joke. This may be shared with some of the Officers with him. This change also kind of helps accentuate Fetterman's irritable personality.
Also on the subject of writing, I've added some parts that kind of suggest Carrington sent them out to the massacre. He was accused of that by a few people after the events and I think it's a really interesting take on it. Obviously, he was blamed for it by many people but to actually say he was the cause of it is slightly different. So, to reflect this, some of his feelings towards Fetterman are thrown out of context and perspective at some points, implying (or not, however it's taken) that he would send him to his death, or at least he wanted to. That sounds very dark but it makes it interesting ^^ An example of how exaggerated he gets now is that in their huge argument (the first real time Fetterman and Carrington actually have direct anger poured out to each other in front of one another), Carrington gets carried away and gives into true, furious feelings, hitting Fetterman. Fetterman doesn't say anything to anyone else after - purely because he doesn't really get the chance and plus, he's trying to get the command of the fort after Carrington is relieved (because of the reorganisation of the army) and the people investigating whether Carrington actually acting violently towards him would draw up the question of why he did hit him and this would reveal Fetterman's violent actions towards him and so on... - but Carrington gets even more paranoid he will.
A book that has really helped with is one I got for my birthday: Dee Brown's The Fetterman Massacre. Thankyou Dee, once again! :D

Character Profiles

In order to get these guys as in character as possible (or at least to have a relatively consistent character all the way through the story and not suddenly change completely), I've started some character profiles, which are shaping out to be very detailed. However, I guess that's a good thing though with Carrington (who is so far the only one whose profile I've finished) I've found I've repeated pretty much the same things again and again. Still, at least those characteristics are for sure now.
Though I found he was getting more and more interesting, which was a good thing. His character is playing off of Fetterman's more than it originally was and he finds he is nigh on obsessed with him, wondering where he is going, making his decisions wondering what he'll say to them, getting paranoid thoughts that he is only doing what he's doing to get at him... He's also kind of enthralled with him because Carrington has been trying to get men on his side for ages without much success and now Fetterman comes along, upsetting his established secure order, and manages to turn all his men against him in a matter of days.
Other interesting events concerning Fetterman showed up to, but these are in the previous story in this Powder River section (which includes the 1865 invasion, the treaties drawn up, the construction of the forts by Carrington around the Powder River country, the story of Fort Phil Kearny, the massacre <- this story, and the Wagon Box Fight the next year). For instance, I found one that really kickstarted the rift between Fetterman and Carrington - two men of Fetterman's company were fighting in front of the women and other Officers (on a Sunday morning no less before the church service) and when they were put under arrest, Fetterman came out and to defend them, also resorted to violence and swearing. Carrington hurries past at this point with his wife and draws up an order later on that Fetterman merely scoffs at. Looking forward to writing this :D
I've just started writing Fetterman's profile, which will probably match the length of Carrington's maybe even more, but I've got to remember to keep writing the actual story too.
x

Story *Finally* Underway

At last, one day before my 15th birthday, I have started writing Caution To The Winter Wind. And, so far, it's going okay. It's nice to come back to it, after writing a draft a month or so ago, but it's all pretty fresh, with a few sentences and phrases dropped in from the last attempt. The best thing though is to finally get it all down, the characters and events and personalities and so on... At last, it feels like the research is paying off - though I don't mind continuously learning about the American West :)
So far, I've written the first two sections of the first Part (there now being five Parts instead of the previously planned three) and have just started the third section. The dialogue is especially fun to write and hopefully, it's pretty accurate - I've been watching enough Westerns hopefully ^^ Though don't trust some Westerns with accuracy!
It's a very nice birthday present certainly to finally start the writing! I'll post some when the first Part is done, I guess.
Katie x

Research Coming To A Close *At Last*!

Research is finally nearing a close. All the specific notes from the testimonies have been printed and some annotated and at long last, the *hopefully* definite plan is being drawn up! There are still some loose ends of details I need to tie up but on the whole, I'm a lot further than before which I am relieved about!!
I can't wait to start writing. Hopefully, I'll start the first part by my birthday on Thursday.
Katie x

<- Here's quite a cute little map (compared to the almost geometrical maps drawn by others at the time) drawn by Henry Carrington of the area around his fort where the events took place on December 21st. This could have made things a whole lot easier if I had found this before! ^-^