Synopsis:

Nano #1

[NO TITLE YET]

Strict and harsh, yet firm and loving Branwen is headmistress of a liberal arts boarding college in Wales. Nestled cozily between forest, field, stream and a lake in the middle of the welsh countryside, the school is home to just over a thousand students and staff. This is not just any school. It is pagan in origin, and classes such as welsh witchcraft and earth magick are taught alongside courses such as literature, music, and maths. Branwen loves this school just as much as anyone else - possibly more. She knows the history of the place and she wishes to preserve it's beauty and it's ideals. This next school year seems to hold a lot of promise for staff and students alike, what with the new staff members arriving and a few new and exciting course as well. However, not all is well as it seems, and not all is well with Branwen herself.
Branwen is falling in love ~ which really, should not be a bad thing. However, it is with a young woman who attends the school, and is in fact, going to be in several of her classes come autumn. As deeply as this troubles her, a woman in her late forties, it would usually not be enough to throw her completely off guard.
However, the usually confident, self-assured woman has also been troubled by another staff member of the school who has been making some uncomfortable advances towards her. Even this wouldn't usually be such a problem, as she has dealt with things like this before... except that there is something especially troubling about this man that she thought she knew. There is something not right with the way she feels around him - almost as if he is drawing the strength right out of her every time they meet. And each time they meet, he becomes a bit more aggressive.

As the school year starts, and the chatter of laughter and screams fills the halls once again, Branwen's life is turned into turmoil. What will she do about her feelings for this young woman? When it becomes obvious that this young woman returns her feelings, what, then, will she do? And can she continue to hold off the advances of this horrible staff member? Why isn't she telling anyone about him in the first place? And is there, perhaps, something more sinister at the heart of what he is doing? Do any of the new staff members and the addiction of extra classes have anything to do with this? Are there, in fact, other people at the school who have a similar knowledge of this school, but in fact want something completely different for it's future? Something... not so healthy? Does Branwen, in fact, know everything she thought she knew about this building in the first place?
And will Branwen, finally, be able to deal with her feelings for this young woman? Will these feelings be the thing that finally weakens her, throws her of guard, and lets her become too vulnerable at a time when she needs to be immensely strong? Or will this young woman, and her love for her, actually help to give her a strength she never knew she had?
What is the right thing for her to do... and can she do it in time? Will she listen to her heart, or will her heart get her in trouble?
And finally... why is this synopsis so damn long?!?!? I need to learn to write better ones. Because I completely wrote too much while at the same time leaving out vital plot points and entire characters! Oh well.

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Nano #2

THE BLACKTHORNES ~ THE CLOSING OF THE DOOR (working title)

[this is a fantasy edition/version of the actual Blackthorne family series that I write]

The Blackthornes are a very gothic family. Meet Lucretia & Amelia, a couple who are in love with each other as they are the night, bats, Halloween... you get it. And meet their children; Wynter, 9, Ember, 7, and Alice, 4. They're just your typical family. However, one day, something happens to make them a little... more different. One day the children find a portal to another world by a gravestone in their backyard.
At first Amelia and Lucretia think their children are just pretending. But as they step into this otherworld themselves, they realise that this place is for real. Soon, the whole family is exploring this strange place together.

However, their lives in the real world become filled with troubles. Both Lucretia and Amelia are dealing with some very painful things. Things they are keeping to themselves.
As autumn wears on, their troubles are doubled, as they find that their excursions into the otherworld have turned... bad. A woman in the otherworld whom Lucretia had thought was a new friend, had been anything but, and now she has tricked her into opening another door while in the otherworld. This one, however, is to the UNDERworld. Ooops.

Halloween fast approaches, and they need to close this door before Halloween starts, or else the creatures that are already slowly seeping out may come out in droves, and some may never go back. And some of these creatures can be evil. Bad things could happen, to everyone, but starting with their family. So, they need to close the door!
However, the way to close the door is not so simple. Something is required of someone. The question is what, exactly, will this person have to do... and will they be able to do it?

Will Lucretia and Amelia be able to deal with their troubles in the real world, as well as in the otherworld? And will dealing with these issues bring them closer together, or further apart? Will it help them in closing the door, or will it only bring disaster?

Will they ever be even able to close the door? And if so.... can they do it before Halloween???

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Nano #3

HAUNTED

Twenty-Three year old Emma is a gothic college girl finishing up her third year of geography and literature. Just before summer holidays, her female partner (and teacher in the college) breaks up with her. Because of a string of recent painful incidences, this becomes the "last straw" as they say. She decides to spend her tuition money for her next, last year of college on a trip to Eastern Europe instead.
She plans to turn her life into one of her gothic books. Like Dracula, she will tour the ancient, haunted countryside and record her findings in a journal. She will tour many of the haunted castles and places in Eastern Europe, from Dracula’s Castle in Romania to the legendary Elizabeth Bathory’s in present day Slovakia. But will she find there what she is looking for?
Will she succeed in turning her life into something as beautiful as her favourite books, her most cherished dark poems, her most loved spooky legends?
Will she find her true love, her true sense of happiness, and her true dark ghosts? Will she witness any hauntings at all? Or will her true love haunt her like a ghost, slowly creeping into her life and changing it for the better?
Or... do these things only belong to storybooks, to legends, to ghost stories, to myths and haunted places? What is the real world like, and can it ever resemble anything close to what she imagines in her dark books?