The Typewriter

Background information for Novel

Darmatist Persona for The Typewriter

Lydia Applewhite: Protagonist; 65 years old, but looks younger; writer of spell books and cook books; angel wing white hair (used to be platinum blond) and crystal blue eyes with flakes of gold.

Kevin Chester Wainwright: Antagonist; 45 years old, but looks older; went to prison when 20 and was paroled in 5 years, but returned for parole violation and paroled again in 20 years; his father was Luther Applewhite's (Lydia's father) partner; he becomes Lydia's part-time grounds keeper; he works for Gray Landscaping; salt and pepper hair and always sports a one to two-day old beard, with dark brown eyes; everyone calls him K.C.

Miles Dragonslayer: Minor Character #1; 35 years old and looks his age; K.C.'s parole officers and was not born in the province where he is assigned to work; black hair and light brown eyes; he is always clean shaven.

Mary Ann Walton-Gray: Minor Character #2; 30 years old and looks younger; owns and operates Gray Landscaping (inherited business from her husband); employees K.C., as well as other ex-cons on parole; golden blond hair with one blue eye and one brown eye. Provides landscaping services for the Applewhite residence instead of paying a cash for office rental.

Cora Noland: Another Minor Character; Lydia's half-sister about one or two years younger then Lydia; has black hair and gold flaked dark blue eyes; Cora is the result of an affair between Luther Applewhite and Stella Noland.

Marketing Exercise

The target audience for The Typewriter is a baby boomer either retired or semi-retired with enough disposable income to allow for travel. This reader is a female, who is probably married or living with a partner, and she owns her own home. The target reader graduated high school and has some college in her background. The home ownership and revenge aspects of The Typewriter will appeal to this audience. This audience knows the difficulties of home ownership and, even though she knows revenge is not productive, has considered unique or unusual ways to get vengeance on someone who has wronged her in someway.

Cultural Setting

Describe the cultural, political and/or religious setting in your novel. What do your societies believe? In what practices do they engage? What kind of government rules your world? What laws or rules of society are in place? Who enforces them? How successful is enforcement of laws and rules? The society is made up of several different racial groups (elves, dwarfs, humans, etc.). At this point in the world's history, the different racial and cultural groups are beginning to mingle in the cities and towns. This mingling causes stresses on resources such as food, water, etc. The biggest issues are conflicts between groups over resources because each group has different ways of using and preserving these resources. Another source of conflict is technology versus magic. Some factions believe the two are incompatible, while other factions believe they can use both on an equal basis. Most towns and cities have their own police forces which are made up of the groups that live in the area. The government is based on nation-states, with each national group having their own armed forces. Conflicts between the nation states concerns national sovereignty and resources. The success of law enforcement depends on the citizens of a specific area reporting crime and getting involved in the judicial system. Unfortunately, most of the citizens prefer to take vengeance themselves rather then taking the issues to a court of law or calling on law enforcement.

The Typewriter

The typewriter is squarish and constructed of a grayish metal. On the rightt side it has a carriage release lever, a platen knob, a feed roller, a carriage return lever, and a ribbon revers lever. In the center, from top to bottom it has a paper table, a platen, paper fingers on both the right and left side of the platen, a type guide (usually located in the center of the platen unless someone is using the type writer and then it moves from right to left) to align the type, a ribbon vibrator (which raises and lowers the ribbon) and is located directly under to type guide, ribbon spools (one on the right and one on the left), and type bars. The keys are located close to the bottom of the typewriter. The keys consist of a type lever on the right side, shift keys on the right and left side, a space bar (in the middle between the shift keys), twenty-six alphabet keys, nine number keys, and nine other keys.

Dragonview Cementery

West & East sides: 8 miles
North & South sides: 4 miles
A hedge surrounds the cemetery. The hedge is 8 ft. high & 4 ft. wide.
On the East side of the cemetery is a building placed in the center of the east hedge.
On the inside of the hedge grows a row of oak trees, which change color in autumn.
At the head of each grave is a headstone and a rose bush. The roses are various colors and bloom from the beginning to spring until autumn.
The scent of roses defuses throughout the cemetery and seems to linger all year long.
The Applewhite, Wainwright, and Nolan graves are located in the north-west corner of the cemetery.
Cars or horses are not allowed in the cemetery itself. On the east side of the cemetery is a parking lot and horse stable. The parking lot is on the north-east side of the building entrance and the horse stables are on the south-east. Anyone visiting the cemetery must walk to the graves.

Typewriter Room

Sight: The normal light appears to be that of a cloudy day, it is soft and grayish white. When the lights are on the light is brighter, but only where the light are located. The lamps on the desk and next to the couch shed light on the immediate area, but the light does not spread through the room.

Sound: The room is not silent, there is the sound of a distant ocean surf accompanied by flute music.

Scent: Lilac with the aroma of rain, the rain aroma is different in each of the four seasons, so it is lilacs with the aroma of spring rain, summer rain, autumn rain, or winter rain depending on the time of year.

Taste: If anyone in the room inhales deeply that person taste the rain of the appropriate season.

Touch: The carpet and the couch in the room both feel like silk fur.

Room: 400 X 500

North & South walls: 17' 8-1/2"

East & West Walls: 11' 8"

Entrance & exit door: In the middle of the south wall

Bookcases: Ceiling high oak bookcases cover all walls with the exception of the middle part of the south wall where the door is located

Door: Made of oak, 2" thick with a bronze knob and lock

         In the center of the room is an oak desk with a plush office chair in front of it. Sitting on the desk is a typewriter and to the left of the typewriter is lamp. On the right side of the desk is a table containing typing paper. To the right of the desk is a plush gray couch with a floor lamp sitting on each side of it. Against the west wall is a movable ladder that reaches to the top of the bookcases. The floor is covered with a plush gray carpet.

The Typewriter World

Star Name: Amber
Star Color: Yellow
Number of Planets: Three planets one of which is inhabited

Planet: Mystic
Planet Size: Earth-size
Atmosphere: Oxygen
Number of Continents: Four main island-continents with numerous islands
Geology: Mountain ranges, valleys, deserts, and forests.
Ecology: Various animals and plants including dragons, unicorns, etc.
People: Human, elves, dwarfs, etc.

History: The planet is emerging into the era of technology and space exploration. There is magic and the use of spells as well as computer and other types of technology. The planet moved quickly from a medieval cultural and technology into an industrial revolution and the into technology that used computer and a world wide web. The planet is now moving into a planetary cultural which retains the use of magic and uses non-magical based technology. The space exploration is confined to spaceports build on top of mountains that were leveled for the purpose of sending rockets into the upper atmosphere and into space itself.

There are political and religious factions that believe magic is incompatible with the new technology. Some of these factions consider the new technology evil, while other factions consider the magic evil. The majority of the people embrace both magic and the new technology depending on what they want to accomplish. On intriguing fact about this world is that most of the ancestors the magic users come from valleys hidden in the mountains areas. They have moved into the towns and cities of the lowlands, but periodically return to their ancestorial homes.

At this point in the history of Mystic the majority of the wars and disputes occur over resources such as water, food, usable land, etc. The typewriter takes place at a time between disputes when there appears to be enough resources for everyone to share. The typewriter takes place in a town on the plains and is located close to the mountains, farmland, and a large city. To an outsider the locals seem more worried about the politics and resources in their own community then in the outside world.