Story Grid+Ideas for Carthusian Novella

Prologue)

Scene 1:

Auderic installed as the Charterhouses Prior.

Scene 2:

Auderic’s experience with Raphael in a dream.          

Scene 3:

Auderic’s revelation on his God-given duty.          

Scene 4:

Auderic’s first experience with the lepers.

Chapter 1)

Scene 1:

Tassart goes to jail for heresy.          

Scene 2:

Adelard, the Father who had Tassart jailed, visits with Auderic to express his contempt and disbelief at Auderic’s mission.          

Scene 3:

Auderic writes to Elie, a superior of Adelard’s, to tell of Adelard’s disrespect and to obtain his blessing.          

Scene 4:

Elie writes to Auderic expressing his sincere lack of belief in his mission.

Chapter 2)

Scene 1:

Auderic begins a program in which the lepers are given manual labor duties.          

Scene 2:

The lepers participate in the program, and they ask for some sort of recompense.          

Scene 3:

Auderic writes to Elie to ask for resources to repay the lepers, showing how they’ve helped out.          

Scene 4:

Elie writes back with a courier and sends a bag with 5 sous per leper in the community.

Chapter 3)

Scene 1:

Auderic disperses the five sous to each leper, matching it with five sous from the Charterhouse.          

Scene 2:

Absolon visits the jailhouse to see his father, bribes guard with part of the payout from Elie to get in. He tells his father of Auderic’s deeds, and how he got in.          

Scene 3:

Tassart is released from jail because he recants.          

Scene 4:

Auderic is assaulted by Absolon, Tassart’s son. Auderic calms Absolon down, and tries to figure out what is wrong. He figures out that Absolon is mad because his father was only released because he recanted something he truly believes. Guards come to take Absolon away, but Auderic intervenes by saying that Absolon is going to serve penitence through the Church.

Chapter 4)

Scene 1:

Auderic allows Absolon to go home that night, and starts to teach the boy woodworking the next day, taking him on as a sort of apprentice.

Scene 2:

Absolon begins to show some real progress and talent as a woodworker.          

Scene 3:

Absolon makes a desk with a rounded closure and a drawer for Auderic’s room. Auderic proceeds to stock the drawer with quills, ink, and parchment, and the enclosure with spiritual books, and gives them to Absolon.

Scene 4:

Absolon asks his father to help him learn to read, so that he can make use of Auderic’s present. His father does so, and they explore the faith together.Tassart (a leper that is Absolon’s father) converts to Catholicism.

Chapter 5)

Scene 1:

The Charterhouse performs the office of Vespers.          

Scene 2:

Blaive (Auderic’s best friend; a leper who is also a choir monk) dies in his sleep after meditating the office of Compline.          

Scene 3:

The office of Matins and Lauds is performed, and the lack of Blaive is noticed.          

Scene 4:

Blaive is found after Lauds by Auderic, and he alerts the fellow monks.

Chapter 6)

Scene 1:

Blaive’s Requiem Mass.          

Scene 2:

Auderic does manual labor in order to relieve his stress.          

Scene 3:

Gracien (former choir monk) leaves the Charterhouse in a sad state, feeling that their job had failed with Blaive’s death.          

Scene 4:

Unplanned

Chapter 7)

Scene 1:

Unplanned

Scene 2:

Unplanned

Scene 3:

Unplanned

Scene 4:

Unplanned

Chapter 8)

Scene 1:

Unplanned

Scene 2:

Droyn, a musician and artist who knows how to read, arrives as a prospective choir monk.

Scene 3:

Unplanned

Scene 4:

Unplanned

Chapter 9)

Scene 1:

Unplanned

Scene 2:

Unplanned

Scene 3:

Unplanned

Scene 4:

Unplanned

Chapter 10)

Scene 1:

Unplanned

Scene 2:

Unplanned

Scene 3:

Tassart begins training as a prospective choir monk.

Scene 4:

Unplanned

Epilogue)

Scene 1:

Tassart becomes a full choir monk.          

Scene 2:

Auderic’s death.          

Scene 3:

Tassart elected to become Prior.          

Scene 4:

Auderic’s Requiem Mass.

Novel Outline

Who will be your main character?

Auderic, the leader of a local Catholic Carthusian charterhouse who is also a devout follower of Archangel Raphael will be the main character.

What is the main problem your character has to solve, or an important goal your character has to achieve? Why is it deeply important to your character?

The charterhouse is located amidst a leper colony, and its goal is to provide the lepers with work, self-worth and salvation.

What terrible difficulties are there between your character and his/her goal or the solution to his/her problem?

Within the lepers:
-          Lack of motivation
-          Leprosy itself
-          Time
-          Capacity of individual lepers to work

From without the community:
-          Catholic Church thinks he’s wasting his time
-          Doctors all think leprosy is contagious

From within the community:
-          Monk’s lack of morale
-          Discontentedness with their progress

Where and when (in general) will your story take place?

1100’s Grenoble, France- specifically at the chateau Grande Chartreuse.

In general, what type of novel are you writing? 

An introspective, inspiring novel about how everyone has a place and a value.

What are the main events that will move your character toward (or away from) solving the novel’s central problem or achieving its central goal?

Away from goal:
1)          Death of his favorite leprosy-inflicted friend.
2)          Departure of a monk.

Towards the goal:
1)          Arrival of a new monk with skills in music and art as well as writing.
2)          A well respected leper elder converts to Catholicism.

Write a 1-2 sentence summary of your novel’s main idea:

Auderic, the prior of the local Carthusian charterhouse, tries to lead the nearby community of lepers into a more productive life.

Character Outline (Auderic)

1.          Name: Auderic Lambert

2.          Age: 36

3.          General physical description: A tall man with deep brown eyes and pale white skin. His hair, a dark brown, is tonsured, leaving only a little ring from his forehead back around to the back of his head. It is parted in the front and the top is totally bare.

4.          Hometown: Grenoble

5.          Type of home/neighborhood: A poor-ish neighborhood, neighboring the leper hospital.

6.          Relationship status: N/A (Prior and married to the Divine)

7.          Current Family: All dead

8.          Family Background: Father was a Catholic, became a Territorial Abbot when Auderic turned 14. Mother was a Catholic lay-person, died during birth of Auderic (allowing his father to become a monk). Auderic was, thusly, raised not by his father and mother, but rather by his father’s sister and her husband.

9.          Friends:          Blaive- a leper, Blaive is a kind-hearted, hard-working man.

Tassart- a leper, he is the oldest of them at 44 as of the story’s beginning.

Gracien- a choir monk who leaves the Charterhouse- they maintain correspondence.

Droyn- a prospective choir monk who knows how to read and write and is good at music and art.

10.          Other close relationships: All of the monks in his Charterhouse, and the local lepers.

11.          Relationship with men: Close, warm, but purely platonic.

12.          Relationship with women: Cool, distant, purely platonic.

13.          Job: Prior

14.          Dress Style: Prior habits

15.          Religion: Catholic

16.          Attitude to Religion: Devout and strict Catholic, close to Jesus and God, very kind and generous.

17.          Favorite pastimes: Reading and writing spiritual works, manual labor.

18.          Hobbies: Writing, reading, woodworking.

19.          Favorite sports: N/A

20.          Favorite foods: Fish

21.          Strongest positive personality trait: Devoutness

22.          Strongest negative personality trait: Rigidness

23.          Sense of humor: Dry, witty, but kind hearted.

24.          Temper: Very even tempered.

25.          Consideration for others: Places others before self.

26.          How people see him: A father-figure and a loving man.

27.          Opinion of himself: A humble servant of God.

28.          Other traits, especially those brought out in story: Follower of Archangel Raphael

29.          Ambitions: To heal those who are sick in any way.

30.          Philosophy of life: Life is filled with sorrow and sadness- do your part to bring in some light and happiness.

31.          Most important thing to know about this character: He is a devout, loving person and wants to help and make a difference.

32.          Will readers like or dislike this character, and why?: Readers will like this character because of his warm demeanor and general feel-good attitude.