So I have finally started writing the actual book; I 've drafted about one page of the opening chapter, which is tentatively called "The Founder and Her Era." I decided to open with the vignette about TPR stepping over the rattlesnake to hide it from her mother lest she decide not to move to Farmington. I think it is a pretty cool story in its own right, and it illustrates an attribute - resolve, determination, whatever you want to call it - that is central to TPR's character and story.
To get the school involved quickly, I turned to the notion that TPR said "I will build an indestructible school for boys" on her first night as a student at Miss Porter's. Next up will be a summary of TPR's architectural studies and her early commissions, followed by the early preparations for building the school.
This plan begs at least two questions. First, when and how do I work in the Lusitania? That obviously is a pivotal moment in TPR's life and I need/want to debunk the whole she-woke-up-in-a-Cotswold-village thing. It won't be hard, I think, but I can't see right now how it fits into the outline. The second question is what to do with TPR's avid interest in Psychical Research (which is what prompted her to get on the Lusitania). I cannot escape - and I have no interest in escaping - TPR's eccentricities (I'm opening with her hiding a poisonous snake under her skirts; clearly she was an unusual person), but I am not sure how far down that path to wander. This is, after all, a history of the school, not a biography of its founder.
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