30 November 2021

Challenge Accepted, Challenge Completed.


Well, I managed to pull it off. In the waning hours of the month I managed to complete the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) challenge. The challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel in the 30 days of the month of November. The manuscript clocked in at 53,900 words. It's unreadable in its current state. It has multiple alternative scenes in it, complete with alternate paths forward, based on which version I choose. It's practically a 'choose your own mystery' book as it stands. Chapter ten consists of the words "this takes place from her point of view. I'll write it later." I'll let it sit for a few months and then revisit it with fresh eyes.
 So far, the book is utter garbage, as I expected it would be. It's a rough draft, unfit for anything. It would take at least another two drafts before it resembles anything coherent. I have been changing my mind as I make my way through the rough ideas, so the story is incoherent at best. I am also in dire need of a subplot. Possibly two.
The story, such as it is, is based on the murder of Matthew Sheedy. Sheedy was stabbed by persons unknown, possibly stabbed by a pitchfork, during the St Patrick's day riot on March 17, 1858. The inquest into his death was a shambles, with a coroner who was holding his first such inquest, a chief of police who refused to testify, utterly contradictory testimony, and a jury made up entirely of Orangemen and other Protestants. The failure here increased the calls which had begun in 1855 with the Clown and the Firemen's riots to reform the police department and take it out of the Orange Lodge's hands, and helped lead to a change in laws, the establishment of the Police Board and the firing of the entire police force from Chief Constable Sherwood all the way down on a single day in early February 1859.
Sherwood is an interesting figure, I should add. He repeatedly refused to testify against fellow members of the Orange Lodge at trial. Before he was chief of Police he was the brother of a premier in the province. When his brother lost an election in the 1840's to a reform ticket, Sherwood lead a group of men who had gathered at his tavern down to Toronto and caused a riot against the reformers who were celebrating their victory. I believe it left one man dead. That was before he was made police chief. Time did not improve him. It would have made sense if, when faced with the threat of being reformed out of a job he might have mended his ways and tried to prove that he and the force he lead were capable of fairly dispensing justice in the city, but instead he seems to have doubled down. In addition to refusing to testify against Lodge brothers charged with crimes, he released the chief suspect in a bank robbery in the fall of 1858 because they were Lodge brothers. He appointed a man to whom he owed money to sergeant in the Police force, despite the man being utterly unsuitable to the task. When sixteen other constables signed a petition protesting the man's promotion and his unsuitability for the position, Sherwood suspended without pay the men who signed the petition. After he was fired, he was appointed harbour master of Toronto.
In the story I have turned Matthew Sheedy into Michael Sheehan, and it is set a few months after his death, at the time when the planned reform is about to happen, and the police know their jobs are at stake. Sheehan's name has become a rallying cry for the Irish Fenians, (which is accurate- the numbers of people joining Fenian and Fenian related societies shot up after Sheedy's death) who believe they will never find justice under British rule. My main characters are Sheehan's widow and detective Haynes. The idea of Haynes comes from an article I read about the clown riots. When the police were rioting and setting fire to the circus, a newspaper reported that one constable tried to stop the rioting, and was condemned as a 'damned Papist' by his fellow constables- and from that Haynes was born. Historically, that riot was stopped when the mayor (himself an Orangeman) called the military to come and break it up. In my version, the mayor, disgusted a the lawlessness of his Lodge brothers, took notice of the one who tried to do his duty, and began promoting him over Sherwood's objections and protests about political interference with his force. (This is one of my few intentional anachronisms: I don't believe the police force had detectives at that time.)
Historically, Sheedy was stabbed while defending the back of the Deputy Police Chief. In my version, the Deputy wishes to do justice for the man who may have saved his life while he still has time, and is also hoping that perhaps, if they can show that they are capable of doing their job, a few of them might be able to last through the reform of the police that is coming. He also hopes to maybe pull the teeth of the Fenians, who are using Sheehan's name to draw more and more people into their cause- aided, perhaps, by Sheehan's widow and her demands that justice be meted out for her husband. The Deputy gives the job to one of the few men on the department who is known for investigating against his own self interest. Haynes begins investigating and runs into the problems of unreliable witnesses, threats and intimidation, and the division in Toronto between Orange and Green.
As I said, as it is now, it's terrible. For a start, it is 95+% dialogue. That makes sense, as his investigation consists of talking to witnesses. But this is supposed to be a novel, and not a play. For other problems, I was still working my way through what is supposed to happen up tot he very end, and have changed my mind several times already, so large parts do not mesh with other parts. (As a matter of fact, I wrote three separate endings and an epilogue that suits only two.) I'm just hoping I can either pull it together, or just fix it in the next draft or two.
Who stabbed Sheedy? I can't say for certain, though I have some suspicions. When I did some research for the book I discovered several interesting things in the testimony at the inquest. The most interesting was who didn't testify. The riot was a series of localized fights and free for alls. The one where Sheedy was stabbed was in a back alley/ stable yard near the north St Lawrence market. A small crowd had surrounded a councilman, tavern owner and Orangeman by the name of Lennox and his wife who had taken refuge in a wagon. I say 'refuge, but that isn't entirely accurate. Lennox had shown up at the fight waving a pistol around, saying he would wade knee deep in papist blood. The Deputy chief disarmed him, and he headed for his tavern to get more pistols. The crowd cut him off and he retreated. I don't know when his wife became involved. Lennox was standing in the wagon with a weapon threatening to kill anyone who came nearer to him. The Deputy was trying to talk him down and quiet the crowd. Sheedy was behind him when he was stabbed. No one saw the stabbing, because everyone's eyes were on Lennox or the Deputy. The only people looking in the right direction- out over the heads of the crowd and towards the people at the back- who might have seen what happened were Lennox and his wife. Lennox testified at the inquest that he was quiet and peaceful and law abiding, an his actions were all but for the Papists, and that he saw nothing. His wife never testified at all, and, to me, she seems the one most likely to have seen something. In my version, she holds a key, but Lennox will not allow anyone to get near her.

As I mentioned the earlier, the manuscript is 95% dialogue, which will not do. I also need to go and research some more of the history. Now that the archives are open again, I can do that. I started doing a little of that last week, and immediately had a monkey wrench thrown into the works. Most of the histories I read stated that the entire police force was fired in a single day in February 1859, but that isn't quite the truth. I learned from reading one of the papers of the time that the Deputy Chief, who was a major character in the story I wrote, was fired a few weeks ahead of the rest by the execrable Chief Sherwood. This makes a hash of my timeline, if I want this to be somewhat historically accurate. I also want to do some research from the newspapers of the day to help bring the city to life. News about what ships are in harbour, what news is being bandied about, what plays are on, what crimes are being committed, what the politicians are making a mess of now. That sort of thing.
So, first draft complete, but a long way from being finished. Still, writing a draft of a novel in a month is something of an accomplishment, so yay.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow! And Yay!
Impressive ��