Although my genre of choice is Historical Fiction I'll have a lot of religious text as well. I've been inspired by the Salem Witch Trials and the Puritans and so I'll be using both in my story for this year. I found an online copy of the Geneva translation of the Bible which the Puritans used as opposed to KJV.
The concept for my story is that a group of con artists are going to stage a witch hunt in a fictional town near Williamsburg. Basically instead of fits and stomach cramps supposedly from witchcraft, I'm using an imagination angle. In other words, I'm going to put their imagination into overdrive causing the puritan girls to do things they would never otherwise conceive if not for some subtle suggestions.
I'll be using a lot of OT passages and will write a sermon filled with calvinistic views.
I can hardly wait!!
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Genre: Historical Romantic Religious Suspenseful Thrilling Fantasy Mystery with a hint of horror.
0 / 50,000
Sep 28, 2008 - 16 09
One problem, there weren't many Puritans in Virginia. The Anglican Church was the state religion of the colony and often the religious leaders and leaders of the government (local and going up to the governor) were one in the same.
Another thing is that I can only think of one case where someone was found guilty of witchcraft in Virginia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Sherwood
Not only was she not executed, but she managed to live a long, quiet life after that.
You may find this article from the Colonial Williamsburg website informative as well:
http://www.history.org/Almanack/life/religion/religionhdr.cfm
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NaNo '08
Working Title: The Wars of Olympus
Genre: Fantasy
Word Count: TBA
50,047 / 50,000
Sep 28, 2008 - 19 54
Thanks for the links. Yes, I'm familiar with Grace Sherwood and her trial. Didn't know the purtians weren't abundant in Virigina. The group that's coming in could come from another state to try to boost puritanism in Virginia.
Do you off hand know when Puritanism ended? I was told around 1750.
----------Genre: Historical Romantic Religious Suspenseful Thrilling Fantasy Mystery with a hint of horror.
25,025 / 50,000
Sep 29, 2008 - 04 46
Wondered how Witch Duck Road got that name. I'd guessed it was from demonic waterfowl.
4,628 / 50,000
Sep 29, 2008 - 21 23
Have you read Arthur Miller's Play 'The Crucible' ?
That's about Salem Witch Trials and Puritans too.
I Adore the cover/banner, makes me want to pick it up straight away :D
Broken_toy
7,631 / 50,000
Oct 4, 2008 - 12 44
I really rather doubt Puritans would be found anywhere even vaguely near Virginia, as Puritanism was almost completely located in New England during colonial times. Puritans migrated as entire communities which stuck together. They first landed in Massachusetts and were always concentrated there, though the Congregational Church was also the established church of Connecticut and New Hampshire.
The Puritan way of life was based around towns and then families. Each family had their own small plot of land and their own home in the town, and they subsisted on farming. By contrast, Virginia was tobacco country, and a small-time farmer would soon be unable to compete with big plantations, and would probably end up selling their land to a plantation. Virginia as a colony generally had very poor family values, as well. A great majority of the population were poor, young, landless males who had come over as indentured servants. There were very few single women to marry and at one point, one-third of girls getting married in the southern colonies were already pregnant.
I think you would be better off if you relocated your town to New England, or even maybe possibly perhaps one of the mid-Atlantic colonies, though that still might be pushing it a little.
On a more cheerful note, the picture in your signature is way cool. :)
philosophical.bunny
50,047 / 50,000
Oct 4, 2008 - 17 58
Thanks very much for the information. As it is I've decided to move the entire town into a mythical setting. I'm using the disappearance of the Roanoke Colony of 1587 as the basis for the community and then it will be transformed into a puritan type village that has "lost its way" in the tradition to which my characters will put them on the straight and narrow. This way I can stay within the parameters of the puritan way but on my terms!
Again thanks for the information!!
Chris
----------Genre: Historical Romantic Religious Suspenseful Thrilling Fantasy Mystery with a hint of horror.
50,047 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2008 - 13 07
Hey all,
----------Just wanted to let you know that I'm working on a role-playing game involving a Witch Trial in the tradition of Salem Witch Trials. Come on over to the RP section and rat on your neighbor, your wife or even your kids!!!
Genre: Historical Romantic Religious Suspenseful Thrilling Fantasy Mystery with a hint of horror.
51,327 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2008 - 16 12
There's a book called Witch Hammer by Vaclav Kaplicky (Author), John A. Newton (Translator), available from Amazon. It's set in Czechoslovakia and documents witch trials in a small village. (If I recall correctly, it was based on documentation of actual events.) It's a really good read that shows how people get caught up in the fear and craziness, how they are forced to confess and involve others, etc. Might be too late for you to read as research for your novel, and may not even apply to what you're writing, but thought I'd toss it out there.
----------http://solowytch.livejournal.com/
"A fairy tale is something that never happened a long time ago." (unknown)
"In a minute there is time for decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse." T.S. Eliot