"Butterflies and Moonbeams" is a special story (so get your subscription to Weirdbook now so you don't miss it). I say this because it not only birthed a wonderful character, but it outlined his life in broad strokes with touches of interest upon which to later probe. Much like the Patchwork Witch from "For the Dolls Had Eyes" or Doctor Paulk from "The Obsession of Doctor Paulk", the Butterfly Man is established in "Butterflies and Moonbeams" with focal points throughout from which other potential Tales may be culled. "Tell Me About the Butterfly Man" is the first of what are now three stories which have followed this character, Frank Stenoyer Jr., since he rose from a supporting role of 'lead bully' to the starring role with his own oddly menacing nickname. This story arose from one of those focal points.
Now yes, this is a story ostensibly about the Frank, but it is told through the eyes of an inmate in Holman Prison in Alabama in 1971 by the name of Gerald Grant. This is, by the way, Grant's story, not Stenoyer's. Well, it's Grant's story about Stenoyer as told in an interview room in Holman Prison right around the time embroidered, bell-bottom jeans were somehow popular. It is an interview, one given very reluctantly, to a Professor inquiring about this Butterfly Man, something Mr. Grant is highly reluctant to talk about. This Professor, a Jasper Van Hooten, is pretty persuasive.
I've mentioned this guy before, this Professor who really should have more speaking roles. Thus this Tale, 'cause it's a story about this Professor, see, if you squint enough to see a potential story arc launching point insofar as structural approaches. Well, it's about the Professor asking the Inmate about the Biker BoogieMan grown-up Bikers tell little Bikers to keep them being good little outlaw Bikers.
We're all clear on this, right?
Jasper... ah, yes, the Professor, not the community (there is no connection there... the town being named for the semi-precious stone). Now, the first I met this guy, or at least encountered his existence, was in my 5th Tale, "The Little Metal Man". Jasper doesn't appear in there any more than a quick side discussion between Professor and Mrs. Miller about a colleague of his back home who is a bit eccentric, enough so that Mrs. Miller professes he should be in the local asylum rather than the private university he and her husband both work at. That's basically it right there with nothing more for a long, long time. That little name drop and then I dropped him for projects and characters that actually had something to them.
I teased an idea and it is still there, rolling around in the back of my mind but since then, Willard Reams has been keeping his damn mouth shut. Seriously, this is one annoying character. I mean, once conceived, he expected to take center stage and since then, well, I've been waiting for him to produce and this is the time because I know he knows something here. Just knowing that Reams might have an idea, well, "The Journal of Caleb Walsh" confirmed that at some time after 1979 (date of "The Little Metal Man"), Van Hooten took a sabbatical and never came back. Still didn't know squat about this guy. Sounded like a bookish wimp, though, that's for sure.
When I lit upon "Tell Me About the Butterfly Man" as the next in the chute story to write, I had nothing but the passage dropped in "Butterflies and Moonbeams" to go on for how to start this or where to go with it. The writing of this one is one of the most natural I feel I have done from the moment I lit upon the venue, on where it would play out. As soon as I had that, I just let the conversation go and where it went, well, it went into this story. I finished this on May 28, 2019, coming in at 4,970 words.
At the time of this writing, this particular story sits in an odd place. It was accepted into a publication but that publication has gone dark and unresponsive but for a passive website. From the time of acceptance to this time last year would have been 8 months. The one thing I heard which I'll classify as rumor was illness, non-pandemic related. I have many other stories... too many to keep even half of them in circulation in the market I'm learning about so I am not at a dearth of stories or anything, it's just I know that if I submit this one anywhere, it will be snatched up. It is good.
I'm considering this the 3rd Big Lesson in my Adventures in Publishing... though I don't know what that is yet. I just hope this publisher is okay, that's all.
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