But Who Will Read This?

Ghost and Crime stories are popular genres that have a very broad audience and it's notable by the size of the Crime and Supernatural/ Fantasy sections in bookstores. Add to that, that these genres also stretch into the Young Adult genre and my creative piece would appeal to a wide age group. 

Since the creative piece that I am writing is a combination of Creative Nonfiction, True Stories, Crime, History and the Supernatural, and is essentially a short story; it would appeal to a number of people of many interests. I think the event that took place at The Priory in 1876 is not that well known to people that are not heavily interested in History and Crime. Also I found out about it from my Father who lived a few roads away from the property. So those who haven't looked into Victorian London crimes as a whole, may not know anything about it despite it being a huge story in the newspapers at the time. I think that most of the crimes in Victorian London have been brushed under the carpet by the brutal crimes of Jack the Ripper, which is known by nearly everyone in the country. 

I would like to think that my true story conveys not only the death of Charles Bravo, but also that it shows that there could be an interesting story just around the corner from where you live. 

The whole process of planning and writing the creative piece is aimed at making it as engaging and truthful to the reader in order to again their interest and maybe inspire them to look more into similar events. 

Issues, Problems, Frustration!

The main problem that I am finding is acquiring reliable research because different websites have slightly different pieces of information, so I'm unsure as to which is correct. I also can not find any specific dialogue or statements from the suspects or victim leading up to the murder, which has become increasingly frustrating. Due to these things I've decided that I need to find another way into the story. 

I want to keep the story as accurate as possible while still making it interesting and entertaining to the reader. Another issue I have found that I still have is figuring out a perspective in which to tell the story from, and if I should even do it from a persons perspective instead of narrating the piece. 

From the research I have done the story itself is complicated, but also filled with gaps. This makes me think that I won't have enough to write about, but as I mentioned earlier, I'm looking for another way into the story so that I am able to meet the word count with a well written, interesting true story piece. 

The Joining of Words

I think that one of the most important elements for telling this true story, other than the content, is the structure. The way the scenes are ordered could either make the piece monochrome and boring or make it engaging and compelling to read. 

In Lee Gutkind’s book, The Art of Creative Nonfiction, there is a section about ‘Framing’ which explains different kinds of nonfiction story structures, where the scenes as arrange in different orders to create a more interesting story. 

From reading the descriptions of scene structure from Gutkind’s book I have decided that I would like to try using the ‘Convoluted’ framing or the ‘Manipulation of Time’. The reason why I want to try these methods is because I feel a chronological story would be dry and tedious and almost like reading an information brochure. Where as I would like to begin the story with an inciting incident, such as the night that Charles Bravo was poisoned. Then perhaps lead into how I came to find out about the place and it's event, before continuing with story with the pieces of information I have gathered. 

Regarding the writing itself, I'm unsure as to whose perspective to use within the story, but as there is little to no dialogue, I think that as the writer I could in some way be the narrator to help keep the story straight and on track. 

Diving Deeper into Poisonous Waters

This week I found a book on Charles Bravo’s death entitled, Death at the Priory: Love, Sex and Murder in Victorian England by James Ruddick; which I've ordered and will read once it arrives. 

I also continued my research into The Priory household and relationships between the people involved. The housekeeper, Mrs. Cox, was high on the suspect list with Florence as before the murder took place Mr. Bravo had threatened to sack her, for reasons I am still yet to find out. I have also found another suspect to be a Groomsman whom Mr. Bravo dismissed, leaving the Groomsman ‘disgruntled’ as I’ve seen him described. I have not yet managed to find the Groomsman’s name. 

I’ve learnt that the relationship between Charles and Florence was a strained one, even with only having been married for four months. It's alleged that Charles was controlling and abusive towards his wife. One of the possible reasons for this could be because she was wealthier than him and had decided to save her own money because of the ‘Married Women’s Property Act 1870’ which allowed her to have legal control of money or property she earned or inherited. 

It was also suspected that Bravo had committed suicide by putting the poison in one of his drinks or meals, but was ruled out once investigations were underway due to the possible motivations of suspects because they all seemed to harbour ill feelings towards Charles Bravo. However, due to the the amount of suspects, none of them were arrested.

To collect the information I need, the internet is my main source because I'm unable to get hold of actual newspapers from the time, but some of the original articles can be found online. In one article, it said that Dr. Gully was no where near the murder scene at the time of Charles death, but was he there three days prior to his death? I need to find this out!

I have been fortunate enough to find photographs of Charles Bravo, his wife, housekeeper and of Dr. Gully so that I am able to visually describe their appearances within the creative piece. 

Decision Made.

The event I have decided to research is the death of Charles Bravo at The Priory on Bedford Hill, London on 21st April 1876. 

Upon researching I found that it took Charles three days to die after being poisoned and in that time he was attended to by several doctors, including Sir William Gull who was the royal physician of Queen Victoria. All the physicians who examined Charles concluded that he was poisoned with antimony, but that he gave no clue as to the source of the poisoning. He suffered in silent agony until he died. 

Antimony is a metalloid element which has been used in bullets, plain bearings and tins, and can be found in many commercial and domestic products. Antimony was also used in cosmetic palettes as eye kohl by the Egyptians in the Prehistoric Egypt. 

His wife was Florence Bravo née Campbell, who had been previously widowed by Alexander Louis Ricardo. I also found that prior to her first husbands death she was having an affair with a doctor named, James Manby Gully. Shortly before marrying Charles she ended the affair. 

I have been told stories of this place over the years by my father and he always said he saw a pale woman with dark hair, in a dark coloured Victorian dress inside one of the windows. He had no idea what happened to the people who had lived there in the past and he was not a man who scared easily. Naturally, I was interested in this seemingly creepy place since my father claims he saw the ghost of a woman in the house while out with his dog, Shona and his best friend, Pete. What convinced him most about what he had seen was that his normally playful hound was petrified at the time. She pulled on the lead all the way home and as soon as she was indoor she hid under the stairs for the next two days, jumping and whimpering at every sound and would not go near the residence again.

The Strange, The Grotesque, and The Damn Right Gorgeous!

After my first glance at the assignments for ‘Telling True Stories’ I had one particularly chilling idea, but since then I have been bombarded with a variety of subjects upon which to research and write about.

Let's start with the my initial idea:

A murder by poison in The Priory - Balham, London 1876. 

A few hours of research told me that this murder was an unsolved case, of which young Mr. Charles Bravo was the victim. There were only three suspects: his wife, the maid or the doctor.

Sounds like a game of cluedo, right? 

This story made the papers in Victorian London and many of the public were outraged at the death of the Barrister, Mr Bravo.

Next came the incident of the ‘Bath Salts’ 

This incident took place just a few years ago in America. A new batch of narcotics named ‘Bath Salts’ had some very grotesque effects on its users. It's nickname is the ‘Zombie Drug’.

Why you ask? Well to put it simply, the users of this drug turned in to crazy cannibals. One particular incident involved a man eating another mans face! An obscene and gory subject, but something that is still interesting. The main question for this topic is ‘WHY?’ 

Why does the drug have this effect? Why do people take it, knowing what might happen? 

Lastly is Emilie Autumn: Queen of the Plague Rats!

This woman has come a long way and experienced more in her 36 years of life than most have in 80 years. 

She’s a famous musician who has suffered a lot since childhood and uses music and poetry to express her innermost thoughts. I may be bias, but she had a big influence on me as a teenager when I had severe depression. 

She suffers from Bipolar Disorder, Insomnia and Auditory Hallucinations, but has not let that stop her and she's happy for people to see it as an encouragement for others with mental health problems. 

She was hospitalised in a Psychiatric hospital for a time, and noted down her thoughts in red crayon on scraps of paper which became part of her book ‘The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls’ featuring both non-fiction and fiction it covers her stay in the Psychiatric unit in which she made up a Victorian character named ‘Emily’ who was in a similar situation as a coping method. Upon reading the book I noticed how very dark her mind must have been while in a place that is supposed to help. But as the saying goes ‘things get worse, before they get better’. Autumn claimed that ‘The One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ was an accurate presentation of a modern-day asylum. 

My main focus for this would be her institutionalisation, as there plenty of people interested in the history of Psychiatric hospitals, but there have not been many, if any, accounts of what a present day institution is like.