Inspiration, Spiritualism and Cora Frost

During Halloween time I always get an itch to visit the world of my first published piece, Cora Frost. Inspiration seems to abound when the air becomes crisper, the leaves begin to change to vibrant crimsons, and the most macabre holiday begins to peak around the corner. It was about this time nearly three years ago that I began to etch out my first novella featuring the arcane and eldritch sorceress and shopkeeper.

Cora's origins come from a variety of different sources. One day I was watching Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr. and it really began to make me think. Sherlock Holmes is a great character analytical, brilliant, and inventive. He always figures the case out, the villain for the most part always is caught in Holmes' web (with the exception being Irene Adler). While Sherlock is an amazing character I began to think of what I thought was missing from his extraordinary tales.

I for the most part surround myself with fantasy. While science fascinates me, I would rather spend my time thinking about the improbable (I don't believe that something can be one hundred percent impossible) rather than the practical. Sherlock Holmes is for the most part the opposite, even opposite from his creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle was a believer in Spiritualism a movement popular in the late 1800's that believed that the walls between the living and the dead were thin, and communicating between the two worlds was possible.

When I started brainstorming ideas in what would eventually become Cora Frost, I began to look at Holmes. I love the mystery, the grittiness of Victorian England. At first it seemed like a no-brainer, Sherlock Holmes is public domain after all, I thought I would craft my own Holmes story with a flair of the supernatural. I looked at the movement that Doyle so fervently believed in, and stumbled upon a character within its history that peeked my interest.

Cora L.V. Scott was a medium within the Spiritualism movement. She would stand before masses in a trance like state and claimed to speak for the dead. She was young and pretty which seemed to be at odds with her claimed unearthly abilities. While all of this absolutely intrigued me, another fact intrigued me more. Cora had been married four times. Today that would be considered commonplace, but in the 1800's it was practically unheard of.

When I read about Cora an idea seemed to pop into my head. In many ways this girl was the complete opposite of Holmes. She wasn't bound by science or laws, being married four times is a good indication that she was a creature of passion versus Holmes' analytical mind. So in place of writing a Sherlock Holmes story I thought it would be a better idea to craft a character that was more of his foil.

Cora Scott was a great start but I felt my main character still needed more than to be an interpretation of this historical character. Paranormal private investigators are a staple in the modern fantasy genre and it seemed perfect for my character to be like a Victorian era equivalent. While the Spiritualism movement fascinates me I wanted my 'anti-Holmes' to be more than a medium, but a sorceress who could deal with the baddies that came her way with a much more direct approach if needed.

In many ways I took Cora Scott, Sherlock Holmes, and a dash of the Halliwell sisters and stirred it in a giant pot. After pouring it out I found that I created a character who uses her mind and her passion to solve problems.

Next time I will write about the inspirations for the villains in the Cora Frost tales. For more information on Cora Scott visit this link here. For a free Cora Frost story visit here to download it for Kindle or here to download it for the Nook.

- Matt

Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cora_L._V._Scott