Imagine where a voyage to nowhere will lead?
The biggest fraud of the century unraveled, world economies hit a historic turning point, wars raged-changing borders and loyalties, pirates threaten the high seas, mad men ran nations. Are we discussing current world events or two centuries past? Does history really repeat itself?
Nearly two centuries ago on the coast of Central America, there was a land named Poyais. Poyais was exceptionally rich in natural resources, civilization, and culture. The nation was ruled by a brave and enlightened Scottish soldier, Sir Gregor MacGregor, who became its ruler after his heroic exploits in the fight for South American independence. On a cold January morning in 1823, a group of Scottish immigrants looking for a new life set sail for this tropical Eden called Poyais. The only catch was that it didn't exist.
Two months later the ship landed in the swamp-infested Mosquito Coast, an area in present day Honduras. Quickly settlers realized they were the victims of one of the most elaborate hoaxes in history. The land they had been sold was nonexistent, the banknotes and guidebooks they carried with them were forgeries, their documents were worthless. Poyais was a fiction. The man responsible? Sir Gregor MacGregor. Who was this eccentric, scurrilous man? And why is he such a loveable rogue?
Site Goals
Create an interactive historical romance fiction site (Short Story Anthology style)
Develop a process vs product site presenation
Research about Poyais, Sir Gregor MacGregor, life and times in Regency England 1790-1830 and the biggest fraud that occurred in the 19th Century.
Provide a writer's forum for character development, plot structure and scene creation.
Provide an interactive platform for readers and users participate in the creation of short stories about this time period.
Personal Goals
Learn how to research historical events
Learn how to develop an interactive site.
Study the ins and outs: webmistress,content writer, moderator and administer roles
Site success defined when a mainstream author (meaning paid and published) uses this site for research in creating a fiction novel.
Visitor Benefits
Learn about Regency England's history
Learn about World's history in this time period
Learn about the Poyais Fraud and how events parallel today's news.
Discuss and review research techniques, favored weblinks and open-source software.
Participate in short story creation and character development.
Participate in real-time dialog with a slant toward flash fiction (Facebook participation)
Site Imagineering
History of Gregor Clan in Scotland
Types of short story genres
Romance between Josef and Gregor, secondary characters
Drama;Sad tale of the scottish tailor
Legal drama of the fraud charges in the English court
Action/Adventure:The taking of Amelia Island. Colonist's voyage across the Atlantic, The arrival to the land of dreams.
Comedic tale of the two American hermits.
Website's persona: Is the website part of the story? Who is the webmaster or person creating the site, are they a part of the story?
Sci-Fic: Is there a parallel universe?
(need to develop more questions for each genre)
Process site of site
About- creator of site and about the site
Timeline- timeline of historical events/MacGregor's life
Research-methods, links
Voyages of ships-research on the ships, passenger manifest(future project)
Forum:Discuss questions, how to participate in website
Profiles:MacGregor, his wifes,
Product(content) site of site
Bank: explain the history of the british pound, economics of time
Opera House-the types of plays, music and poetry of time
Cathedral-religious unrest
Library-books used/recommend, links to Amazon/BN/Alibris reviews, Books on Scribed, Googlebooks etc
Academy-education and tutorial links (Poyais Polytech-ie.how to use facebook, what's a RSS Feed)
Journal-
Lady Ann's Love Letters-Poems and letters submitted by online users
Diary-After the arrival on Poyas, a character keeps a diary (online user content)
Parliament-The government of Poyais
Gazette-Blog style daily postings
Captains Log-Log style journal of the Atlantic Crossing-written by fiction subcharacter
Novellas-the short Stories
Keywords in my web searching
Interactive short stories
Interactive novels
Interactive fiction
gaming
role-playing (as in gaming)
Gregor MacGregor
Poyais
Regency England