Deb, insent with quite a lot of links about family and chapel crypts. Some really good pictures in there, I think.

deb: this page has a picture of what looks to my untutored eye very much like a crypt that's now missing the roof; this page gives information about the crypts of St. Bride's church, London. Lots of places have crypts, but pictures are nearly impossible to find and descriptions on websites tend to go "dark, gloomly, scary, cramped, lead coffins, mummified remains, come and pay our entrance fee and see for yourself".

Quite a lot of stately homes have crypts, often though not always containing family members (the other favourite place in the crypt under the local church), mostly under the chapel in the castle or stately home itself, underground as the word implies, dark: what I've gathered from my web surf (and seeing some in churches) is steep steps down, then a room, basically square, with shelves around three walls, large enough to store a coffin on. They seem to normally be built to hold about nine coffins.

In a cathedral, of course, it's larger; but the design seems to be much the same.

This page has a picture of the vaulted Norman crypt at Warwick castle (scroll down a long way, or do ctrl+F "crypt"); this page has a picture of the crypt at the Tarbat Discovery Centre, which seems to be an early site in Scotland; and this page has plans of two Anglo-Saxon crypts in Bradford-Upon-Avon.

Not a lot, and most of it not very specific, but I hope that helps a little.

I love you guys.

And.....

AHA!

[link]

I'm thinking that the family will have its own private vault under St. Giles, the church in the story. After all, Purbury (mythical Hampshire village) is part of the Leight-Arnold family demesne. But I'm going to have a mausoleum, rather like the Wentworth one above, as well; the only family member buried there will be the "good" ghost, Lady Susanna, with the mausoleum erected in her memory by her grieving husband. Buried in unconsecrated ground on the property will be Andrew, the "bad" ghost.

So yes, absolutely, the crypt info for churches now becomes incredibly useful, and bless you both, Deena and Am.

But I'm really unreasonably cross that John Howard simply said, that? Oh, that's one of the follies. Why not tell us it was a mausoleum, damnit?

After all, Purbury (mythical Hampshire village) is part of the Leight-Arnold family demesne.

I read that as Puberty. Ah, yes, lovely Puberty-on-Growthspurt, where everybody has pimples and angst.

Off to pick up glasses now. Life will be much less entertaining, I fear.

Okay, I just got this email from my creative writing teacher, and I'm a little dumbfounded about it:

Wanted all of you know that there is one restriction when it comes to stories. No genre fiction, please. No horror, sci-fi, fantasy, children's lit and don't ask me why I have to say this, but no porn. That doesn't mean your stories can't utilize the fantastic, the horrible, the erotic. You just have to make sure, in the end, it's literary fiction. Good luck on your first drafts.

Considering that I live and breathe genre, this could be problematic.

Well, that's... odd and irritating. I suppose you can try to make a run at magical realism.

Considering that I live and breathe genre, this could be problematic.

Yeah, I've seen this before. Lord knows what state literature would be in if it applied to the real world.

"Yo! Bill! What's up with this play you wrote. All these fairies and elves, and that guy being given an ass's head. Sorry man, can't stage it. And what's this now? You're thinking about writing something about a wizard trapped on an island. Man, you're going nowhere in this town."

My instructor gave me the same restriction, Holli. I think they're afraid they're going to read 47 bad Crow-fics, but I could be wrong.He also told us not to write dog-death stories. So we read 10 "Oh, no, the rabbit died!" stories. It helped me keep my pill prescription current, anyway. I'm still in touch with him, sporadically. I should tell him about my new fics and watch him turn green. He will think I've gone to The Dark Side.

Holli, what in sweet hell does that mean? "Plainsong" is considered literary fiction. It's also genre. Why are the two things necessarily separated? Does this person want 43 Jane Austen ripoffs?

He will think I've gone to The Dark Side.

You have, girl. You so very much have. And it's our gain.

I suspect that any half-way decently written "genre story" will count as literary fiction so far as this teacher is concerned.