Theda Bara is the Story

I'm in the middle of revisions for a short story. This story has reminded me why I love writing. I don't always love writing. I always love having written. But putting together the puzzle of the plot and creating a believable and interesting character arc can be frustrating and, at least for me, it takes a lot of mental, and storytelling stamina.
During this quarantine, I don't have any more free time to write than I did before, but what I do have is less stress, less logistical planning and rushing around to do and more help with the cooking and cleaning. This has freed my mind to be more creative, to work out the story in my head and to let ideas percolate with less distraction.
One of the reasons I love this story is that I love the characters (most I have made up, one I have not) and I love the research.
Also, I've gone back to my roots with this story. I always loved historical fiction; it was the first genre of chapter books I remember reading as a kid. I always loved silent and black and white films and the old actors and actresses. And of course, my major in college was history.
My main character is a teenage girl named Miriam. She is the youngest of three sisters and finds herself somewhat outside the circle of closeness the other two sisters and their mother have.
The secondary character is Theda Bara, a silent film actress who played femme fatale roles but was quite the opposite of this persona in real life.

The story revolves around a "vamp beauty pageant" being held in a small town in Kansas that Theda herself is judging.
The story explores themes of familial love, belonging and promises made.

You might recognize her as the face on the Lumineers album from 2016