“Good evening, Prince Detren.”
Oh no. How had he missed that Anaya was sitting almost directly across from him? “Good evening, Miss Morwen.”
“Please, just call me Anaya.”
Detren smiled, hoping she couldn’t see the sourness behind it. There was no way Continue reading “Small Talk – NaNoWriMo Excerpt Day #4”
Day #2:
Nissa reveled in the feel of the three dresses draped over her arm. They were heavy, but they felt glorious. They were smooth and lacy and beautiful… She knew she’d walk in and take the spotlight that evening. She grinned at the thought, gathering up the Continue reading “Castle Basement – NaNoWriMo Excerpt Days #2 & #3”
A summer evening breeze brushed through his hair and sounds still traveled in from the city. Hoofbeats on pavement, the calling-out of merchants, rowdy laughter from some nearby pubs. Detren took a seat on the gravel-accented rooftop and watched the city as the sun sank low on the horizon.
Before too long, the stars began to twinkle and the city lights came on, burning as if reflections of the starlight in a massive pool. Continue reading “Starry City – NaNoWriMo Excerpt Day #1”
I’m sure you’ve all heard by now about The Half-Elves somewhere along the way. In case you haven’t, it’s what I call my “first good story,” and it’s one that has stuck with me for years, but since writing the second draft I’ve had issues with. I’ve tried rewriting it, I’ve tried troubleshooting, and nothing will make it the way it was back then.
Well last night I went outside and did some writing in the tower of the playhouse in my backyard, because it was a nice night and I’ve been wanting to write outside some evening for a while now that it’s semi warm out. As I had hoped, it helped with my writing, and I actually ended up writing a short story about the characters from The Half-Elves.
I’ve repeatedly found myself wondering what sorts of adventures they went on in my absence, so I decided to try to find out, and I managed to get them acting like themselves, which is a feat I haven’t been able to accomplish in years.
Anyway, without further ado, here’s the short story that I wrote.
*****
Elk smiled as a bird flew right over his head. It was one of many, and one of few not singing.
Sunlight filtered through the trees and would for about fifteen minutes longer, throwing dappled patterns on the grass.
He breathed in the warm summery air and felt, for the first time in a while, free.
“We’re almost there,” Scarlet said from the front of the group.
It was just the original group this ride, him and his siblings, along with his now-wife Crimson and her twin sister Scarlet.
Well, not quite the original group, he amended. Leafman wasn’t here.
He tried to banish thoughts of his deceased brother and continued on through the forest.
The sound of their horses’ hooves against the forest floor was muffled and soft, and the most pervasive sound was trilling birdsong.
Elk was deep in thought when the group stopped, and he barely stopped his horse before it would have run into Saria’s.
He dismounted and looked around the area that Scarlet had picked for their campsite. It was a rather small clearing, but large enough for their two tents and a campfire.
“I like it,” Saria said, her gaze sweeping the place.
“Scarlet and I used to come here all the time as kids,” Crimson said with a soft smile. “It was us and Auburn, most of the time. After the epidemic we stopped coming.” She gave Saria a smile. “But now new young people can enjoy it.”
Scarlet glanced up at the sky, running a hand through her short red hair.
“The sun will be setting soon. The moon’s already up.”
She glanced at the others with a small mischievous smile that made Elk think of a pixie.
“I know just the place to watch it,” she said, ” so long as no one’s squeamish of heights.”
She didn’t wait for an answer before scampering up a nearby tree.
Elk turned to Crimson.
“Are you sure she’s not half monkey?”
Crimson laughed, her vibrant green eyes lighting up, and climbed up the tree after her sister.
Elk, Saria, and Sarabrina followed, tracing the twins’ path as well as they could and emerging from the upper leaves of the tree just in time to see the horizon a flaming rainbow of purples, oranges, and corals.
Sarabrina let out a long breath.
“It’s beautiful,” she murmured.
“Breathtaking every time,” Crimson agreed with a soft smile.
A breeze blew across the air, ruffling the leaves and shifting Elk’s hair, tickling his ears.
They watched in silence as the sun sank down below the horizon, the sky turned to navy blue velvet, and stars twinkled into sight. It made the sky look like a diamond-studded evening gown.
They climbed down one by one and Scarlet started a fire while Elk set up the tents.
Ten minutes later they were sitting around the campfire, chatting about all sorts of things. Fireflies danced around the camp and surrounding forest, and moths dashed toward the rising flames, darting away quickly before they got burned.
The logs snapped and crackles, mingling with the concert of crickets and spurts of laughter from the campers.
Elk glanced at Crimson. Her rich red hair was framing her face, and fireflies blinked behind her. A moth was dancing around her like a light, and when she smiled he was no longer surprised.
She caught him looking and smiled before looking away again, her gaze as elusive as a will-o’-the-wisp.
“Have I told you the story of my raid on the chief goblin’s tent in Itrea?” Scarlet asked.
“Only about fifteen times,” Saria said with a laugh.
“What about my first hunt in Ambar?”
“You’ve told that one about twenty times,” Sarabrina said.
“Okay, well-”
Saria cut her off.
“Did I tell you about the time Leafman put a jar of spiders on Sarabrina’s pillow?”
Sarabrina moaned.
“Oh please no…”
“She shrieked so loud.”
Everyone laughed except Sarabrina, who had her face in her hands.
“I hate spiders…” she said.
“Noted,” Scarlet said, a mischievous glint in her eye.
Sarabrina looked up and shot her a warning glare.
“Don’t you dare.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Scarlet said with a grin.
They talked until the fire had died down to embers, remembering good times and old friends, before retiring to their tents, and Elk fell asleep to Crimson’s rhythmic breathing and the chirp of crickets.
I know I just mentioned Camp in my March wrapup post, but I want to write about it again. :P
First of all, I’m 2k behind. I’ve been 2k behind for most of the month, actually, and telling myself I could make it up. I still haven’t made it up. And the past few days my motivation to write this particular story has gone down the drain. I still love the story, I love the idea and the characters and the relationships and everything about it… except the writing. I really wish it would just be done and write itself. I don’t think this has ever happened with a story of mine before. But yeah, I wish it would write itself.
I have still written on this story every day of the month (except the 16th and 18th), and I know I’ve written something every single day because I still have my 4thewords streak, but I can’t get into it. :P
Today I felt really motivated to write my dystopian story Disconnect, so I wrote 1800-ish on that, and I’m so unmotivated on HotB (I still wrote on that today, though) that I counted that 1800 toward my Camp word count. After much deliberation on whether or not I should or not. :P
Anyway, I’m still 2k behind with the Disconnect writing in there. *sighs* Perpetually 2k behind…
Here’s an excerpt from Disconnect, if you’re interested:
**********************************
Cassidy was shoved back into her cell and the guards took up their places by the door.
She looked through the bars at her neighbors. To her left was a mean-looking brute with tattoo-covered arms and a sneer. To her right was a woman only a few years younger than her.
“What are you here for?” Cassidy asked the woman.
The woman pushed her dark, yet vibrant, red hair out of her face.
“Communications with outside cities. You?”
“Same. What’s your name?”
“Hey!” one of the guards said. “No talking to each other!”
The woman rattled her chains and Cassidy recognized morse code.
Dair.
Cassidy tapped out her own name – Cass – and Dair nodded.
“Nice to meet you,” Dair said aloud.
“Hey! Shut up in there!”
Cassidy nodded to Dair, who had slid back into a corner of her cell and leaned her head back to rest against the cement wall.
“Could I have a hairtie?” Dair asked.
One of the guards sighed and left. In a moment he returned and handed a black hairtie to her through the bars.
“Thank you.”
She tied her hair up into a ponytail and leaned her head against the wall again.
Dair started tapping absently on her knee.
Military?
Cass tapped back.
Used to be.
Dair nodded and jabbed a thumb toward the guards.
Apparently those bozos never were.
Cassidy allowed herself a small smile.
You military?
No. Dad was.
What branch?
Infantry. Not much else these days.
True. I was navy.
Dair’s eyebrows raised.
Navy? Impressive. I’d nearly forgotten we had one of those.
Cass gave another small smile.
It’s small. My platoon disbanded.
Even smaller now, then.
Cass nodded.
“What’s going on in there?” one of the guards asked, noticing the motion.
Bozos, Dair tapped.
“Nothing,” she said aloud. “It’s not like we’re talking.”
The guard looked doubtful, but he returned to his post.
Dair rolled her eyes.
How do we get out of here? It was Cass who tapped.
Distraction. Steal the keys. Get out. Grab weapons.
When?
Dair inclined her head a bit.
Soon.
**********************************
Sorry it’s kind of long. :P Hope you liked it, though. :)