Carrie's Nano Board- I Won, Now I'm Doing Another!

[Sq]

Carrie is uh-mayzing. <3

[Avery]

Yep, you read that title right. I'm doing another one. My goal isn't 50k, and I don't have much time to write next week, but I wanted to keep in on the festivities. <3 So I'm basically just gonna write a bit every day and maybe end up with a solid start to a story by the end of the month. Right now I have about 1,000 words. My plot below, written in teaser-form (and yes, half my ideas revolve around death this year, don't ask me why coz I honestly don't know xD):

SPOILER: Click to show

After attending the funeral of the town drunk, Kiera Laughlin decides people only care about you after you're dead.

The funeral, after all, is elaborate-- despite the fact that no one even knew the wino's name during his life, in death, he's been glorified. A fancy service; the church packed with mourners; dozens of speeches being made. Kiera figures that even if she died, she wouldn't warrant so much attention. It hardly seems fair.

Soon, the idea of her own funeral captivates Kiera, especially after the wino's death is the talk of the entire town. She's always been a nobody, and she figures if there's one way to grab attention, it's by dying. Of course, Kiera never actually meant to be in the car when it slammed into the propane tank; she'd been planning to jump out a few moments before. But her seat belt jams, and there's no time. In an effort to fake her own death, Kiera's died.

After her death, she arrives in Heaven, a little city of the dead not meant to be confused with the biblical version. This Heaven is a torn land in the middle of a civil war, a place of both good and evil. And who should be waiting for Kiera at Heaven's gates but the dead wino whose own death inadvertently sparked hers?

Soon, Kiera is drawn into a revolution in which neither side can die, troops bargain with souls, and those who don't fight are left to suffer in the crossfire.

Enter Broken Rainbow, a novel for young adults.

And then, my first chapter!

SPOILER: Click to show

Chapter One

There was a funeral on the south side of town today, and no one knew the name of the man in the casket. He’d been around for as long as anyone could remember, a fixture outside O’Caraghey’s Pub come closing, but through all that time, he’d never told anyone his name. After his death, the police had knocked around the city called Eden’s Prairie, rattling off the dead man’s description and asking if anyone knew him. Yes, most people replied, they did; but when it came down to it, and the helpful strangers were asked for his name, they drew blanks. Where the man lived, too, was a mystery-- no one had ever seen him walk into or out of a home. He was just the wino outside O’Caraghey’s, always willing to serenade a passerby for a nickel, incredibly sweet if not bombed out of his mind.

Still, the fact that nobody knew who he was didn’t stop the townspeople of Eden’s Prairie from arranging an elaborate funeral for the dead man once the police’s search for a relative or living heir yielded no results. The townsfolk liked to think of themselves as resourceful and mindful, so they bought a respectable funeral package and a grave plot at the local cemetery. Thus, the man who was ignored during life was suddenly glorified after death-- which, frankly, led the girl called Kiera Laughlin to decide that no one cared about you until you were dead.

Later on, Kiera would have liked to think that she’d gotten the idea to do herself in sometime more original than a funeral, but in the end, that was when the notion first crossed her mind. She was sitting in the back pew of the church with her mother and older sister, Eloise, as a man up front with apple-red cheeks prattled on about the dead wino. He admitted freely that he’d only known the man in passing, but he still talked about the decedent like he was a good old friend. Kiera mused then how odd people seemed to grow after death. In reality, the guy in the casket had been no other than a nomadic drunkard, but everyone seemed to forget that now; all their memories were sugar-coated.

“This funeral is a crock,” Kiera whispered over to her sister.

Her mother glared and shushed her. “Respect, please!”

Kiera sullenly turned away and stared down at her shiny black shoes, the ones she otherwise only wore to family parties and fancy occasions. She couldn’t believe she’d been dragged out of bed on a perfectly good Saturday morning to sit through a false sermon for a man no one had really known. Part of the her almost felt that the only reason there was such a show of the funeral was because no one really had known the dead guy, and now they felt guilty. If just some ordinary bloke had died, the only attendees of his service would have been family and friends-- not the entire population of Eden’s Prairie.

With a scowl on her face, Kiera glanced around the airy church, surveying the crowd. She recognized a handful of people from school and around her neighborhood, but the majority of the townspeople in the church were total strangers. Kiera figured if it had been her funeral and not the wino’s, not even half of the church would be filled, while as it was now, the building was packed to the brim.

“Do we have to stay for the burial?” Kiera asked, leaning back over to her mother.

“Yes, we have to stay for the burial,” her mother replied crisply. Charity Laughlin held up the fancy service program and began fanning her face with it, just like Kiera had always seen old southern bells do in the movies. After she seemed cooled off, the woman added, “That’s a ridiculous question, Kiera.”

Kiera just sighed and slouched down on the pew, barely listening as another man made his way to the front of the church and began recounting artificial memories of the dead drunkard. The words and testimonies blurred together soon, and distantly, Kiera’s mind wandered to what the speeches might be at her own funeral. Her mother would make one, probably, and so would her best friend, Evangeline; perhaps one of her teachers would also muster the nerve, even though Kiera had never been the best student in school. Then again, she remembered, people liked you a lot more once you were dead.

By the time the dead wino’s service was over, Kiera had concocted an entire imaginary funeral in her head. She knew it was twisted and she should probably be committed for dreaming it up in the first place, but there had been lots of time to waste, and given her surroundings, Kiera decided it was only natural. And really, there was no reason for her to doubt her sanity or judgement at that particular time-- her vision of her own funeral was just a fantasy.

It was only when Kiera began to take it seriously that she should have begun to worry.

[kittygirl]

Wait, do we get to find out if she's popular after she's dead? Did it work? *is intrigued by your summery.*

[Jason]

You finished your Nano? Oooohhhh can you add it as a expert...Or atleast PM it to me/anyone who wants to read it in multipul PMs?

[Avery]

Kitty- I figure that yes, I will reveal if her funeral is like she thought it would be. But I have an idea where because there's no skid marks, everyone thinks she committed suicide, so she's remembered as 'the girl who killed herself'. Which is really not what she wanted.

Jason - Sorry, I really don't want to share my other Nano yet. xD It's... pretty awful.

[Deleted]

AHHHH wow. I can't believe you finished! Actually, I can, but still, it's cool!!! Good job, Carrie!!!!

[Deleted]

Carrie, you are amazing. And that plot is so amazingly good that I am spppppeeeeechlessss.