Nick's Nanowrimo - FINISHED!

[Enn]

Probably won't finish this, what with coursework, law course yadda yadda yadda but I may as well try

I'm going to be writing two, possibly two and a half, short stories, as part of a much bigger collection of short stories in a volume (that's how I'm justifying it >__>)

It's less about writing a novel, more about writing 50000 words, for me. Getting a big chunk of storytelling done.

And so! The two main short story ideas I have involve murder, intrigue, an eyepatch-wearing journalist, a flying city, a Richard Branson-esque billionaire, drugs and chess.

^__^

I'm Nickeh88

[Enn]

I'm on 7344 words so far. About 1k ahead, an alright buffer, but I'll probably write more tonight so I can get a free day just to do coursework or something. :-3

So far in my story... things are going great! I'm having fun writing it, and things have worked out- in fact yesterday I was surprised to find that a bit of a lucky break made me able to write in a small twist even I didn't see coming :-O

My story starts with someone being mown down by a car, and his best friend, the main character, being informed by the police that they found drugs on the dead dude. Trying to find out who his friend really was Andrew starts to investigate, meeting Alicia, a girlfriend he never knew of.

Stood there, in a crimson-red evening dress that looked like something that should be in a ballroom and not a dirty hallway, was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Perfect lips, just as dark and vivid as her dress, and emerald eyes. The dress clung to a slim, elegant figure, leading down to her high heels. She wore nothing around her neck or wrists, and only a small purse was slung over her shoulder.

They've found Jason (dead dude's) room in ruins, chased down a suspect, and almost died at least once. Somehow the suspect set off a bomb, which led to a scene I had no idea was coming but I really enjoyed- main character, who has a fear of elevators, trapped inside one stuck between floors as the building around him burns. He only just makes it out alive:

He awoke to the sound of sirens. Hundreds of sirens, wailing all around his head, deafening and confusing him. He tried to open his eyes but everything remained dark. The back of his head felt damp, and reaching up to the wet patch he felt a long cut through his hair. He hoped, blindly fumbling his hand to the ground, that it wasn’t a deep wound.
The floor was cold steel that sent a shiver up his arm for more reasons than the temperature. Everything was coming back to him, and now he knew he was trapped in a pitch-black elevator he could feel his heart rate rising.
“Let me out of here!” he yelled, banging his fist on the nearest of the all-to-close walls and hoping it was the door. “What the hell’s going on?” The sound of sirens was his only response, but now he could smell something else- burning.
Andrew found himself coughing and stumbling backwards, as smoke wafted into his face. He must have been facing the door, but it hadn’t been such an advantage as he’d hoped. In fact now he was wheezing, leaning against one of the walls to stop himself falling back down- he felt light-headed and slightly drunk.
A cracking noise came from somewhere above his head, in the elevator shaft, followed by a screeching thud of metal on metal that echoed through the confined space. Swearing fiercely, panic seizing his body, the boy flung himself back at the doors and scrambled for some hold at the centre in sheer darkness. He found the line where the two metal doors met easily enough, but trying as hard as he could failed completely to make them even budge.

And now, after following a couple of clues, they're heading for the rugby field to talk to someone who was very, very angry with the suspect, who it turns out was a famous photographer at the university:

“Jason was looking for a photographer?”
“Indeed. He asked me to show him some of Paul’s work and was impressed as me. It’s bad luck them both dying, few people are as talented artistic connoisseurs as that boy must have been. You know, one time some charlatan came in and actually started screaming about how bad Paul was?”
“What? Who?” Alicia asked quickly. The lecturer leant himself against the doorframe, finger on his chin as he tried to remember.
“I believe… it was a boy called George. Big chap, lots of hair, very angry. Paul wasn’t around, and the fool wouldn’t reasonably discuss anything with me, and he just stormed off. Kicked over a bottle of paint on the way. I could show you the stain it left if you want. Nothing will get it out.”

So I'm enjoying it, yeah. My aim was to make this short story only about 20k words... probably will manage that, but wishful thinking is hoping it goes on for longer. Although I'm hoping I have an even better time writing the next story, it's one I've wanted to write a while.

[♥ Lulu]

Wow. Sounds good, Nick! Can't wait to read more (and you must post more snippets or I'll kill you XDD)!

You gotta let me read them when your done, right? XP

Oh, and this Alicia sounds gorgeous. <3 XD

[Enn]

Thanks Zylulu ^__^ *hugglehug*

A couple days ago I found out I was behind when I thought I was ahead, due to confusion from those annoying word count widgets x-D;; So I scurried and now I'm doing about the bare minimum of 1667 words a day, until the weekend at least when I'll probably have far more time.

I'm at 13.5k though ^__^ Which isn't bad. And this short story is being rounded off, although I may go and pop in a few more clues and stuff before I go onto the next one.

I have no idea if short stories that are going to be part of a big storyline, as in lots of books, counts as a novel for NaNoWriMo >__> Anyone able to help?

[Gav]

They should. A novel would be made up of chapters, anyway. So there really isn't much of a difference.

[Deleted]

Good luck Nickeeeeeh! I love the snippets you've posted...

[Enn]

gav said:

They should. A novel would be made up of chapters, anyway. So there really isn't much of a difference.

Here's hoping ^__^ It's still 50k of writing anyway so I don't care if it conforms or not x-D;;

LUFFLUFFLUFF YA CUB *tacklesnog*

[Deleted]

You popped into my NaNo thread for a bit, so I thought I'd pop into yours and... *bookmarked*

You write very, very well, Nick. I quite enjoyed those little quotes, and I do hope to be able to read more.

Compilations of short stories do count, I think, but since it ultimately comes down to a personal challenge to write the 50k words, it shouldn't matter if you're alright with it.

So, good luck, and have fun writing.

[Enn]

Thank you for the comments Writingwolf ^__^ They mean a lot!

Right, so I have Huggsy visiting for a few days so I've had to get ahead with my story, to make up for the awesome lost days... and I finished my first story, too, so that makes things easier. I ended the last short story with a little difficulty, I found it growing harder and harder to write as it came to a close, as I had to round things off, but in the end I did it and now I'm ploughing through the second story like nothing.

Originally the second story I was going to do was going to be aboard a flying town... I don't mean like fantasy magic flying, I mean real life, a multi-billion funds research into a huge plane with clear walls and a small town inside. It was going to be the story of a reporter's interview with him aboard this huge flying home for the incredibly rich and powerful. Now, though, I'm doing a different story, one I've wanted to do for ages, and it's great fun to write- a boy wakes up in the afterlife, an utterly empty purple field, but after a while finds a door, finds out he can skip between all the afterlifes, something mortals shouldn't be able to. *dramatic music here*

^__^ So yeah, that's great to write. I had a really long bus trip yesterday, as well as hanging out with the parents, and I still managed to get about 3k of it done.

[Enn]

It's over. x-D Thank god. It's 4am, and I've finished it, and I now go to bed exhausted only to get up in a little under 3 hours for work.

I've written two short stories, gotten working on a third; I've had days off, and furious days of 3k+ to catch up; I've had late nights; and now it's over.

Except now I want to write about 1k a day to keep my stories going. >__> darn.

[Deleted]

That's awesome, Nick! Congrats!

By the way, what name do you go by on NaNoWriMo.org?