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Post by Tam on Oct 4, 2009 15:42:45 GMT -5
Meddlesome shadowy government organizations for the win! =D *high-fives* I love your ideas for this story so far, Kath.
...We could totally combine my shrimp and your grilled cheese and create the best sandwich story the world has ever seen. xD
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Post by Rikku on Oct 4, 2009 18:41:32 GMT -5
^___^ Awesomecool.
I love Cree and Simon and Sam. <3 And the way even your description has a mix of ominous (ohno, creepy organisation!) and amusing (grilled cheese!) and interesting characters (Cree and Simon and Sam!) and ... yeah, this looks to be a mighty fine NaNo and I can't wait. =D
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Post by Kathleen on Oct 6, 2009 13:28:55 GMT -5
This sounds so awesome! I love that you even made the superpowered half of the team an unlikely hero. ^^ I have a fondness for those. Not half as awesome as yours sounds to me. =D Thank you! =3 I needed opposites. xD This sounds like a really cool story, Kathleen. ^_^ I think you're really on to something. Good luck! Thank you! ^_^ I just hope I won't fail to find a plot this year. Meddlesome shadowy government organizations for the win! =D *high-fives* I love your ideas for this story so far, Kath. ...We could totally combine my shrimp and your grilled cheese and create the best sandwich story the world has ever seen. xD =D I think we're just about equal then, since I adore your idea. <3 (And I totally need to go read your prologue - ugh for time-constraints.) A grilled-cheese-shrimp sandwich! =D .. actually, I'm alarmed that that's actually given me story ideas. >.< ^___^ Awesomecool. I love Cree and Simon and Sam. <3 And the way even your description has a mix of ominous (ohno, creepy organisation!) and amusing (grilled cheese!) and interesting characters (Cree and Simon and Sam!) and ... yeah, this looks to be a mighty fine NaNo and I can't wait. =D =DD *basks in Rikku-appreciation* I'm hoping it ends up better than last year's. All I ask for is a plot. =D |
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Post by Rikku on Oct 6, 2009 14:21:42 GMT -5
At least you had plot last year! It just ... wasn't the plot you thought you had. xD Which, personally, is something I always find fun - when the story tells you in no uncertain times that no, it's actually about overarching societal issues and saving the world, not about a bunch of wise-cracking monkeys with strange hairstyles.
Though I'm kind of hoping for one of those newfangled 'plot' things as well, this year. =D
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Post by Zylaa on Oct 8, 2009 11:07:42 GMT -5
Your plot sounds incredibly awesome! I love the characters. They're all well thought out and defying stereotypes. =D
So basically I can't wait to read this. <3
Also, grilled cheese and shrimp would be EPIC. Depending on the kind of cheese.
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Post by Kathleen on Oct 14, 2009 0:00:55 GMT -5
At least you had plot last year! It just ... wasn't the plot you thought you had. xD Which, personally, is something I always find fun - when the story tells you in no uncertain times that no, it's actually about overarching societal issues and saving the world, not about a bunch of wise-cracking monkeys with strange hairstyles. Though I'm kind of hoping for one of those newfangled 'plot' things as well, this year. =D Plots, plots. Funny thing, it always seems to go the opposite way for me - that is, rather than being about overarching societal issues and saving the world, it is about a bunch of wise-cracking monkeys with strange hairstyles. >.>; I hear they're being mass-produced now. =D Your plot sounds incredibly awesome! I love the characters. They're all well thought out and defying stereotypes. =D So basically I can't wait to read this. <3 Also, grilled cheese and shrimp would be EPIC. Depending on the kind of cheese. Thank you! =D I truly hope it'll live up to all these great expectations. xD Mmm. Grilled cheese and shrimp. <3 |
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Post by Kathleen on Oct 14, 2009 0:04:09 GMT -5
So I realized, I'm going to be telling the story from Cree's point of view (that's the plan, anyway), but Simon is nonetheless very important, and he never actually gets a say. Which is sad, because he's a very awesome character. D= *WARNING: biased opinion here* In order to get into his head, I've devised a little bit of Simon-say, conveniently set a bit before the story actually begins, so it totally counts as a character development exercise. 'Ware bad writing.
Wednesday was the day I first realized something was seriously wrong.
It was three pm, just after school let out, and here I was, pressed up against the side alley a block from school, surrounded by the Gang, all looking mean and scrounging up close, sneering at me. For my part, I was clutching my backpack, back pressed against the wall, trying not to shake with fear, gritting my teeth and cursing the world for dealing me the hand that perpetually sucked.
There was no rhyme or reason why the Gang should choose me. Maybe in the 1940s it would have mattered that I didn’t have a dad; but this was the twenty-bloody-first century. My glasses might have been an issue, but they weren’t even weird; I’d made sure of that with backbreaking weekends of lawn-mowing. I wasn’t stupid—I knew I was the classic nerd, always the wrong clothes, the wrong words, the wrong look, the wrong attitude, but I didn’t antagonize anyone; mostly I kept my head down and got good grades, but not sparkling enough to draw attention to myself. I just wanted to be left alone until I could get out of this hellhole. Apparently, though, it wasn’t to be. I wondered if I just gave off some kind of scent, a homing device that screamed Look at me! Pick on me!
“So, Longshanks,” Gary sneered, leaning in so close I could make out the individual grooves in his face as he twisted it up. Next to him, Kevin and Lump—I swore he had a name, but I’d called him Lump for so long it just wouldn’t come to mind in my current predicament—bounced back on their heels, their faces ridiculously eager. “Thought you could sneak away, huh? Thought you could get away without me noticing?”
You noticing what? I thought despairingly, hugging my backpack closer to my chest, wondering if it might be some protection against the blows I knew would be coming. It wouldn’t be much—duh, Gary Fancypants wouldn’t want to dirty his hands, and even though this was the dump part of town, he’d never risk someone hearing and coming to investigate—but as always, even the thought of slight pain made me nauseous, and I had to swallow quickly.
“You think you’re so good, Simon,” he sneered my name like it was a dirty word, “but the truth is, you’re no better than the rest of us. In fact, I think you’re worse. I think you’re scum.”
Please just let them be quick, I was praying. Let them be quick so I can get home to Niamh before Mom leaves because she is so little and Mom will leave her rather than be late for work if she’s mad enough which she might be and Niamh isn’t even two yet she can’t be home by herself she’ll strangle herself on the crib or something it’ll be all my fault…
“I said you’re scum!” I lurched back, stunned out of my thoughts as a blow hit the side of my face, snapping my glasses halfway off. I staggered to one side, and Kevin leaned in to pummel me. My backpack took most of the hit for that, but Gary was advancing again, and I couldn’t see, half-blinded through my skewed glasses.
I raised my free hand, trying to protect my face, and someone’s hand came at me, and instinctively I lashed out, beating it away. A cry of pain brought me up short, and suddenly they were gone; I was hunched over, alone, and when I scrambled to put my glasses back in place, looking frantically for what had saved me, I noticed Gary several feet away, clutching his hand and howling. Keven and Lump were standing there, looking panicked and fluttering their hands uselessly. A cold kind of fear seized me, and I grabbed my backpack and took off, leaving the three guys there, running in the opposite direction as fast as I possibly could. As I passed, I could see some heads turn inside shop windows, a few people pausing to wonder what the screams were.
I didn’t stop running till I’d rounded Redvine and was heading up a smaller side-street, where abandoned and dilapidated old houses sagged on empty dirt lots, and sleek cars drove slowly, their drivers craning their necks, trying to spot their destinations. Through the tinted glass, I could see looks of revulsion and pity as they surveyed this neighborhood, where most people couldn’t even afford ancient gasoline-run cars, much less their solar-powered cousins.
I realized my foot was throbbing in pain, and I slowed my pace, limping along, my backpack slung over one aching shoulder. My cheek smarted where Gary had slapped me, and I knew there’d be a nasty bruise there in the morning. As my breathing slowed, gradually returning to normal, I looked up in time to see the barren front yard of the house I’d lived in for all of my sixteen years. I hastened up the driveway as fast as my injured foot would allow, finding the peeling brown door unlocked, as usual. Mom never locked it, despite the neighborhood’s crime rate. I only prayed that Mrs. Norton kept her door locked during the day when she watched Niamh so Mom could sleep in preparation for her night shift.
Mom came at me like a whirlwind as soon as I stepped into the house, darkened and smelling musty since the pipe started to leak under the kitchen sink. She was already in her waitressing clothes, her hair, still thick and dark, piled under her hairnet, and she glared at me, shooing me away from the doorway.
“Niamh’s in her crib; her bottle’s in the fridge. Eat whatever you want,” she snapped at me, each sentence coming out terse as she zipped up her cracking black vinyl boots, relics from the thriftshop.
I stood to one side, watching her in vague astonishment, as always unable to reconcile my memories of Mama with this hurried, snappish woman.
“I’ll be home around one.” She paused with the door open, purse in hand, and looked at me for a couple seconds, as if trying to remember something she’d forgotten. Her forehead puckered into a little v. Finally she said, “Make sure you get your homework done,” and then she was gone, the door slamming in her wake, stirring up little puffs of dust from the floor that hadn’t been swept since I’d gotten to it two weeks ago.
I brought my backpack to my room, and then immediately hurried into Mom’s bedroom. It was dark, like the rest of the house, because obviously Mom hadn’t bothered to open the blinds when she got up. Niamh was lying on her back in her crib; she smiled her adorable dimpled smile at me, and I felt my own face break into a smile in response.
“Hey, baby sister. How was your day?” I asked softly, reaching down to scoop her up. She kicked her chubby little legs as I transported her through the air, and then reached up to grab a handful of my hair as I cradled her to my chest. She yanked hard, gurgling in happiness, and I felt my eyes water. I blinked it away, wincing and trying to disentangle her hot little fingers.
“How was Mrs. Norton? Did you play, Niamh?”
She laughed her baby-laugh in my ear, and I felt the familiar warmth spread into my chest as I went to the kitchen in search of her bottle. As I stood watching it rotate slowly in the microwave, I finally allowed myself to consider what had happened back there with the Gang; what I had done.
I’d read that the human body can do great things when forced to; when under a ton of strain with adrenaline. But I didn’t think I’d had a lot of adrenaline, particularly. More nervous, resigned. And then, I hadn’t even used a lot of force. I’d always been pretty puny and weak, unable to lift even heavy stacks of books without dropping them on my own toes. So why had my one flailing blow caused Gary, the biggest guy in school, so much distress?
Niamh distracted me by wailing unhappily, lurching forward in my arms, and I was startled out of my reverie to find the microwave had stopped. I leaned forward to retrieve the bottle for my little sister. As I settled into my familiar routine of feeding Niamh, watching her darling, delicate little face, I had to admit one thing: Something was definitely weird here. Something very weird. And I’d better figure out what it was, fast.
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Post by Rikku on Oct 14, 2009 2:25:01 GMT -5
If you write that well during actual NaNo, you'll hardly even need to edit. x3
Simon is interesting. You write ... peopleish sort of people. Lots of realistic little touches in your description. 's fantastic. <3
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Post by Kathleen on Oct 23, 2009 19:30:34 GMT -5
If you write that well during actual NaNo, you'll hardly even need to edit. x3 Simon is interesting. You write ... peopleish sort of people. Lots of realistic little touches in your description. 's fantastic. <3 *blinks in bemused astonishment while trying to decide if she's being complimented* Um, thank you. =D I do try to write peoplish sort of people. <3 They're more, you know, people that way. =D *brick'd* On another note, I am actually, well, really excited about NaNo this year. =D I mean, I sat down and wrote out a whole plotline. And not just some nebulous thing, either. Like, a detailed sequence of events. So I don't get lost in things like potato fields. Or take sidetrips to the zoo. Or end like I did last year. .. even if the plot is awfully cliche and includes lots of heroics, rude comments by jealous people, and epic battles. Actually, none of the last one. I don't write battles. >.>; Also, I added s'more characters, for variety. ;3 Because I have a tendency to amusedly make the world revolve around two characters and then it's kind of like bubble!story and um yeah.. |
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Post by Rikku on Oct 23, 2009 22:21:24 GMT -5
Sharing that excitement here. =D *is so totally psyched!*
What, no battles? My entire (admittedly vague) plot, so far as I can tell, consists of, 'Okay, walk around a bit, get attacked by some army or other, walk more, get Seren drunk, give Seren a hangover, get attacked by lightning wolves ...'
Seeing a superhero-style story without any battles should be interestin'. =D
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Post by Zylaa on Oct 25, 2009 20:46:31 GMT -5
=D I don't know why I haven't posted this sooner, but great excerpt! And yeah, seeing a superhero story without battles should be quite interesting. ^___^ Yay excitement!
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Post by ♥ Lulu on Oct 26, 2009 18:38:22 GMT -5
You know I'm hella excited for this :3 I hope you put up excerpts as you go/let me read it afterwards? Because it sounds so interesting, and I admit that I am a bit curious to see how Lulu is written XD
I loved this little Simon write-up - especially Niamh <3 I love that name, and she seems so adorable (but maybe I'm just a sucker for gurgling masses XD). There was one semi-colon that bugged me, but, yanno, this is pre-NaNo, and like Rikku said; if you write like this during NaNo, you shall have noooo problem at all with not bothering to edit most of the time.
Also;
XDDD I love you <3 *amused*
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Post by Kathleen on Oct 29, 2009 19:29:40 GMT -5
=D I don't know why I haven't posted this sooner, but great excerpt! And yeah, seeing a superhero story without battles should be quite interesting. ^___^ Yay excitement! Yay thank you. =D I may have exaggerated slightly about the battles thing. >.>; I mean, there just aren't those big, epic Lord-of-the-Rings type ones. xD You know I'm hella excited for this :3 I hope you put up excerpts as you go/let me read it afterwards? Because it sounds so interesting, and I admit that I am a bit curious to see how Lulu is written XD I loved this little Simon write-up - especially Niamh <3 I love that name, and she seems so adorable (but maybe I'm just a sucker for gurgling masses XD). There was one semi-colon that bugged me, but, yanno, this is pre-NaNo, and like Rikku said; if you write like this during NaNo, you shall have noooo problem at all with not bothering to edit most of the time. Also; XDDD I love you <3 *amused* Eeeeee. =D NaNo thread stalker love. <3 I won't post the whole thing (only those excerpts to feed my ego and keep me going), but yes, you can read it afterwards if you'd like. ;3 Thank you, thank you. It was just a quick write-and-don't-edit exercise. =D I feel almost bad for giving one of my favourite names of all times to a baby. Who has no real role in this story. xD There will be lots of nebulous things in this novel. Oh, yes. <3 |
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Post by Kathleen on Oct 31, 2009 19:00:43 GMT -5
Tomorrow. I'm seriously so excited I can hardly wait. I've been dying to write this since I came up with the concept; I've had to restrain myself pretty much the whole of October, and resist the urge to write down scenes that pop into my head. =D
I'm going and make pumpkin cookies to sustain me through tomorrow. <3 Since the chocolate supplies are dangerously low. D= And then I shall organise my homework so that I can spend most of my time writing. =D
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Post by Kathleen on Nov 1, 2009 13:02:47 GMT -5
Well. I restrained myself from writing this morning until I'd fully completed my homework. And I've been going at a good clip, I think. ^_^ Thirty minutes and a little over 800 words.
I knew the beginning was going to be difficult, because I had no idea where to start, and I was still undecided yesterday whether I should write in first or third person. Heck, I'm still undecided. xD But anyway. I think it's really crappy, so I'm going to have to rewrite the beginning. Possibly not dive right in. But hang on; I'm not supposed to be talking editing yet. >.>;
Anyway. =D Whoot. Off to write more.
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