Tamia's Tardy Tale for '10: Bold as Brass (MO)

[Stephanie (swordlilly)]

Looks like I'm not the only one struggling with a not-quite-there wordcount at this point. :3

*offers support*

[Tam]

*much love to Azzie and Rikku* <333

*tries very hard not to let it get to her head*

Nov 27, 2010 20:21:10 GMT -5 Stephanie (swordlilly) said:

Looks like I'm not the only one struggling with a not-quite-there wordcount at this point. :3

*offers support*

You most certainly are not. xD And you know what? I think we can do it. I think we will do it. Because we're thirty thousand words in. I mean, 20K is just another twenty one-thousands. And one-thousands are easy. Besides, our stories are worth a few measly days of sleep deprivation.

Best of luck to you as well, Yoyote. <3

[Kathleen]

Of course I want to read it! =D I've wanted to read it since the moment I saw your thread, which is interesting, considering I didn't even know what your story was. But I knew I wanted to read it. =D

And, and, you can do it! Everyone can do it. =D

[Tam]

Nov 28, 2010 1:35:41 GMT -5 Kathleen said:

Of course I want to read it! =D I've wanted to read it since the moment I saw your thread, which is interesting, considering I didn't even know what your story was. But I knew I wanted to read it. =D

And, and, you can do it! Everyone can do it. =D

...Really? =D *touched* I mean, can't say that you'll necessarily be impressed by it, but at least you might hopefully be amused for a while or something! Maybe!

...Thanks! =D

Goal: 35K before I go to bed. Can I do it? Let's see.

And hey, have an excerpt. As a warning, though, it might contain a few spoilers in so far as "Ooh, he/she's not dead yet!" which might actually be rather significant spoilers given the events of my NaNo thus far.

And also, it's not particularly funny.

SPOILER: Click to show

Sam sighed. "Well, my friends," he said, slapping his thighs, "that's just it, isn't it. I don't see there being anything we can do about it."

Silence. The rest of the group stared at him.

Then, hesitantly, Shayne said, "You're saying... we're going to do nothing?"

"Nothing we haven't always done."

"Well, that's downright uninspirational," said Gilles dully.

"But... Sam, he's the prince," implored Shayne. "He's got an army. And spies, and assassins, and money! If he wants you dead, then he's got all the power in the whole world to make it happen."

"In that case, I fail to see the point of trying to stop him."

"Well Sam," said Rowan, "you've come up with some really stupid ideas in the past, but I've gotta say, this one takes the cake."

"It ain't like you to give up, Sam," Maurice said. "I don't get it. What's the deal?"

"The deal?" Sam made a sudden noise of amusement, glancing around him. "The deal is, you folks have somehow got this idea in your heads that I'm runnin' some kind of crime ring here. Some band, a troop, whatever you want to call it. I'm not. We're not. We're just a bunch of poor beggars out in the woods. And you think I got any more answers than you do? You think I'm gonna magically come up with a way to storm the palace and kill the prince while he's brushing his teeth? Hell, maybe lead the rebellion to victory against the crown while I'm at it? You've started believing Gilles' songs over your own eyes if you do."

"Actually," said Gilles with a nervous titter, "I'd appreciate it if you left me out of this—"

"We ain't askin' you to save the world, Sam," snapped Rowan. "We're just askin' you to be serious about something other than gold for a few minutes."

"Gold!" Sam cried, spreading his arms. "You think it's all about gold? I don't know about the rest of you, but I spent my whole life getting kicked around and spat on by folk who thought it was their right. I watched everyone around me shrivel up and die before I finally figured out that I had to break away from all that, and you think it was for gold?" He laughed, a little madly, and Rowan growled. "The gold is so I can win a princess. This life is so I can be free, and I ain't gonna let some stuffed-up princeling ruin it!"

"There ain't gonna be a life left for him to ruin," said Maurice in an angry boom. "You're gonna have to face up to this threat sooner or later, son, and when it happens, I hope you have a plan."

"We can help you," added Shayne. "We want to help you! We look up to you, Sam, whether you want us to or not. You're a leader. We all knew it from the second we first showed up at your camp fire."

"Then you chose the wrong camp fire," retorted Sam.

"You arrogant..." said Rowan in a dangerously low voice. "We risked our lives getting you out of that city today, or have you already forgotten? For a while there I thought you'd be grateful. Thought maybe, given a miracle or two, you'd realise that we're all in this together! You aren't the only one in danger here! Look at what happened to Oswald! Look at Scarecrow!"

"What about them?" Sam demanded. "You think I wanted to see them hurt?"

"No, but you sure as hell wanted to see yourself as the number one thief in the Kingdom of Shining, and now that you've got your precious reputation, it's gonna get us all killed!"

"Alright, enough!" he barked, and they all froze. "Listen to me now, and listen very well. We've got food, and fire, and money, and for the time being, we're safe. I know that isn't good enough for some of you. But we have to keep living. Maurice, you got a family to support. Shayne, your mother's all on her own. You've got people depending on the gold you bring in. Instead of attacking me for being a thief, why don't you all take a second and remember what brought you here in the first place. We're going to find some gold tomorrow morning, and that's final."

"For someone who's not a leader, Sam," sneered Rowan, "you sure give a lot of orders."

"I may as well," said Sam, "no one listens to them anyway."

Rowan stood up suddenly. She shook her head in disgust as she looked down at Sam. "You want us all to commit suicide."

"Why not," he said acidly, "I apparently care so little abou—"

She hit him, hard. He fell backwards off the log he had been sitting on and landed heavily on his back, too stunned to be as properly angry as he knew he should be.

Rowan stood over him, fist still clenched. "I'm taking an extended leave from camp," she said, "sir. Starting tonight. Please, don't wait up for me." She stalked off to the tent, where their few unburnt belongings were being stored, and a few seconds later, she was gone.

Sam got to his feet. His jaw felt like it had been kicked by a horse, but he was determined not to show any sign of discomfort to the rest of the group. In fact, he didn't feel particularly like sharing anything at all with them at the moment. He cracked his neck, then left the camp in silence, heading for the trees in the exact opposite direction of the ones Rowan had disappeared through.

[Strife]

Woot, go Tamia! =D You can catch up!

What's cool about your NaNoing is that you seem to keep the story relatively consistent, whereas people like me have to resort to a lot of offtopic rambling in order to keep our wordcount up at a steady pace. xD; So I must give you kudos for that. And hey, once you reach that shiny 50k, it's all smooth sailing from there. ^_^ We could even help you polish the rough edges after the event if you wanna let us read it.

[Rikku]

... Something happened to Scarecrow? D:

I mean, um. Conflictargument scene, yay. <3

[Tam]

Strife - ^_^ Thanks! *hugs*

And yeah, I've been trying. xD That was actually my main goal this month — no resorting to crack and filler to get to 50K. I mean, I got 50K with relative ease last year, so I know I can achieve the word count — but I want to achieve a story this year.

...Mind you, there is a distinct possibility that I might have to start rambling sometime in the next two days just to get to 50K. *wants to go for the CreateSpace offer this year* I'm not letting myself do any babbling before tomorrow evening at the earliest, though. xD

And any input after November would be greatly appreciated! =D If you guys ask for the story, you'll be getting it in its mournfully unedited form, because if I say I'll only send it out after I've edited it myself, you guys will never see it at all. So, um, yes. Rough edges there will be aplenty.

Rikku - D: ...^_^;? =D? =)?

...D:.

And yes, conflictargument. *nods firmly* ...It says something about the kind of writing I usually do that this sort of scene is the one that comes most easily to me, doesn't it? But at least here, people get punched in the face. If this were a Keeyonstory, there'd just be angst. And punching people in the face is fun. At least as long as you're not the one getting punched in the face, anyway.

Today's goal: Write stuff. Write lots. Write now.

I'm at the point of the month when I've started erasing any lines of distinction that once existed between the spellings of homonyms (and yes, Sam and Vince our having a good time fighting they're little war). Interestingly enough, though, I've started spelling "thief" properly over the last few days, which is certainly new for me.

...Um. Oddly, my story is on track to wrap up fairly cleanly at about 50K? Rather bizarre, actually. I anticipate problems in the near future; this is going terrifyingly well. >.>

Edit: Oh yeah. And it's getting increasingly easy to tell that I've been writing dashing rogues for too long because I keep getting these vaguely criminal urges to steal shiny things whenever I see them, or else punch their owners in the face if I don't like the looks of them.

Sam, you are a bad influence.

[Tam]

12 000 left and less than two days to write it in. I can do it. I know I can.

So... why do I feel so miserable about my story right now?

[♥ Azzie]

*hugs* You can do it. And it will be wonderful!

[Muffin]

It'll be fine, Tamia =D You'll work it out and it'll be AWESOME. *hugs* Go for it!

[Rikku]

... You can do it, yes, obviously, but it's so much better to coast to the ending on a wave of glee than struggle on in grim determination. D: Um. Listen to Kingdom Dance s'more? Reread good pep talks? Anything to remind you that writing is brilliant and your story is brilliant in particular. Because it so very very is. And if you can't capture some squee-I-love-this-story, then sure, grim determination will work out fine. But it's a lot more fun if you actually want to. xD ... Either way. You can do it.

[Amneiger]

Uh...You're feeling miserable because you're worried about how it will turn out? Or worried about the possibility of not making it in time? Eh, whatever. You can still do it! =D _{Also follow Rikku's advice, that sounds good =D}

[Tam]

42K.

Azzie, Muffin, Rikku, Amnei, that number is thanks to you. xD I'm still not really sure what was getting to me yesterday afternoon, but I'd probably still be all mopey and despondent if I hadn't swung by and read these posts. I don't think I deserve you, but I want you to know that I appreciate you so much. <3 Thank you.

So that puts me at an 8K day today. Same as last year, except last year I didn't care and I also had a ton of essays that I ended up not-so-cleanly jamming in at the last minute. Things are a little different this year, mostly because I do care. xD But I will get there. There's no question.

[Shadaras]

=D 8k isn't too bad for a last-day run. That's awesome, that you've gotten so nearly caught up. ^_^ Good luck and have fun with the finale of NaNo, love. Your story is going to be awesome, caught up in this swirl of craziness. <3

[Tam]

11:17 pm. 43K words of story + 7K words of complete and utter shame = 50K words of NaNo.

Yay me.

...If you need me, I'll be over here, apologising to my characters over and over and over again for everything I've put them through in the last five hours.