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Post by PFA on Oct 3, 2011 11:30:39 GMT -5
Might as well! Link to last year's novel threadTitle: The Royal Train. Alternatively, Return to Andaria. Maybe that could be the subtitle? The Royal Train: Return to Andaria?
Genre: Fantasy/little bit steampunk
Synopsis: Either the latter half or the sequel of last year's novel. That said, it's, um... hard not to major spoilers! Let's see now...
After the death of the Andarian king, the young Piet and Elena discovered the Regius Sanguis, a magical train that connected their world to the mysterious world of Lilithia. Now our heroes must return home and stop the bond between the worlds from being forever severed. I'm thinking more and more I should write this like an actual sequel—just thought of a good split point and everything—though there's still a little bit of the first one I'd have to finish off, in that case. XD; Maybe I can just finish off the first one and lead into the sequel. Can't complain about extra words, right? |
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Post by Chao on Oct 4, 2011 10:48:08 GMT -5
Any word counts in November  But from what you wrote in the Novel info it sounds like a classic Sequel with enough plot to stand on its own, so I think you should treat it as a sequel. |
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Post by PFA on Oct 19, 2011 13:03:35 GMT -5
Was thinking of NaNo plot stuff last night and now I want to write it but it's still like two weeks away aaaaaaa In other news, it occurs to me I never uploaded this, and it seems especially relevant this year, so here's a quick sketch I did last year of Piet and Elena in what was supposed to be vaguely steampunkish outfits: |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2011 13:24:55 GMT -5
Yay outfits.  I like Elena's. In other news, come November, Piers and Piet will be confused again~ |
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Post by PFA on Nov 5, 2011 1:23:16 GMT -5
PLOWING RIGHT ALONG YEAH. Just a few more really awesome scenes and I'll be at the end! ...You know. Of the first novel. Because I'm splitting the second half into a sequel. I suspect at this rate it will have to somehow be squashed into 40,000 words. I hope I'm prepared? In other news, I keep having these random urges to draw specific scenes. Most of them being really spoilertastic ones that haven't even happened yet. XD; I may just have to sit down with a sketchbook and go nuts at some point, if I'm not too busy with all my other various endeavors. Though speaking of sketches, this may be somehow relevant.EDIT LIKE A DAY LATER: "write" and "draw" are different words, pfa you know it's nano when |
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Post by PFA on Nov 6, 2011 20:05:42 GMT -5
10,000 WORDS YEAH *confetti*
And now for my annual "every 10kth word" thing:
10k: accept
20k: a ((contain your excitement, please))
30k: Almost
40k: took
50k: you
"Accept a(n) almost took you"? Kind of sounds like an... attempted kidnapping or something I dunno. XD;
In other news, I'm finding myself debating whether I'll split off into a sequel like I said I would, if just because I feel like the end of this one is coming out a lot less like an end and a lot more like leading into the next part. XD; That and I'd have less than 40k words to squeeze a novel into by now, so... yeah. I dunno, we'll see.
I'll probably still go ahead and write it like a sequel, though, if just because the mandatory plot recap is a good excuse for extra words, and I may very well need them depending on how this next part goes. :B
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Post by PFA on Nov 11, 2011 0:19:47 GMT -5
Suddenly, the sound of an old, silver bell pealed loud and deep through the air. Elena and Thaniel both looked up, listening as the bell gave three sharp rings, indicating that they were soon to arrive at their destination. The two of them braced themselves, preparing to leave the train. This was their final stop, and it would not be long before their journey began.
Their surroundings began to fade away as the train pulled out of the rift it had been traveling through, into the land of Andaria. As they pulled into the lush green courtyard, it became quickly apparent that the train they were riding was foreign to the world they had just entered. While the train had come from a magical land of invention and imagination, the land of Andaria brought them back to a simpler era, one of kings and queens, of knights and squires. To Thaniel, it was like stepping into a storybook, into a world he had long read many stories of. But to Elena, it was home.
The train pulled to a stop, its whistle blowing as steam billowed into the air. The train stood in contrast to the lush, green surroundings of the royal courtyard, with its exterior colored a royal scarlet red. Along the side of the train was written the words of an ancient language, and the name of the train itself: Regius Sanguis. Just reposting the excerpt I put on my NaNo profile. It's kind of short, but it was the least context-requiring bit I could find. <_> (And even it has a couple spoilers if you look close, but) |
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Post by PFA on Nov 11, 2011 23:43:40 GMT -5
Hey look, a funny excerpt I can actually post! Also some info about the Regius Sanguis I don't think I ever officially posted before, even though this is technically a recap. Thaniel massaged his temples, pondering over the best way to go about saying this. "...You may be aware of the silver bell in the back of your royal courtyard. Well, that—"
"The bell that never rings?" Nathan asked, interrupting. "I've heard a lot of strange rumors about that bell. Are any of them true?"
Thaniel paused. "...Possibly? I'm afraid I don't know what these rumors you mention are."
"It is said that it will only ring at certain important events," Elena explained, for the benefit of all who were listening. "And that much is true. It holds a strong connection to the royal family—it rings whenever one is born into the royal family, or when one from the royal family passes on to the other side."
"Wait, really?" The instructor scratched his chin, slowly realizing the implications of this. "We just got word that Queen Lucillia passed on... does that mean the bell just rang?"
"Yes," Thaniel said with a nod. "It means exactly that."
"And... King Martus died a few months ago," Nathan realized, glancing at Elena. "Which is right around when you and Piet mysteriously disappeared."
Elena nodded back at him. "Yes, that's right."
"And you don't show up again until just now, after the queen died," the instructor added. "I'm assuming there's a connection somehow?"
"Yes. You see, while the bell rings only during these appointed times, its purpose is to mark the event of something far greater," Thaniel explained.
"Greater than the death of the king and queen?" Nathan questioned.
"Ye— er, possibly," Thaniel said, correcting himself before he said anything else incriminating against the royal family. He'd already gotten in trouble for that once today. "It marks the coming of something from Andaria's long-forgotten past. You see, there is this... er, vessel, called a train, that—"
"A 'train'? Does it have anything to do with combat?" the instructor asked, clueless.
"What do you mean a 'vessel'? Do you mean a ship?" Nathan wondered.
"No, no," Thaniel replied hastily. "It's more of a... well..."
"It's like a carriage," Elena told them simply, "except that it doesn't need to be drawn by horses or other animals."
"A carriage without horses?" The instructor raised an eyebrow. "How does that work?"
"The train is magical," was Elena's response. "So it runs off of magic. Right, Thaniel?"
Thaniel groaned, pressing his forehead against the wall. This was more complicated than he thought it would be. "No, Elena, it doesn't run off of magic. Not entirely, at any rate, but that really is too complicated to explain right now."
Elena tilted her head, confused. "But... it does rely on magic, doesn't it?"
"This specific train is highly magical, yes, but the train itself does not function on magic. But at any rate..." Thaniel promptly changed the subject, clearly not wanting to discuss the functionality of trains at that point in time. "...This train is known as the Regius Sanguis, which appears when, and only when, one of these unique circumstances comes about that allows the silver bell to ring. But when it does appear, it functions as the bridge between Andaria, and an alternate world that we know as the land of Lilithia." The instructor mentioned here is the squires' training instructor, BTW. He still doesn't have a name!  |
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Post by PFA on Nov 13, 2011 17:01:57 GMT -5
 When you have an image in your head of what a character looks like and are incapable of actually drawing it. XD; This is kind of close, though. There's also this if you're interested in wacky comics. :^D I will write for real now I promise. |
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Post by PFA on Nov 19, 2011 1:19:12 GMT -5
Only 20k words to go! I'm starting to wonder if I still won't make it to the end of this plot by 50k.  But I'm not devoting a third year to this thing, heck no. That'd be 1) way too long and 2) probably impossible to write properly based off the plot bits I have left. Squashing it into 20k words sounds way more likely than stretching it out to 50k. In other news, all of my landmark words so far are A words. This amuses me for some inexplicable reason. |
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Post by PFA on Nov 26, 2011 14:02:34 GMT -5
At 42k now. Guh, this story is dragging so slowly. <_> I'm thinking I'm going to have to do a major timeskip in the near future, probably condense this next part a lot. I can lengthen it out later, for now I'm just getting tired of feeling like I've written 30,000 words of almost nothing.
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Post by PFA on Nov 29, 2011 2:26:39 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm definitely not going to be done with this plot in the next two days. XD; How'd this story get to be so dang long? It's already taken two NaNos. (Of course, I kind of have been stalling a lot. >_> I imagine I'll be taking out a lot of repetitive filler later.)
At any rate, I'm thinking I'll just finish up this next scene and then summarize the rest of it for now to take up the last 3k words here. Knowing how long my summaries tend to be, I'm quite sure it'll fill it up. XD
And guh, sorry for like no excerpts, but they all require context I still consider spoiler. XD;; Um. I will have to find character descriptions or something to post later! There's at least two new minor characters. And like a billion guards. I think every other scene involves a random pair of guards, it's ridiculous.
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Post by PFA on Nov 30, 2011 13:15:47 GMT -5
FIFTY THOUSAND WORDS WHOOOOO  And I didn't even have to resort to filling it up with summary. (The next scene kind of wrote itself. XD) Which isn't to say I'm going to need to tack a bunch of summary on the end, but for now, finishing up this scene and getting to work on all that other stuff i need to work on oh gosh *rushes off to wrap up this scene, saying something about class in half an hour and a website anniversary in six days* |
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I like Elena's.
But I'm not devoting a third year to this thing, heck no. That'd be 1) way too long and 2) probably impossible to write properly based off the plot bits I have left. Squashing it into 20k words sounds way more likely than stretching it out to 50k.