Writing Prompt #1 - What's in the Barn?

I found this very cool writing prompt website that I’m going to start using, both to generate blog posts and to continue flexing my writerly muscles. You can check it out for yourself here: Creative Writing Prompts

Prompt - Late at night you awake to find your wife/husband out of bed. Exploring the farmhouse, you find no lights on and the kids are still sound asleep. Past the fields, you see light shining out of the barn. When you walk out there and open the door, what do you find?

I’m expecting to see Francis sitting at his workbench, putting lacquer on the bookshelf or fixing the riding mower. But he’s nowhere to be found. Who turned the light on then?

I pull my robe around me tightly and take a few steps inside. “Honey? Are you in here?” No answer. But then I notice something shift at the back, behind a large curtain that covers an old mirror we’ve been meaning to restore for ages. “Hello?” I pause, getting the sense that I’m not the one in danger here. “It’s okay, you can come out.”

Holding my breath and waiting, I eventually see a small child emerge from the shadows. A girl, probably the same age as my little Myriam. Same dark hair and dark eyes as my daughter too, but the way her cheekbones stick out, the angles of her shoulders and elbows, the too-large dress draped over her thin frame... she clearly isn’t well.

My voice is barely a whisper as I try to coax her forward. “Hi, sweetheart. What are you doing in here?”

She looks past me with a scared expression. “He said he’d bring me a surprise.”

“Who said that?”

A low voice replies from behind me. “I did.” Francis walks past me and I can see relief in the girl’s eyes. He’s carrying a giant bag of candy, the kind that we keep hidden in basement cellar so that the kids can’t get their hands on them whenever they want. I silently watch as the girl creeps forward and sits on the floor of the barn with my husband, the two of them pouring through the bag of candy and selecting which ones they want. Kids always like Francis, mostly because he gives them exactly what they want. As he sits there wolfing down candy with her, my mind is whirring down a different course. This girl doesn’t look like any of the neighbouring kids, and whoever was caring for her wasn’t doing a well enough job. Where did she come from?

Without warning, the girl freezes with a look of panic on her face. “They’re coming for me.”

Francis gives me a brief look. “Don’t worry, we’re going to make sure you’re fi-“

A deafening boom echoes outside, like fighter jets are flying low and just broke the sound barrier. The girl screams, high-pitched and terrified. I try to grab both her and my husband at the same time but a blinding flash suddenly illuminates everything. I fumble, my fingers graze someone’s sleeve but I’m not sure whose, and I trip forward and land on the soft hay floor. The roar continues to split my head, making it impossible to speak over the noise, but then I feel the girl’s small hand on my shoulder. I feel a strange tug in the air, like a wave of pressure is pulling me towards some mysterious centre. I want to ask what’s going on, my eyes are beginning to recover from the flash of light. But the most I can do is turn back to look at Francis, who is sitting behind me with a handful of my bathrobe held tight in his fist. Then there’s a second wave, stronger than the first, and pricks of darkness crowd my vision. I’m falling, passing out, and I can only hope that I will wake up soon.

Blog Topic #88 - Shaking Things Up

It’s no secret that part of my identity includes the term “writer”. I’ve been writing one way or another (diary, fiction, etc.) since I was around thirteen years old. I’ve got a prolific fanfic resumé, I’ve been blogging for years, and I’ve got this dream of writing my own novel as well.

But in the last couple years, that dream stalled. It started first with a fall-out with fandom; without a new TV show or movie for me to be passionate over, my inspiration dried up. Then, I noticed that it was getting harder and harder for me to remember my dreams when I woke up, another one of my methods of inspiration gone. In addition to my usual sources of inspiration disappearing, there were other factors that made writing difficult. On the “there’s not enough time” front, I bought a house and found myself in a long term relationship, both things that I like to devote care and attention to (therefore diverting attention away from my writing aspirations). Finally, I started a job that requires that I sit in front of the computer a lot, and now that I’m a little older the last thing I want to do when I come home is more sitting in front of the computer, my shoulders and back can’t handle it.

So there are reasons. But reasons can also be excuses. I still want to write a novel, but it’s hard when your creativity is in a rut. Thankfully I found this article (on my favourite inspirational website Tiny Buddha): 8 Ways We Block Our Creativity And Keep Ourselves Stuck. I’m totally a victim of every single one of those pitfalls, the worst being that writing my novel stopped being about a personal accomplishment and more about its potential marketability. So I thought: “Self, forget about seeing your novel in Chapters and Indigo, forget about publishing and getting an agent... this is about creating something that makes you proud.”

Exactly a week later, I met up with a high school friend of mine that I hadn’t seen in some time and she was bubbling with excitement I hadn’t seen in her for some time. She had recently seen a musical that was inspiring her to try her own hand at writing a three-part tragicomedy script/play. I told her about my own lack of inspiration over the last couple years and my recent epiphany. And she said, “maybe there’s a reason we’re meeting at this moment in time!” I don’t believe in karma or synchronicity but it was still awesome to talk to someone on the same wavelength, who encourages you to follow your passions.

So that’s how I’m shaking things up. This Friday is going to be devoted to sitting in bed with my laptop and getting back in the groove of things. :D

Blog Topic #84 - Downtime (What I Do Offline to Recharge)

I spend a lot of time online. More than I probably should. And I think it’s gotten worse since I got a smartphone. :P Thankfully, I have a number of offline pursuits to distract me from the shiny lure of the internets. So what do I do in my downtime?

1. I crochet – nothing completely clears my mind like crochet does! Your eyes and brain are completed focused on the yarn and stitches, and you have to watch what you’re doing (unlike knitting). And there’s nothing like watching a pattern come to life and take shape. The only downfall is that if you continue crocheting for too long, your shoulders and neck will not be pleased with you. :P My mom taught me the basics and the rest is I picked up from YouTube.


2. I scrapbook – I really had no intention of getting into scrapbooking because I know how involved and expensive it can be, but I got one of those Mambi kits as a gift and it all took off from there. It’s basically the real life equivalent of making your own desktop wallpaper in Photoshop, which is another pastime of mine coincidently. So I took to it quite well. I love all the fun stickers, picking out photos and laying them out with borders and matting . It’s nice to spend time documenting memories and the people in your life!


3. I watch TV – the offline pastime of kings and queens! I used to be the kind of person who was religiously dedicated to prime time dramas such as Lost, House, Bones, CSI, etc. but I find that I don’t have the patience for such things anymore. I prefer unplugging my brain with a lot of HGTV or something with Gail Vaz-Oxlade on Slice. It's not like there's a plot line to keep track of, plus it's usually educational!


4. I journal – like, in an actual journal, omg. It might not be as quick as typing (and sometimes my hand cramps up, hah) but every now and then it’s nice to meander with your thoughts and document things low-tech style. Old habits die hard; I've been journalling since I was probably 12 years old. Besides, I like the way my handwriting looks! Plus, journalling is extra fun if you're doing it in one of those fancy gilded leather dealies from Indigo. ;)


5. I paint my nails - I've become somewhat obsessed with nail polish over the last couple years and have amassed quite the embarrassing collection (embarrassing only because HOLY CRAP that's a lot of money spent on what is essentially crap haha). It's a great way to kill a couple hours and be creative at the same time. They may be tiny, but even a tiny canvas has limitless potential!


6. I dance - nothing like cranking up the tunes and grooving around the apartment when no one's watching, it's the ultimate stress release. It's fun, it burns calories, it lets me practice my pipes... what's not to like?? :D

What about you guys? When you're not staring at a screen, how do you spend your time?

Blog Topic #25 - Books I Want to Write

I have so many ideas for this topic because apparently one of my favourite past-times is starting novels I have no intention of finishing, lolsob.

1. This one is the shining jewel of my ideas. So you know the story of Rani Padmini and the sacking of Chitoor? What if there was one young noble-woman who couldn’t go through with the mass immolation and escapes instead? And she seeks asylum at a brahmin’s ashram, where she learns that he is secretly training a new generation of Rajput soldiers to fight against the invading Mughals. She starts to fall for one of the dashing young soldiers and ends up taking on the role of spy and infiltrating the Shah’s court by being his Begum’s maid. And then her she sneaks her paramour in to help him murder the Shah but they’re both CAUGHT and EXECUTED, THE END. God I love this story haha. Too bad I’m bogged down by historical accuracy, or lack thereof.
2. My second favourite idea is this epic eastern-fantasy type novel. It’s the story of a man who’s cursed to slowly turn into a demon, but really it’s about a girl who used to be the court dancer of the gods and was cursed to live in the body of a hawk. Together, they traverse the kingdom searching for a cure, all the while outsmarting suckers, battling with their inner darkness, and possibly falling in love as well. But just as their quest comes to an end, the girl turns evil and tries to usurp the power of the gods, but the man stops her, but it’s too late, they’re both thrown into an inter-dimensional wormhole. They pop out on the other side and end up in OUR WORLD, and then have to struggle with their new reality and FIND EACH OTHER. Another really awesome story that got bogged down by logistics, because I started thinking things like “is this racist against Persians?!” Sigh.
3. Oooh, this one's pretty cool. So imagine an alternate universe, medieval-esque Spain where magic and potions and sorcery are an everyday occurrence. There's this poor orphan girl who's going to magic school but she's kind of weak sauce power-wise but very creative and a good problem solver. One day her and a friend are fooling around with a book they find and cast a spell that somehow creates a portal. They walk through it and on the other side they find... a frazzled university physicist (in OUR world) who at the same time just happened to be smashing atomic particles. Didn't really know where the story went from there aside from the government and politicians and dastardly villains trying to take over the other universe in a grab for power, and it's up for the plucky main characters to stop them!
4. This one started out as fanfic and morphed into something else completely. Again in a fantasy world, a young warrior is out hunting when he comes across a woman passed out by the river. She doesn't look anything like his tribes-people but he takes her back to his primitive village and nurses her back to health. She doesn't know anything about their world and has lost her own memory as well, but long story short they bond and fall in love. Years pass and she's basically one of them until one day she's like "EVERYONE FLEE NOW *UNINTELLIGIBLE LANGUAGE*" and then giant mecha spiders descend upon the village and kidnap a bunch of people and it's up to our young strapping warrior to rescue his woman and find out what the ever loving hell is going on. (Hint: advanced secretive society that likes to build giant mechanized spiders and wants to take over the rest of the primitive world.)
5. At some point I conceived a stream-of-consciousness type novel that was loosely based on my own life but mostly inspired by JPod by Douglas Coupland. Think young woman working at a terrible tech support firm with the best bunch of pot-smoking, car-stealing, shenanigan-having friends a mid-twenties woman could ever have. But I'm not even a fan of books with no plot, so writing it was more an exercise in narcissism than anything else. ;)
   

Progress And Such

Since the last word count bar I tried failed so badly, here's another:

26716 / 200,000 words. 13% done!

Much better. I have cracked 25,000 which is a great milestone. Here's an excerpt from my latest idea.

As soon as the sun sank beneath the horizon, I was back in action. Hidden underneath layers of straw was a small knife that I could barely grasp in my talons. If I could have used my beak to hold it, I would have. But my bastard owner had decided to bind my mouth shut as punishment for biting him earlier. And so I was left with no choice but to use my wretched claws instead. The knife was horribly dull, barely putting a dent into the bars of my cage. I pushed harder with the knife, metal noisily screeching against metal. Noise was the last thing I wanted; Qadir would bind my feet and clip my wings if he found me trying to escape like this. So I eased up on the pressure, slowly dragging the knife back and forth across the bar, praying to see some kind of chink in my prison. The light slowly faded, giving way to a dark night. Shadows were creeping across the vast treasure room when I realized that the knife was doing absolutely nothing. With a frustrated (but muffled) squawk, I tossed it through the bars of my cage, where it landed on top of a filigreed jewelery box.

I wished for a moment that Giedre was still here, to tell me that it was better to stay calm and unruffled, to tell me that I'd certainly be free one day, she was sure of it. But she was gone now and I was alone without a friend for the first time in five years. It was true that I knew I would one day be free of this place, that I was destined to lead a life of wonder and magnificence, but it was nice to hear it from someone else besides myself every now and then.

"Simmer down, Nisr. I'm trying to sleep."

Go to hell, old man. I fixed my steely gaze on Bilal, wishing I could screech at him through the darkness. Sensing my foul mood, he grumbled about my bad attitude, his grizzled form curling up on a carpet of indigo and gold that was his home. There were others in the vault, imprisoned treasures such as myself, but no one else spoke to me. I was too fiery, too stubborn, too willing to go too far and earn Qadir's wrath. If it was within their control, they didn't speak a word to me; Qadir was the strictest of men and they dared not get in his way.

Me, on the other hand? I wasn't afraid of Qadir. I'd seen worse than him. I had no qualms about testing his patience.

I have no idea where it's going but it's holding my attention for now. The best part? I have two main characters and when I write them I actually have two different voices. Awesome!

I Cracked 20,000!

This is nifty; nice little word count meter to show my progress with GYWO...

22229 / 200,000 words. 11% done!

As usual, I am behind. I need to put in some serious writing over the next two days before things get out of control. :|

Back On Track

After being seriously behind (I didn't even make my quota for January) I have worked hard and am now ahead of my required total word count for GYWO: 18,787 / 200,000. Hooray!

Then again... so very tired. *collapses into bed*

Turn For The Worse

Good lord, I am a great deal behind on my writing quota for GYWO. I should have around 14,000 words by now but I'm only at 10,715. And not much of that has been dedicated to writing The Last Breath. *disgruntled face* I've been reduced to gathering my word count from my random blogging instead of fictional pieces, which is something that I wanted to hold off on.

Detours Are Fun

Hmm. I joined GYWO so that I could finish my novel, but it seems like I am simply using my daily word count to write other little things. Anything but my novel. Still, I'm doing well so far: 6,124 / 200,000 words as of today.

Long-Term Plans

I joined this online group called Get Your Words Out, where I pledged to write 200K words for the year 2009. I definitely think this will turn out better than my previous NaNo failures because my quota turns out to be ~550 words per day. Quite doable. I'm currently trying to finish a few one-shot stories I was writing, but once I get those out of the way it's back to finishing up my novel. I'm currently at 665 words out of 200,000, hahaha.

Here's to a brand new year of goals and challenges.

I Still Have Hope

NaNo is over but that doesn't mean I've stopped writing. Thus far I have completed three full chapters and am on to the fourth.

Title: The Last Breath
Genre: Historical Fiction
Word Count: 18,041

Familiar Grounds

Not gonna turn this into a big explanation; I have given up on the idea of winning NaNo.

I haven't written anything since November 12th and I'm just fine with that. I'll keep working on it, but I don't intend on keeping up with the other NaNoers.

Title: The Last Breath
Genre: Historical Fiction
Word Count: 17,218

NaNo Progress Report

I had no laptop on the weekend, so I am disastrously behind. To keep on track, I need to write a total of 16,670 words by the end of today. At the NaNo boards, Chris is urging everyone to at least crack 15,000. I don't think I'll have any problem breaking that milestone, but I'm almost at the part of the story where things slow down and get angsty and... I'm not sure how things will turn out. We'll see.

Title: The Last Breath
Genre: Historical Fiction
Word Count: 14,770

Chapter 1, Scene 1

Advika smiled mischieviously and took the offensive, swinging her curved sword at Mrityu's midsection. Her aim was slightly off and her momentum was slow, but he jumped backwards anyway, just to be safe.

"What do you think you're doing?" He growled, pointing his sword towards Advika's throat, noting that she did not back away. That same mischevious smile was alight on her face. Her gaze was direct, her hand on her hip defiantly, sword pointed at his chest. Mrityu was once again reminded why his sister drove his family insane. She is not like other Rajput women. For better or for worse.

"You are far too easy on me, dear older brother. Are you afraid a woman would challenge your skills with the sword?" Advika said, mixing respect with a taunt as she spoke. "I am simply trying to push my training to a more strenuous level."

Mrityu observed her silently, watching her as she watched him. He lowered his sword from her throat and a bright look crossed her face, happy to know Mrityu had acquised to her wishes. But then, without warning, Mrityu sidestepped and in one smooth movement both disarmed Advika and knocked her feet out from underneath her. She fell to the hard stones quietly, not even crying out with surprise or pain. The surprising move had caught her off guard.

"May god forgive me for striking a woman." Mrityu said calmly, sheathing Advika's sword back in the sling and offering her his hand.

NaNo is kicking my ass today. I haven't had any time to write thanks to an interview and the election. I'll just have to redouble my efforts tomorrow. *game face*

NaNo Progress

Wow the NaNo boards are absolutely fucked right now. Pages keep timing out and you can't enter your word count. Boooo. I want a fancy widget! Oh well, I guess this will have to do for now.

Title: The Last Breath
Genre: Historical Fiction
Word Count: 1,685

Psyching Myself Up

The key to success in NaNo, I think, is to say "fuck you" to every single doubt that runs through your head, to every instance of imperfection that crosses your eyes.

Of course it's going to be crap. But that's what editing is for, going through the details with a fine toothed comb, bouncing ideas off of people you trust, people who understand the material you're dealing with.

I'm going to do this, I swear. There's a goddamn market for it, after all. I will live the dream.

Sample Novel Structure

1. 5,000 words: Teaser and exposition. Introduce the protagonist and why they are as they are.

2. 2,000 words: Catalyst event. Introduce the second protagonist.

3. 9,000 words: Exploration of the story world; new characters and nuggets of information. Things are still going well, but introduce the villain(s).

4. 18,000 words: Things fall apart! The story becomes bigger than the characters. Things happen, they get saved, things get worse, repeat, repeat, repeat.

5. 6,000 words: Reveal bigger quest.

6. 6,000 words: Challenges are defeated. Things are learned. Characters change.

7. 6,000 words: Resolve any leftover issues. Epilogue.

How To Succeed At NaNo

Straight from the forum itself. I need to save this for posterity...

1. Buy yourself 6 treats, one for the start and one for each 10,000 word mark!

2. Join the Newbies forum. People go there and give them all kinds of encouragement and tips.

3. Plan to be in the word wars game with others who will competitively inspire you to do your best and keep striving for the win. Find the crew that is motivating and return there each day or every other day to talk with others who want to make it to the end as well.

4. Buy yourself a poster and let yourself be rewarded for every 500 mark you cross. Get some stars or stickers or a stamp and give it to yourself as you cross those mini-marks. Perhaps you work off an immediate reward system so approach it that way.

5. Make sure you have a story you like and characters you like. Plan them out to the fullest extent possible. Or if you were fully planned out all the other times, maybe now is the time to try flying by the seat of your pants and just writing off the top of your head.

6. Understand that there may be points at which you hate your story. But don't worry about that. Keep writing because chances are, you just might change your mind and like it in the end. Press for the mark. Keep your daily word goals despite the fact that you think it might not be working. Remember that the only way to reach 50 K is to write 50 K. And the only way to edit what you've written is to first write it! So, make a commitment to yourself to finish come hell or high water!!!

Running Out Of Steam

Haven't really been planning much for my novel in the past week or so. I've been distracted by other creative outlets.

There's a section in my planned novel that's kind of... elastic. In the sense that... if I finish the novel and I haven't met my quota of 50,000 words, this is the place where I can pad the story with additional events and dialogue and drama.

I've also promised my sister that I would include a talking laddoo in the story somewhere. Don't ask, it's a Simpsons thing. Anyway, the only way a talking laddoo would fit into the story is through some sort of dream or hallucination. I'm currently leaning towards hallucination. But I still have no idea where to fit such a ridiculous element into the story, especially in historical fiction. LOL, what have I gotten myself into?!

Third Time's A Charm

I've decided to do NaNoWriMo this year. I tried back in 2005 and 2006, failed both times. In 2005 I tried a fantasy plot that basically went "a young couple falls in love... insert angry deity". Didn't get very far with it; I wrote very seat-of-my-pants and didn't even know how the story was supposed to end.

In 2006 I switched to urban sci-fi. It was about a woman living in the near-distant future where government sponsored super-soldiers had revolted against their handlers and planned on enslaving regular people. And the super-soldier that was leading the attack was the woman's younger sister. I got a lot further with that story than the previous year (almost 10,000 words) but again I had no idea how the story was going to end. Mostly though... I was bored of my story. Bored of writing it, bored of the characters, bored of the setting, bored of it all. My patience for writing one piece over an extended period of time is very limited, you see. It's my fatal flaw.

After my two miserable failures I decided that NaNo was not for me and abstained in 2007. I have no idea why I've changed my mind this year. Maybe because I'm not currently working and the thought of having so much extra time is increasing my confidence.

I figured that I ought to do something different this year so I'm outlining my entire story, chapter by chapter, scene by scene. Hopefully it will help. At least I'll have a plan and I'll know how the story ends. And thus far it looks like I'll be able to surpass the required 50,000 if things work out properly. My story this year will be historical fiction, taking place in 14th century India. I know I'll eventually get bored so I'm trying to figure out beforehand how I can alleviate that. I really want to win for once.