ROW80:
I think my twitter feed says a lot about how writing went for me this week.
*Wrote. Ugh.
But…
I count this as proof that BICFOK (butt in chair, fingers on keys) works, even when distractions abound and motivation seems to be at a standstill. And the words, they are not all crap. True, I did have to write circles in that one scene with an uncooperative character, and ended up skipping it for now, but this is how the story gets written.
It also gets written with a lot of typos. I blame the excessive amounts of caffeine I’m consuming.
So there you go. Closing in on 30,ooo words now out of a 50,000 word month and a 100,000 word draft goal.
And speaking of those words that I hope are not all crap…
WIPpet Wednesday
For the thirteenth of NOVEMBER (jeez, I wrote October again!) I offer the last 13 paragraphs I wrote, as of right now (this being Tuesday at 11:10 am, because I’m on the ball this week). Aren’s hubris (that should be his middle name, I swear) has got him into trouble, and he’s getting schooled by a secretive warrior-monk-wise man type. We’ve all been there, right?
He released me, and I dropped to the floor, gasping.
“Who are you?” I whispered.
“I think a better question might be who you think you are, Aren. Powerful? Undoubtedly. Intelligent, though inexperienced, and blinded by pride. But what else? You’re not a prince anymore, or your brother’s tool. What will you use your magic for now? What would you be without it? Is there more to you?”
I ignored his questions. “How did you block me without magic?”
“Our potions master is quite good, isn’t he?” Phelun crouched on the floor in front of me. “You don’t understand as much about this world as you think you do. You have been given great gifts, and you squander them. You use them for selfish reasons, to harm and kill and destroy. Do you think this is what the Goddess intended when she blessed you so?”
He offered a hand, and I ignored it, instead pushing myself up from the floor by pressing my back against the door and forcing my legs to straighten.
“I don’t know. Was it her plan for my father and his father before him to plan their marriages to produce the strongest children? Was she at work in his bedroom when I was conceived, or Severn? And where was she when my father and my oldest brother turned me into what I am? It seems she was absent when my mother died, when my caretakers were killed, when I lost the only friends I’d ever had. Did she expect me to rise from the cesspool of hate and mistrust I was born into, to turn my back on the advantages of belonging to the wealthiest and most influential family in the world? To betray them for a deity who’s never given a shit about me?”
“You did betray your family, in the end.”
“Not for her. You said yourself that the magic I use is dark, and not her will. And yet you also say it’s a gift from her. Which is it?”
He stayed where he was, crouched at my feet. “I don’t know,” he said. “But I don’t believe she would have sent you to us if you were beyond redemption, or if I couldn’t help you.”
“So you believe you’ve done good here?”
“Perhaps. The results of our actions are often not immediately apparent. I trust in the Goddess, in my experiences and what my brothers have learned over the centuries.”
“Do you? I trust in myself.”
Oh, my beloved character. You are going to get cut down like a friggin’ Christmas tree.
So there you go, my contrubution in all of its NaNo draft glory. FEEL THE GLORY, HUMANS!
Sorry. Too much coffee again this morning. *tweeks*
If you’d like more WIPpet Wednesday fun, click on over here to see what the other WIPpeteers are up to this week, and as always, feel free to join in! Just post an excerpt on your own blog from a work in progress that somehow relates to today’s date (chapter, number of lines, whatever). We’re a good bunch, I promise. We probably won’t bite… Except for maybe our host, K.L. Schwengel. *flips through notes* Wait. No, she’s bright, not “she’ll bite.” Sorry.
Curious about ROW80, the flexible writing challenge that’s not as insane as NaNoWriMo*? Here’s the link to the site and the blog, from which you can find links to see what everyone else is up to this week. It’s never too late to join in!
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*You know I love you, NaNo. gimme a kiss.
disregard the prologue 
November 13th, 2013 at 10:09 am
I’m laughing about the ‘dear character’ one because I had one of those situations yesterday. My main villain has apparently adopted a little girl and I have no idea why.
November 13th, 2013 at 10:10 am
Haha, that should be interesting!
November 13th, 2013 at 12:07 pm
It has me curious, but I have a couple chapters to write before I find out what happened.
November 13th, 2013 at 11:04 am
You’ve been biz-ay! Poor Aren!!! This line is chilling: “The results of our actions are often not immediately apparent.” Dun-dun-dun!!!!
November 13th, 2013 at 12:02 pm
Good work though. I am so very proud of your word count…your ability to keep up with NaNo in the face of it all. 🙂
November 13th, 2013 at 12:23 pm
Enjoyed the excerpt.
Isn’t it amazing how you get words down even when you seem to not be productive. I surprise myself that way sometimes. And oh, the stubborn characters that don’t do what we want. I know that one too. 🙂
November 13th, 2013 at 4:31 pm
Great excerpt Kate. I love Aren’s words about what the goddess hasn’t done for him. He obviously doesn’t give a monkeys about her and I can see why. Glad you’re achieving great things with NaNo! 🙂
November 13th, 2013 at 6:10 pm
Um . . . definitely lay off the caffeine just a tad, yes? And oh man . . . you *know* how I love Aren! What are you doing to him? Don’t make me beat you with a stick. *flips through notes* Oops, Meet you and make you sick. *puts on cheater glasses* Pick up milk?!!? Damn, that’s the shopping list. Forget it, carry on.
November 13th, 2013 at 6:14 pm
*snort* Wait… I don’t want to be sick, either!
What am I doing? I’m breaking him into a pile of kindling, confusing him, making him doubt himself. Is that bad? I promise he’s going to come out of it better than he was before.
(though not necessarily nicer… so don’t worry about that)
November 13th, 2013 at 7:38 pm
*sniff* I’m . . . I’m . . . *hugs* I’m so proud of you! Give ’em hell. Slice and dice him. Grind him up and spit him out and — Oh, hi Aren. *smiles* Look, you know how fond I am of you but this is for your own good. Really.
Mwahahahahahahahaha!
November 13th, 2013 at 8:06 pm
You should see where Rowan’s going by the end of this one. You’d be pleased. Or horrified. Definitely one or the other. *nods*
November 13th, 2013 at 8:19 pm
Pleasantly horrified. Has a nice ring to it.
November 13th, 2013 at 8:42 pm
Plorified. It’s going to be big.
(True, autocorrect wants to change it it “pylori died,” but we’ll get there.$
November 13th, 2013 at 8:44 pm
Autocorrect is clueless. Plorified is an awesome word.
November 13th, 2013 at 11:34 pm
I must be totally out of it because I had no clue who Ryan Reynolds was until I just Googled him–mmmm, those eyes…..!
Are you quite sure you got your notes right? I distinctly remember something about biting….
Sounds like Aren could use a bite or two out of his ego. But I see that you’ve got that well in hand… or maybe he does, give how he’s moving about on you. 😉
November 14th, 2013 at 2:08 am
LOL, I was enjoying the excerpt, and then what topped it off was your ending thoughts, “Oh my beloved character. You are going to get chopped down like a friggin’ Christmas tree.” I seriously have a thing for male characters getting their strong egos chopped down and sewn back up to look like a nice charming Frankenstein afterwards. I love it!
November 14th, 2013 at 8:53 am
Oh, good. I sometimes worry that readers will hate him if he’s broken. But sometimes you have to break them before they can come back stronger, you know?
November 14th, 2013 at 2:56 pm
“I need you to get hurt.” 😉 Totally know the feeling. I’ve got one character who was dead in Book 1 before I rewrote it. Now he’s alive and I’m trying to figure out what to do with him half the time.
Me: So, um, you’re still here.
Character: Sure am.
Me: And you’re here because….
Character: Well *scoffing* isn’t that your job?
Me: I WILL KILL YOU!
Character: *yawning* No you won’t. You can’t. Book 1 changes, remember. Bwahahahaha!
(-_-)
November 14th, 2013 at 2:57 pm
That puts a whole new spin on the “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it!” argument. 🙂
November 14th, 2013 at 5:57 pm
Bwahahahaha!
November 14th, 2013 at 5:57 pm
I have said this to characters. I would say it to the kids, but that might get me arrested. 😉
November 14th, 2013 at 6:02 pm
Have you ever had characters that you want to keep alive, but they are determined to die? What’s up with that?! These people are CRAZY! 😉
November 14th, 2013 at 6:04 pm
Not so far. I have one I know has to die in the next book, though, and I’m dreading it. He’s one of the only ones who DOESN’T drive me batty.
November 14th, 2013 at 5:50 pm
Sounds like there will be some great fight scenes in the future! Woohoo! 🙂
November 14th, 2013 at 5:54 pm
I want SO BADLY to tell people about the things I have planned. I need to get these books out so I don’t explode from OMG SEKRITS. 🙂
November 14th, 2013 at 6:15 pm
LOL! I’m so much the opposite. I’ll think I’ve done well, but then get so nervous that other will not agree, that I’m having to push myself to get things “ready” for betas.
November 14th, 2013 at 6:17 pm
I used to be like that. Having good crit partners and beta readers has helped me realize that no matter how much I tweak the story, they’re going to have issues. Better to get it out there and know what’s what than to slave for years and THEN find out I’m on the wrong track. 🙂
November 17th, 2013 at 6:00 pm
I amazed you were able to get anything written at all if Ryan Reynolds was on the TV!
Interesting snippet. I feel bad for Aren and what he’s gone through in the past, but yeah, it sounds like he could use getting chopped down to size a bit!