I’m writing this post on Tuesday. I just finished up working for the day, and I am not happy.
It’s not that things aren’t going well. In fact, yesterday and today were AMAZING. It’s killing me that I can’t tell you guys what’s happening in book 3 right now. One of the characters surprised me on Monday, and… and I really wish that fictional people would stop making me love them. It hurts.
So I’m just mad that I have to stop working for the day. There’s a house that needs cleaning, and the distractions kids are home from school, my other distraction beloved husband will be home in less than 2 hours, I need to get supper on. You know. Real life.
And so it goes. I just hope my excitement about what’s happening lasts until tomorrow, when I’ll dive head-first back into this thing.
For WIPpet Wednesday I’ll give you the last eight lines (in the WordPress editor pane, anyway) that I wrote before I quit for the day. Rowan’s POV, very rough, but at least fairly spoiler-free.
Unless you haven’t read Bound, in which case I make no promises, and you should go do that. 🙂
Mountains, yo.
A cliff loomed to my right. As I passed into its shadows an eagle shrieked. I ran toward the noise. Aren, still in his familiar avian form, lay chest-down on the rocks. A few paces away the gryphon crouched on the ground, head held at an awkward angle, gaze fixed on Aren.
“Hey!” I yelled. The beast didn’t change its position. I threw one of the rocks. It bounced off of the gryphon’s skull with a cracking noise, but still the creature wouldn’t move.
I stepped closer. The whites of its eyes showed beneath heavy feathers, and the massive talons curved uselessly beneath it. The animal I’d so heroically attacked was already dead.
Aren let out a softer noise, calling for my attention. His left wing stretched out over the rocks, oozing blood onto the ground.
“Well, this looks familiar,” I observed.
He snapped his beak at me.
The um… the gryphon was a lot more impressive when it was airborne and attacking and didn’t already have a broken neck. You’re just going to have to trust me on that for now, because sharing that would just be BOOK TWO SPOILERS.
For more WIPpet fun, here’s the link to everyone’s posts. It’s updated throughout the day, so shop early and shop often. Say hi to the nice folks, and join in on your own blog if you’d like! The only rules are that you have to post from a current work-in-progress (WIP), and the passage has to have something to do with the day’s date (so I did 8 lines, but you could do a wee slice of chapter 8, show us a planet with eight rings, something about spiders, eighteen lines for 10+8… et cetera). Big thanks to our host KL Schwengel, who’s not allowed to get mad at me for hurting Aren. It was the gryphon’s fault, not mine.
Seriously, he came out of NOWHERE.
*innocent face*
ROW80 Update (goals post link)
Hey, here we are already. So far, so good. 3,000 words on Monday, 3,000 words on Tuesday, and I’m hoping for another 3,000 today. Guess we’ll see… this is what I get for posting from the past.
I’ve got a whole lot of scenes turning up that I didn’t plan on, so the book keeps getting longer. It’s also getting deeper, and the story is filling in nicely. All of the planning I did is (so far) leading draft one to have the depth of a draft 2, if not the polish. There have been a few more detours than I expected, but they’re all still leading to the right place, and it’s a fun ride.
So that’s it for today’s report. How’s your week going so far, writing, reading, or otherwise?
disregard the prologue 
October 8th, 2014 at 8:49 am
Great achievement towards your goals *shakes pom-poms enthusiastically* – it sounds like you’re having fun 🙂
I enjoyed the snippet. I love the gryphon, though of course I’m mad at him – he did hurt Aren after all!
October 8th, 2014 at 11:42 am
I actually love gryphons, but they haven’t been very nice in these books so far! But I really am having fun. There’s so much going on. It’s going to hurt when it comes time to cut this thing down to size.
October 8th, 2014 at 11:44 am
Ouch! I feel your pain. Hopefully you won’t have to take away too much 🙂
October 8th, 2014 at 4:29 pm
My son’s been looking for a gryphon to scream at….wonder if a dead one would do? =)
October 8th, 2014 at 8:49 am
Aren!! *runs to stroke his feathers* *glares at Kate* Just make sure you fix him up again. Remember, I have characters you like. Just saying. I also want to be reading this as you write it. Like, leaning over your shoulder. Because I just. Can’t. Wait.
Good going on the goals. (Whoa! Holy alliteration, Batman.) That’s some awesome word countage taking place.
October 8th, 2014 at 11:44 am
Yeah, I remember. *motions for Berk to come sit over here where it’s safe*
I’m glad you’re excited. I definitely am!
October 8th, 2014 at 11:33 am
Poor Aren. 😦 I would second Kathi on making you fix him, except I don’t have anything to threaten you with. I don’t kill people off unless I have to (which is to say, never).
October 8th, 2014 at 11:46 am
I wish I could make promises that everyone is going to get out of this one alive, but that would be kind of spoilery. If it makes you feel any better, Rowan doesn’t seem too worried in this snippet…
October 8th, 2014 at 1:03 pm
Really good Kate. I liked your description of the dead gryphon and Rowan’s interaction with Aren. And although I’ve read ‘Bound’, it was spoiler-free for me so that’s good! 🙂
October 8th, 2014 at 4:35 pm
I agree that you need to fix Aren. And Kathi has a fantastic idea with threatening you. lol. Lovely excerpt and I can’t wait to read more.
October 8th, 2014 at 4:38 pm
I read a draft of Chameleon’s Dish to my kids – that helped them understand what I do little better, and they’ve been at me to finish the revision ever since.
Might be an idea…
Anyway, I LOVE when characters take me off in unexpected directions (bring it on, T’Pol!). Have fun, and enjoy those awesome word counts! =D
October 8th, 2014 at 5:25 pm
Well, no matter how badly he’s hurt, I doubt it could be as gross as what he did himself in book one!
October 8th, 2014 at 5:26 pm
Now I want to write a Griffin. Should I have one help Hannah break out of prison camp?
October 8th, 2014 at 5:48 pm
Kate, those are some fantastic word counts! Sounds like you’ve had a great start on this Round. 🙂 Keep it up!
October 8th, 2014 at 8:28 pm
*squee* Griffins! Yay! I love griffins. 🙂
October 8th, 2014 at 8:51 pm
I am so envious of your word counts! My all time best day ever was 5000, which I have been trying in vain to repeat since. 😦
Great scene, with lots of questions to intrigue readers. Good luck on keeping up on it with all the distractions!
October 9th, 2014 at 12:14 am
I hate it when life gets in the way, especially when you’ve had so much progress! Good job on the word counts, I’ve been a bit shaky this week, but such is life.
I loved the excerpt as well. I’m itching to know what happened to the griffon, but somehow I sense no one is going to tell me until the book comes out…dammit! 😛
October 9th, 2014 at 12:46 am
Go you for cranking out the words! That’s awesome! I love how excited you are about your WIP. Wish I had a bit of that enthusiasm. 🙂 Although I did manage some righteous plotting tonight so that will serve me will in days to come.
Interesting excerpt. Breaking your characters, eh? That is what we writers do best …
October 9th, 2014 at 11:22 am
Nice excerpt!! spoilery for me, but eh, what can we do? It was beautifully written. And well-done on the goals!
October 9th, 2014 at 4:45 pm
I would totally attack a dead bird in the name of heroics. 🙂
October 9th, 2014 at 5:12 pm
It’s the heroic-est of heroics. *nods*