That’s National Novel Writing Month, a worldwide outbreak of madness that takes place in November–all November. Some of you plan to take part. Here’s a place to talk about it.
192 thoughts on “NaNoWriMo”
Comments are closed.
That’s National Novel Writing Month, a worldwide outbreak of madness that takes place in November–all November. Some of you plan to take part. Here’s a place to talk about it.
Comments are closed.
Really. Awesome. I love to write.
I’m going. My story is called ‘An Adeventure In Telemarketry’, because most of my stories involve some sort of telemarketing. But fear not, there will also be a visit with Abdhul the Djinni, his monkey, Fred, and some galactic glorification w/ Captain Cosmos and his genetically modified, half-cyborg space slug, Fido. Don’t forget Fanged Geraldo’s Wooden Stake Of Peril.
Because I’m cool that way. [Contact information snipped. –Admin.]
My account is strangely not working. I’ll just have to make a new one. >_
o_o My message got cut off. What I was saying is about making character sketches. Is that allowed before the start date?
er… what is this?
I tried to make an account but it wouldn’t let me do it without parental consent! If I ever get one, I’ll talk about it and stuff.
really, what is this thing????????????????????????????
Hey, constant begging does pay off!
Em and nerdz__r00l- NaNoWriMo means National Novel Writing Month. Every November, people attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Yes, they’re all crazy. But it’s utterly Muse-like
Axa, you are allowed to make character profiles. From what I understand, you can make characters, plot, setting – everything except the actual writing of the novel – before the start date.
I have no plot. I’m planning on just sort of winging it on November 1st, but I have a feeling that having some idea of where I want the book to go might help the overall quality. Does anyone have any ideas of what I could do?
I made an account, but I forgot the username. I’m going to make a new one. My story takes place on Eris, you know, formerly Xena. An asteroid crashes into it, and splits the planet in two. My main character Acea has to embark on an adventure to Jupiter to get a gravity tractor to pull the planet back together. Along the way she meets a Venusian boy. Subplot alert!! The rest of the story is still developing. My word count goal will be 20,000.
I’m in the process of writng a novel now, but there’s absolutely no way I’m gonna be able to finish in one month. I’m almost on my 100th page already, but I fear this is going to turn out to be one of those books that is so thick, people wince at the sight of it. (Well maybe not quite that thick,but you get my point) I really would like to take part in this event but I get so much freakin homework (I shudder at the sound of the word.) at my school, I don’t get a second of free time. But, alas, that’s what you get when you go to the #1 high school in your state. I’m hoping to finish it this summer. I hope you’ll all buy it when it gets published.
oh, and by the way, happy friday the thirteenth. Ever heard of periskevadekatriaphobia (I think I spelled it right) its fear of Friday the 13th. And this does have to do with national novel writing month.
yay! we begged, we pleaded… but we did not say the dreaded p-word. and voila! a thread! ^_^ thanks GAPAs!
I sort of have an idea of what kind of story I’d like it to be and some ideas but no plot and nothing specific yet. It’ll be fun, though!
10 (Joanna) – *pies* I’m at the top high school in my state, writing numerous short stories, an ongoing fanfiction parody, three novels, and planning to work for Nano. So time can be made.
YAAY! NANO THREAD!
So, everyone: Tips? Tricks? Best sources of caffiene? Best support groups?
And now might be a good time to remind you that I’m still on a quest for characters. See part one of the Foliage for more information.
13- I’m in the IB program, in two plays, a sport, NHS, Sandwich club and a beading group with my friends.
I signed up. I kinda want to write a Multi-genre novel. One of those ones where it’s told through different media like letters, notes, scripts, newspaper articles, pictures, etc.? I was thinking the whole plot could be centered around a few main characters who have completely seperate stories, but they all go to this same cafe/restaurant/bakery/library/other cliche booksie food area. They don’t interact directly (well not a first at least) but it’d be interesting to show how different people’s perceptions of the same place contrast so much.
13- Best support groups? MB, of course!
I’m at a top high school too!
I need some ideas for my story. I so far have none
Help!!
Novel Month? COOL!SWEET! I will have to get started write away!
Give me the link! I’m writing an awesome novel. It’s the first story I’ve ever wrote in first person. What account? What?
NaNo is refusing to let me on…. I’m getting quite annoyed. It let me on once, then I navigated away and tried to log in again but it keeps saying “incorrect login” or whatever.
Uh-oh, contact issues for people… talk to your parents about it if it doesn’t want to let you sign up. It’s not like they’ll say, “No! We refuse to let you have a learning experience!”
My word count was embarassingly low last year. I’m hoping I can improve on that…
Aww, mine was zappaged. :'( Oh well. So who has a plot yet? I have no idea what i’m doing for it…
I like thinking up book and movie ideas.
Where is this taking place?
13-Yeah, man, but do you sleep at night or just work? The rest of us have lives in the traditional sense of the word.
I am writing a Team Emu novel. For those of who (probably all of you) who are not acquainted with my Emu-tastic writing style, and my protagonists (Mark and Kenny), I’m posting this snippet from my files, the unpublished but wonderful short story Zyatirev and Emu:
{beginning of TE}
Kenny thought he was going to die. In the vaccuums of space, no less. He expressed this idea quite plainly to Mark.
“Mark,†he said, “I’m going to die. In the vaccuums of space, no less. This ship, this warped piece of twisted faagianplex, is going to crash. And â€
The big Vartavodlian nodded sympathetically and held out his drink. Kenny waved it aside. “No, no,†he said, “I must suffer alone. Oh, to be dead!â€
“You will be very soon,†someone said. A tall, lithe, pink-skinned Sassaquinian leaned against the controls. Mark rose from his sauerkraut in an instant and aimed an Okayim at the intruder, who blew it out of his tentacle and lit a cigarette. Kenny waited for his breath to come back.
“Who are you?†Kenny asked.
“Zyatirev,†she replied. “Lieutenant Qwayze Zyatirev, Third Class, Second Fraxxilian, Fourth Regiment of the Coldstream Guards.â€
“The Coldstream Guards!†Kenny gasped. “Fallot!†There was a pause. Kenny spoke again. “What are the Coldstream Guards?â€
“Only the most well-equipped, well-trained legion in the galaxy,†Zyatirev said, crossing her arms.
Mark snorted and took another swig of his photonbeire, then got one from the freezer and offered it to Zyatirev. She took it, then looked at the label. “I edit,†she said. “We have superior lay guns, but your beire is better.†A swig. “Much better.â€
Radio came in. “Salamander calling Emu. Come in, Emu.â€
“Emu replying Salamander. Receptive, Salamander.â€
“Salamander querying Emu crew. Evidence of stowaway. Warning transmitted, Salamander to Emu.â€
“Emu reassuring Salamander. Disturbance dealt with, Salamander. Fourteen to the third.â€
“Seven to the fifth. Past Granny’s house.†Radio cut out.
“Your mission control is awful,†Zyatirev said. “Our children’s toys work better than that.â€
Mark swung his chair over and worked with the controls. Sayiira Lyghtjev’s new single came over the ether. He played with it for a while until it reached a channel he liked, then turned the ZurroundZounds on. He turned and smirked. Zyatirev stared. “You haven’t said anything yet,†she told Mark.
“That’s Mark,†Kenny said. “He doesn’t talk. I’m Kenny. We’re Team Emu, of the Nirflatoo.â€
“That explains the awful spaceship, then,†Zyatirev said knowingly. “Poor guys. You have to be pretty cold-blooded to attack a Nirflatooian. It’s too much like kicking a puppy.â€
Kenny glared at her. “We’ve only won the past fourteen conflicts we’ve been at. There’s no advantage. We do unto you before you do unto us. It’s all very well you standing there, all over-budgeted and supercilious, but we win out, man! I mean, there’s not much trick to winning when we have papyrus and you’ve got a bloody laser blaster. Four steps for you to get from start to winnish. It’s much harder for us, man-we have to fight with pieces of bloody cardboard compared to what you’ve got. Like bacteria against a Uvazati.†He finished his bottle. Zyatirev felt faint.
The radio came in again. “Emu, are you ready? Message from Salamander awaiting. Under.â€
“Ready. Message attentive. Recorder functioning. Under.â€
“Tape from Zycrozark, class 648. Message reads: Coldstream Guards announce attack. Fourteen ships at point seven, eight cruisers at point five, and nine unknown at point three. Fatality impending. Message ends. Repeat? Under.â€
“Repeat unnecessary. Zoike. Ships seen. End of communication. Over.†Kenny chilled the mike. “Rieder! Do you realize what this means? Mark, we’re going to die?â€
{end of TE}
This is what TE is like. Team Emu, comprised of two aliens, Mark and Kenny, works for the Nirflatoo (a galactic peacekeeping force). They have almost no budget, an outdated space ship, and enough chutzpah to fry eggs. The plot’s kind of hazy, but I want all the minor characters from the individual short stories (33) to be in it somehow. And I want more office scenes-they’re fun to write.
INGREDIENTS:
Team Emu
Zycrozark (their boss)
Zyatirev (see above)
Poumquex (from Abstract Concepts)
Storm troopers (from just about every story ever)
Iapetus (it’s cool)
Laser guns
Weedilbavum (from Every Mother’s Done)
Baackynessim (from Oval Occupation)
V652 (a Tahitian-Russian vahine and spy from Krazy Kremlin Krudd)
Their amazing colonial computer
The Redundant Redundants
A restaurant scene
A girlfriend for Kenny
Mark actually talking
Roosje Garcia (from The Fool Bean Trills of Perth)
Fancokeem (from We Always Lose, But Why?)
Zycrozark’s eccentric wife Rhonda (from Office Case)
I made a Museblog thread on the Recess forum. Check it out!
Soo…. We basically just write stuff this month?
24- Sounds HG2G-esque. Good, though.
They finally made a thread. Huzzah!
Oh, and though my novel is already written and being edited, it’s like Narnia, only alot different and (I hope) better. I can post a torture scene if people want. It’s not gruesome or anything, just creepy.
I have some ideas for my novel…..
But they definately aren’t involved enough for 50,000 words.
Not that I’m going to make it that far, but…
I’m going to give everyone a suggestion that they most definitely have heard before: base everything that isn’t your plot or that interferes with your plot (like if you’re homeschooled, but you want your character to make best friends with their school teacher or something) off of your own life/experiences. It makes everything a lot easier, and gives you an extra connection to the characters.
What’s literary fiction? I think that’s what the genre of my book is….
That’s a great suggestion Taiwan Hippo Fan. I never write main characters older than I am, because I can’t base their age off experience. And like, I have a whole bunch of good friends, not just one best friend, and my best friend certainly wouldn’t be a guy, but I wrote one of my characters like that and based if off how one of my friends acts with her best guy friend. It’s actually less confuzzling than it sounds. I think.
this thead makes me lol with the hopelessness of it all
31-Does not compute. Or work.
Somebody else say something about my novel other than Kiki the Great. Please.
no, i mán, where do you sign up for it?
I’ll make a comment about your novel Queenie, but I can’t right now. I have to go to the doggie store to get pictures taken of my doggies and me.
24 – Is that more like a prologue? It sounds like a prologue. If it isn’t a prologue, you need to explain what some of those things are. I like how D. Adams did it in HG2G, where he circled it around th HG2G, and that gave you your information. And how he had someone who didn’t know about it, so that it could be used.
Also, the word “conflict” doesn’t seem to match what you’re talking about. I like the word “endeavor,’ even though that doesn’t really work either.
33 – What do you mean? We try to accomplish the most hopeful endeavors on MB!
35 – go to nanowrimo.org and then click “Sign up now!”
Could I please have people’s names on NaNo? Mine’s [Oops. No, you can’t. –Admin.].
I’ll search for people’s Blog names, but it would be nice if they just told me.
(33) It’s not about the hopelessness. It’s about having fun. *pies FS for being no fun whatsoever*
(24) Cool! I like it much, Queenie. Clever idea.
My nano screen name is [zap], but I’m not sure if the GAPAs will let that through [right you are]
GAPA – how come you zapped Skipper’s screen name and not Taiwan Hippo Fan’s, [An oversight. I just went back and retro-zapped it. Thanks for pointing it out. –Robert]
If you are smart, you can find me on nano. I have found most of you with the exception of The skipper and queenie j. I will not post my name for nano here, but if you know me it shouldn’t be too hard to find.
Aww, i thought that was brilliant. Just a casual mention, goes perfectly unnoticed, not a zappage in sight. We should all bury our sns under mounds of rambling and see if it works.
GAPA, you must despise me with a bitter passion. I’m so rebellious.
lol
Speaking of randomness and procrastinating…or were we? idk, i came to the blog to make an Announcement (yes, capital letter!) and i might as well make it here. I’ve decided to learn esperanto, in the spirit of musishness, extreme boredom, and procrastination. So far it doesn’t look too bad…a lot like latin actually…but i’m only on the introduction, so i can’t really talk.
In any case, i know that la hundo amas la katon. Very exciting. Just thought i’d let y’all know. 
41- what does that sentance mean? the dog loves the cat? because that would be odd.
he he, I have to admit. The zapping on the muse blogs is very funny. Much better than just getting rid of text. The GAPA’s have a sense of humor, which is of course awesome. If only my vice principal had a sense of humor…
very cool ebeth. I’ve never heard of esperanto before, but still, very cool.
I want to post a section from my book but I’m not sure what to posts. There’s a torture scene, the scene where the youngest girl is first in the new world, the scene where the middle girl is first in the new world, the scene where the middle girl and her friends are rescuing her siblings, or the scene where the boy is learning about the land’s history. The last two probably need the most work, but they also need the most explaining before postage. Any preferences?
If you’re curious about Esperanto, you can find out more about it an article I wrote about it for Muse in 1997. I’ve posted it on the Fan Page:
https://musefanpage.com/NewFiles/rjc_esperanto.html
I can say “vi esta malbela kamelo”, which I learned from that article. That’s my favorite issue. I tried to learn it online this summer, but I didn’t get too far.
I luvvled the Esperanto article to death. That has got to be the coolest name for a language ever.
24 (Queenie J)- I COMMENTED LAWLZ. I believe I’ve told you how Emu-tastic you are. And your stories are. I’m terrible at critiquing a) humour and b) people better than I am, so I won’t try.
I have as much of a life as it is possible to have whilst in boarding school, too. I also occassionally do my homework the night before it’s due. And I get about five hours of sleep per night. Because I am the Empress of
the WorldSmall Shiny Objects.Article for skool newspaper because someone here suggested it, Penty, I think…:
NaNoWriMo
50,000 words. 30 days. Every November. This is the aim of those participating in National Novel Writing Month (abbreviated NaNoWriMo).
It seems simple enough. Register online at the official site beginning October first, and start writing on the first of November. After all, NaNoWriMo is all about quantity—rough drafts are favourable. Creating a refined product is not the goal. Instead, the object of this initiative is to motivate people everywhere to think, write, and have fun.
Furthermore, winning is not about quality. Anyone who reaches the 50,000-word mark by 11:59:59PM in their time zone on November 30 is a winner. Starting on the 25th, entries are verified as being at least that long by work-counting robots. Entrants simply save their manuscripts as text-only files, scramble them to ensure creative safety, and send them in to be counted and then deleted.
Through November, writers can upload parts of their stories, discuss progress, and arrange meetings with others in their regions. There is a forum for almost every genre, from Horror to Chick Lit. And, of course, forums focused on everything but writing, where authors take breaks from the daunting 1,667-words per day pace.
But most don’t let the rigorous pace scare them. What started in 1999 with 21 participants and six winners has turned into a global community totaling 59,000 entrants and 9,769 winners in 2005. Turning out a lengthy, if somewhat unpolished, story is entirely possible.
Many authors new to NaNoWriMo find themselves unsure as to where to begin. But that problem is fixed by (once again) the site’s official forums. They are accessible well before November first and veterans are usually happy to offer help brainstorming and advice on writing and time-management. The entire community is very dedicated and supportive.
Any work of fiction is prime material for the competition, and NaNoWriMo is expanding to include a program for aspiring novelists under 13 years of age, and a script-writing contest to be held next year.
What happens when someone reaches the monthly goal? They gain self-satisfaction and a lovely downloadable winner’s certificate. Some winners have even refined and published their drafts, but all begin December knowing that they have met their deadline and can do it again the next year.
When given a seemingly impossible deadline and after consuming landmark amounts of caffeine, people become novelists every year. As is written on one of NaNoWriMo’s commemorative t-shirts, “For Those About to Write, We Salute You.â€
What say you? And is it long enough?
47 (SM)- Of course I suggested that. And your article is lovely. Educate the masses. One thing I might add would be the URL of the NaNo site, in case any of the masses would like to participate.
48- *facepalm* Oh, right. MuchÃcimas gracias. I will inform the editor people mañana. Actually, when I went to hand it in today, I couldn’t find the teacher in charge or either of the editors, and then I saw the typist, who got really confused about it. He kept spelling out NaNoWriMo and giving me a weird look. Oh, well. Word’s out
Wait!!! I’m changing my story!! OK, theres this guy named Danyel and he has to save his kingdom. Sounds cliched, but it isn’t. The plot’s waaaaay to complicated to explain.
33-Why would you want Odin on your side? Or be proud he was on it? Thor’s my fave. Then you can say “Warfather!” gaspily through your teeth and sound really cool, if masculine.
37-It’s the beginning of the story. You find out more about Mark and Kenny from Kenny talking to Zyatirev later on. And the computer and Ground Control have to be informed. So that’s okay. But thanks for the suggestion.
1,667 words a day is daunting. But on the other hand, I could write Kenny’s repartee for years and not get bored. Mark, however, doesn’t talk. He understands, but does not speak. Oh well. I am SO. FREAKING. PUMPED. STOKED. PSYCHED. FOR NANOWRIMO.
Someone realy ought to make a Museblog thread under the Writing Groups header, or have they already?
I’m a Nano-er too, but my username is kind of hard to guess. I won last year, although my story never made it past the rising action. I think I’ve found a way to fix that this year, although I’m worried that my plot will be too short instead of too long.
With everyone particiapting like this, I have a feeling we’re really gonna get a kick out of this.
Sorry for increasing zappage levels, Rob. I dunno, totally forgot the rules for 1 crazy minute.
51- Dude, Odin has an eye patch. That counts for double extra super points! Especially because he traded his eye when everyone else was too much of a pansy to pluck theirs out….
I’m still trying to figure out which genre I want to do. I’m between a dystopian horror story and a depressing political satire…..leaning to the first, and thinking suspense instead of horror….
Wait!! I’m changing it back!!!!
54- My friend Molly has this thing where she pretends to morph into a girl from another Earth where it’s a dystopia, and she’s like “Well, all the water on earth is poisoned so we had to move to the ISS” and I’m yelling, “DYSTOPIA!!!” and my other friend Sara, like, cracks up. Irrelevant.
woah there kiki. You and your friends have some good times.
I’m having writers block! There’s an evil girl who joined her powers with this guy so that if only one of them was using their powers, that person was twice as powerful. But the guy was killed (for lack of a long explination) and so the girl became weak. She was tormenting this queen, but couldn’t enter the queen’s kingdom and was too weak to do anything to her. Ok, now comes the problem. Something happened so that she was a threat to the queen again (it cannot involve the dead guy) and the queen had to flee. then something happened to her so she was doing anyone any harm for fifteen years, and that thing immediatly follows the queen fleeing, so she has no time to take over the kingdom. Any ideas about either of these things? And this is just a sub-sub-plot, so don’t worry about originality.
You know what I just realized? Even if a queen’s ruling, it’s still called a kingdom. That’s LAME.
57-Yeah, that is pretty lame why not a queendom?
Oh well, I joined and I am not that hard to find if you THINK about it you’ll find me there. I think I am going to write a story from the pointe of veiw of a girl in a diary but no dates like a…a…Therapy Journal I guess you would call it I don’t know. All I know is the begining sorta.
Somehow she thought this year would be different. She didn’t know it could turn out this way. Oh, who am I? I’m no one important just another person writing in his or her diary that’d be you and if your reading this you must’ve found it at the bottom of a lake or something and this is my story of what had happened. If you do find it, throw it back to where you found it be it the watery depths or a forest throw it back you don’t want to ever remember finding this I assure you…
..Sadly alota stories start like this. NEver done NaNoWriMo but I will start it. I may or may not finsh it.
Has anyone doen NaNo before?? I have not.
59 (SM)- I did it last year. I learned about it from Museblog! And a bunch of my friends at lovely nerd-school are doing it this year even though we don’t get enough sleep as is. It’s so inspiring and bubbly and fun! Happy shiny rainbows and buterflies!
I was at lunch today and i heard “Nanowrimo” (yes just the one word-there are about five conversations going at once. kinda hard to hear) and i look over and there’s weisman explaining to michelle what it is! So i’m like “Weisman, you’re doing nano?! OMGZ!!!” and he’s like “Yeah, are you?! OMGZ!!!” It was pretty special. So now i know somebody at my skool who’s doing it. XD
61-Ebeth, Lucky! I don’t think anyone in *** ( name of my school ) do it. I almost convinced a friend but her mom won’t let her make profiles. How annoying.
43 – The best part of MB is the sense of humor of the GAPAs. Well, maybe not the best part, but pretty close.
I wish I knew everybody’s usernames! Oh, well. If they really wanted to, they could NaNoMail me or something. My username is extremely straightforward.
I’ve been changing my story ideas rapidly/frequently. I don’t know how I’m going to decide!
59- I have! last year. I didn’t win.
52- I created one just now.
I have only found a few people on NaNo. My username is very simple. Who has won NaNo in the past?
I signed up! Bet you all can guess my name if you think.
Was I allowed to say that? [*sighs wearily* –Admin.] Hum. Anyway, I don’t think i’ll be able to hit 50000. Origanaly, I was hoping I could turn in what I did get done for my schools story contest, but the deadline for that is November 1st, when we’re allowed to start. 
There goes that idea.
61 – I tried to explain NaNo to my friends, but they didn’t get it.
Oh well.
I tried to get the Taiwan Hippo to do NaNo! I don’t know if she’ll do it, though.
58- I’m currently writing a story about a girl who lives on Eris. You know, the dwarf planet. It’s in diary style, exept the dates are Eris dates.
To everyone who thinks they cannot win: YOU’RE WRONG. Really, you can do it. I won last year (in only 24 days!) and the best advice I can give you is not to stop at all during the month. Even a day off can take away your motivation. So, write something every day, even if it’s only 500 words.
3) I just can’t log in.
Thanks for reminding me, maybe its just this computer, or maybe not. *goes off to check other two computers that are in the same room* *runs back over from Linux computer* Hey, it works! Wonder if it works on this one now, its easier to read on this one.
*checks on this computer* IT WORKS!!! W00TNESS!!!!!!!
I actually got my grandfather interested in it too, he loves to write.
Coolness is me.
*stroke of brilliance* I can probably use this as my senior project! I shall ask Random Guidance (sp?) Person A tomorrow!
2-I have to read that.
57-No. It’s a queendom. Like my country!
1,667 words a day. What am I smoking?
Queenie j, we don’t want to know.
I can’t find: Queenie J, Zyka, Zallie, Phoenix, or Kiki. Or LB, didn’t she say she was doing it? Well, just so y’all know, obviously the ever-vigilant GAPAs will do their very best zappage, but if there’s a nudgenudgewinkwink somewhere that’ll help me but not the creepy stalkers (Oh wait…i AM a creepy stalker! Never mind), pleasaplenty. w00tw00t.
[We’re watching. –Admin.]
I can’t find the same people Ebeth can’t find. *plots about how we can foil GAPA’s zapping thing but then realizes that GAPA sees all…except when it “is an oversight” like what happened earlier in the thread…*
Meh…I registered, and I can’t find Phoenix or the people mentioned in comment 73. Aargh/ Nationstates?
68 – Great idea! Awesome! w00tness!
I thought we weren’t allowed to start writing until the 1st…
Zal’s is hard to find, trust me.
Oh yes, my good GAPA friend, we’re finding ways to break down your foundation of zappage and create a new regime! MUAAAAAA*HAHAHAHAHA!
Ha.
…
Ha.
*That was winding up.
73- We’re all on the Adult NaNo, not the YWP. Just saying.
76- We aren’t. That’s not for NaNo.
70- Make sure if you have a YWP account, you’re not logging in on the regular NaNo. And if you have a Adult account, make sure you’re not logging in on YWP.
Oh, yeah. My current story for NaNo is about two Dekranian girls who have to join the army, but one joins the bad guy’s army. Elemental magic and betrayal included.
Oooh, cool. I was thinking about doing…umm… welll i’m sure I’ll think of somthing eventually.
Idae: If you found someone, click on their buddy list to find other people.
73) We should all have the same thing as our signature. Like, “Museness is me” or “Kokopelli for President” or “Pwt Pwns”
Dekranian= People from Dekrane, a planet made up by me and my friend Sara.
73-You’re nice. Jeez. Hint: Zyatirev. And obviously, it will have something to do with the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.
I’m posting another Team Emu snippet, to show you how aI write. Ready?
______________
Someone shot. The next four minutes saw Mark and Kenny screaming, swearing, and ranting as the ship zoomed, spun, shook, and withstood shock after shock, bullet after bullet. Finally they were alone in the inky blackness of space. Kenny breathed deeply, glanced through the radars and viviscreens one more time, then turned to the radio.
“Emu calling Salamander. Are you receiving? Emu calling Salamander.â€
“Salamander responding, Emu. Ghost call?â€
“Negative thirty-eight, but the egg’s not finished yet. Emu reports enemy annihilated. Stand by for further results.â€
“Salamander asks. Stowaway negated?â€
“Emu answers. Yes.â€
“The children are crying. Bring home some salt, Emu. Salamander cutting out.â€
_____________
Who came up with the 50,000 word limit, anyway?
50,000 is not the word limit. It’s the amount you have to get to WIN, but just about everyone who wins goes over that. There are some people on the boards aiming for 250k instead of 50 which is really impressive.
I don’t know. As it said int he info-thing, it’s more of a novella.
But on the bright side, I got what I might be able to use as a plot! Squee! I’ll post it for all you critics(I mean that in a good way). I’ve not gotten tired of it on the 2nd day yet, so I might be able to stick with it.
Okay, so the main character(one of them, at least) is a high-school girl, maybe freshman or softmore. She’s in some honors classes, has a group of friends, but she isn’t really popular. Sort of an in-between person. She has an okay life, but she’s been sad for a while for no piticular reason. She doesn’t really show it, she laughs and smiles and keeps it mostly hidden.
She dreams very vivadly, and often she has dreams that don’t seem to be hers. One night she finds herself in a library with endless shelves of dusty books that are all very old and big. There are sort of shadow-people along the edges, but she can’t really tell who/what they are. There are also strangs things around the library, like mirros, glass balls of light, ect. Out of curiosity, she opens a book even though it’s obvios she’s not supposed to(the light-glass shatters, the shadow people become frenzied) but she doesn’t notice. She pulls down a large red book, and opens it up. Imedatly she drops it and the pages start turing wildly, so forcefully they rip out and spiral up untill they take on the shape of a paper man.
This is our second character, Omniscient. He knows all the stories that ever were; he is them even. In all, he is the omniscient narrator(3rd person, also called God’s eye view) who know what everyone is thinking/planing. It all became to much for him, all their stories being etched into his paper-skin and replaying themselves over and over again untill he becomes so miserable he shuts himself up in a book for eteriity in the library, which is really a catalog for all the dreams(including a restricted section- for nightmares). Somewhere durring all this, Omniscient has lost track of his own story and doesn’t know who he is anymore, or even how he became a paper-man.
So he ends up being set free by the girl(I havn’t got a name for her yet), and is very upset because no one is supposed to be able to get into the library except the Librarians(shadow-people). Someone broke in and took omthing, so they have to try to fnd out what and why.
…And that’s all I’ve got so far. It’ll probably have something to do with nightmares being stolen and unleashed or alonf g those lines.
What do you think? Is it doable? Please respond.
I’ve found Kiki. Her username is very similar to her blog name. She’s on my buddy list, and when you see her it shall be obvious.
85 (JS)- It’s doable. Critiquing ideas is against my principles as a writer, since it’s the execution and not the premise that matters in the end. But it does sound interesting.
85- Verree doable. As a matter of fact, I love it!
85 – Very doable. I love coming up with names. You have to look up what some of the girl’s characteristics are in different languages, and see if you like any of those words for her name. Either that, or just pick a name off of babynames.com or something.
Who has come up wih novel ideas, and what are they?
Am I allowed to post stuff I’m writing even if I’m not on NaNoWriMo? If so, here’s a battle scene I’ve been writing:
The crows were circling. Usually a phenomenon like this would indicate that there would be bloodshed to come, but on this particular day, it meant that fighting was actually going on.
The crows were circling because the battle was taking place on the sea, and you can’t stand on water. So they circled, and waited.
Beneath the crows, two ships were attached to each other by a random combination of thrown grappling hooks. One ship, a merchant vessel from the south, laden with incense, gold and ivory, had been sailing comfortably towards their destination, until they suddenly found themselves being boarded in the middle of the night. The mere fact that they had been boarded was frightening, but that it had been done during the night, when the boarding ship would have had to navigate it’s way through a twisting maze of icebergs and wreckage, would have held them in awe at the seamanship of their opponents had they had time to think about it. As it was, they barely had enough to time for their mercenary army to assume defensive positions along the deck before an onslaught of tall, muscular hairy men wielding giant battleaxes and thin, agile swords was upon them.
The merchant vessel was about to become another of Henkka Mersketäänen’s conquests.
Henkka held his axe steady. His first wave of attackers was already onboard the merchant vessel, and after the mercenaries had recovered from the initial surprise, they managed to hold off the norsemen. Henkka could hear the triumphant cries of his warriors as they died and were sent to Wallhall from the elevated platform of his ship where he was standing. The mercenaries were defending themselves well. Too well. Henkka abandoned the hope of taking the vessel with one fast surprise attack and made a motion to send in the full attack force. He would overwhelm them by sheer numbers.
Henkka turned to his colonel. Jani Rasketenainen was an able strategist and an outstanding swordsman, second only to Henkka himself. Henkka adressed him with an amicable tone. “I’m going with them. You stay here and keep an eye on the ship.” he said. Jani replied with a nod and a smile.
Henkka jumped down and rallied a group of warriors around him. Then, with a cry, he charged across a suspended plank between both vessels. He ran straight towards the fray, with complete disregard for anything else. He was in battle now. He was in his element. No one could beat him now.
A mercenary stepped up to bar his mad run. The man was tall, tanned and muscular. Evidently an experienced fighter. He was armed with the jagged hilt of a broken scimitar in his left hand and with a slim norse blade picked up from a fallen enemy in his other. He grinned at Henkka, made a few feints with his sword, then suddenly threw the scimitar hilt directly at Henkka’s face. Henkka had been expecting it, but instead of dodging, as he could have easily done, he raised his arm and deflected the hilt with his bare skin. The move was not so much an efficient fighting maneuver as a means to intimidate his opponent. It had succeded completely. The mercenary stared at Henkka’s arm, as if expecting it to explode, but nothing happened. Then Henkka moved. He raised his battleaxe and swung at the mercenary. The man knew that if he tried to deflect it with his slim blade, it would shatter like wood. So he attempted to sidestep. It almost worked.
Henkka’s axe missed the mercenary’s head, but came down with full force on the man’s shoulder, seperating his left arm from his body. The mercenary gave a cry of pain and made a thrust at Henkka, whose axe was stuck in the wooden floor. Using the shaft of his axe as a support, he swung around the inaccurate thrust and hit the mercenary full on in the neck. It was a killing blow. The mercenary dropped to the floor.
Henkka screamed a rallying cry and tried to pry his axe from the floor. It came up, and Henkka used the momentum to turn himself around. Kicking away a body, he momentarily survued the scene. The mercenaries were certainly giving a good fight, but it was clear they had no chance. The norsemen were to fast and to strong. Henkka screamed again, and rushed towards the center of the fighting, axe raised high. He decapitated one mercenary, hit another one in the heart, until he accidentaly broke his axe on a slab of granite the merchant vessel had been transporting. Cursing, he dropped the broken remains of his axe and drew two slim swords from his back, then re-entered the fray. A mercenary appeared before him, bringing down a scimitar aimed at his head. Henkka ducked, then raised both swords and sliced his hand off with a clean scissor motion. The man stared, dumbstruck, leaving Henkka ample time to disembowel him.
to be continued…
90 – You can put them on the writing thread:
https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=423
oh well. I wrote it. Took me like 10 minutes. I just wrote it, like that.
92 – you know that you can just swirly-c it and then swirly-v it on to the writing thread really easily…
Would you like any feedback, or not?
I’ve written the prologue of my story. At least, I’ve started it.
NaNo!
I go to an arts high school for writing, and every 9 weeks we have to submit writing to somewhere….I wonder if I can count NaNoWriMo! *smiles hopefully*
i was thinkin of writin somthing it was called “silence of the dawn” but im gonna have trouble because i am a major procrostinator
89 (ATC)- I have. It’s a Museblog terroist dystopia, or at least that’s what I’m calling it.
95 (PP)- That sounds really, really awesome. If my own high school were any less awesome, I’d totally stalk you to find out where you go. Even though it’s in a different state.
Alright, well not only does this have to do with writing, it has to do with muse. I have to write a gothic story for school. There needs to be an innocent character, a creepy setting that character goes to, a secret, people that know the secret, and a point where the innocent guy finds out the secret. Bonus points for romance. I want to set it in the catacombs under paris, and include things about cataphiles. (muse part!) Any ideas?
yes, I would appreciate some feedback.
Writing! I love to write. Someday I will be an author… But I am having trouble sticking with a plot…
97 (Penty) – yes. It’s an awesome high school. We write for 4 hours every day. (That makes our school day much longer, but it’s worth it). It is also really hard to get in. There are only 11 people in writing this year, and 4 of them were automatically accepted from the arts middle school. There were 99 people who auditioned for writing, and 7 got in.
Prologue
DEKRANE. Lesoa System. Galaxy Andromeda. Year 243 NC.
General!†shouted soldier Marz Kon. “That laser cannon just wounded half of our remaining soldiers!! He pointed to a large cannon halfway across the field.
“Well, do something about it!†yelled General Vae.
“Our energy guns are out of power!†yelled Kon in reply over the booming of the Dekrockan’s cannon.
“Here!†General Vae threw Kon an energy pack.
“Thanks!†said Kon as he passed out the bulbs inside to the other soldiers.
____
Well thats the beginning of my prologue. Tell me if you like it.
102: I assume you want a frank opinion. I think it’s way to cliché. And it’s sorta unrealistic. The soldier doesn’t even adress the general as sir. Now that’s not going to happen. Also, I’d lose some of the direct dialogue. I also assume that if the general’s standing within shouting distance of the soldier I imagine he’d be aware of the losing situation.
Penty – Hmmm, my NaNo-novel kind of sounds like that, with the terrorist dystopia bit. No Museblog, though!
103 – How can you tell it’s cliche from a single paragraph? That sounds a bit rough to me, especially as
102-I like the names. But wouldn’t the General realize what was going on? You establish character v. early, and that’s good, though.
FS – I have a bunch of feedback. Here’s what I can find:
“on this particular day”
“the fighting was actually going on.”
“you can’t stand on water.” Well, of course. Find a different way to say it.
“circled, and waited.”
“attached”
“Random combination”
Those are all things that don’t sound right to me. I’ll give you the rest of the feedback when I’m not as tired.
Hello everybody!
Panda has a lot of energy!
But not much to say…
How is everyone’s plot-thinking coming along?
103- Thank you for the advice. Number one, it’s on another planet. Number two, the General is occupied with other stuff, like bayonets heading for his head. And number three, I’m only eleven.
105- As I said, bayonets are headed for his head, so he’s a bit preoccupied.
108- Thank goodness there are some other middle-schoolers on this blog. I was beginning to think that I was the youngest.
108 – don’t use your age as an excuse. you’re writing isn’t bad, you shouldn’t have to make excuses for it.
109 – it would be interesting to find the average age for a Museblogger.
110 (Zallie)- I think it’s somewhere around thirteen, but that’s just a guess. I’m fourteen, though I forget sometimes.
102 (kiki)- FS is probably wrong about the cliché part, but I do agree on the military terms of respect, although maybe they have differnt customs in Andromeda. I’d definitely like to read more and give you a better critique, if you want it.
110- you up to the task? I’m 16
107) I received my plot in a dream……….
0.o
(See dreams thread to understand)
I’d love to do this, but I am feeling a little intimidated by all the time it takes up. *grins* I think I’ll try. Is it too late to sign up?
114- I don’t think so. You should do it!
(114), from the NaNo FAQ:
When is the cut-off date for sign-ups?
11:59:59 pm GMT, November 30, 2006 (hope springs eternal).
112 – hah, alright. I’ll make a post about it in the random thread.
107-I got absentminded and then made up and wrote out my plot on a shopping list instead of the word ‘Toothpaste.’ Kenny and Mark are now going to be spies in the notorious Rings of Vardingasseur. Meanwhile, trouble in the Nirflatooian headquarters makes them antsy as Mark learns to talk and Kenny falls in love. Will our heroes be sacrificial chopped liver for the enemy, or will Mark start to speak and Kenny get his girl? Find out soon!
108-It’s hard to tell from four lines, though. No offense meant-I liked it a lot. I would definitely want to read on from that.
114-Do it! I am.
Title: Emu-Tastic: The Team Emu Novel
Genre: Absurdist Comedic Science Fiction
Synopsis:
While the Emu is repaired and updated, Zycrozark gives his top battle people assignments as spies in the Rings of Vardingasseur. Mark decides to learn how to speak while Kenny falls like a ton of bricks-in fiery, devoted, eloquent, sincere, desperate, and totally spurned love. While out for a drink, the duo accidentally make themselves the centerpieces in a plot to assassinate two very important figures in the Nirflatoo-themselves. If they succeed, they’re dead. If they don’t, they’ll be sacrificed to the vicious God of Vardingasseur, who may or may not be Kenny’s half-brother. Will Mark speak or forever hold his peace? Will Kenny get his girl? How do you spell Vardingasseur? Can Mark and Kenny make it out of their first spy assignment alive, or will they tragically succeed in that plot to shoot themselves? Find out December 1st, when Queenie’s first Team Emu novel is finished and she finds out where the plot went.
How does it sound to you? It’s classic TE, just so you know…
114 – DO IT! Even if you don’t win, you’ll likely have gotten further than most other people do with their stories.
…age…16…
gah! snow is so cold! This has nothing to do with NaNo, but maybe I’ll have one of my characters discuss how cold snow is. brr!
I signed up! Yay!!!
98-Catacombs are good. How about having the innocent guy’s name be something weird? Oh, and put in black candles and amethyst. That’s always cool.
I’m going to try to get into a Magnet school. Wish me luck.
Sorry in advance for not reading any posts before posting. I’m trying to write a novel about five friends who love math and start a math team. I’ve got about a chapter done. I don’t think I’ll finish it by November’s end, though. In the newest Wired, there’s a section of six word stories. I will now write one for NaNoWriMo, because you’re supposed to write a 50000 word novel for it, I think.
“Genetically perfect human” isn’t. Commits suicide.
It’s a depressing 2 sentences, but the idea was originally for a short story, and this ends faster. If someone wants to write story with that plot, feel free.
I guess mine aren’t technically for NaNo WriMo, because I started it now, but I’m not officially doing it, just watching hardcore writers and having fun. Sorry for double posting.
New announcement:
All Musers should put ‘KOKOPELLI FOR PRESIDENT’ in their signatures. We’ll recognize each other that way. If you see someone with the tag, Nanomail them the message ‘Hot pink bunnies, key lime pie.’ If they are a Museblogger, they’ll email back ‘Toothpaste from the middle of the tube.’ Then you reveal your Museblogger identity and that of the other Musebloggers whose accounts you’ve found.
No, there’s no need to be so intense. But it’s cool. Got it?
‘KOKOPELLI FOR PRESIDENT’
‘Hot pink bunnies, key lime pie.’
‘Toothpaste from the middle of the tube.’
126 (Queenie J)- Got it.
Title (tentative): Dreamlandscape
Genre: Museblog Terrorist Dystopia
Synopsis: Isabel Svenson, known on the blog Ember as ‘Lizz’, is living in a war zone. Her home city has been taken over, bombed, blockaded, and then bombed again just for the heck of it. Many of her friends in real life are dying, and she turns increasingly to her life on the Internet for support. Her closest friends there have no idea what she’s going through, but when she lets slip where she lives, they’re horrified. Led by the creative, calm Karen and vocal Lynn, a few teenagers from all over the country now have a personal stake in a war they never thought would come to them.
REMINDER: All novels written for NaNo MUST be started on Nov. 1st and finished before the month ends. Starting a novel in Oct. is cheating, as is using one you’ve already been working on. It’s called National Novel Writing MONTH for a reason, dears!
Cheers,
Zallie
& Penty – your story sounds really sweet. I like it.
ADDITION TO ZALLIE’S COMMENT:
Although you can’t start writing in October, you can think of ideas for your plot, characters, etc.
Happy writing!
126- Kapish.
Title: The Warrior’s Daughters
Genre: Fantasy War
Plot: On the planet Dekrane, Cayli and Vera are the twin daughters of Soran Vae, the general of the battalion that won the last war. On their thirteenth birthday, their father sends them out into the world to join the army. In the City Camroar, they are separated. Cayli joins the Battalion of Risho’en, but Vera gets lost and wanders into the Vornaen Army headquarters. She joins, being promised power and weapons. But what she doesn’t realize is that she has joined the ranks of the Dekrockans (bad dudes). A year passes, and Cayli and Vera still haven’t been able to contact each other. Suddenly, the Dekrockans try to take control of Dekrane’s moon, Vorna. Both the Battalion of Risho’en and the Vornaen Army are called to a battlefield many miles away. They both start out, but Risho’en is caught by Dekrockans eager to prevent the Dekranians from winning. They are trapped in a crumbling fortress and hung by their wrists in a dungeon. Cayli is very suspicious of the woman bringing them their measly food and water. Finally after five days, the Battalion escapes. Only a few minutes into the woods, Cayli realizes who the woman was. It was her mother! She runs back to help her mom escape, and tells the Battalion that she’ll meet them at the battlefield.
That’s as far as I’ve gotten concerning the plot, but I know at the end, this will happen:
Finally, Cayli reaches the battlefield. The battle is raging, and it seems that the Deckrockans are winning. She runs into the center of the battle, and sees- her sister. She almost faints, and calls out, “Vera!” Vera doesn’t look up, and Cayli realizes Vera is about to kill Cayli’s best friend, Li. In a moment of panic, Cayli calls out, “Vera! I know where our mother is!”
And Vera drops Li and looks up. Cue Chariots of Fire music and slo-mo realization moment
127-Looks fabulous, but please don’t make it Mary Sue-ish. Please.
130-That sounds like an amazing book. I can play ‘Chariots of Fire’ on the harmonica, by the way.
hey, Penty, are you still accepting characters for your book thingy?
(and also, why do I still want to call you RRF? How long has it been since you used that name?)
Only a few more days, Musers! I’m so excited!
ONE DAY!!
I can’t wait!
I went to my region’s kickoff party! It was a blast! did anyone else go to any kickoff parties?
Tomorrow I can start writing! W00t! Uh-oh….
It’s All NaNo’s Eve, and last I checked there were nearly twenty of you poised and ready to write.
May your sleep be refreshing, your fingers nimble;
May nourishment be plentiful and your word count high.
And if not, well, have fun, anyway.
two minutes!!! there are like 100 people in the chat room! Exciting times!!! Plus i’ve had lots of sugar! Whee! And i’m totally gonna get 100 words before weisman. BRING IT!!!
158 words at 12:03. Hopefully i beat him. Now i’m going to bed. XD
Grargh. Jealousy. Your 12:00 is earlier than mine.
I already wrote some of my story, too. Now waiting for 12:00 Midnight on neopets to get the sidebar. Only a few minutes to go! w00tness! must be quiet parentals and grandparentals who are really light sleepers think I am asleep. eekers.
140 – you’re not supposed to write any of it before Nov…..
& eeeee! I just got home from school, so i now I can start writing!
141) I didn’t. Neopets 12:00 is an hour after my 12:00. It said, “local time”
He beat me by a minute. Oh well.
Doing 1667 words is a lot easier than i thought it would be! Plus i actually have some idea where my story’s going now! I seriously didn’t have a plot until like two seconds before i started writing. Actually, i didn’t really have a plot until after i started writing, to be completely honest. whee for nano!
dont expect me to write anything. it will suck.
especially since the mary sue test confirmed what i have always suspected — that i cannot write decent characters.
Not yet, maybe, but you’ve got plenty of time to learn. Just keep reading, writing, and thinking.
I don’t have Word on my computer, or any other type of thingymajig, so I’m going to type it up here. That way, I can immediately get feedback, and I have a place to write it! – I hope that’s okay…
Okay…here’s an idea of an idea, and I’ll just start writing:
It was a dark and stormy night.To be, or not to be?It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.None of those seem to be working…so I’ll have to make up my own.
(joking):
Prologue
Sharp, loud, and clear noises filled the night. Silvio could usually sleep through any noise, but this was so unusual that even he couldn’t sleep. What was happening?
He tottered over to a bush, the perfect bush for spying on dragons and other things. What he saw was devastating.
((What would be a better word for that? I have no idea…but I know that devastating makes no sense.))
Huge black and silver animals the size of a two male Chags
((chag=a slug-like animal a foot long for the females, and two feet long for the males, usually. They can morph into any shape, but they’re always white with an orange stripe (like Chad’s outfit thingy).)
were being held by much stranger creatures. And they were cutting trees down and trapping his mother! He wished he could do something. But there was nothing that he could do. It was too late, and he couldn’t be seen. All he knew was that he had to tell everyone in the jungle about this, and tell them soon. If too many drakes and dragons were trapped, there would be none left! He had to save dragonkind. But all he could do was tell them what had happened; he couldn’t even fly, and none of his ideas were very good. He started running as fast as he could to Kiana’s den. Kiana was the medicine drake. She would be a good dragon to tell, because she had a contact system to tell other dragons.
When he reached her house, the door was covered in tree trunks. He could barely find her door to knock. When he did, no one answered. “Kiana? Kiana! I need your help! Kiiiaaannnaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!” he pushed the door open, and he found Kiana lying on the floor, her beautiful Tangti tree over her. She was barely breathing. “Silvio… help… save others… breathe my… breath… sleep…don’t die… Silvio… find… Shining… Rock……..” and she fell silent. The legendary Shining Rock? No drake had ever found it since the ancient times! What was she talking about?
He breathed her breath, as she had told him, and he found himself getting sleepier and sleepier….
147) Interesting….. But good! I mean interesting in a good way, an awed way!
Now, I shall put a bit of my story up, even though it is on my NaNoWriMo thing.
“Just a second,†I said, “You mean that you fell over an extra pair of overalls, landing into a pot of gravy?â€
I was talking to my best friend Myla. Well, my only friend. Myla was slave on the island on which I lived.
But, then, you don’t know where that island is, and you don’t know anything about the Mrelerpian way of life. So, I will tell you.
I lived on the island of Mrelerp, and my name was Kayla. Kayla Kyrth, to be exact. On this island of Mrelerp, there were four ranks of people. The king, the Island Leaders, the peasants, and the slaves. No one talked to the slaves unless they were giving orders – The king commanded it. Or at least, the Island Leaders said he commanded it. I was a peasant. And Myla was a slave. (As I have said before, conversing with a slave was strictly taboo-if I was caught, I would be banished from the island, sent out in an old canoe onto the Never Ending Sea)
According to these levels, you were assigned food and pans of water, which were collected by the slaves and given to the people, the food was to be eaten throughout the day, and the pans of water would be carried around (The richer peasants and Island Leaders had specially made ones that could be carried on their backs) and sipped from throughout the day, using the water to splash on a hot, tired face. The king and the Island Leaders were constantly given fresh food, while peasants got stale and bruised food, and slaves were rewarded for their hard work with pans of muddy water and bowls of rotten fruit, moldy bread, and stinking fish.
There was a law that no one was to go to the side of the island where the freshwater lake, our source of clean water, ended. The island leaders had said that the other side of the island was of the dead. It was known as Dead Island, and was considered not part of our land.
It was also a law that no one was to tell stories, of any kind. Not dreams, not what happened to them that day, not history, and CERTAINLY not myths, legends, or religious stories. Though this felt kind of ironic, because of the Island Leaders’ story of the Dead Island.
Yet, despite all this, we were happy. I suppose it is because we were ignorant, but then, at the risk of sounding cliche, ignorance is bliss. The slaves whistled as they drudged through their daily work, the peasants smiled as they did their chores and worked in the village, and the Island Leaders simply glowed as they sent new decrees from the king to his people.
Nobody (besides the Island Leaders) had ever really seen the king before, but we imagined him to be old, kindly, and twinkly-eyed, as he was like the grandfather of the town, and that’s how our grandfathers were.
I have more, but the GAPAS would get mad at me if I posted all 2000-something words I have so far (Yay! 2000-something words!)
I only have 500-somthing words! I’m FAR behind! EEEEEEKKKK!
purplefinch (149), that puts you 500-something words ahead of the tens of thousands who haven’t written word one.
I’m at 594.
148 – Things that didn’t make sense:
“My name was Kayla.” “Was”? Isn’t it still?
“to be exact.” That doesn’t quite fit, I think. Is there another way to say that?
Here’s some more:
Silvio woke up years later surrounded by, well, nothing. There’s no way to describe it. He was surrounded by nothing. Nothing was there. No rocks, almost no ground. At least, that’s what he thought. Until he looked up.
Dragons! Lots of them! Well, not lots. Only three. But for dragons, that was a lot. Dragons were single creatures, flying alone. To see more than one at a time was rare. Actually, dragons tried very hard not to be seen at all. So when Silvio saw three dragons circling around the exact spot where he was, he was a bit surprised.
He recognized one dragon of the three: Krade, the brave blue and red drake. The others were spotted purple and black females. He guessed they were twins.
Twins were extremely rare for dragons, for one egg is only laid every century, and half of the time they don’t survive. An egg is hard to lay, and even harder to keep healthy. Some dragons are too impatient to stick with their brades ((baby dragons; spelling “drake” but switching the k and the r and putting a “b” instead of the k to signify “baby”)) for enough time, and those brades don’t survive. Twins stuck together for their immortal lifetimes, for they knew from birth that they needed each other to survive.
I’m going to take a break for a few minutes. That’s quite difficult!
149- that’s okay. finishing isn’t required. I’m behind too!
Ok, THF wants me to put my story up. Why not. This is what i’ve got so far…
All across the Universe, a series of seemingly random and completely unconnected events was taking place. Sometimes there were connections, sometimes not. Sometimes things just happened, sometimes people made them happen. Across the Universe, Life was happening. Just a few examples are below.
In a galaxy far, far away, a husband and wife team of explorers was savagely murdered by unknown beasts on an uncharted planet.
Not far away from this galaxy far, far away, a girl woke up from a terrible nightmare.
On another galaxy, far, far away from both my galaxy and yours and the girl’s and the explorers’, a Wizard sat deep in thought, examining a puddle. He had just stepped in the puddle and unfortunately gotten his socks wet. He was not having a vision. His story would probably be much more interesting if he had been. Wet socks are not very pleasant, and a vision would have been something to take his mind off them.
And in yet another galaxy, (for there are an abundance of galaxies in the Universe, too many for us weak mortals to even begin to fathom), a girl sat at her computer, typing. Unlike the wizard, she was having a vision. She was having several visions, in fact. Visions from distant galaxies like the ones discussed above swirled through her head and ran down her fingers into the keyboards. She typed with superhuman speed, partly because she was not actually a human. Her body was humanoid, but the eye in the back of her head and her extra fingers prevented casual observers from classifying her as a human. Not that any casual observers would. Humans were something of a rarity in those parts. In fact, they did not exist there. If a human walked in, these so-called “aliens†would point and say, “Look! It is one of our own species! Must have been in a war, he/she has lost an eye and several fingers. Poor thing.â€
The small clicks that had filled the silent room stopped suddenly and abruptly. The girl leaned in and said quietly to her computer, “Print.†The computer obliged, spewing out sheets of a substance that was similar to paper, but slightly thinner and a bit more rubbery. The girl flipped through the pages.
“Poor wizard,†she muttered to herself sympathetically, eyes resting on the last part of the page. “Wet socks suck†She moved back through the pile, and stopped when she got to the explorers. A little farther down the page was the girl with the nightmare. Her eyes went back and forth between the two events. Then she shut her eyes. “Aha,†she said triumphantly, and vanished. This could be it.
********************
“How’s my evil cackle?†the masked and hooded man asked. He was dressed all in black, and looking quite mysterious. Or was trying to, anyway. He squinted at himself in the mirror and carefully lowered his hood to cast a bit more shadow over his eyes.
“You won’t be able to see with your hood that low,†a large, matronly looking woman said, bustling over and pulling it firmly up. “There you go. I washed your lucky black socks. Here you are, dear,â€
“I do wish you wouldn’t be so pragmatic all the time, Nanny,†the man said irritably. He was quite young, about sixteen or so. “It completely ruins the atmosphere I’m trying to set!†He then attempted to pull his sock on, and promptly fell over into the laundry basket.
“Oh deary me!†Nanny exclaimed. “Are you alright? So clumsy. You always were clumsy.â€
“Nanny,†the young man said firmly, looking pained. “Shouldn’t you go bring the others their socks and suchlike?â€
“Ah, but the others aren’t going out on their first real assignment!†Nanny said, waggling her finger at the boy. “Still, I suppose you’re right. Mustn’t keep them waiting.†She picked up the laundry and moved towards the door. Halfway out, she paused and turned around. “You will be careful though, won’t you? You won’t get caught? Promise your old Nanny that,â€
The young man rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes,†he said impatiently. “I’ll be careful. It’s not a difficult assignment. It sounds easier than some of the practice runs I’ve done.â€
“Don’t be so sure!†Nanny said ominously. “Practice runs are quite different! This is for real, remember!â€
“I know,†he said, waving her out. “Goodbye Nanny!â€
“Goodbye,†she said, wiping away a tear as she walked down the hall. “Ach, they grow up so fast…†She trailed off and walked into another room.
Left alone at last, the young man sighed and pulled his hood back down, examining it again for effect. “Good enough,†he muttered, and jumped out the window.
He managed to grab the branches of a tree as they went by, and carefully lowered himself into a bush. He sneaked around a corner and up the fire escape. Pausing by a third-story window, he began disabling various alarms and booby traps that were practically invisible to the inexperienced. After he undid the usual alarms, he paused. Something wasn’t right. He stared at the old, worn, dull red bricks of the building carefully, looking for something abnormal, something new. He found it. Another alarm system, quite simple, but so cleverly disguised it was almost impossible to see. Fortunately, the man in black’s eyes were extremely sharp and penetrating. He disabled the simple alarm and, at last, satisfied that there was nothing else, crept through the window.
“Well done,†a deep voice boomed out from behind a huge, billowing robe. “I do believe you are ready.†The robe was seated at a large, polished wooden desk with its slender, black-gloved hands folded carefully in front of it. A sign behind it proclaimed in shiny golden letters, Lair of Evil – Fantasy and Science Fiction Bad Guys Training Center – Kidnapping Division.
The young kidnapper bowed deeply and nervously. “Master,†he said reverently. “I am ready indeed.â€
The Master who was apparently inside the robe nodded gravely. “Good,†he said. “But don’t get overconfident. You received all the necessary information, is that correct?â€
The younger man nodded. “That is indeed correct, Master. The task does not seem to be that difficult. I shall succeed and report back to you shortly.â€
The Master sighed at this. “Young man, you are the most skilled kidnapper to pass through this school in years. You have beaten every test, you have risen to every challenge. You have my full confidence. Yet you are still not a fully fledged Kidnapper. You have a long way to go before you can fully understand the profession. There is more to kidnapping than climbing in and out of highly secured areas. Beware of forming relationships with your victims. This is the kidnapper’s weakest area. Assassins and Evil Plotters and other such people have it easier than we do. They rarely meet people that are not dead or about to die. You will have to remain aloof. That is where you are most likely to fail. You make friends easily and well. I sometimes wonder if perhaps another profession might have been better.â€
“The idea of killing people repels me, Master,†the young man said, shuddering.
“And driving them towards certain death does not?†the Master replied. Looking carefully through the folds and shadows of his deep hood, the kidnapper thought he could just barely make out an amused twinkle in the old man’s eye. He took a deep breath to begin protesting, but the Master held up a hand.
“Never mind about that,†he said. “Perhaps I should not have mentioned it. Just do the job, and do it well. Confidence is key, but overconfidence will bring about certain failure. Find a happy medium. If you succeed, you shall, as you well know, be given a new name and inducted as a full time, professional kidnapper. Good hunting,†The Master leaned forward and pushed a barely visible knot in the wood of the desk. A square section of the floor dropped away, carrying the kidnapper with it through the intricate network of tunnels underneath the floors and around the walls out to the teleportation office. The Master leaned back and sighed. “Good man,†he muttered, and waited for the next student to finish disabling his alarm systems.
*************************
Iris yawned and stretched. A beam of bright, piercing sunlight streamed in through the window and hit her right in the eyes. She sat up and looked around the room. The small boy on the other side of the room was awake. “Hello David,†she called to her little brother. “I had such a strange dream last night…†She paused, remembering. It had been so vivid. However, she didn’t have much time to think about it, and when it came down to it, she wasn’t sure she wanted to.
David stood up, yawning. He was short and scrawny, with tousled light brown hair and an abundance of freckles. “I’m hungry, Iris,†he said, pouting. “Let’s go eat.â€
Iris smiled. “I’m hungry too,†she said. “Let’s go,†She led the way into the kitchen.
The house Iris and David lived in was small and cramped. They were unused to such tight quarters, but they made the best of it. They were living at a friend’s summer cabin because their parents were famous explorers, and were off on an expedition. The cabin offered more safety precautions that their house did. Besides, almost everybody around knew where their house was. Very few people knew that the *** children were staying in a cabin for the winter, and only four people knew the location. Or so they thought. In reality, the secret of the children’s location had been revealed long ago. Their lives were in danger.
Iris and David had no idea of the impending doom fast approaching, and so they had lived quite happily in the cabin for a month now, assuming that they were perfectly safe. They had an excellent breakfast, and watched a movie for most of the morning.
Iris was fifteen, with long, very dark brown hair. She was short and had large grey eyes and excellent hearing. Her eyesight was less than perfect, so to remedy this she wore small, nondescript glasses. She was practical and more than capable of taking care of her little brother over the summer, although he could be quite troublesome.
David was a mischievous ten-year-old with light brown eyes that twinkled brightly when he was amused. His hair was the same light brown colour, as were his freckles. He seemed to have a boundless store of energy, and had a habit of getting into dangerous situations. He was always getting bored and wandering off searching for an adventure, usually following which his long-suffering sister would have to drag him back and bandage him up amidst his feeble protests that, “it didn’t hurt that much, reallyâ€
The two siblings did bicker occasionally, but generally got on well enough with each other. They had to, being so isolated from other children their age. They were home schooled and often on their own a lot. Their parents frequently went away for months at a time, exploring and mapping uncharted planets.
David and Iris were happy. They felt safe and secure in their isolated cabin. They were in their own little world, a world of comfort, and a world without worry, anxiety, or stress. Then one day, that world was shattered. A black shadow slipped noiselessly into their lives, disfiguring the beauty and innocence of youth. A black shadow named Montgomery.
**********************
Montgomery scratched absentmindedly at his new black socks as he tried to figure out where he was. There had been a class called Finding The Target in his first year, but it had been at a much closer range. Highways were something they had never learned. He had found a wide, gaping hole in the education of a kidnapper. He reminded himself to mention this to the Master if he ever found his way back. Is this my turn here? he wondered desperately. Well it is now, he decided, and spun the wheel sharply. He was driving a car. He didn’t know what type, make, year or whatever, and he didn’t particularly care either. It was a small, white car with
and i realize i broke off in midsentence. What can i say, the page loaded before i could say something else about the white car. Ooooh, cliffie. Because i know you’re all desperate to know about the white car. XD
Oh, and the random stars are random sections that i randomly sectioned off with stars because i felt like it. Should they be chapters or something? Whatever. It doesn’t really matter.
I love it, Ebeth! I especially like two things; the contrasts in the beinning and the descriptions of the different weaknesses and stuff. It’s a really good idea. I like it a lot.
151) Of course it makes sense! “My name was Kayla,” as in, is no longer.
Basically something will happen at the end of the story that makes everything different. So that Kayla will probably have a totally different name, along with Myla and all the other characters.
(Kayla’s brother has a dog named Koko–in honor to Kokopelli, of course, but I didn’t write that in the thing.)
151) And, “to be exact” I likeys. To be exact, I like the allusion it is to. I have a lot of impossible to know allusions in there, that only I know. They are really hidden and don’t have anything to do with the plot line.
Yay! NaNo has begun! (Yes, I know. My outburst of excitement is coming a bit late to the blog…)
I have about 5,000 now. I think that’s about where I should be now.
I got a NaNo wallpaper for my computer! Tis very froody.
Gah. I’m only at 1,157 words. Grrr.
159) But your beginning is awesome. I read it.
Yes, I am still up. Working on NaNoWriMo, no less. I AM OVER 5000 WORDS!!!! YAAAAAY!!!!!!
Maniac writing will commence tomorrow. I should probably go to sleep so I will have time.
But I have so much good stuff in my head right now, and every time I write down that stuff, I get more!! It’s like the opposite of Writer’s Block!
I’m going to do the majority of my writing on the weekends, because I have so much more time then.
150+152-That makes me feel better. And now I can write pages of words over the weekend! *hopes*
Ach!!!! I’m like 3000 words behind. *dies* already!
Don’t get discouraged! If you’re shooting for 50,000 words, then everybody on the blog is 45,000 to 50,000 words behind that.
I’m shooting for 10,000. My last novel(la) was nine thousand and something words, so I’m aiming for 10,000 this time. Currently I have exactly 1,000 words. And that’s the prologue, two starts, and Chapter 1. The “starts” introduce the two main characters at an early age. I also posted an exerpt(sp?).
An anagram for “Nanowrimo” is:
A Minor Won
Whoa, does that mean me?
(163) Ebeth, you’re ahead of me right now by about 800 words — and I’m pretty much where I was last year. In fact, last year I stayed stuck in low gear the entire first week and well into the second. Then I read a bunch of James Joyce at random. Writing a few pages of overblown ersatz Joyce set me free, though it took me until November 19th to catch up on the word count.
At the moment, my only goal is to get something written every day, even if only a few paragraphs. When I’m stuck I most often write an extended monologue in the voice of one of the characters. Or I write whatever scene comes to mind even if it’s way out of sequence. Imagine you’re blogging, if it helps.
Just don’t go back and edit anything. That’s a job for another day. Pretend you’ve already made the changes and keep going.
“The first law of exuberant imperfection is essentially this: The quickest, easiest way to produce something beautiful and lasting is to risk making something horribly crappy.”
— Chris Baty, founder of NaNoWriMo
Aww *hugs GAPAs* tankers. I think i’m catching up…i’m only like 2000 behind now. XD
LB, don’t worry about me editing. We hates it precious. Actually, editing other people’s stuff is fun, but i hate editing my own. Haven’t done any of that.
Btw, i still haven’t figured out your sn…must stalk…
Ebeth, if you figured out my NaNo name, you’d be a remarkable stalker indeed! Purely by coincidence, the name itself did show up briefly on MB many blog years ago — before I did, in fact.
There’s a Museblog thread on NaNo…
I have 10,278 words so far. I think that means I’m ahead…but I’m not sure.
156 – I’m hoping to put a creature called the Kokobird in my story. Here’s the description I whipped up:
Kokobird
A thin black bird, similar to leprachauns in their size and their love for playing tricks. Their call sounds like a flute sounding.
I can’t find my journal, so I don’t remember exactly what the description was, but that’s basically it.
I have about 2,000 words. Still behind, but I got about a thousand in just one day. Even if I’m supposed to get more than that, if that’s all I can get, it’s still better than I thought I could do, so good for me. I think it helps to have an interesting story, so that you can really get into it.
I got Word! Yay!
Here’s some more of the story:
Dragons are immortal. They are very hard to kill, because their reflexes are cat-like, they always land on their feet, their scales are like armor, they have both excellent defense and excellent attack methods, and most of them can fly, which makes them a much harder target. The only things that they were usually defeated by are lack of food, and the extremely occasional knight. Dragons are granted immortality by the god of life, Hanykon, who grants it to those that he believes are worthy. There is a legend of one young brade who wasn’t granted immortality, and that is told many a time by a mother dragon to her naughty brade.
Tale of Minestrone Dainson
One day, Hanykon was sleeping in his den when he heard a shout. It was a loud, obnoxious shout, the shout of a young brade hatching. It was Hanykon’s duty to give immortal life to worthy brades after their first few weeks of sample life, used to show personality for all of the gods to decide on what additional traits to give the drake. But this shout wasn’t like the other shouts he had heard. It was extremely loud and piercing, which made it obvious that this was going to be a troublesome, naughty little dragon. Dain had a nasty piece of work on her hands.
The next week went by, showing the gods as well as Dain exactly what kind of trouble the feisty dragon was. Hanykon began thinking about the brade. He was a brave one, but his bravery was only for his tricks, not for his mind. He was a kind and helpful fellow, but only when there was something he wanted. Overall, he was a plain good-for-nothing trickster, with a bit of greed to top it off. All of the gods agreed that this was the worst personality they had ever had to work with, and that every other trickster had had some good trait that they could enhance. There were only a few things they could do to try to set this drake right. And Hanykon had just the idea.
Dain had named her son Minestrone, because everyone in her family was a vegetarian, and a rumor said that a mrade with a name that was a soup would grow to be a kind, loving and hard-working dragon. Of course, the rumor was not true, and Minestrone only grew to be worse and worse as a brade.
Hanykon and the other gods had rested on the conclusion that Hanykon would not grant Minestrone his immortality, and that the other gods would enhance Minestrone’s greed, to show him that greed did not help anything in life, it only made things more difficult. They didn’t realize, however, that for Minestrone was a crafty brade, he could always find a way to satisfy his greed. The only problem for him was his lack of immortality.
Minestrone was crafty, but he wasn’t quite careful enough. He soon became very weak, (for too many injuries from his endeavors) and the only reason he survived was because of his greed. It kept him alive because he “needed more before he died.†The gods had almost wished that he had died, for he was wasting them far too much leisure time trying to figure out what to do with him.
This happened numerous times, each time making Minestrone weaker. For because he was greedy, he kept himself alive, but for the same reason, he made himself weaker. It was a vicious circle. He didn’t understand any of it; he didn’t even know it was happening. So when he died, it was quite a surprise to him and his ghost. But not to his mother. She had been waiting for it to happen for a long time.
Let the story of Minestrone be a lesson to you. He was a bad child, and he didn’t even receive his immortality. You already have, so you are a step ahead of naughty Minestrone. But the gods can always hold you back, and for a dragon, that makes it much, much harder to survive.
The dragons were much closer to him now, and he could almost feel their hot breath, wanting to release the fire that made them who and what they were. But Silvio knew that that wasn’t what they wanted. He knew Krade quite well, and that he was just a bit bored when his breath was so hot. They were so close now that he could count their scales. And before he knew it, they had surrounded Kiana’s old den.
“We thought you were dead!†exclaimed Krade, not even a bit out of breath. He was an excellent flyer. “It wouldn’t be hard, with you being so slow and wingless. No offense, of course. It’s just a simple fact.â€
“You were just lying there, and when we tried to listen to your breath, we couldn’t hear anything. And since you’re heartless – lucky drake, you can’t lose any blood or have a heart attack – we couldn’t listen for a beat. But, wow, are we glad you’re alive!†gasped one of the purple and black females.
“Aisha’s a life detector, and she has amazing eyesight. She could sense that you were moving from miles away, and since she can fly so fast, she got here almost instantly. I’ve never seen flyers like Aisha and Carrie,†added Krade with a smile.
“We’ve been traveling for years. It’s wonderful to have another dragon in our group. We think that we’re the only drakes left. We’ve searched everywhere. Without Krade’s wonderful hunting and fighting abilities, we would never have been able to survive,†said the beautiful twin of Aisha, whom Silvio assumed must be named Carrie.
“Your name is Silvio, right?†asked Aisha. “ Krade has told us about your sense of awareness. He says that you can sense danger from a slank away!â€
“Well,†said Silvio shyly, “it’s more like being lucky, afraid, and clumsy. Krade was there when I tripped over a couple of Chags. After that, I had sort of a concussion, and I saw a troop of Inkangs in my vision. I told Krade, and he sort of thought it was real, and then since he has all of those scenting and seeing machines in his body and stuff, he saw a troop of Inkangs. See? I’m not talented, these things just sort of happen.â€
“Wait – You had a vision?†interrupted Carrie. “Now that’s amazing. Dragons who can see signs from the gods are amazing, and very, very rare. Has this happened more than once?â€
Silvio didn’t like all of the attention. He felt like a bug under a Kookmanick. “No, not really,†he said, knowing that it was a lie. He had lots of visions, especially at night. “I just got hit in the head. Maybe the dreams were meant to be sent to another dragon, but I intercepted them when I slipped.â€
Carrie opened her mouth to speak, but Aisha interrupted before she could start.
“Dreams? So you have had more than one!†she said. “Oh, sorry Carrie, were you going to say something?â€
“Yes…but I can say it now. Listen, Silvio. I know that you want us to just stop asking you these things, but there are some things you need to understand first, and then I want to ask you some questions. One thing is that I’m a sort of a psychic. I’m not very talented, and I don’t particularly like looking into people’s thoughts, but I picked up a very strong thought from you. You’ve had many visions. The other thing is that you should be proud of your talent, and not back away from them. It would be a good idea to tell me about the dreams, I think.â€
“No! If you can read my mind, then you can just do it! Why do you have to torture me like this??? You know enough already. Maybe I am one of those rare beings. But I don’t want to be considered a rare species of dragon, and be put in a museum after I die. I don’t want to die! I won’t die! Stop being so mean to me!†Silvio wailed. He began to crumble. He was smaller and bigger, collapsing as if he had no bones, and then going rigid as if that were all he was made of. He tried to stop, but when he was really upset, he could do this for days.
Silvio tried to relax. He didn’t like this Carrie one bit. Who did she think she was, asking him personal questions and making him feel like an idiot and a liar? All of a sudden he remembered her psychic abilities, and stopped thinking about her. This was making him very mad. He couldn’t even think without her knowing what he was thinking!
I know it’s kind of a lot, but it’s less than some things. Just read it, please.
Did you know that one of the characters in my book’s name is an anagram of the name of one of my friends? Joramhir Onsar is an anagram for my friend Jarom (insert last name here). Pretty cool! I didn’t even mean to at the beginning, and then I realized Joramhir’s first name had the name Jarom in it, and three of the letters in his last name. So I turned it into an anagram of the name. I love hidden allusions.
Hello Musers!
Just checking in from my wild NaNo travels.
I’m a little less than a thousand away from 10k now, so I’ll try to hit the big 1-0 tonight. Somwhere in the past few days, I decided that I’d like to hit 60k instead of 50. I mean, I did 50 last year, so I can do 60 this year, right? So, 60k and a social life outside for writing sounds like a good goad to me. I’m still going strong and I hope the rest of you are too.
-Zal
i’m at 1,818 and hoping to reach 2,000 by the end of today.
MUST…WRITE…MORE…*brainwashes self*…MUST…WRITE…MORE……….gah!
It’s not that bad, actually.
174) I know how you feel. I’m not going to write on Sundays (unless I have a marvelous idea, then I will write that down, but I won’t be typing on that day) and so I feel I have to get more and more done before tonight, so I won’t get behind. I am at almost 7k now, too! Yaaaay!
I think we need a new thread for posts of story bits and then one for a continuation of this one, since NaNoWriMo has started already.
175 – Yeah. That’s a good idea, but I think that I need all the help I can get.
176 – I don’t think so…I think that it should be the same thread, especially since there are only about 180 posts. But maybe a different thread for actual writing snippets and feedback might be good.
Or we could do that on the writing thread.
Aaah, this year’s NaNo-experience has been so much easier than last year. Last year, it was a struggle to write 1667 words a day, this year it’s hard for me to tear myself away from writing to do my homework and cook dinner.
178 – Maybe, but I think that it should be separate if it’s for NaNo. I don’t know why, though, so I suppose it would be fine either way.
Here’s some more – A lot changes, including the entire mood of the story, in this part:
“Why do you need to know this stuff? I can cope fine on my own, thanks! Kiana gave me very clear instructions to find the Shining Rock of Hanykon, and I intend to do that.â€
“Wait – Kiana sent you to find the legendary Shining Rock? Medicine drakes don’t just do that. They work for a long time to decipher what the gods mean when they send them the rare message that basically says, ‘Tell a young dragon to find the Shining Rock. He is ready, and he is strong.’ It is extremely rare to receive either message: the message to the medicine drake or the one to the ‘young dragon.’ She might have decided just to choose the dragon that was there right before she died, but I don’t think so. I think she had just recently figured out whom the gods meant, and she was very lucky to have you come to her house at that time. Believe me, Silvio, you’re something special. The gods think a whole lot of you,†said Aisha. Silvio was sure that it was Carrie by what she had said, but after he thought about it, he realized that they were both just trying to help, and Aisha was better at figuring out some things, and Carrie was better at others.
“But I know that it’s frustrating and annoying for us to suddenly be all over you about your talents. We just want you to realize who you are and to embrace your talents. And if you have to find the Shining Rock, we’ll help you. After all, it’s not an ordinary time,†said Carrie with an angelic smile. All of a sudden she was kind, and helpful. Silvio saw that there was something wrong and artificial about her. Aisha was just kind because she was kind, and she was very smart. But Carrie…STOP THINKING ABOUT HER. Actually, no, I don’t think I will. I don’t care how much she hears what I think of her. She could probably guess in the first place. But she ought to know exactly how I feel about her. There was always something wrong with Carrie.
Now her eyes looked straight at him.
Either she seems like a robot, aiming everything towards him, or she was like a magnet, making sure that wherever he went, whatever he thought about, she knew about. Sometimes she was just too nosy, and sometimes she sounded like a bossy, greedy brade, thinking she knew everything, and trying to learn what wasn’t her business.
She was drilling a hole in his head with her killer black eyes now. It started to hurt. But he kept on throwing insults at her, trying to throw her off.
She was like a —((hornet))—, stinging whenever she pleased, not caring when, how, or what she stung. She was – he knew what she was. She was a stalker. She was a snitch and a scoundrel. She wanted to be the one who detected the one to find the Shining Rock, but if he found it, she would take the credit.
He had figured her out. He thought it would feel good. But instead, he felt like he shouldn’t have said it. He just wanted to confess that he had said something wrong, and – wait a second. She was making him feel like this. He couldn’t give in. He was a strong dragon. And he would find the Shining Rock. No, wait, she was making him think that too. Which thoughts were his, and which thoughts were hers?
Shadowbirds are strange creatures. Sometimes they can hear everything, and sometimes they are so tired they simply copy whatever is around them. They can be big or small. They are crafty little devils, and only the rare shadow is loyal to his master. They speak with their own minds, and sometimes they can pretend to be their master. They have many talents, often similar to their masters’. The Shadowbird of a master named Peter could fly just as easily as his master, and had to be sewn on to Peter in order to listen to him. Silvio thought that Carrie’s Shadowbird had taken over poor kind Carrie, and wanted to take advantage of him, too. There was only one thing he could do. And that was to attack Carrie and her Shadowbird, and make the creature confess. He could sew the Shadowbird right on again, if he had to. Then he would be a hero, and he could find the Shining Rock without any direct obstacles.
There was only one problem with Silvio’s brilliant plan. And that was that he was terrible at attacking, and he didn’t know how to sew. Krade was the attacker, and he supposed that no dragon would be able to sew. But if he could convince Krade to attack the Shadowbird, he would be another step ahead, and then he could find someone who could sew. So he found some bravery and walked up to Krade. “There’s something I need to talk to you about,†he whispered, “Let’s go over to that glade over there.â€
“Okay, Silvio. What is it?â€
When they got to the beautiful fairy glade, with hypnotic silvery light, Silvio began to explain. “I think that Carrie has been attacked by her Shadowbird. Have you noticed the same sort of fake dragon sense?â€
“Well, no,†stuttered Krade, “I haven’t…but I’ll certainly trust you. You’ve had lots of senses that I haven’t.â€
“Well, did you ever learn from your father how to attack and remove Shadowbirds?â€
“I learned how to attack and remove spirits without harming the body the spirit is inhabiting. Is that the sort of thing you meant?â€
“Well, um, is a Shadowbird a spirit?â€
“Of course it is! That’s all it is, really. Once it takes something over, it doesn’t even have a shape of its own!â€
“Could you do that to Carrie’s Shadowbird? I think that’s the only way to free her from its control.â€
“I sure can. But what are you going to do with the Shadowbird once I attack it?â€
“Well,†began Silvio sheepishly, “I was hoping to find the girl that sewed Peter Pan’s Shadowbird on him, and ask her to sew Carrie’s on her.â€
“Ah! What a marvelous idea! Fantastic! When you get the girl, I’ll get started on the removal. How about that?â€
“Well…I can’t fly. How do I get there?â€
“Oh. That problem. Well, humph. I’ll have to think about that one for a while. Would you like Aisha to carry you?â€
“Oh…my goodness. I have no idea. I suppose so. Don’t get attacked by the Shadowbird while we’re gone.â€
Krade smiled. “Very funny, silver wizard.†Silver wizard was his brade nickname. It didn’t use to fit him, but now it seemed to suit him perfectly, with his visions and all. Silvio smiled. “I’ll go find Aisha. Take care, Boo-Brade.†Boo-Brade was Krade’s brade nickname. He liked to scare other brades, but not for real, of course. Krade was a loving brade. But his courage allowed him to say, “Boo!†to many dragons as well as brades. When he got hurt, he would call the bruises and cuts “boo-boos,†because he often got the “boo-boos” pretending to scare other young dragons, and also just because he loved the word “boo.”
Silvio found Aisha very soon after he went looking for her. She was talking to her sister. “Carrie, what’s wrong with you? He’s fine! You’ve been acting strange since we picked him up. Find yourself again! You would never challenge him if he had done that until now…â€
“Aisha! I need to talk to you! Go over to Krade, and I’ll be there in a minute.†Silvio shouted. He casually picked up the remains of Kiana’s medicine supplies and tried to see the reaction of Carrie’s Shadowbird. She did a hiccup-jump, and then it was back to normal. This was definitely a Shadowbird. They adjust to the ways that dragons act, and if the dragons do anything out of the ordinary, they have a sort of spasm. It thought that Silvio wouldn’t need the medicine supplies, even though he might for the trip to Wendy’s house, and he hadn’t shown any interest in them, so it was unexpected for something he “needed†to be medicine supplies. The casualty of his movement probably threw the Shadowbird off, too. Silvio wasn’t good at hiding things. He held the bottles in his handy claw-bottles and walked over to the fairy glade. He loved the silvery light of the fairies. It was his favorite color, for his mother was the same shade of light silver, and she was the most beautiful shining dragon he had ever seen.
By the short time that Silvio had gotten to the fairy glade, Krade had finished telling Aisha what Silvio thought about Carrie’s Shadowbird and what they wanted to do about it. He could hear Aisha’s high and relieved voice saying, “Oh, thank you for telling me this! I had no idea what was wrong with her! She had never acted like that before. I can’t believe I didn’t realize what was happening.
“Oh, hi Silvio. I have agreed to fly you over to Wendy’s house. (Is that what they call their dens?) I have no idea where she lives, and it may take many weeks. But we must find her if we are to find the Shining Rock. I know of no dragon that can sew, and we need to get control over the Shadowbird. How in the forested jungle did Carrie let it take over her like that? And without us noticing, too! If it weren’t for you, Silvio, I’d never have known what had happened, and, well, I would have lived a terrible life thinking a Shadowbird was my sister!â€
“Should we have one night to sleep, or should we leave right away? And what will we tell Carrie’s Shadowbird about why we’re away?†asked Silvio.
“We should leave at midnight tomorrow morning. When it notices that we’re gone, I will say…hmm…what will I say?†pondered Krade.
“Oh, I know!†shouted Aisha after a few minutes of thinking. “He can say that we were off looking for any dragons! We’ll just have to hope that it doesn’t feel like it has to come with us. I know how much it wants to be with Silvio.â€
“Yeah. That’s a great idea, Aisha. So it’s settled. Midnight tonight, Aisha will carry me to find Wendy’s den – I mean house – I mean to find any other dragons. Krade will keep an eye on Carrie’s Shadowbird and try not to move to a different place. He has to be extra careful not to think about what we’re doing, because it’s bound to be suspicious. So Krade, if we take a long time, think about ‘I hope they didn’t get eaten or something,’ and stuff like that. But don’t think, ‘They should have found her by now,’ or it’ll get too suspicious. And we don’t want that. Okay?†said Silvio quickly.
“Okay! Wow, Silvio. I’ve never heard you sound so organized in my life!†joked Krade.
“Very funny, Krade. That makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside.â€
Krade pretended to shield himself with his wings. “Oh, no, not the wrath of Silvio! Anything but that! I’ve never heard the warm and fuzzy defense in years! I thought I was even with you, Silvio! I thought we were friends!â€
“Aww, shut up. That’s enough.†Silvio said.
“I was serious about the organization, though. That was impressive. Organization is something that I never thought of you having. The gods must have given you extra talent for your quest.†Krade added.
“You really were serious? But not about the god stuff. I’m not that organized. Thanks anyway.â€
“All right, guys. Let’s go back to our temporary den. We might want to go to sleep early tonight, Silvio. We’ve got a big day tomorrow. And the day after that. And for many more days, I’m sure. So let’s get to sleep. Krade, you keep an eye on the Shadowbird. I have a feeling it wants to do something to Silvio tonight.â€
I might cut the Peter Pan part, and just have them search for someone who can sew because of the story, but I like it this way. But it really changes the mood, though for better or worse I don’t know.
Maybe thats why I have to right a short story in Language arts. My teacher is evil. She has a whip.It is scary and all leatherish. It is very long. This teacher assigneds so much &@*! homework I want to scream.
I’m taking part, but I don’t have an account.
60,941 = combined word count for MuseBlog NaNo writers (as posted on the NaNo site by about 6:00 this evening — the number includes 19 MBers and one GAPA).
How did you get that number? Does NaNo count by groups? I’m confused…
Sorry for the confusion, Purple Panda. I did phrase that rather awkwardly. Nothing official. I simply looked up individual word counts and added them together.
Rebecca- Which GAPA? You? Can we have your username?
Gah… I’m only at a pathetic 1,802. I need to write a lot more… it’s they typing that really throws me off. I am not a fast typer, but I have gotten faster thanks to MB and such. But still… I wish I could type faster so I could write more.
Woo, together the Musers have written more than one NaNo novel!
Yay!
Whoops, sorry about that last post (and about the double post)…I just read the new rule. One thousand apologies. I was saying ‘yay’ in response to Zallie’s comment where she said that the musers have written more than one NaNo novel.
We should do a group-effort NaNo novel! Maybe on the RRR thread (or we could just take that and submit it). I think that would be fun.
Doesn’t it say somewhere in the rules that they don’t want novels to be writen by more than one person, though? Wouldn’t we be breaking that rule?
Hmm… the oldest RRR is 23,788 words long. Not to bad. I think we could sdd on enough to get it there as a group if we try hard enough. Maybe next year or somthing if they allow it…