Boy I sure update this often. Anywho, I discovered that whilst I was gone NaNoWriMo went through some changes. Awesome changes. They now have what is called Camp NaNoWriMo, which is kind of like Christmas in July... And April. I'm not sure how or when it started, but basically in July and April you try to write a novel. The word count is your choice this time, if 50,000 is too much, then lower it so that you can succeed. If its too low, make it higher. Since it has been two years since I've attempted anything NaNo, I chose 50,000 so I can get back into the swing of things.
Participating was kind of an impulsive decision. I knew that I wanted to do it, but when I learned about It I didn't have a computer that could even function on the website. I still don't, I'm on an iPad right now. I forgot about it until July first when I thought that I should probably check it out and realized that it was indeed awesome and that I should totally do this. Then I realized that it was already July and that I needed to start right then if I was serious about this. Every other time I've done NaNo I've had months or at least weeks to prepare, this time I had nothing. I've been flying by the seat of my pants and its been awesome. Never want to go in it so unprepared again, but for now I'll enjoy it.
At the moment my novel is called Illegal Magic, but that might change as I discover more what its about. So far Caleb, the main dude, has been caught in a trap designed to draw out a persons latent magical power. Also caught in this trap was an elf girl named Tereenya (yes I know that's a silly name, seat of my pants, remember?). In any other part of the world, falling into this trap is an awesome thing, but in Caleb's country, where magic is illegal and strictly punished, it's probably the worst thing that could ever happen. The moment Caleb and Tereenya escape they are on the run, and only manage to survive because Tereenya is an elf and knows how to stay hidden from the humans. Their only hope is to leave the country.
Does anyone else think that this sounds just a little like Final Fantasy 13? That wasn't my intention, but so far it's looking a little bit that way, but only a little. So far I'm at 11,000 words and still going strong. I'll try to remember to update this as this new novel progresses.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
Prompt Number 2
You may or may not remember that a few years ago a friend of mine gave me a prompt to write about a unicorn and cerberus. Well, she gave me another prompt and so I do verily post it.
Prompt: Your character is walking down a bright mountain path when he/she sees something that will change their life forever.
Greg loved to camp out under the stars. His favorite place was on a mountain range near his home that most people feared to go into because of all sorts of stories like it being haunted by the ghost of a child who fell from the top and there being trolls deep in the caves. Gregory had spent the night there several times and had never seen or heard anything spooky to suggest a ghost, and he had personally explored every cave he found and there were never any trolls. There were all sorts of rumors and Greg knew firsthand that most were bogus, and he didn’t believe the rest since nothing had ever happened to him there. Yet still, most believed that there was something wrong with those mountains and that you should stay away from them. It was a long superstition that would persist no matter what Greg did, so he didn’t really try to convince people otherwise. It meant that he could have the whole mountain range to himself.
The morning found him heading back down the path back to his home. As usual it was deserted, but it was unusually bright. The sun was hitting the path in such a way that it was lit up like Greg had never seen. He had been on the path during this time of day before, but he had never seen this. He considered himself supremely lucky to witness what he felt was likely a rare occasion. Only it didn’t stop. It actually got brighter and now it didn’t seem to make sense that the sun was doing it. Greg began to be a little worried. This was not a normal occurrence and suddenly everyone’s superstitions about the mountains began to make more sense.
There was a bright flash and Greg was temporarily blinded. His eyes finally adjusted and it was still bright only now he knew why. There was a figure standing in the air and it seemed like the brightness emanated from it. It was a girl, looking to be in her twenties or so. She was wearing a long white robe and had massive wings which were spread out behind her. Each wing seemed longer than Greg was tall, giving her a massive wingspan. Greg thought that there must be something wrong with eyes, but rubbing them and blinking a lot didn’t change what he saw. There was an angel hovering in front of him.
Her eyes were closed and she was unmoving for a few moments which seemed very long to Greg. Then suddenly her head slunk back and she fell, landing on her back. The bright light diminished considerably and the angel again was unmoving, lying on the ground. It took a while for Greg to gather the courage to get closer to inspect her. It hadn’t occurred to him that she might be hurt, she was an angel after all, were they capable of being hurt? There weren’t any signs that she was hurt, aside from the fact that she had just fallen where she lie.
It got bright again, but not so bright that Greg couldn’t see and right before his eyes the angel’s wings slowly, feather by feather, disappeared. She all at once stopped shining entirely and it seemed awfully dark in comparison even though the sun was out. Now she was just a girl in a robe, which was still very unusual to see out in the mountains. Her breathing, which had been calm only moments before became haggard and her face paled. A blood red spot appeared on her robe and blood started pooling underneath her.
Okay, definitely hurt! Greg didn’t know what to do. This was partly because he didn’t know what was going on. She was hurt and needed help, he had to focus on that and ignore for now her strange appearance. He was too far from home to try and get help for her there. He had bandages and stuff in his pack; he needed to be prepared when camping out in the mountains. He grabbed them and knelt down next to the angel and froze. He would have to remove her robe to see the wound. He might not have hesitated so much if he hadn’t seen her appear the way he did. Doing his best to preserve her modesty, he opened a gap in the robe where the blood was coming from and saw a horrific gash. He almost couldn’t stomach the sight of it. He had seen wounds before, but there was something different about this. A dark smoke rose from it, almost as if it had been previously on fire, but this wasn’t a burn. The wound could have only just appeared, but this looked fetid, as if it had gone untreated for weeks already and the flesh on her stomach was rotting away.
Acting on instinct, Greg grabbed some healing salve that he was told was the best there was and applied it liberally to the wound. He hesitated to touch it, fearing that he might somehow be affected, but he had no choice. He was given this and told to use it sparingly and only in the gravest of emergencies, and Greg could think of no greater emergency. Then he applied bandages and might have gone a little overboard with the amount he used. He was amazed that he angel was even still alive and hoped that she would stay with him. He didn’t know what else to do. He was afraid to pick her up after seeing her wound and didn’t think she would be there when he got back if he ran to get someone.
He was still gripped with indecision when she started coughing. It racked her whole body and Greg was sure that it would kill her. Her eyes opened briefly and when she saw Greg he saw fear momentarily in her eyes, but it was gone quick, replaced with resolve. She managed a single word, “Water.”
Greg didn’t know if angels needed water, but he wasn’t about to ask and grabbed his canteen and held it to her mouth and carefully poured some in. He hoped that it wouldn’t make her cough again.
After she had a drink Greg just sat and waited, almost afraid to ask her anything even though he had so many questions to ask. She just stared up into the sky for a long time until she finally spoke again, “Where am I?”
“You’re in the Nacle mountains,” Greg said.
She didn’t respond and Greg wondered if that meant anything to her. He was about to explain a little bit more but she spoke again, “And who are you?”
“I’m Greg,” he said. “I was just walking down this trail and then you suddenly appeared and you were floating and then you weren’t and then you were bleeding!” Greg said this very fast, his mind going a little manic.
“Did you see?” She asked.
“Um, I saw your wings, if that’s what you mean,” Greg said.
The angel closed her eyes and sighed. “Then you are doomed to the same fate as I.”
That didn’t sound good. Her fate seemed to be dying in a middle of nowhere mountain range. That didn’t sound fun. “What do you mean?” Greg asked.
“Your witness of my true self has drawn you into a war that has gone on for centuries. You know of what I am, and so they will not let you live. You likely don’t have much time until they come to make sure that I am dead. At that time they will kill us both. It is too late to run, they will sense that you were here and track you down,’ the angel said.
She said it in very ragged breath and it took her a while to say it all. Greg didn’t know who ‘they’ were, but he didn’t want to find out, though it seemed like he had no choice. Running seemed to be pointless, so instead, “How long do we have?”
“Are you not going to run away?” the angel asked.
“You just said that it would be pointless, and there is no way I can leave you here like this,” Greg said.
“You will die sooner then,” the angel said.
“I’ll die either way. Maybe I can hold them off and give you time to escape or something,” Greg said.
“I am too injured to escape, or do anything, I don’t know why I am not yet dead,” the angel said.
“I patched you up and put healing salve in your wound,” Greg said.
“A kind gesture, you have my thanks, I’m sorry it will mean your death,” the angel said.
“There must be something we can do,” Greg said, not really caring for the hopelessness of the situation.
“We have an alternative, but it might be a worse fate than death,” the angel said.
“What is it?” Greg asked.
“If this were to happen, you would be drawn into this war that is without end and likely be forced to fight in it for the rest of time until death would mercifully take you. Your life will never have anything familiar in it ever again; you would leave your life here to fight in this battle. It is a terrible war, and I was ready for death, but if you have a strong enough desire to live despite this, then I will live and save us,” the angel said.
Whoa, that was heavy. Greg liked his life, and both choices seemed to take that away, either with immediate death or eventual death. Greg wanted to know what was going on and he didn’t want to die, but fighting some horrible evil or whatever it was that was coming for them didn’t sound like it would be worth the answers.
When the angel appeared it had become incredibly bright, now it became terribly dark. That couldn’t be good. “They arrive, what do you wish?”
Two dark blobs appeared that seemed to suck all light into them. After they dissipated two being were standing on the pathway ahead of them. Greg expected horrible demons or something, after all, what else would fight an angel, but they looked human enough. It was dark and cold however, and it seemed to be coming from them.
“What is this?” one of them said. “She still lives? Your aim must have gotten weak brother.”
“My shot was true,” the other said. “Look, a human is kneeling next to her, it probably saved her.”
“Your shot couldn’t have been true if a mere human could stop death from taking her,” the first said.
They argued for a while and Greg’s mind was racing the whole time. He didn’t know what to do. His options were terrible on either end. He looked to the angel and her once stoic face was fearful. “Which are you afraid of,” Greg whispered, “living or dying?”
The angel in a hushed tone said, “Dying.”
“Then what must I do?” Greg asked.
“Lean closer to me, to my face,” the angel said.
Greg did as he was told and the two who were arguing noticed. “Hey! What are you doing?” He said with urgency in his voice.
Greg got as close to her face as he could and he heard the two start to run for them and he thought he heard a fire start to rage. It was too late, they were both goners; there probably wasn’t time for whatever the angel needed to do to be done. There was time however, as it was a small act. The angel leaned forward with much effort and kissed Greg, surprising him.
The world went white in a bright flash and Greg, instead of blacking out, whited out.
So, I know that this is really cliche, but I couldn't think of any other way to do it. It was fun to write though.
Prompt: Your character is walking down a bright mountain path when he/she sees something that will change their life forever.
Greg loved to camp out under the stars. His favorite place was on a mountain range near his home that most people feared to go into because of all sorts of stories like it being haunted by the ghost of a child who fell from the top and there being trolls deep in the caves. Gregory had spent the night there several times and had never seen or heard anything spooky to suggest a ghost, and he had personally explored every cave he found and there were never any trolls. There were all sorts of rumors and Greg knew firsthand that most were bogus, and he didn’t believe the rest since nothing had ever happened to him there. Yet still, most believed that there was something wrong with those mountains and that you should stay away from them. It was a long superstition that would persist no matter what Greg did, so he didn’t really try to convince people otherwise. It meant that he could have the whole mountain range to himself.
The morning found him heading back down the path back to his home. As usual it was deserted, but it was unusually bright. The sun was hitting the path in such a way that it was lit up like Greg had never seen. He had been on the path during this time of day before, but he had never seen this. He considered himself supremely lucky to witness what he felt was likely a rare occasion. Only it didn’t stop. It actually got brighter and now it didn’t seem to make sense that the sun was doing it. Greg began to be a little worried. This was not a normal occurrence and suddenly everyone’s superstitions about the mountains began to make more sense.
There was a bright flash and Greg was temporarily blinded. His eyes finally adjusted and it was still bright only now he knew why. There was a figure standing in the air and it seemed like the brightness emanated from it. It was a girl, looking to be in her twenties or so. She was wearing a long white robe and had massive wings which were spread out behind her. Each wing seemed longer than Greg was tall, giving her a massive wingspan. Greg thought that there must be something wrong with eyes, but rubbing them and blinking a lot didn’t change what he saw. There was an angel hovering in front of him.
Her eyes were closed and she was unmoving for a few moments which seemed very long to Greg. Then suddenly her head slunk back and she fell, landing on her back. The bright light diminished considerably and the angel again was unmoving, lying on the ground. It took a while for Greg to gather the courage to get closer to inspect her. It hadn’t occurred to him that she might be hurt, she was an angel after all, were they capable of being hurt? There weren’t any signs that she was hurt, aside from the fact that she had just fallen where she lie.
It got bright again, but not so bright that Greg couldn’t see and right before his eyes the angel’s wings slowly, feather by feather, disappeared. She all at once stopped shining entirely and it seemed awfully dark in comparison even though the sun was out. Now she was just a girl in a robe, which was still very unusual to see out in the mountains. Her breathing, which had been calm only moments before became haggard and her face paled. A blood red spot appeared on her robe and blood started pooling underneath her.
Okay, definitely hurt! Greg didn’t know what to do. This was partly because he didn’t know what was going on. She was hurt and needed help, he had to focus on that and ignore for now her strange appearance. He was too far from home to try and get help for her there. He had bandages and stuff in his pack; he needed to be prepared when camping out in the mountains. He grabbed them and knelt down next to the angel and froze. He would have to remove her robe to see the wound. He might not have hesitated so much if he hadn’t seen her appear the way he did. Doing his best to preserve her modesty, he opened a gap in the robe where the blood was coming from and saw a horrific gash. He almost couldn’t stomach the sight of it. He had seen wounds before, but there was something different about this. A dark smoke rose from it, almost as if it had been previously on fire, but this wasn’t a burn. The wound could have only just appeared, but this looked fetid, as if it had gone untreated for weeks already and the flesh on her stomach was rotting away.
Acting on instinct, Greg grabbed some healing salve that he was told was the best there was and applied it liberally to the wound. He hesitated to touch it, fearing that he might somehow be affected, but he had no choice. He was given this and told to use it sparingly and only in the gravest of emergencies, and Greg could think of no greater emergency. Then he applied bandages and might have gone a little overboard with the amount he used. He was amazed that he angel was even still alive and hoped that she would stay with him. He didn’t know what else to do. He was afraid to pick her up after seeing her wound and didn’t think she would be there when he got back if he ran to get someone.
He was still gripped with indecision when she started coughing. It racked her whole body and Greg was sure that it would kill her. Her eyes opened briefly and when she saw Greg he saw fear momentarily in her eyes, but it was gone quick, replaced with resolve. She managed a single word, “Water.”
Greg didn’t know if angels needed water, but he wasn’t about to ask and grabbed his canteen and held it to her mouth and carefully poured some in. He hoped that it wouldn’t make her cough again.
After she had a drink Greg just sat and waited, almost afraid to ask her anything even though he had so many questions to ask. She just stared up into the sky for a long time until she finally spoke again, “Where am I?”
“You’re in the Nacle mountains,” Greg said.
She didn’t respond and Greg wondered if that meant anything to her. He was about to explain a little bit more but she spoke again, “And who are you?”
“I’m Greg,” he said. “I was just walking down this trail and then you suddenly appeared and you were floating and then you weren’t and then you were bleeding!” Greg said this very fast, his mind going a little manic.
“Did you see?” She asked.
“Um, I saw your wings, if that’s what you mean,” Greg said.
The angel closed her eyes and sighed. “Then you are doomed to the same fate as I.”
That didn’t sound good. Her fate seemed to be dying in a middle of nowhere mountain range. That didn’t sound fun. “What do you mean?” Greg asked.
“Your witness of my true self has drawn you into a war that has gone on for centuries. You know of what I am, and so they will not let you live. You likely don’t have much time until they come to make sure that I am dead. At that time they will kill us both. It is too late to run, they will sense that you were here and track you down,’ the angel said.
She said it in very ragged breath and it took her a while to say it all. Greg didn’t know who ‘they’ were, but he didn’t want to find out, though it seemed like he had no choice. Running seemed to be pointless, so instead, “How long do we have?”
“Are you not going to run away?” the angel asked.
“You just said that it would be pointless, and there is no way I can leave you here like this,” Greg said.
“You will die sooner then,” the angel said.
“I’ll die either way. Maybe I can hold them off and give you time to escape or something,” Greg said.
“I am too injured to escape, or do anything, I don’t know why I am not yet dead,” the angel said.
“I patched you up and put healing salve in your wound,” Greg said.
“A kind gesture, you have my thanks, I’m sorry it will mean your death,” the angel said.
“There must be something we can do,” Greg said, not really caring for the hopelessness of the situation.
“We have an alternative, but it might be a worse fate than death,” the angel said.
“What is it?” Greg asked.
“If this were to happen, you would be drawn into this war that is without end and likely be forced to fight in it for the rest of time until death would mercifully take you. Your life will never have anything familiar in it ever again; you would leave your life here to fight in this battle. It is a terrible war, and I was ready for death, but if you have a strong enough desire to live despite this, then I will live and save us,” the angel said.
Whoa, that was heavy. Greg liked his life, and both choices seemed to take that away, either with immediate death or eventual death. Greg wanted to know what was going on and he didn’t want to die, but fighting some horrible evil or whatever it was that was coming for them didn’t sound like it would be worth the answers.
When the angel appeared it had become incredibly bright, now it became terribly dark. That couldn’t be good. “They arrive, what do you wish?”
Two dark blobs appeared that seemed to suck all light into them. After they dissipated two being were standing on the pathway ahead of them. Greg expected horrible demons or something, after all, what else would fight an angel, but they looked human enough. It was dark and cold however, and it seemed to be coming from them.
“What is this?” one of them said. “She still lives? Your aim must have gotten weak brother.”
“My shot was true,” the other said. “Look, a human is kneeling next to her, it probably saved her.”
“Your shot couldn’t have been true if a mere human could stop death from taking her,” the first said.
They argued for a while and Greg’s mind was racing the whole time. He didn’t know what to do. His options were terrible on either end. He looked to the angel and her once stoic face was fearful. “Which are you afraid of,” Greg whispered, “living or dying?”
The angel in a hushed tone said, “Dying.”
“Then what must I do?” Greg asked.
“Lean closer to me, to my face,” the angel said.
Greg did as he was told and the two who were arguing noticed. “Hey! What are you doing?” He said with urgency in his voice.
Greg got as close to her face as he could and he heard the two start to run for them and he thought he heard a fire start to rage. It was too late, they were both goners; there probably wasn’t time for whatever the angel needed to do to be done. There was time however, as it was a small act. The angel leaned forward with much effort and kissed Greg, surprising him.
The world went white in a bright flash and Greg, instead of blacking out, whited out.
So, I know that this is really cliche, but I couldn't think of any other way to do it. It was fun to write though.
Friday, January 4, 2013
And suddenly!
I'm back!
I see that I completely forgot to mention on my blog two years ago that I was going to be leaving for two years to serve a mission... oops. Oh well, I'm back and I just got bit by the writers bug and now I post what I wrote.
Yep, there it is. I'll forgo asking what you think since I doubt anyone will see this for a while since it has been two years and I figure most have forgotten that this existed.
I see that I completely forgot to mention on my blog two years ago that I was going to be leaving for two years to serve a mission... oops. Oh well, I'm back and I just got bit by the writers bug and now I post what I wrote.
After the creation of the world, when people were still new, they yearned for that Great God who had created them just as a small child yearns for its parents. There was an aching in all hearts due to being separated from the Great God. Eventually people discovered that becoming closer to the Great God would diminish the ache, and so the people would follow their hearts towards the Great God. They found that if they paid enough attention, their hearts would tell them where to go, they would ache less when walking in a certain direction. Soon thousands started a journey to find the Great God and remove the ache. They were all heading for the same goal and so there were huge groups of people all going the same way. Soon they all met in a single place where they discovered that they could get no closer and there a city was built. It became a thriving utopia. People seemed happier there. Multitudes flocked to the city in order to feel that closeness with the Great God and many found that they couldn’t bring themselves to leave after arriving there, while others came and went without feeling a difference, their hearts becoming numb and hardened due to being away from and then ignoring the Great God.
Then came the day of the crying hearts. One morning all awoke with a terrible heaviness, a horrific anguish which dragged at their very souls. Alarmed, many traveled to the City Closest to the Great God seeking respite, but it was gone. There was no sign that it had even been there. In its place there was a waste where no life grew. It became a burden to stay there for too long, almost as if the land itself were weeping. Even to this day nothing grows there. There is of course no real record of what exactly happened, but most agree that that it seemed that the Great God had decided that he was done with the world and had chosen to leave it behind, but before doing so, stopped to bring with him his creations that were closest to him. In his absence, even the hardest of hearts cried out “Oh Great God, where are you, and why did you leave me here alone?”
Today, all are born with an ache in their hearts as we long for that being that created us and hope that someday the Great God will turn and see the sorrow of his children and return to us. Yet hearts can still become hard and many do. There are not many today whose hearts still ache for the Great God and who wish his return, and so what hope do we have that he will ever come back to us?
Yep, there it is. I'll forgo asking what you think since I doubt anyone will see this for a while since it has been two years and I figure most have forgotten that this existed.
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