19 December, 2011

Becca's Story Chapter Eighteen and other news


Now that the Christmas crazies are over and the Muffin is allowing me to feel like a human being once more (as opposed to a blob of constantly nauseous goo) here's some awesome news!

Becca's Story Chapter Seventeen

So far, my holiday cheer has consisted of sitting on the couch and eating cookies while watching movies.  Not much shopping or preparing for the DAY.  Mostly because this past weekend was my anniversary and Husband and I spent it being incredible lazy and eating more cookies and playing video games.  Good times were had by all. :)

Enjoy! E.T.

It was hot outside. Malcolm was waiting off to one side, rummaging through a wooden crate.
He smiled at me, a knowing, secret smile. I scowled in return.

“What do you want?” I asked bluntly.

“I thought I would run some tests, see if I could learn anymore about your…condition.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fair warning. The last test I had didn’t end so well.”

“Oh?” Malcolm asked, still smiling. “What happened?”

“I exploded a PFNF machine and destroyed a secret underground lab at the CMR.”

His smile faded. “How?”

I shrugged. “You’ll have to ask Kevin. I don’t know anything about magic.”

Malcolm grimaced. He drew a book from the crate, stepping closer to me.

“You’re going to kill yourself if you keep repressing it,” he warned in a low voice.

I held his eyes. “Good. That will stop the end of the world.”

He made a disgusted noise and waved at me irritably. “Sit.”

I did. A line of color drew a circle in the grass, surrounding me.

“What’s that for?” I asked.

He grunted. “To protect me from you.”

I put a cautious hand out, feeling the air above the line. My skin tingled as it had when I had passed over the ‘security’ protecting this house. And like the line Kevin had drawn on his table, to keep the necromancy books contained.

I drew my limbs back, shivering. I felt dirty, contaminated, like I was something dangerous. I was something dangerous. I was the reason, the impossible, inexplicable reason the world was going to end. I hid my face in my knees and waited.

It was not very dramatic. Malcolm muttered to himself, moving around me. Every now and then he would reach across the line and feel my pulse or lift my head to look in my eyes.

After a while, he started writing things in the air. The light of it hurt my eyes. When I glanced away, I saw Kevin on the porch, leaning against one of the posts holding up the roof. He was watching narrowly, his arms folded across his chest.

He still had that slippery look, his eyes gleaming. I blushed and ducked my eyes once again.

Finally Malcolm gave a weary sigh. He waved his hand and the line encircling me vanished. He helped me to my feet. I was stiff from sitting hunched up so long.

“Well?” Kevin asked, coming down the steps to meet us.

Malcolm rubbed his face, taking his time answering. He gave me a long, considering look. He spoke slowly.

“There is a lot of magic inside you, Becca,” he said. I stiffened, ready to deny it. He went on smoothly. “From several different sources. Your curse-”

“You found it?” Kevin demanded. “Where? What is it?”

Malcolm shook his head. “I don’t know. I could just see…something. Something heavy. But it’s there. You are cursed. But that magic is battling with others. Powerful castings; some of the most powerful I’ve ever seen.”

Kevin’s face darkened. I knew he was thinking of Jeff. And the reasons he thought Jeff would want to keep me alive at any cost.

I sighed wearily. No matter how many times I said it, Kevin would never believe that there was nothing between me and Jeff. There was nothing.

Right? I asked myself. I didn’t have an answer. I looked at Malcolm, who was looking at Kevin’s face. Watching closely, his eyes narrowed.

I shivered, understanding. Malcolm thought Kevin was the one holding me here. Or that one of the castings warring inside me was his. Was it? How would I know if he put a spell or whatever they called them on me? How could I stop it if he tried?

How could I not feel them? If all that power and force was centered on me, how was I not aware of it?

Suddenly, I wanted to see it. I wanted to see the magic, see what had controlled my life since that day at my father’s farm. Maybe even since the day I was born; my curse.

“You’re tired,” Malcolm said, taking my elbow. “You should rest.”

“No.” I wiggled from his grip. “No, you go ahead. I want to be alone.”

Kevin opened his mouth to argue, but Malcolm interceded. “Stay inside the perimeter,” he told me. “Come, Kevin. I have some observations that might be helpful on her Quest.”

I watched them until they went inside and shut the front door. The house was still and quiet, no voices, no music. Anything less like a school for magic, I couldn’t imagine. But then, how different were they from the rest of us? The few magical people - practitioners, I supposed - were just normal people. Until they waved their hands and spoke strange words and did impossible things.

I turned from the house and walked directly to the security line. My leaving would no doubt alert Malcolm or Alva at once. Hopefully I could get far enough away to be alone for a few minutes. Really truly alone.

The heat intensified as I stepped back into the real world. I started sweating at once, the air clammy on my skin. I walked in the straightest line I could, hoping I could find my way back.

I stumbled on a little clearing, almost completely closed off from the swamp around me by trees and vines. I sank to the moist earth, kneeling.

I felt numb. Disconnected. This world was dreary after the life and energy of Alva, Elsie, Kevin. They had so much power in them. I had nothing. I was dead already. I should have died months ago.

And for the first time in my life, I wanted to be like them. If I knew anything about magic, I could find a way to stop this. I could find a way to give my life in exchange for all the crops. I would gladly be some sort of botanical messiah. What was my life worth compared to the billions that would starve to death when their food rotted on the vine? What about plankton? All the sea-life would die, the oxygen levels depleted. It would be the end of the earth, nothing left but dust. No one was worth that.

Especially not me.

I closed my eyes, listening to the silence around me. The air was still. I could heat a faint trickle of water. After some minutes, a bird call far away.

I let that stillness seep into me. Was it possible to will myself to death? If I sat here, wishing to be nothing, would my will overpower my heart and lungs and let me drift away. What would happen to the magic inside me? To the curse, Jeff’s magic, Kevin’s magic, and the magic Malcolm was convinced I had. Would they simply disperse, no longer anchored to me? Was I somehow holding them at bay? If I died would they backfire, causing an explosion like what had happened to the PFNF?

Would the shield around me let me die? Fury at Jeff nearly choked me.

How dare he work magic on me without my permission! How dare he take away my right to choose, my right to decide my own fate? I had the right to do what I felt I must to save the world, no matter what he felt for me.

My fingers moved over the ground, roving through the slimy leaves and twigs carpeting the mud. My fingers caught on a stone. I felt it carefully. It had a thinner edge, jagged.

I palmed it, closing my fingers around it. I could feel it biting into my skin. The fingers of my other hand trembled as I held it out, palm up. Taking a deep breath, I slashed the rock across my open palm.

Dark red blood sprang up at once, a few spots where the stone had scraped me deeper. I sat and started at the wound, waiting for it to heal.

It didn’t.

I wiped the blood away, sure I was mistaken. It bled still, pooling and running down my wrist. It bled until it scabbed over, an angry red line across my hand.

I stared at it until I heard my name being called.

I didn’t have much time until they found me. I could hear Kevin’s voice, rough with worry. Had he put a casting on me? He would have had plenty of opportunities.

What would it look like?

Like his eyes, I decided. Bright, nearly clear blue. Like water, blue-green when seen from a distance, clear when viewed up close. Or the reflection of the sky on glass.

I relaxed, cradling my aching hand in my lap. What would the curse look like? Something dark and heavy, a cloud surrounding me.

My lungs tightened as the air around me dimmed. It pressed closer, seeking, searching. Trying to fulfill its purpose, trying to reach me and end my life. Kevin’s magic twisted through it. Jeff’s twined with his, where they touched, they strained away from each other, the brilliant gold of Jeff’s casting flaring when it came to close to me.

To me.

The curse writhed, swirling, still searching for a way to the center. When it came close, the brilliant light at the center cast it back, burning it. It wrenched away, wounded, but not defeated or diminished.

“Becca!”

I blinked and it all faded. I stood shakily. There was one more thing I had to try before I went back.

The stone in my hand had changed. Now it was a keen double-edged knife. How, I had no idea, only that what I wanted most right then was a way to kill myself. End the curse and save the world.

I pressed the point of the blade over my heart, gripped the handle tightly and thrust with all my might.

A peel echoed through the clearing. The knife was wrenched from my grip, flung away from me. I whirled, expecting to see Kevin or Jeff behind me, furious and afraid. There was no one.

I clenched my fists, feeling the newly healed skin on my palm. I did not want to be here, be alive. I was not the one holding that curse back, not anymore. But no matter how I let it in, dimming the bright light within me, the other lines only strengthened. Pressing it back.

The blade was sinking into a thick tree dripping with lichen. The bark hissed and steamed as the knife was consumed, the blue and gold lines pulsing as they forced it away from me, destroyed it.

I turned and walked back to the house.

Kevin gripped my shoulders as I stepped through the security perimeter into his arms.

“Where the hell did you go?” he demanded, shaking me. He raged at me, his eyes terrible. I murmured apologies until he ran out of curses and pulled me against his chest. When I didn’t return the embrace, he stepped back, still glowering.

“Don’t you dare run off like that again,” he snarled. I nodded.

“Are you alright, Becca?” Alva asked, feeling my forehead. “You’re hot, a fever. Come lie down, dear.”

I wondered how long that would last, the heat burning in me. Would it grow and grow until I was consumed? Was that what they meant by ‘burning out?’ That my magic would destroy me from the inside if I didn’t acknowledge it, didn’t use it? Like a damn overflowing, bursting forth all at once and wiping away everything in its path?

“Malcolm?” I asked as they helped me up the stairs to Kevin’s old room.

“Yes?”

“Can a magic person do a casting and not know it?”

He frowned at me. “What do you mean?”

“Can they cast a spell and not know they did it? Not recognize it when they see it?”

“Why do you ask?”

I looked across the room to where Kevin was fussing with my pack, arguing with Alva. “Can’t he see it?”

Malcolm sighed, kneeling to remove my shoes. “He doesn’t want to. He hasn’t accepted that you may have to die.”

I nodded, remembering the bitterness in his voice as we spoke in Malcolm’s office.

“And, if he refuses to admit that to himself, refuses to see what he’s done, there is no way he can undo it.”

I nodded again. “Thank you.”

Malcolm sighed. He stood, gesturing for Alva and Kevin to follow him out. Kevin resisted, hesitating by the door.

“Becca?” he asked.

I shook my head, not wanting to speak to him. I was afraid I would start hurling accusations at him. Something dark and dangerous crossed his slightly un-human features.

“I knew it was mistake to come here,” he muttered savagely. He shut the door.

I sighed, feeling the heat roiling inside me. Slowly, I willed it to stop. To recede. Will power was everything. How had I repressed it for so long? How had no one realized?

My thoughts drifted aimlessly. Like me. I needed to decide what to do next. I needed to complete my quest. Before Midsummer. Before it was too late.

The room turned around me, the first time in days I had been aware of the Seeking. Had I repressed that, too? Not truly wanting to discover the solution, the truth? Had I known that it would lead me here, tell me things I did not want to know?

The world slowed, feeling, searching. It stopped and I sighed. I knew where I had to go next. It was far from here, but I knew.

And Kevin could never guess.

15 December, 2011

Becca's Story Chapter Sixteen

Hi!  Hope everbody's holiday is going good!  I managed to stay awake all day yesterday...I know, pretty cool.  And the Muffin says hello:


:)


        Alva woke me the next morning. Her expression told me Malcolm had told her what we had spoken of. I washed quickly in the bathroom and went down to breakfast. I didn’t want to, but I also didn’t want to be thought a sulk. And I didn’t like leaving Kevin in Elsie’s power.
Scowling as my face heated, I paused a moment outside the kitchen to gather my thoughts. Will power, Malcolm had said. Well, I’d show them what will power could do.

Kevin eyed me warily as I entered and sat across from him. He was eating a bowl of oatmeal.

“Morning,” he said cautiously.

“Good morning,” I returned pleasantly. He winced.

Alva plunked a bowl in front of me and dumped a mound of steaming cereal in it. All the usual accoutrements for oatmeal were laid out on the table. Grabbing the milk and the brown sugar, I prepared my breakfast.

Alva went out. Kevin’s hand closed around my wrist.

“What did Malcolm say to you?” he hissed, his fingers tight. He gave me a shake before I could dissemble. “You’re angry. Why?”

I couldn’t look at him. “It’s nothing.”

He swore and jerked back. He slammed his spoon to the table and stood.

“He won’t tell you,” I said as Kevin made for the door.

“Like hell he won’t,” Kevin growled.

Of course Elsie was the next person to enter. I shot her back a glare of loathing as she fetched a bowl from the cupboard.

“Where’s Kevin?” she asked me, also eying me warily.

I shrugged. “He left.”

She made half a grunt and tucked into her food. Raised voices down the hall betrayed his location.

Alva poked her head into the kitchen. “Who’s yelling at Malcolm?”

“Kevin,” I said. Torn between laughter and sheer fury, I smiled.

Alva rolled her eyes. “Not even twenty-four hours. Those two…” she shook her head. I wondered if her act was all for Elsie or if she meant to try to fool me as well. But I caught her sharp looks as she bustled around the kitchen.

“Why don’t you use magic?” I asked as she measured things into a bowl.

“Hhmm?”

“To cook. It would be easier.”

She nodded. “Yes. But I like to cook. And when the children are gone, I only have to cook for a few.”

Kevin came back. He didn’t look angry at all. He grinned boyishly at Alva. “Any more oatmeal?”

She sighed and ladled him out another glob. Elsie immediately launched into conversation. I listened absently.

“Becca.” I blinked, broken from my preoccupied stare at the wall.

“Yes?”

“I want to talk to you about your Quest.” Kevin stood, gesturing for me to follow. I followed, keeping my face in a mildly interested expression. Kevin glanced back to look at me and grimaced, but said nothing. We went into Malcolm’s office again, but the man wasn’t there. At least, I hoped he wasn’t there. Maybe he could turn invisible or something.

“Can you turn invisible?” I asked Kevin.

“Can I what?”

“Be invisible.”

He frowned. “I don’t know. I’ve never tried.”

“Why not?” It seemed like the first thing I would learn, if I was magic. Which I wasn’t, I thought fiercely.

He shrugged. “Never had a reason to, I suppose.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes. I left it up to him to break it. He did, by shifting in his chair and clearing his throat. “Look, Becca.”

“Yes?”

“About…about Elsie.”

I frowned in a confused fashion. “What about her?”

Kevin’s eyes moved over my face. “We’re friends.”

I nodded. “Yes, I know.”

“Just friends.”

I looked at him blankly. “So?”

He frowned then, too. “So…I just wanted to tell you.”

I laughed a little. “Obvious isn’t it? She hasn’t stopped talking to you or about you since she got here.” I sent him a sly look. “Maybe she’s got a crush on you.”

He was perplexed now and angry about it. “Becca!”

I shrugged. “She did kiss you yesterday. Is that a magic thing? Because I’m punching anyone who tries to kiss me.” I kept my smile in place, reveling in his frustration with my obtuseness.

He took a slow, self-control inducing breath and changed the subject. “Though I know you sent us after Strenton for a reason, I don’t know what it is.”

I nodded. “Me, neither.”

“And,” he continued. “Until we do know, I think we should focus on finding a way to stop this curse. I know…” his voice broke a little and I had a pang of guilt for taunting him a moment ago. “I know that you think you’re going to have to die to stop it.”

I nodded again, slower. “I do.”

“The problem with that,” he said, not meeting my eyes. “Is that you can’t be killed. I can’t hurt you. I…” he hesitated again. “I don’t think I could.”

I understood. “I wouldn’t ask it of you. You’re my friend.”

Something flashed across his face, darkening his eyes. “You’d have to kill yourself.”

“I know.” The weight I was already feeling on my shoulders intensified.

Kevin leaned forward, staring at his hands resting palm up on his knees. “Here’s the problem, Becca. I will not help you find a way to kill yourself.”

I stared at the crown of his head. “You mean, you’re not going to help me anymore?”

He swore. “No!” he snapped. “I mean, yes, I’ll help. But there has to be a way to lift your curse, to stop it. Someway other than you dying.”

I smiled sadly, forgetting our quarrel as I reached for his hand. He closed his fingers around mine, squeezing them tightly.

“Kevin,” I began gently.

“No,” he repeated stubbornly. “We have time. Give me time. We’ll find a way. There has to be a way.”

“And if there isn’t?”

“Give me time,” he said fiercely, jerking his head up to glare at me. “We have time. I will find a way to stop it.”

I sighed. “Yes, Kevin.”

Some of the tension left his face, his shoulders relaxing. We sat and simply looked at each other for a moment, his glowing eyes on mine.

The door opened.

“Oh!” Elsie exclaimed, coming to a halt. “Sorry,” she said, ginning at us.

“What is it?” Kevin asked smoothly, letting my hand go. We both sat back.

“Malcolm would like to do some testing on Becca,” she told him, ignoring me as I expected.

“Sounds like a good idea,” I said, standing. “Where is he?”

“Outside,” she waved in the direction of the front lawn. I went out without looking back.

05 December, 2011

It's Alive! Plus: Becca's Story Chapter Fifteen

Okay!  We're back in business.  I got a new power cord for my laptop and it's working again!  My anti-virus software about had a heart attack when I turned it on for the first time in a week.  But now we're all sorted and ready to go.

02 December, 2011

The things dreams are made of

So, part of my being preggars is that I am freaking exhausted all the time.  If I sit down on anything moderately comfortable, I start to fall asleep.  This poses problems for activities like driving.  Good thing its winter and I can blast cold air in my face.

Anyway, one side effect of this ridiculous amount of sleep I am getting (somewhat involuntarily) is I have been dreaming A LOT more.  And not just vague picking out socks at the store dreams.  I am having full on rollicking adventure dreams, which are not conducive to a restful repose.

I am trying to sleep less all the time and more at night, but even then my sweet slumbers are invaded by aliens and robots, a cross between Indiana Jones and James Bond, and I am always in a hurry, running from something, chasing something, etc.

I just woke up from one of these episodes about a monster/demon in a trash can chasing me through a high rise apartment building.  I jumped and somehow faked my own death, but was rescued by my husband, who apparently wasn't my husband yet, because then we got married.

Seriously, how can I get good rest for the Muffin with that going on in my head all the time?

Sheesh...

01 December, 2011

Implosion!

So, November imploded a little bit.

Once i got a little further along in my pregnancy, my morning sickness became all-the-freakin'-time sickness and  pretty much spent the last few weeks asleep or wishing I was asleep so I didn't feel like puking.  Lovely.

This coincided with my lack of drive to do anything, namely write, read, watch TV, think, or basically move at all.  I did not finish NaNo.  I got two more rejections for my book.  And my computer's power cord died and now it won't turn on and i have to buy a new one.  Pretty much the lamest month ever.

But, now I am feeling better and food smells good again.  Hopefully I can get back on the wagon here and get some posts up!

21 November, 2011

And Then There Were Four

Well, more like three and a half.

For the past few years our family has looked like this:

Me:

That's a statute of Aphrodite.  I cropped out the racy bits.


Husband:

Add a carriage-mounted machine gun to the top and he could die happy.


Puppy:
This is what she thinks she looks like anyway.

She is actually more like this:
Squirrels beware.


And introducing!
The Muffin!

Er, I don't have a better name to call it yet.  Husabnd voited for 'bun,' as in: I've a bun in my oven...
We have to wait until we find out if it's a girl or a boy.

And by the way:

I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!

14 November, 2011

Grumbly, grumbly...

So, this post is taking me forever to write, mostly because I am using only one finger, pecking at the keyboard bleary-eyed.  That's all the energy I can muster at the moment.

Husband, as you may know, is a elementary school teacher.  That means, as Fall advances, a whole bunch of snotty nosed kids are spreading their germs on him through high fives, chewed-on pencils, and general breathing.

Then he comes home to me.  And I get all those germs as well.  We do our best, washing our hands like crazy and using hand sanitizer and so on.  But I'm only one immune system and there are five hundred of them.  I can only do so much.

In short, (ha!) what I am trying to say is, One:  I wrote like crazy on Becca's story, but don't have the brain energy to edit it and get a chapter up today.  Tomorrow, I promise.  Two, I feel like crap and am going to curl up on the couch and watch Dr. Who specials while drinking peppermint hot chocolate and cursing all kindergartners everywhere.

Hope you are feeling well.  : /   <--- that's my 'i don't feel good' emoticon, fyi.

08 November, 2011

Becca's Story, Untitled...Chapter Fourteen

Which is turning out to not be 'short' at all.  It's over 40,000 words already.  Holy Crap.

And, what is it about having a deadline and a goal all laid out that completely gives me writer's block?

I knew I shouldn't have done any plotting for NaNo. I plowed through the first 10,000 words like they were nothing. But as we've already covered, I'm super verbose anyway. 10,000 words is nothing. Now I'm stuck. Insert audio of grinding gearbox and compression breaks.



03 November, 2011

NaNo, Characters, and Soapboxes - Oh, My!

So, NaNo is going pretty well so far!  I've been kind of 'meh' about writing in general the last week or so.  But, since I know how I want the story to go, I can skip around a little and write some here and there.  Word Count: 9,196 - Woot!!

My main stumbling block is that I think this would make a better movie than a book.

Gasp!  I know.  Usually, I think completely the opposite: books are ten thousand times better than movies, even though I love movies.

01 November, 2011

It Has Begun!

Yay!  It's November first!  Which means:

NaNoWriMo!

Super exciting stuff!  I am going with my idea about capturing electricity.  It seems to be working so far...I want to write and write, but I think I'm coming down with a cold and my brain has declared I am done being creative for a while and that I need to take a nap.

So, I leave you with my proud word count for today and go off give my poor brains a break.  more tomorrow!

Word Count:
4,104/50,000

That's 8%!

29 October, 2011

My NaNoWriMo Process

Before I embark on my novel writing escapade, I thought I might write a little about how I am organizing my thoughts.

Usually, I just start writing and plow through whatever comes my way.  I add back story and other sundries as I go.  Makes revisions hard, but it seems to work best for me.

I used to feel an inordinate amount of guilt about this approach.  I read all about how people use graphs and note cards and flow charts and nifty binders and things to structure their novels.  I tried that.  It really doesn't work for me.

And I was reading in the current issue of Writer's Digest, an article by James Lee Burke, who not only once had a string of 111 rejections (holy crap! and I thought 4 was bad) but he also doesn't outline or story board or anything.

Now, I know that there is no law declaring that an author must outline.  But the idea of being super organized to ensure success is touted and blathered about so much, it kind of gets to a mind-control level of influence.

Burke had a comment that I really like.  To paraphrase:  'If I know how it's going to end, so does the reader.'

Exactly!  If I know exactly what happens in every scene, then I feel I have no room to improvise.  I feel it becomes boring and predictable.  I like to be surprised, along with my readers.  Why does the spaceship captain not like to talk about his past?  Well, maybe he committed treason and has been disowned by his family.  Why do Kevin and Strenton hate each other?  Er...I'm still working on that one.  Get back to me.

Anyway, the point is, I can't can't can't work with a super formal structure.

Having said that, with my story for NaNo, I am doing a little preplanning.  My regular process is to start with an event, like: aliens attack and bomb the capital of the planet or most everyone gets turned in a zombie.

I have the EVENT that is going to start the novel, but this time, I also now how I want it to end.  The problem with this is my characters have to make certain decisions that lead them to this end.  Which means I have to plot a little bit.  Which means I have to have some idea of who my characters are beforehand so it will seem realistic that they make certain decisions and progress to the intended end.

This is dangerous ground.  One, because my fingers itch to start writing it NOW!!!  And also, I am falling into the pit of structure from which there is no escape.  I am making do by scribbling ideas in a notebook or adding them to my Scrivner file.  In no particular order and with no real commitment.

Flexibility is the key for me, even if the outline function is singing a siren song.

Must resist!  Only three days left!

27 October, 2011

Untitled Chapter...Something

So, I'm having trouble bridging this story.  I know where I want it to go, what magical objects they need to find and such.  I have a super cool supernatural creature fight scene laid out in my head.  (Yeah, that's right.  When I'm grocery shopping, I'm really imagining what it would be like to fight mutant creatures of the night in the cereal isle.  Multi-tasking, people.)


24 October, 2011

In Which Husband Falls In Love With A Zombie Slayer

So, I had plans to post this weekend, but craziness ensued.

Saturday I had a dress rehearsal/Concert combination that took up most of the day.  Then yesterday, after sleeping in a little as I didn't get home until almost midnight, I got up late and went to church.

And then bought a zombie slaying machine.

21 October, 2011

Shout Out to My Man, Disco Remix

Well, actually, no.  There is no disco music involved.  I mean, you could add some.  I'm not stopping you.  But there is none inherent in this post.  Sorry.

20 October, 2011

Agent Update

No, no, no, I have not been picked up by an agent who sold my book for a million dollar advance.  Bummer, yeah?

But, I thought I would share my own self-criticism with the world and keep a running tally of the number of agents who I've submitted to and the number that have sent back a 'No, thanks' message.  Some really famous authors had dozens of rejections before they made it big.  So cross your fingers.

I googled for a widget to do it for me, but no luck.  If anyone html-savvy would like to make one, I'm all ears.

Agents Submitted To: 8
No: 5
Yes: 0

19 October, 2011

What Do Rabbits and Novels Have In Common?

Any guesses?  Well, I'll tell you.

Yesterday, I bemoaned the fact that, even thought I had 'decided' on my NaNoWriMo plot, going so far as to actually 'plot' and get somethings organized, I was having second thoughts.

One second thought, actually, for a different - I mean completely different - plot for my novel.

Apparently, novels are like rabbits.  First there are two.  Aren't they cute and fluffy?  The lady at the pet store said they were both girls...however...

Now I have another idea.  That makes three.  With only a two weeks to go, I really wanted to be settled in my ideas.  I have lots of other stuff to do in November.  Stuff not remotely related to writing novels.  Concerts, ballet, Thanksgiving, book club, rehearsals.

Now, I know that if I don't finish the 50,000 words, nothing happens.  There is nothing serious riding on this.  I can write any day of the year, whenever I want.

However, I've got a competitive streak a mile wide.  I'll bet you five dollars it's twice as big as yours.  I want to finish this challenge.  I'll stay up all night on November 29th if I have to, going straight from Nutcracker rehearsal to typing until my eyeballs bleed.

(Husband and I never play each other on video games.  It gets ugly, real quick.  We each played sports as children and teens and are both musicians.  It's better for our marriage if we never compete at anything.  Trust me.  You should see the gloating when we play Castle Crashers and we're even on the same team.)

(I'm the orange guy, who is way cooler than the red guy, no matter what Husband says.  So he can shoot lightening.  Who cares?)

Anyway,  My three ideas are now as follows:

1.  Stick with Ghost.
2.  Use a short story I wrote for a Writer's Digest Competition as inspiration and write...duh, duh, duuuuh! What happens next!  I can't let you read the short bit itself, since its in the rules for the competition that it can't be 'published' anywhere else.
3.  This one is a little harder to explain.  One of my new favorites is Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians  (PS, the movie? LAME!) and the Heroes of Olympus series. (The next one doesn't come out until next year!  I'm going to die from impatience!)  I love love love young adult right now, which is a little pathetic, but true.  Though I hate hate hate Twilight.  Sorry, peeps.

I was watching something on TV, don't know what, but they were talking about old American currency, which used to be way cooler.  Check this out:


This is a silver certificate issued in 1896.  The, er, scantily clad lady in the center is Electricity, the most powerful force in the universe, at the time.

What if, following Mr. Riordan's example, these 'forces' actually exist, kind of like muses?  The classical portrayals of the elements of the universe?  Steam, fire, electricity, knowledge.  Here's a depiction of History, who was one of the Greek/Roman muses:


She's teaching America, by the way, showing the path to...greatness or something.

My idea is:  what if some scientists managed to 'capture' these natural forces?  Somehow trapped Electricity and drained her power.  It has all the makings of a adventure book as she and the Male Lead (duh, there's a Male Lead) search for her power so she can rescue her sisters.

I don't particularly want it to be young adult, but we'll see how it turns out.  If I even go with that idea.  Maybe I'll prove my over-acheiverness once again and do two novels.

18 October, 2011

I just knew it...

So, yeah.  You know how I've been all forward thinking and stuff and started plotting for NaNoWriMo?

Check this out:

All those little colored bars at the left are scenes I've plotted out.  Characters, in red, I've decided upon.  Location, notes, 'storyboards', etc, all aimed at organizing my Ghost story.  I spent most of last week thinking about it and planning to out.

And now...I think I've changed my mind.

Curses!

It happened at my writer's group on Saturday.  The lovely ladies were obliging and accomodating and read two short stories I am submitting to a contest.  They had great feed back and I lurv them.

Then one of them said: "I want to know what happenes next."

Oh, the curse of the 'next' question!  I have been here before, oh yes I have.  It's a dangerous place.

But it got me thinking.  What does happen next?  What if they...what if he...maybe someone survived and...suddenly, all my confidence in my plot, my decision, my steadfastness - phsssst!  Gone.  Maybe now I want to do something else entirely.

Well, I have two weeks and two days to change my mind.  I suppose I could change my mind after I start, but I really hope it doesn't come to that.

So, now I need to start plotting for my new idea and see if it's viable.  I write a lot of first scenes that go nowhere.  Unfortunately, the rules state no writing until midnight of November first.  I guess I'll take that first day and write like crazy on both and see which one holds my interest.

*sigh*

17 October, 2011

Untitled, Becca's Story

We walked for hours.  I was too shocked and miserable to do more than stare at the heels of Kevin’s shoes as he tramped through the grasses.  We left the freeway behind, angling straight across the plains.

They stopped being plains after a while, more rolling hills.  Then there were a few scrubby trees.  The sun had dipped below the horizon in front of us when I stumbled to a halt.

“I can’t,” I gasped, doubling over.  We were nearly climbing, the hills had gotten so steep.  The trees were thick and made it hard to see in the gathering darkness.  “Can’t we sleep here?”

Kevin shrugged.  “Good as any place.”  He poked around until he found a level bit and waved for me to sit.  I did, wiping sweat from my face before I could get chilled.

I watched as Kevin set up camp.  He tugged my backpack from my shoulders and stuck his arm inside, rummaging around.  He pulled the tent out and shook it free of its bag.  With a sharp word, it sprang up, swaying a little from the speed of its travel.

I carefully kept my face blank.  Every time he did magic was as amazing and frightening as the first.  Would I ever get used to it?  To him?  If I just looked at him, I would have never guessed he had the sort of power he’d displayed today. 
He looked just like any other college guy, jeans and t-shirt.  Dirty after a day hiking in dry weather, but just a normal guy.

I flinched as a fire sprang out of the ground.

“Hungry?”

As usual he ignored my negative and pressed a bowl of something stew-like into my hand.  I nibbled at it.  The more I ate, the hungrier I was.

“Becca,”

I gulped, scalding the roof of my mouth.  “Yeah?”

He was squatting across the fire from me, resting on his heels.  His face was sharply defined in the light, his eyes glowing.  I shivered and stared into my stew.

“You and I need to have a talk.”

“What about?”

He didn’t answer right away.  I stuffed a spoonful of stew into my mouth to delay him asking questions.  He frowned suddenly.

“How is it that you can’t be hurt, but you have to eat?”

I nearly choked, swallowing hastily.  “What?”

He peered at me.  “If your body can’t be hurt, why is it you have to eat, nourish yourself?  Shouldn’t you be able to exist as you are?  And why do you have to breathe?”

“Trust me, I have to breathe,” I said.  “Once I almost drowned in my cousin’s pool.”

He rubbed his face.  “Did you really, though?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did you really drown, or did it just feel like you were drowning?”

I shivered, the memory of struggling under the water, the hot, burning itch of the chlorinated water biting deep into my chest.

He went on slowly.  “If you just let it happen, would you have to breathe?  If you were resuscitated, would you just wake up again?”

I licked a bit of gravy from my finger.  “I don’t think it works like that.”

He said nothing, which I took to mean I should keep explaining.  I took a deep breathe, wondering why I had never wondered about this before.

“I can be hurt,” I said.  I held out my bloodstained hands as proof.  “I just heal.”

“But the PFNF machine…”  Kevin scowled.  “That should have crushed you.  You would have died before you could have healed.  Traumatic blood loss, brain damage.  Would you heal after you were dead?”

I shuddered.  That sounded like the most horrible existence I could imagine.  Going through the pain of death, but always forced to come back.

“Here.”  Kevin was suddenly at my side.

“Ow!” I snatched my hand back, staring at the thin red line he’d scratched across it with a knife. 

“That hurt!”

“You can be injured,” he mused softly.  “And you heal quickly, nearly at once for minor injuries.”  Sure enough, I wiped the blood away and the skin was intact underneath.

I stared at my palm.  “That’s faster than before, I think.”

He nodded.  “But the PFNF…”

He stood and before I could do more than flinch his sword flared in his hand as he slashed for my face.
There was a sharp ring, like glass on metal.  Kevin staggered back, crying out in pain.  I jumped up and ran to where he had fallen.  He lurched up, coming to his knees.  He was cradling his hand.  Even in the firelight I could see an angry mark across it, not bleeding.  Like a burn.

He hissed as I knelt next to him and examined it.

“Can you move your fingers?”

“I’ll be fine,” he growled.  He looked across the clearing.  I followed his gaze.  His sword had embedded itself in a tree.  The bark was already smoking, the wound around the blade smoldering a deep red.

He muttered under his breath and the sword winked out of existence, leaving behind a black scar and smoke curls.

“So,” he said, getting to his feet and crossing back to the fire.  “Something about the force of the attack.  The stronger the blow, the more protection you have.”  He sank to the ground, cross-legged.  “You have to eat, you have to breathe.  Will you age?”

I had never considered that.  Would I?  I had grown into an adult.  But what about past that?  I sat down next to him, shivering.

“What does it mean?” I asked, barely more than a whisper.  “What’s going to happen to me?”

“I don’t know,” he said heavily.  I felt him take a deep breath, his shoulder moving against mine.  “But Becca?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re not a meta-healer.”

“But, I am!  Dr. Mule said-”

“He was wrong.”  Kevin made a disgusted noise as I protested.  “No, not wrong.  Just not informed.  Not enough evidence.  Did he ever try to kill you?”

I was appalled.  “Of course not!”

“And that time you nearly drowned?  Did you actually lose consciousness?”

“No, mom pulled me out.”

He dug in a pack and pulled out a first aid kit.  He cracked an icepack and bound it to his hand with an ace wrap.  “You’re not a meta-healer, Becca.”

“Then what am I?”

He didn’t look over.  “Cursed.”

“But I was supposed to die-”

“I know.”  He tied off his dressing and sat staring at it.  “And you didn’t.  So something is stopping you.  Something is keeping you here when you should be dead.  Something is forcing you to stay alive.”

I licked my dry lips.  “How?”

“That’s what we need to find out.” He said.  “And at what cost.”

“Cost?”

Kevin grimaced.  “Necromancy is-”

“Necromancy?” I shrieked.

He grunted.  “It’s one of the forbidden practices.  People caught meddling with it are put to death.”  He sent me a quick look.  “Those books Strenton gave you…”

I felt sick.  “But, he wouldn’t do something like that!  W-would he?”

Kevin shrugged.  “Most highly gifted Practicors study it, if nothing else.  To at least know how to fight it, to counter it.  And it draws a certain type of man, power over death.”

“But I’m not dead!”  A horrible, terrifying thought struck me.  “Am I?”

“No,” he said swiftly.  “You’re not now nor have you ever been dead.”

“How can you tell?”

Even in the darkness his expression sent chills down my spine.  “I can.”
“You’ve seen a…a zombie?”

He shook his head.  “They’re not like zombies you see on TV.  They…”  He cast wary looks at the woods around us.  “You can just see it, feel it.  Sometimes they can hide for years, blending in.  But to exist, they have to draw life from outside them, unable to make it themselves.  People near them feel weak.  If you spend too much time with one, you fall ill, a wasting disease.  There is nothing you can do to fight it or block it.  They can never get enough.  You have to destroy them to end it.”

“What…” I had to clear my throat.  “What does that have to do with me?”

He shifted and caught my eyes.  I couldn't look away, mesmerized he called it.  “Something is keeping you alive, Rebecca.  The cost must be paid, either by you or something else.  Meta-healers feed themselves, their bodies able to produce the extra energy needed.  You are not a meta-healer.  Every time you are hurt, every time you have to heal, you must draw power from somewhere else, something else.”

My nightmares.  “Everything dead,” I whispered.  “Kevin, everything is going to die.”

“There’s no way to know-”

“Everything.  Everyone.  Except me.”

Except me.  Left alone.  Alive.  Unable to die.

Why?

I squeezed my eyes shut, tears burning down my face, growing cold as they reached my chin and dripped onto my hands.
Kevin’s arm was strong around my shoulder.  I turned into his chest and sobbed.

He drew me to my feet.  I stumbled after him into the tent.  He pressed my sleeping bag into my arms.  I kicked off my shoes, still crying helplessly.  I was helpless. I was useless, I was pointless.  I should have died a year ago and it was all my fault, everything was dead because of me.

“Try to get some rest,” Kevin said softly.  Outside the fire winked out.  “It’s been a long day.”

I lay shivering until he stretched out next to me.  I didn’t care that he would take it the wrong way.  I pressed against him and cried myself to sleep.

15 October, 2011

More and more

So, I sent out two more queries just a few moments ago.  It was way easier the second time.

I also feel much, much better about the letter and first chapter I included.

Does this happen to you, too?  I work and stress and hem and haw over something, then fianlly decide to send it away.  About four and a half seconds after it's beyond recall, either in the mailbox or whisking away on the magical impulses of the Internet, I think of seventy-two things I could have done better, fixed, adjusted, etc.  Grrr....

So, I totally revamp and rewrite whatever it was.  Maybe I should pretend to send stuff away.  Set up my own post office box somewhere and mail myself stuff.  That wouldn't be weird at all...

13 October, 2011

Untitled - Unfinished, Becca's Story

I am really having trouble with this story all of a sudden.  I thought I knew how I wanted it to go, but things seem to be petering out...lame.  I'll need to do some brain-storming and see if I can get something turning again.  Any ideas?  Enjoy!  E.T.

Here are the links for the posts of this story so far: (Ignore the titles on the actually pages.  Apparently, I can't count.)
Chapter One
Chapters Two and Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve


I didn’t like the hurt silence Kevin had adopted.  He stared out the windshield as we wound back to the main road, his mouth set and firm.

I braced up my courage and swallowed a little pride.  “Sorry I slapped you.”

He grunted, but didn’t say anything.  I wiggled my arms into a sweater and huddled as close to the door as I could.

The empty photo was sitting on the dash, the edges curled up and yellowed.

Why had Jeff left?  Why had he gone to the CMR?  What were they testing him for?  And why had he hated it?

“Are you hungry?” Kevin asked finally.

I shook my head.  “No, thanks.”

The car lurched as we rolled onto pavement once more.

“You shouldn’t try to Seek anymore today,” Kevin said as we sped down the asphalt.  “You’re too tired.  You’ll burn out.”

“And that’s not fun?” I guessed, trying to joke.

“No,” he said shortly.

The numb terror that was filling me cracked a little, licking with resentment.  “I said I was sorry.” I sniped at him.

His glance was disgusted and sneering.

“Don’t look at me like that!” I snarled, glaring at him.

“Like what?” he asked, his tone dangerous and daring me to continue this fight.

“Like…like you’re jealous!”  It was a stab in the dark, but once I said it I knew it was right.

That startled him.  “Jealous?  Of you?” He snorted scornfully.  “Why would I be jealous of you?”

I would have scratched his eyes out if he hadn’t been driving.  “Stop the car!” I ordered.  “Let me out!”

“Fine!”  Tires screeched as he slid to a halt.  I jerked out of my seatbelt and threw the door open.  He was out as well, slamming his door so hard the car swayed.

“Get away from me!” I shouted, blind with fury.  “No one wants you!”

“Then why’d you want me to come?” he shot back.  “You’re useless without me.”

“I am not!”

He sneered, his features distorted, twisting.  “He doesn’t care about you!  Who would?”

“I hate you!”

“I hate you, t-” he broke off suddenly, his eyes wide.

“I don’t care!” I snarled, jerking off the sweater.  His sweater, I realized, my stomach churning with mortification.  “I never want to see you-”

“Becca,” Kevin said calmly.  “Becca, take a deep breath.”

“No!”  My throat hurt, I was screaming so loud.

“Becca, listen to me.  Take a deep breath.”  He opened his door once more, reaching in for something.  He emerged holding the photo.

I lunged forward, straining across the hood of the car as he tore it in half.  He frowned at the halves as I shouted at him.

“Not that then,” he said, still calm.  He grimaced and drew out the stone he had tucked into his pocket.

I gasped.  I wanted that stone.  I wanted it more than anything in the world.

“Give that to me!” I hissed.  “Give it!”

“No,” he countered.

“I need it!  It’s mine!”

I ran around the car as he set it on the ground.  He grabbed me around the waist.  I fought and kicked, struggling to reach the sphere.

“Becca!”  He tried to grab my arms, but I writhed free.  I lunged for the stone.  He spoke sharply.

My body stopped.  I hit the ground, scraping my hands and elbows as I rolled over.  I couldn’t move.
I could see the stone lying a yard away.  I couldn’t make my hand reach for it.  I needed it.

Kevin stepped closer, eying the stone cautiously.  “Sorry, Becca.  Just for a moment more.”  I tried to breathe, but my lungs wouldn’t work, my heart was thundering in my chest.

His sword flashed through the air again.  The stone exploded, shards flying in all directions.  The ones aimed at me stopped dead an inch from my eyes, then fell to the ground.  They hit with a tinkling clatter and I could move again.

I sucked in air, shivering and weak.  Kevin came over and helped me sit up.

“A trap,” he explained softly.  “The trunk was sealed.  Only someone who could use magic could open it.  They knew they would find the Well.  You shouldn’t have been affected.  Maybe the Speaking…”

I had caught enough breath to talk again.  “What did it do?”

He smiled weakly.  “Becca, what do think all that was about?  It was trying to split us up.  Get us alone.”

I shivered.  “Why?”

He shrugged, but I saw how his eyes were moving over the landscape carefully.  “They knew whoever found it would take it.  Maybe they thought to trap Strenton.”

He helped me back into the car and buckled me in.  He handed me a granola bar and glared at me until I nibbled it.

He started the car, but before he drove again, he took a deep breath.

“Sorry,” he said softly.  “I didn’t…I didn’t mean it.  Any of it.”

I flushed.  “Me, neither.”

“You’re doing a good job for,” he winced.  “For a non-magical person.”

I grunted, my eyes on my hands in my lap.  The granola bar lay forgotten.  His hand closed over mine and squeezed them gently.

“And you’re right.” He added softly.  “Sometimes I am jealous of you.  Of people like you.”

I flinched.  “Kev-”

“And I do care about you.” I chanced a peak.  He was blushing hotly.  “You make it hard not to.  How are your hands?”

I had never been so grateful for a non sequitur.  I held them out.  The blood on them was already dry in the heat.  “Fine.”

“Do I need to bandage them?”

I shook my head, as he dumped a little water on them and rubbed carefully.  The skin under the blood was pink, already healed over.  I shivered.

“No.  I can’t be hurt, remember?”

He dried my fingers.  “Sorry.”

I couldn’t think of anything to say.  I figured I had embarrassed myself enough today.  I huddled down in my seat, closing my eyes.  I had a headache, my stomach was turning and I was cold.  Cold all the way through.  Like I was dead.  I shuddered.

“Becca, you really should eat someth-”

The car skidded across the asphalt, jerking off the ground.  It flipped, sending us both to the roof and slamming us back to the seats as it rolled clean over twice.

Hissing with pain, I struggled to right myself, my head spinning.  Kevin was swearing, growling.

“What the-”

What I didn’t found out.  His door was ripped from its hinges and he was dragged from the car, kicking and yelling.  I had time to scream once, before a hand reached in and yanked me out into the blinding sunlight.

I was thrown to the asphalt, tumbling head over heels from the force.  I caught myself, choking back scared sobs.

Kevin wasn’t shouting anymore.  He broke free of his attacker and made a sharp chopping motion with his hands.  The man flew back, hitting the ground and rolling through the dirt.

Kevin ran for me, grabbing my arm and pulling my upright.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Fine!” I gasped.  “Watch out!”

Both men were watching us now, coming closer, wary circling.  Kevin dropped me and set his feet.  He glanced around us, his eyes narrowed.

“What is the meaning of this?” He demanded harshly, his voice ringing.

The two men eyed us.  “You are not Strenton.”  One said slowly.

Kevin didn’t answer, only shifted as they eased apart, moving to either side.  Kevin’s sword flared in his hand once again.

The other man laughed.  “I wouldn’t, boy.  You’re no match for us.”

“Try me,” Kevin snarled.  I tried to stay behind him as he took slow steps back, keeping the men in his field of view as they advanced.

I glanced helplessly to the car, trying to find an escape.  The sedan was totaled, bent and hissing, dripping fluids into the brown grass.

“What do you want?” Kevin asked again.  “The Well is destroyed.”  He angled his blade to threaten the one of the left as the man came too close.

The man laughed darkly.  “Where did you get such a fine weapon?” he asked, eying the glimmering blade as it shone and sparked.  “You’re not strong enough to control it, boy.”

“Watch me,” Kevin retorted.

The man grinned and jumped forward, a line of light flashing in his own hand.

I scrambled away, staggering as the ground shook beneath my feet.  The men had backed away from Kevin, frowning now.  Kevin slid to the side, keeping between me and them.

“Who is that girl?” one asked.

“None of your concern,” Kevin snapped.  “Get lost.”

“Give me that blade and we will leave you alone.”

Kevin didn’t answer.  His sword cast odd shadows that danced around him.  I shivered as they looked over me.

“Don’t be stupid, boy,” one said softly.  “Don’t make me pry it from your dead body.  A trade, for the girl’s life.”

Kevin laughed, a harsh, mocking laugh.

“Your choice,” the other said.

I could only watch in horror as they both jumped froward.  The air was sharp, dry, snapping as they fought.  My eyes watered as light flashed between them, whatever magic they were using equal.  Not equal, Kevin was holding them off, pushing them back.

I could see their surprise and alarm.  In moments, he had worked them around, forcing them together.  They dove apart as Kevin spoke harshly.  The ground exploded where they had been a moment, before, showering everything in black dust as the asphalt blew in every direction.

Kevin had one trapped against the car, the man sweating, desperate now.  The other was running down the freeway.

Kevin brought his sword down in a high, overhand stroke.  The man’s weapon shattered, sparkling fragments flashing in the sun, hitting the ground with ringing chimes.

The man panted raggedly, staring up at Kevin from his knees, the point of Kevin’s blade in his throat.

“Who sent you?” Kevin hissed.  I shuddered, sinking down to my knees.  “Who!”

The man gasped, choking.  “No one.  Just scavengers.”

“Who?”

“Please, no one.  Acting alone, I swear it.”

Kevin grabbed the man’s shirt and threw him to the ground, sending him rolling down the meridian.  The man staggered to his feet and took off after his partner.

Kevin came to me.  “Are you hurt?”

“No,” I gasped.  He was still furious, his eyes blazing, blood running down his face from a cut over his eye.  I gaped at him as he sheathed his sword.  Really sheathed it, in a scabbard at his side, secured to his body with a thick belt.

He wiped the blood from his face with a grimace, rubbing his hand on his trouser leg.  His boots made sharp noises against the cement as he walked, like they were rimmed with steel.

“Scavengers,” he snarled.  “Cutthroats and thieves.  Should have killed them.”

I shivered at the coldness of his tone.  I didn’t doubt for an instant he would have, if I hadn’t been here.

“Come on,” he said, beckoning to me.  He went to the trunk of the car, the lid flying up.  He pulled out packs out of the back and tucked water bottles into them.  I took my gingerly, trying not to touch him.  I could feel the heat radiating off him even three feet away.

He glanced to the sky.  “We have to walk.  Get away from here.  That fight won’t go unnoticed.”

I didn’t mention the crater in the middle of the freeway large enough to swallow an Hummer.

“Kevin?” I ventured weakly.

“Yeah?” He was digging in his pack, scowling.  He was still bleeding.

“Why…” I swallowed.  “Why do you look like that?”

He jerked his head up to stare at me.  I looked down at his clothing and he followed my eyes.

He sighed suddenly.  “Sorry.”  I blinked, sure my vision was playing tricks on me.  Abruptly he was wearing his usual clothing, jeans and a t-shirt, dirty, but normal.  No more breastplate or glimmering armor on his arms.

I still ogled him.  He shifted uneasily.

“You’re bleeding.”  It was the only thing I could think to say.

Kevin grimaced, dabbing at his face again.  I took a deep breath and gathered up the dregs of my courage.

“Here.”  I pulled a shirt out of my pack and wetted with some water from my bottle.  The fabric came away red and grimy, but he looked less frightening without gore dripping down his cheek.

He flinched.  “Ouch.”

“Sorry.”  I checked my work.  “Uh, and thanks.”

He shrugged.  “They were just criminals, thugs.”

“Why…”  I licked my lips.  “Why did he say that you weren’t strong enough.  For that…that sword?”

Kevin made a face, turning away.  “Just talk.  Trying to bluff me.”

I didn’t believe him for a second.  I was absolutely sure Kevin was magically strong enough for anything.  There was freaking hole in the highway not ten feet away.

He started walking and I followed, not caring where we went as long as it was away from the wrecked car and that haunted school.

11 October, 2011

Plotting for Werewolves

So, my other idea is to do a novel based on werewolves.  Why am I so paranormal right now?  I thought I was in a historical fiction kick, but apparently not.  Next year, I guess.  For some reason I really want to do a plot around Napoleon.  But that will take some research.

But I digress.  For werewolves, these were my ideas:

  1. There are several kinds of werewolves in science and mythology. One: psychosis, believing one is a wolf.  Two:  A genetic mutation that makes you all hairy.  Three:  a 'disease' that you can get from being bitten by a werewolf.  Four:  a kitsune type, or a spirit of some sort embodied by a wolf or a fox.  Usually a female.  You can be born as one from kitsune parents.
  2. My idea would combine some of these.  A person would be able to 'be infected' and become a werewolf.  It is a extremely rare affliction that is hushed up because there are kitsune type werewolves running around.  They have their own society, they interact with humans, but disdain them.
  3. The Main Character Female's father is infected somehow.  He is taken and put in a mental hospital.  Not every person infected comes out the same.  Some are the werewolves of popular myth, ie. aggressive, mindless, bloodthirsty.  Some function very well as humans.
  4. You can be cured of being a werewolf.  The treatment doesn't work for everyone.  MC Male is a 'cured' werewolf.  Why though?  What motive did he have for being cured?  Anyway, his 'pack' the alphas think he betrayed them, turned his back on them.  Did they bite him on purpose?  How and why was MCF's father infected?  Hmmm...That stupid motive thing again...
  5. MCF is trying to find out what happened to her father.  Breaks into mental hospital, that sort of thing.  MCM finds out about some plot going on and teams up with her to stop...whatever it is.  I haven't got that far yet.
  6. Oh, and the time would be 1850-1890's or so.  London?  Maybe New England...I love this time in literature and music.  Everything was all about paranormal stuff and sleepwalking and ghosts.  Very fun.