Friday, November 16, 2012

NaNoWroMo update #3

The latest and greatest for my National Novel Writing Month project. We've passed the halfway point on the calendar and I've crossed the same in to book. I've completed 8 of an expected 16 chapters and I'm at 34,000 words. I have a little more open schedule the rest of the month (I'm going to lock myself in my room for the long Thanksgiving weekend) and I fell I should be able to finish before the 30th.

The other thing that makes me optimistic is that the book has taken a turn as well. Up to now a lot of bad stuff has been happening to my MC. Now she starts to dish it out. It's a little more fun to write that way.

If you haven't seen my previous posts, be aware that I've decided to use Smashwords NaNoWriMo set up in order to keep publishing my work in progress. As I write this, it's complete through chapter 8. I hope to have through chapter 10 by this weekend. You can download the entire thing for free here:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/252206

Here's a little excerpt from yesterday and please follow the links below to the updates from my fellow Absolute Writers.

A Daughter's Revenge: A Necessary Evil Tale (Chapter 7 excerpt)




I need to clean up before I go back to my room and there’s one place I know where I’ll be safe. I head into the sewer and back to the cistern. It somehow seems fitting to clean myself again in that tub, to wash away the blood again. This time, none of it’s mine.

I’m not surprised when I hear Jack’s voice in the darkness. He always knows how to find me. It’s the question that I wasn’t expecting.

“Did you get em all?”

“No. Not yet.” I don’t know how he knows what I did. Probably followed me.

“Giordan’s dead. Froze in the winter.”

“Hm?” I don’t know a Giordan.

“Dark hair. Real mean.”

That must be the stocky one. That’s why he wasn’t at the church. “So just the plain one left.”

“They call him Tooth. Only has a few left.”

“Good to know. Thanks.”

We sit in perfect silence. I’ve washed both the blades and my cloak. I start to remove my clothes. In the pitch black even Jack can’t see anything.

“That why you found the guard?” His voice is farther away, at the exit to the room.

“Some of it.”

Silence. After a minute I wonder if he’s still there. Then he asks one more question. “Are you ever comin back?”

I have to think about it. “No. I don’t think so.” It makes me sad, more than I would have thought possible.

“Goodbye, Tarya.”

With that I know he’s gone. I lower my naked body into the freezing cold water. The shock is pure pain and pure bliss.



List of AW participants:

4 comments:

  1. So she's become an assassin striking from the sewers, eh? I'm wagering that the people being picked off one by one are the same that were making people kneel in Chapter One.

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    1. Right about the assassin part, but it's a long ways before she gets to the people that started it all.

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  2. Very interesting, might have to check it out on smashwords! The sharp dialogue really sets the scene here and then there's almost a sudden sense of relief at the end as she lowers herself into the bath.

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    1. Just today I read something saying that water is overused as a rebirth metaphor. Didn't even realize I did that, but I still like it.

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