Three Days In: Beating Targets and an Excerpt.

So, I'm only three days into NaNo and already I'm a fifth of the way towards reaching my 50,000 words target. My current overall total is 11, 719 words, which I shouldn't - working on an average of 1,667 words a day - be reaching until day seven. Go me!

And I'm just loving this story. I feel kind of guilty for liking it more than Destiny's Road, but I'm finding it so much more easier this year.



I don't know if its the lack of world building - Sibylline Nights being set in a version of the modern day world - or that I have a more mapped out plot or just that its my second year so its easier, but the words are flowing out of me, and I don't feel pressured to write, as though I'm forcing myself into it to meet targets. Quite the opposite in fact, I'm forcing myself to take breaks.

And I'm really loving what I've written so far. I don't want to sound up myself but I think this story is good. I think once finished I'll have a good first draft. I like the characters and what they're doing, and what they're going to do. The prospect of what's to come fills me with excitement.

I hope this positivity carries on throughout NaNo and to the completion of this draft. I think it will. I feel like it will.

Okay, I'll stop gushing now, and leave you with a excerpt.


"I … I don't know. This is going to sound crazy and you're going to think I'm insane," Nola felt foolish even admitting what had happened at the shoe shop. This sort of thing only happened in movies.



"We won't, we just want the truth," Penelope Crest assured speaking to her gently.



"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you when I said it was crazy. I was staring at the boots, I really wanted them, and have been saving up for them for months. Then as I was looking at them, the shelf began to shake. I thought perhaps someone was cleaning the display but there was no one there. Then right before me the boots began to move, and float through the air towards me. They caused the window to break and then landed at my feet."



The three Champions exchanged knowing looks, and then Max Roberts spoke again, "Nola, has anything like this ever happened before?"



"I don't know … maybe … perhaps … yes, I think so. A few weeks ago I was at a bar and the barman was being an arse and deliberately placed my drink just out of my reach. It moved towards me of its own accord. I didn't think anything of it at the time, I was too drunk to really remember."



"And have you experienced anything else strange? Symptoms you can't explain, perhaps?"



"Actually yes. My doctor has been treating me for migraines. She thinks its related to the drinking, but she wants to trace my birth history to be sure."



"Birth history?"



"I grew up in foster care."



"And you know nothing about your birth family?"



"Only that I was one of triplets. We were all split up after our parents died. I haven't been able to find my sisters though."



"Very interesting," Penelope Crest said giving Max a long and meaningful look. "And Nola, do you know much about magical abilities?"



"What, like that stuff that's been on the TV recently? And those Champions people?"



"Yes, exactly like that, Nola. In fact, we're Champions. We came from the arcane abilities alignment facility."



"You're going to take me away and lock me up aren't you?" Nola claimed, rising from her seat and backing away towards the door.



"I wouldn't allow them to just take you," Constable Green assured.



"We mean you no harm, Nola. We just want you to visit the centre for a few days. A week at the most. Let us test you for magical abilities, and then if you possess them we'll help you use them in the correct way."



"Lock me up more like. If I do have magical abilities then I did break the shop window. You're not going to let that go unpunished."



Nola had reached the door by now, but found it locked, with her back pressed up against it, and the three Champions having risen from their seats she began to feel really frightened. The air crackled around her and Nola's hair stood on end.



"Nola, we promise you, no harm will come to you at the facilities and we're not going to lock you up, either."



"Liars!" Nola challenged and as the words left her mouth the ground in the interview room began to shake.



Objects – an empty coffee cup, the paper Constable Green had been writing on, a black Biro with the lid chewed – began to rise from the table and float in the air.



"I'm not letting you take me."






Soon a room full of objects, large and small, heavy and light, surrounded Nola, and the floor shook violently as furniture span around her.



"Now Joe, take her down," Penelope instructed.



And from his belt Joe unfastened a long black leather whip. Constable Green could hardly believe he hadn't noticed it before, and stood in shock as the heftily built man cracked the whip on the floor in front of Nola.



Everything that had seconds before been spinning around her like a tornado fell to the floor. Nola's eyes, that moments before had been luminescent like neon lights faded back to their normal hue, and then all the colour faded from her skin. Nola went as pale as snow and then collapsed to the floor.
Hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for reading. Please check back for more updates.

2 comments:

  1. Loving the excerpt! Again, definitely the kind of book I'm into reading right now. What's been going on with the novel you wrote last Nano?

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    Paper Doll Diaries

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  2. Thanks Emma! hopefully one day you'll get to read the whole thing!!

    Last year's naNo novel is currecntly being read by a select few before I begin a second draft next year.

    Hopefully I can get both publishd. :D

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