Book 2

Last month, I worked on writing the first book of a series that I've been playing with for some time. This month, I started writing the second book in the series. Here's how it starts:

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The tolling of the old temple bell was low and sonorous in the dim morning. Clouds obscured most of the pale dawn light, leaving the world below grey and dark as folk got out of bed and readied themselves for the day. Karia paused by a deep window, a narrow slit in the stone wall that let in the warm breeze from the distant forest. It smelled of growing things and damp earth. She breathed deeply, but knew that the morning routine wouldn't wait. With a sigh, she kept on along the corridor, past deep-set windows like narrow eyes in the stone.

As she entered the auditorium, the singing of the choir in the loft fell down upon her ears like snow, high and soft, echoing from one wall to another until it seemed that the music came from all around. She had never particularly liked the higher songs, but this was part of the rotation, and soon enough they would be back to the lower, quieter songs that Karia liked better.

Music From Both Sides of the Glass

This is an old piece, but it was a fun one to write. The challenge was to write a scene between two people, first from one side, then from the other, without making them identical. Here's the result. A little more risque than some of my writing, but still safe for work.

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Bryan's Version

It was my last night in the 'States. I knew that I probably wasn't going to see her again after we left. She may have been best friend to the new girl, but she'd told me herself that there was no chance at all of her leaving her home. I had no intention of leaving mine. Franci had dragged us all on her big show tour, but I was done with it. The 'States weren't anything special, and besides that, the food tasted funny. And yet I there I was, standing in front of her house and ready to walk through the door with a bouquet of roses. The door was unlocked, of course. We'd been staying there a week already, but tomorrow morning would see us on a plane across the Atlantic. No time for fun and games when you're puddle-jumping. Or so they'd have you believe.

Fanfiction for a friend

A friend of mine made the mistake last month of showing me a fanfiction scene she'd written as a warm-up for NaNoWriMo. I read the scene, and then the next day, I started sending her scenes for her fanfiction, because I enjoy messing with other people's characters. I realize there's no context for this scene here (and explaining would take too long) but I really enjoyed the character interactions here. What you need to know: 
- Rick is an ex-military bodyguard
- Mitchell is a telepath and a technopath
- Snart is a villain
- The girl on the bed is Skye Sperling, a distant relative of the Flash and similarly gifted
Enjoy. 
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The room was nearly silent around him, save for the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor and Skye's soft breathing. She was on her back, hands folded on her stomach, legs straight, hair arranged perfectly on the pillow around her face. She had been washed and treated. One leg was in a bulky temporary cast, and fading bruises colored the side of her face under the scrapes that were already healing pink and raw-looking under the thin scabs.

Snart sighed. To see her lying so completely still struck him as wrong. He was willing to bet that she moved even in her sleep.

"You should have kept running," he told her, breaking the silence without any real intention to say anything. "You would have been fine if you had kept running. I know it would have been close, but you would have made it. You always do."

NaNoWriMo Followup

There was a request for more from the book I was writing for NaNoWriMo. I haven't had a chance to do any revisions yet, but this is a snippet I was particularly proud of when I wrote it, an interaction between the main character and the Faerie queen.

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It was late afternoon before the storm finally blew itself out. Most of the trees fronting the east side of the clearing had fallen, while the ones on the west side were leaning toward the palace at various angles. The queen had seemed unsettled when Jyra confirmed Pawl's observations - the storm had been magic-sent. It hadn't been natural.

Reintroductions

This is a short character introduction I wrote a while back for a friend of mine. The story behind it is very long and somewhat tragic (though not in a traumatic death way). Someday, I might make this story into a book, but right now, I'm working on my Princess Elf story from last week. ;) 

Let me know what you think!
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Zaria's head was spinning. How could so much happen in only one day? Given, that day was her eighteenth birthday, but it still seemed beyond the realm of believability. Another distant cousin grasped her hand firmly and shook it, smiling brightly and offering her congratulations.

For what?! She longed to scream the words, but the world refused to hold still for long enough. What did I do? That seemed to be the question of the day (that had apparently already been answered twice without any real understanding on Zaria's part). What had she done to deserve the shock of a majority of her extended family showing up on her doorstep overnight? What had happened to merit the biggest birthday bash of her life with people she didn't know?