As November comes to a close

I have won NaNoWriMo 2016. Not by a lot of words, though I can add a bit to my count by the end of the day.

It's an interesting process, trying to make yourself write 50,000 words in 30 days. I usually have a few really good days where progress is easy and a few really bad ones where each word is a struggle. The average day has good and bad moments.

I may or may not participate in 2017. At this point, I have 6 novels written. Only one of them is truly publisher ready. So my real goal for 2017 is to get at least two more novels to the point where I can let others read them.

I may also start a search for an agent. While I have a list of publishers who

1. Accept fantasy novels
2. Take unsolicited manuscripts
3. Have an entirely online process for them

It would be nice to have an agent. Granted, they take a cut but they should be able to find markets for manuscripts.

The novel is going well

Right now, it could easily be mistaken for a historical novel based on ancient Rome. There are gladiators, temples and a pantheon of gods/goddesses.

Soon it should switch to being fantasy. Namely, a goddess is about to make an appearance in the novel and after that, nothing else will quite be the same.

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In other news, this blog is suffering from severe referral spam that makes it look like it's getting a lot of hits. Annoying (and never ever hit referral spam urls in your blogger reports. It could get ugly.)

And the US is officially insane after the election results. I just don't know how that was allowed to happen.

New November - New novel

NaNoWriMo is once again upon us.

I have spent my usual amount of prep time which is nearly none. I'm taking an idea that was a short story and expanding on the basic idea.

Hoping to keep my calendar green - and write the minimum words per day at least.

My Mac is back

My poor Mac stopped working a week ago. Given that the Mac is my primary writing computer, this is a worry just before NaNoWriMo.

The local repair shop found that the hard drive had died. So they replaced the drive and installed the base IOS.

Fortunately, I was using Time Machine to back up the Mac. So it's nearly back to normal.

Without the Mac, NaNo would be much harder. This is not an excuse now.

More NaNo thoughts

One of the things that I consider important for my NaNo success is my NaNo writing buddy - Cami.

We both use Skype and send each other quick texts throughout the NaNo season.

We encourage each other, try to shame each other, and generally motivate each other to write enough words to stay on track. We've done word wars against each other. We ask each other random questions about plots.

We also complain about characters going off on tangents, how much we don't want to write today, why on earth do we do this to ourselves every year.

None of this may sound like much but it is part of my NaNoWriMo process and part of the reason that I've actually succeeded every year. The novels are never completed in that month, and they'll certainly need much editing at some point but they are 50,000 + words along by the end of the month.

November approaches

So does the annual event National Novel Writing Month.

It turns out that I'm addicted to this challenge. You would think have several novels that need editing would be enough for me. But no, I can't resist the call of NaNoWriMo.

Some years, I do little prep at all. I go into the challenge with one or more main characters in my head. A basic idea of what the story should be but little more than that.

In 2012, I had a story line that I'd been posting to tumblr that I decided was part of a much bigger story. So that year, I had some of the world worked out and a clearer picture of the main character than usual.

This year is similar. Earlier in the year, I wrote a short story "The Gladiator". A couple of people remarked that they were interested in what happens next. Expanding this to a novel gives me the opportunity to better develop the back stories of the characters and then send them off to change the world. So, I have characters and I know how the first part of the story goes.

Learning the best writing sprint length

I am an excellent procrastinator - truly first class. Add this to the fact that there is always a fascinating array of things that suck up your time on the internet and it makes trying to complete the NaNoWriMo challenge hard.

So I've been trying out a few things this year.
A friend was doing rewards after getting so many words out. I so totally cheated this system that it was worthless.

Next I tried the timed writing sprints. My first few were 15 minutes and I found that I could write a lot in 15 minutes if I knew that I had a break coming after.

The next day I tried 25 minutes. This was a little too long. I felt like my brain was going to try to leap out of my skull and flee.

So now I'm on 20. This is the right length for my writing. I'm just starting to flag a little but not badly.

NaNoWriMo is still tracking on schedule. If I push out a few extra 20 minutes sprints, I should finish a day or two ahead of the due date - 30 November.

NaNo Snippet 10

Onyx jumped at the voice, letting go entirely of the knife. He looked around to see a boy only a year or two older. The boy was dressed strangely, more fur and feathers, not cloth.

“What do you mean, kill him? I’m trying to help him.” He looked at Master Dervin, now looking extremely pale.

“If you pull that knife out of him now, he’ll bleed to death. You’ve naught prepared to staunch the flow of blood that I can see.”

“Could you help me keep him alive? It sounds like you know something about this. I don’t know anything about healing,” he looked pleadingly at the stranger. “I’m Onyx, and that’s Master Dervin.”

“My name is Sam.” Sam knelt down by Master Dervin examining the wound and the knife. “Removing that knife will be tricky. We’ll have to work together, if you want any chance of Master Dervin surviving. Are you sure you don’t want to just finish him off instead? That will be easier.”

Onyx shook his head. “I need Master Dervin. He’s teaching me…stuff.” Onyx found himself reluctant to say the word magic after Frillion. “What should I do?”

NaNoWriMo Snippet 9

It wasn’t long before Onyx realised that they were being followed through the streets. He glanced back to see a group of men and boys, ranging from his age to men in their twenties. Master Dervin was moving steadily through the crowds, so Onyx decided that his attention was better placed at moving then on the followers. Still, once having noticed the following crowd, Onyx couldn’t help but glance back again. He regretted that immediately, the group was bigger and a little bit closer.

Onyx tried to pull Pungo even with Lady Evelyn. That was when the crowd stopped merely following.

“Get the boy,” someone shouted.

Master Dervin whirled around. “Do not touch my apprentice. Leave us be, we are leaving.”

“We’ll show you what we think of your kind. Grab the boy.”

Lightning flashed from one of the storm clouds, now directly above the city. “I said leave him. I don’t want to cause harm, but I will. Don’t try it.”

Two of the crowd darted forward, closing the gap between them and Onyx.

There was a flash of light with a deep boom. Master Dervin had sent the lightning crashing to within a hairs breath of those trying to grab Onyx. Both Pungo and Lady Evelyn tried to bolt, Pungo lashing out with his back legs. Onyx blinked trying to see again after the blinding flash.

Master Dervin turned to grab Pungo’s lead when a knife flew out from the crowd. It buried itself deep in the master’s right shoulder. Dervin gasped with pain and released the full fury of the storm he’d been holding. Cold rain with large hailstones poured out of the sky. It wasn’t long before the streets cleared of all traffic, except Dervin, Onyx and the two donkeys. Master Dervin had invoked a barrier that kept the rain and hail from them.

NaNoWriMo Snippet 8

The sun was low in the sky when Master Dervin noticed a small manor house off one side of the road. “Never hurts to ask, though I doubt this crop needs our assistance.” Onyx nodded his agreement, there were very healthy looking plants in the fields.

Master Dervin noticed a man working in the fields, “Good evening to you, sir. We were wondering…”

The man straightening up, his eyes widening in surprise. “Margo! We have visitors, dear.” The door to the house opened and a plump middle aged lady beckoned the pair over.

“Come in, come in. Are you hungry?” She looked at Onyx, “Of course you’re hungry, I can see that you’re a growing boy.”

“Well, first we’d like to take care of the donkeys, if that’s possible?” said Master Dervin.

“Ben, Larry, come here boys.” A pair of young men strode into view. “You take those donkeys and put them up in the barn. Be careful of Molly, you know she’s been a bit tetchy lately. Molly is our plow mule,” she said to Master Dervin.

“We were going to ask for shelter for the night.”

“Of course you can stay. We haven’t had visitors in ages. Now, you two get inside.”

“Yes m’m,” replied Onyx.

“If you’re sure,” said Master Dervin.

“There’s plenty of food, between our field hands and the boys, I have to be sure of that. We have guest quarters too, no problems.” Ben and Larry returned with the packs. “You boys put those in the green guest room. Then wash up, supper is nearly ready.” She turned to her guests. “Well, go on then, follow the boys to your room. Food should be ready in half an hour, I’ll send someone up to tell you when.” Master Dervin raised his hands in surrender, he’d realised that he was never going to get a word in edgewise.

NaNoWriMo Snippet 7

And if the weather was fine at the midday break, Onyx had more lessons on summoning the wind. Master Dervin was very patient about that first lesson. “Now, let’s try this again.” It was the end of the week and Onyx felt no closer to being able to move the leaf as he was on the first day.

“But master, I can’t do it. I can’t work out how to call the wind deliberately. And if I call it accidentally, I’m likely to hurt someone seriously.”

“You can do it, Onyx. It’s not an easy thing, but you will be able to do it. Just relax, be patient, let your mind wander.” Master Dervin was using a small dust devil to cause the leaf to dance on the grass.

“That dust devil, it doesn’t feel the same as the breeze,” remarked Onyx.

“Very good, apprentice. A dust devil is born of wind, and can be summoned much the same way. However, the dust devil is a small entity of itself, and once it exists, it’s completely independent of other weather.”

Onyx idly watched the leaf dancing back and forth. After a couple of minutes, he decided to snatch the leaf away. The dust devil danced on without the leaf for a few more moments.

“Congratulations Onyx, you’ve done it.”

“What?”

“You called a puff of wind to steal the leaf from my dust devil. It was a bit stronger than I would have liked,” Master Dervin pointed ruefully at the leaf which was a good 5 meters away, “but you’ve done it. Now fetch the leaf back and try to be more gentle this time.” Onyx started to get up to move the leaf closer again. “No, lad, you don’t need to touch it yourself. Ask the wind.”

Onyx sat stunned for a minute while he tried to remember exactly how he’d stolen the leaf from the dust devil. His plan had been to reach over and grab it but then he had asked the wind to do it for him. He closed his eyes and visualised a little puff of wind pushing the leaf his direction. When he opened his eyes, the leaf was a good meter closer than it had been.

NaNoWriMo Snippet 6

Back at the tavern, the farmer quickly settled the account while Dervin and Onyx finally had breakfast.
“Does anyone threaten to not pay what they’ve promised?”

“Well, Onyx. I’ve never had that happen, but it’s not a surprise. An angry weather mage can do a lot of damage. A sudden freeze, a sudden flood, temperatures soaring, a large hailstorm. I don’t think there are many people willing to risk such damage, since they have some idea what a weather mage can do.” He looked at Onyx.  “That’s why it’s important that you make your status clear. Most people know not to do anything to mages, but they do have to know it’s a mage they deal with. There are always some stupid enough to take that risk, your bullies probably wouldn’t have left you be even knowing there was a risk that you could call weather. But those who know enough to pay, also know enough that they must pay if services were rendered.”

Onyx nodded as he scrapped the last few oats from the bottom of his bowl of porridge. “I hadn’t done anything to provoke them.”

“I believe that. Sometimes there are people who seem to need to prove they’re superior by putting down others. That particular lot decided to prove it by brute strength, I suspect they knew you’re brighter than they are.”

“But Mark, in my class, he knew way more about reading and maths than I do.”

“Mistress Anna told me that you were unusually talented and were catching up to all of her current students quickly. Mark might have suspected that you are quite smart, you’ve just never had the chance to develop it. His type always tries to get even with anyone who seems to be better than they are.”

 Breakfast finished, the pair returned to their room and picked up the bags. They walked to the stable and prepared their donkeys for the day’s journey.

NaNoWriMo snippet 5

The rest of the day went quietly enough. The donkeys were quiet patient beasts willing to follow the humans. The day was warm but there was a light breeze that was keeping the travellers fresh. It was some time before Onyx realised that his master was calling the breeze, just a small request.

At the end of the day, they reached a small settlement. “You wait here with the donkeys. I’ll go see if I can come to some sort of agreement about beds and food for the night.”

“Surely we should have a room for the night. What if it rains? We wouldn’t want to be sleeping in the open then.”


Master Dervin smiled. “Come on lad, use that brain of yours. Do you think I ever get wet unless I happen to want to?” Onyx suddenly remembered the day the bullies cornered him. There wasn’t a drop of water on his master, though the rest of the population was getting wetter by the minute. “The donkeys don’t mind rain though a big thunderstorm might spook them. So it’s only a small effort to keep the area for the two of us dry. I suspect though, this little place could use a bit of weather. We’ll see.”

He handed the lead rope of Lady Evelyn to Onyx and walked over to what was obviously the busiest building in town. And from the sounds drifting out, it had to be a tavern. Onyx waited standing patiently for some minutes when he noticed how sore his feet were. He envied the donkeys and their hard hooves. Since he had no idea how long his master would take, he decided to have a seat on a nearby barrel. The donkeys followed and soon Onyx was as comfortable as he could expect to be given he was still outside waiting.

Onyx was beginning to think he was going to fall asleep where he sat. Walking wasn’t that tiring but moving most of the day wasn’t something he was used to now. Finally he spotted Master Dervin returning from the tavern.

“Right, so we have a place for the donkeys to rest for the night, and we have a room and a bed for the night. Tomorrow I’ll earn our keep with a little magic.”

Onyx slid off the barrel and discovered how sore his feet were. He handed the lead for one donkey back to his master. “Donkeys first?”

NaNoWriMo snippet 4

“We are going to start working toward you being able to summon weather when you want to. Instead of you accidentally calling weather when you’re scared or angry. The first exercise will help you harness the wind to your will.”

Master Dervin placed a leaf on the grass in front of them. “Now pay very close attention. A weather mage can sense when weather is being called but it’s quite hard to describe what you need to feel. So I’ll summon the wind to blow the leaf around, and you let me know when you can feel that I’m pulling on the wind.”

Onyx watched as his master called the wind to blow the leaf a number of times. The leaf went skittering away from them, toward them, to the left, to the right and even in a small circle. Master Dervin looked enquiringly at him and Onyx shook his head mutely. He had no sense of when the wind was being called.

Master Dervin stopped and thought for a few minutes. “You should be able to sense this. I’m not sure why you can’t. Maybe we should try it again. This time, close your eyes and keep them shut. If you can’t watch the leaf, you may be able to better sense the wind.”

Onyx closed his eyes. At first, he felt a small puff when the tiny breeze that Master Dervin summoned came close enough to feel. But after a few minutes, he realised that he could sense the wind even when it wasn’t dancing past his skin. The breeze was playfully chasing - ah, there was Master Dervin’s influence. “Master, I can feel it now. I can feel the wind and you.”

“Good, let’s just continue with that a bit. Keep your eyes shut and feel what I’m doing.”

Now that Onyx could feel Master Dervin, he quickly realised that his master was calling the wind several ways. One way felt like a gentle request and the answering puff of wind was soft relatively slow. One was an urgent demand, the wind went roaring in the desired direction. The playful chase was when Master Dervin sort of teased the wind into doing his will.

“So, apprentice, what have you noticed?”

“That you can summon that wind in different ways. And the answering breeze behaves differently depending on exactly how you summoned it.”

NaNo Snippet 3

“Not a problem lad. It’s good to have some company for the trip. I’m Jim. You are the one bound for Skilopse?”

“Yes sir. It’s been a long trip.”

Jim smiled at the boy. “You only think that’s a long trip. I’ve heard of people traveling so far north, it’s always cold or so far east that there is a body of water so huge you can’t see the other side. Can you imagine?”

Onyx shook his head. A body of water too far to see across? That had to be some sort of folk tale. “I may be from a small place, but that’s just too much to believe. There can’t be enough water in the world that you can’t see to the other side.”

“Ah Onyx, the world is a bigger place then you might think. There are many strange things to see. We’ve carried some passengers from very different places. I’ve seen blue-skinned people from the sea, a deep dark brown from much sunnier climates and a man who was fire-red. Those I have seen myself.”
Man and boy waited for the other passengers to settle in the coach and the mail parcels and bags to be secured. Onyx found himself wondering if any of his fellow travellers today were also bound for Skilopse.

“A rather motley looking bunch of passengers, I’d say,” commented one of the people loading bags onto the coach. “Be careful Jim. It’s said that some robbers are active just outside of Skilopse over the past month.”

“It’s a mail coach, who’d want to steal a bunch of letters and trinkets? We’ll be fine.”

“Just sayin’, cause it’s better to be careful when it’s not needed then careless when care was needed.”

To Onyx, loading the coach took forever but they were on their way not long after dawn. Progress in Thirngo was slow, there were many farm wagons moving in the streets which were moving quite slowly. Onyx found the town to be so different then anything he was accustomed to.

Just realised

NaNoWriMo is going to be my second novel. My first novel was written some time ago - never published and I have yet to finish retyping in chapter 3 more or less the rest of it.

And they would both be classified as children fantasy. Hmm, what does that say about me.

Then again, I love Garth Nix books and he mostly does children's fantasy. Dianne Wynn Jones.

And the NaNo novel has hit 11,000 words so far. That puts me rather below par for getting to the goal on time, they recon that you need 15,000 words to be on track. Still, it's day 9 so there is plenty of time to make it up. And the words are no longer fighting with me, it's slowly getting easier.

NaNo Snippet 2

Onyx woke the next day to the scent of porridge. He was still feeling a bit tired, it was more difficult to sleep well in a strange room with a man that snored. The man from the coach was still snoring away so Onyx decided he may as well have breakfast if he could.

“What ho, one of my coach guests appears so early?” A short round and rather happy looking man exclaimed.

“Yes sir. Is there breakfast please?” Onyx asked sniffing the air hungrily.

“Aren’t you a polite young man? What’s your name boy?” The innkeeper smiled at Onyx. He started dishing out a bowl of porridge from the large simmering pot.

“Onyx, sir.” The innkeeper topped the porridge with a generous spoon of honey and some fresh milk.
The innkeeper had finished with the bowl and set it on the wooden table. “Here you go, young Onyx. You can call me Bill. I take it that this is your first trip from home?”

Onyx grabbed the spoon and started eating. “Yes sir,” he noticed the innkeeper frown, “I mean Bill. How did you know?”

“Mostly your age. We don’t get many through here as young as you.” Bill looked at the rapidly disappearing porridge, “Nor as hungry,” he said with a laugh. “More, young Onyx?”

“No, thank you. But if you have some bread you can spare, that I can take along today?”

Bill disappeared for a moment, then returned with a small parcel. “I don’t normally do this, but most of the coach passengers are like the two with you. They think they deserve the best fare, and yet the coaches only pay a pittance for the overnight stay. Since you appreciate what I have to offer, I’ll give you just a bit more.” Bill sighed, “Still, I better get them up. The coach leaves in about an hour. None of us would be happy if it left without them.”

NaNo progress - eh

I still haven't hit a good writing groove yet. I don't know if the story has a flaw that my brain hates or

The interwebs and Plants vs Zombies (iPad version) are just keeping me too entertained.

I am still making progress - the nano site thinks I should finish mid-December at my current writing pace. And one or two really good days will make a huge difference.

When will I get in good days though? I hope soon.

More Nano snippets???

I can't decide. Due to the underwhelming reaction from the first snippet, I am tempted to say no more.

But I'm a serial posting offender and the idea of NOT posting snippets - hmm.

First NaNo snippet

(Nano snippets will be first and very rough drafts. Read at your own peril)

Coming of age in the village saw each child be apprenticed in some career. Many stayed on the family farm, a few would be chosen to apprentice to the village baker, miller, or blacksmith. Each of those was considered an honoured profession and one well worth growing into.

But Onxy caused some special issues. His talent for causing special weather grew stronger with age, but his control remained hopelessly inadequate.

“Onxy,” said the elder. “You need more than this village can give you. We have found a teacher for you, a weather mage. He lives in Skilopse.”

“Getting you to Skilopse is something that we’ve been deeply considering. It will do no one good if you fail to arrive.”

“So we have decided to purchase you a place on the mail coach, due in three days time. It will take another 4 days to arrive in Skilopse.”

“Once you are there, you must seek out the house of Dervin, he is the weather mage we have found. Dervin has already agreed to your apprenticeship assuming that you too are a weather mage.”

“But we don’t know that I am a weather mage, not at this point.”

“The wind and water answer your call, whether you desire it or not. And if you have no control over them.”

Onxy thought back to the summer. He had been terribly in love with Daisy, a nice girl on a neighbouring farm. One day, he found Daisy had a second boyfriend, and he wanted to lash out at his rival. In an instant, a bolt of lightning nearly struck the couple as they lie in the grass kissing.

Since that fateful Daisy had no boyfriends that Onxy had heard of. She also steadfastly refused to remain in his presence for more than a few moments. Onxy tried to approach her while she was chatting with some friends, but he could never get that close before one of them would exclaim, “Watch it, dunder thunderhead is here, let’s go.”

“Wait, I just wanted to…”

“Dunderhead, thunderhead, he’s such a blunderhead.” The girls would sing as they danced out of sight.

“I just wanted to say I was sorry. Why can’t they listen!” as Onxy’s temper rose, so did the wind. It tore nearly a half of the ripening fruit off the branches of a nearby apple tree. Daisy’s father, owner of the tree, rushed out.