And then I fell asleep at 11:30pm.
I totally blame the daylight savings time, so my body FELT like it was one hour later. And yes, I do have a bedtime. I just...couldn't make it. Weep.
So anyway! Instead I got myself out of bed around 7:45am this beautiful autumn morning to give myself some extra time to start my first ever word count for NaNo, yay!
This smexy and slightly awkward pic is the first selfie I've ever taken. I dedicate this to you NaNo. After taking an awesome cup of coffee and a slice of "ontbijtkoek" (with butter), I started my quest for writing. The first thing I wanted to do was search Google images for some inspiration of my opening scene. I know what I want to write, but since I've never seen my environment first-hand it would be difficult to describe it properly. Here are some of the images I found for my intro, so it could be a teaser for my writing and spark for your imaginations:
Oh hoh! What do these three images have in common, you might ask? That's for you to think about and me to write. However, I will post a little snippet about my environment description:
Visual Style
When the story takes place, the world is recovering from an event that took place over 100 years ago. Over 90% of the human population simply vanished, leaving the rest of the world in complete chaos. The the current day, most of the environment has taken over the land and cities. Most story locations will appear to be built on top of city ruins and overgrown by
beautiful plants. Cities make use of technological gadgets that have been dug
up and re-purposed. Some cities have been rebuilt using scraps and anything they
could find.
So I successfully posted my first word-count on NaNo, clocking in at about 2000 words. Not bad on the first day, but starting my document was really hard....especially wading through notes and tidbits of planning that I had written. But I feel great that I have start.
EXCERPT FOR THE DAY
As promised, here is a piece of the writing I did today that I thought was the most exciting. Please don't post any critiques, since this is completely taken out of context and it's a first draft. And if you have something bad to say, then I'll forewarn you now that I won't read it :D
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That’s when he heard the deep whirring of gears and a swoosh
of air that ended with a dull metal click. Curiously he scooted himself closer
to the front of the kiosk where his hand had been. A hidden panel had been
released and was now standing open. Jason ran his fingers along the outline of
the panel, very surprised that the seal still worked. Must be a pressure-lock system, he assumed. He hung the newly freed
lightstick over the panel door so the blue light could illuminate its interior.
There was no water or grime in here, even though it still smelled like old
water. There was a red button on the top frame of the compartment. It had a
peeling plastic label next to it which read ‘…merge…cy.’ More detailed instructions where posted on the inside
of the panel door, perhaps about the correct times to press the button or so
Jason guessed. Boys are only taught to read and write until their 13th
year and after which start working alongside tradesmen. However as Jason got
older, his younger sister Shiri would sneak into his room during the nights and
continue to teach him from her reading lessons. He worked on his first
invention for that reason – a flashlight that worked with solar cells instead
of ‘battrees' or whatever they were called. He gave that flashlight to Shiri
for her 12th birthday present, and she still had it hidden
underneath her bed.
Jason pulled himself out of his memories and examined the
inside of the hidden compartment. On the first shelf there was a gun. Curious.
Jason looked back at the posted instructions and wondered if a gun had anything
to do with pressing the red button. After concentrating on the letters, he was
able to read the big red letters at the top of the instructions.
“How…to
protect yourself,” he mumbled out-loud. Huh. Well a gun could definitely do
that, but protect you from what? Wild animals? Jason figured the people in the
last century were too advanced to worry about things like that.
Further back on the shelf sat a black leather bag. It had
golden rings that still it’s leather handles together at the top and a large
golden clasp that kept it shut. The gold didn't have any shine left to it, but
the leather had a beautiful flower motif burned into it. Maybe the bag belonged
to the last person working in this shop? It did have a girly aura around
it…Jason wondered if his sister would like it. He reached past the gun and
picked up the leather bag. Apparently it had been folded over in half, because
it expanded to twice its size as Jason held it up. Why did women need such big
bags?
The golden clasp broke in two as soon as he tried to open
it. Oops. The contents within looked pretty normal – keys, wallet, a broken
bottle of perfume and an ancient type of cellphone, he guessed. Jason clicked
it’s power button and heard a gurgling sound like a ringtone trapped
underwater. Yes! He actually found
something that wasn't completely broken. He positioned his wristband with the
data scanner next to the cell phone. Within seconds, the entire disk from the
phone had been downloaded. In his excitement, Jason stashed the purse under his
arm and was getting ready to leave. The weight under his arm wasn't expected.
He pulled the bag open again and looked inside more carefully. He didn't see it
the first time because of the zipper
pocket protecting it. Dragging open the zipper, Jason saw a thin rectangular
object made of metal. It was a real Digipad.
Jason held his breath. He pulled it out and examined the
screen, which only had some shallow cracks and scratches. He looked at the
ancient cellphone lying open on the shelf and then back at the device he was
holding. The power button was right under his thumb. His eyes squinted as he
thought to himself, ‘There is no way I could
be this lucky…’
He pressed the button. The dark screen slowly illuminated as
the ancient machine came back to life. Jason’s mouth dropped open and his heart
was beating so fast that he couldn’t stop staring. This is what he’d been
looking for. This is what he’d never been able to find, until now. This is –
“JASON!”
A loud voice blared through the speakers on his cellphone a
few yards away, and he slammed his head hard into the concrete beam above him.
He saw stars and probably cried a little, but he held the Digipad with an iron
grip. A horrible groaning sound echoed throughout the building. Through his
blurry vision, he saw the beams shift above him and dust fell into his eyes.
The building continued to ache. Of course this would happen now…
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