Friday, November 21, 2014

NaNo Day 21 - Motivational look at the finish goal.

I am so thankful there is plenty of stuff I can watch on the internet while procrastinating against writing. And after watching one, you feel pumped to start again! I'd like to take the time to present the famous Katytastic to you (and yeah I know the days don't match up, deal with it). I want her helmet.



Thank you Katy for screaming at me that 'there is no magical secret!!' I'm already super-impressed with myself that I have written every day for three freaking weeks! I've never done that before either. I am determined to WIN!!!! WOWHWHHHHOOOO!!!!

MOTIVATIONAL SCREAM while jumping through hoops of fire and dodging footballs!

Also another fun fact that could be related to motivation:

47 CUPS FOR NANO!



=======================================================================
Why am I so motivated, you might ask? Well let's just say that some of the most recent messages in my NaNo inbox have freaked me out! 
  1. You can actually validate your novel already?? How can there even a possibility that people are done already??
  2. Think about the ending to your story....what?? I'm supposed to be towards the end now??
I read the latest blog excerpt from one of the NaNo coaches that is talking about wrapping your story up toward the end of November: 
Seriously though, there's no way I'm near the end >_>
She tells me not to introduce any new characters...Well I just introduced a new person yesterday and I'm planning to introduce another one today. And for the record, another one in 2 chapters. 

CHAPTERS! I'm only on Chapter 10, how the heck can I be close to finishing my book? What does this mean? I'm a really slow writer that tends to babble on about nothing and in reality I'll need to slash 5 chapters just to get to the point?

Now you see why I was trying to stay motivated and positive instead of freaking out? 

So anyways. I feel proud about my novel so far, and no matter what kind of crazy shocks I get from my emails or inbox urging me to follow a particular writing path, all I can do is continue at my own pace. And you know what? My book isn't over at 50k. Nope. I'll win NaNo, but my book will just continue on until I'm satisfied :D
Hooray for happy endings!

Using my expanding bullet-point technique within my document, I was able to meet my wordcount in THREE HOURS!!!! That is a freaking new personal record! So at 1pm in the afternoon, I'm sitting on par at exactly  35,025 words!  That means I have half a day remaining to write more!

EXCERPT

It's time to meet my new character from the last excerpt and fight a monster! Woot! As always, this is my first time writing about monsters. I guess it's officially my second action scene as well? I was trying to make the monster really creepy and well...yeah. Just take a read and let me know what you think. Feel free to add tips about making it more scary!
================

The golden woman warrior lost her smile and marched toward their flailing arms. “Children, you should know it’s not wise to quarrel on this side of the veil. You could attract unwanted attention.”
Her strange comment made Jason pause a little too long and Isaac’s elbow hit him right in the eye. Jason covered his face and tripped, falling to the ground in a pathetic pile. Shiri took the gun and forced it back into Isaac’s gun pouch to end the argument. After throwing her chaperone a deadly stare, she promptly bent over to inspect Jason’s eye. Satisfied it would heal, she helped him to his feet. “Now Miss Sun, was it? What exactly would we be attracting?”she asked.
                The woman tensed and pulled out her sword, her eyes wild. 
Almost if on cue, an animalistic roar emanated from the bottom of the hill. Two large black horns appeared from between the trees, followed by the head of bull without any eyes. Thick, muscular legs coated in inky scales brought the rest of the beast into sight. Its clawed feet resembled that of an eagle, while it’s long bony tail whipped around it like a snake.
                “A daemon,” the woman whispered.
It stood taller than the broken lampposts that lined the walkway up to the institute. Each step the creature took shattered the little red bricks to dust, but the debris didn’t bother the it. Jason didn’t dare to breath. The beast paused to take in the surroundings, but Jason knew it couldn’t see. The big ugly head lifted to sniff the air, although its nose was missing. Then giant flaps of skin unfolded like paper and fanned out behind its horns. They looked like ears; of course!
Isaac wasn’t so quick to realize what the beast was doing. Instead he thought it was smarter to shoot first and ask questions later. Little glowing beams hit the ugly cow on the snout, but it was Isaac’s pathetic battle cry that got the beast’s attention. The black beast swung his head in the direction of the group and dug his foreleg into the ground.
The monster roared, revealing a mouth without teeth and dripping with black goo. Then a red glow began at the bottom of its open throat. Something churned inside its belly and it looked like the beast was about to gag. When it did, a web of ropes fell from its mouth and landed with a clank on the bricked path. The sound was metallic. 
                  “It’s getting ready to feed. Don’t let those chains touch you!” the woman cried out. She lurched forward from a crouch and jumped over Jason’s head. The base of the monster’s throat glowed red and it charged at the sound of her approach. The chains turned red hot and came alive, shooting out of the beast’s mouth like rockets on autopilot.
The woman’s armor burst into glowing lights and she skipped along the ground in a stream of golden fury. As Jason watched each chain whiz past her face, he couldn’t shake the severe feeling of déjà vu. The fear already collecting in his stomach jumped into his throat.
 Kicking off from a lamppost, the woman hurled her sword at the beast’s head and the blade lodged itself horizontally in its neck. However the blade continued to move of its own accord, ripping the rest of the beast’s head off.
Inky bile and charcoal scales exploded like smoke from the neck. The head plopped down next to its feet and the chains fell with it, but the mouth was still moving! A burst of flames erupted from the decapitated head, while the body continued to run towards the group.
The golden warrior ran over to reclaim her sword and was now trying to dodge Isaac’s shots. “You need to stop shooting and get inside the building!” She yelled over to him. “All you’re doing is making things worse!”
Shiri was screaming uncontrollably and tried to climb Jason like a tree. Isaac had two wet trails down his cheeks and he couldn’t move. Jason avoided being burnt to a crisp by hauling his sister on one shoulder and side-stepping a tree root.
He grabbed Isaac’s arm and attempted to pull him forward. However his cousin interpreted the touch as an unseen attack. He yelled out in terror and turned his gun on Jason’s chest. The electric blast knocked Jason to his knees and his vision was fried.
Almost in response to the gun blast, the monster head gave a throaty laugh and finally stopped moving. The monster body started to wobble. Black ooze bubbled around the gaping hole between its shoulders. Two black tendrils coiled out of the opening, growing two new heads to replace the one it lost. Now it roared twice as loud and the smoke from its throat stank like rotten meat.
                “This is not good!” the woman yelled and already jumped onto the back of the monster. Steadying herself on its shoulder blades, the warrior thrust her sword through one of the heads while the other one coiled around to bite her ankles. She punched it square in the jaw and black ink spattered across her peachy face.
“I can’t destroy the beast with humans so close by! Jason!” the woman jerked her head towards him. Hearing his name through her voice somehow focused his attention. His limbs filled with a new type of strength.
“Take your sister and the crying boy into the building! I can distract the daemon until you get inside!”
Jason didn’t stop to think how she knew about their family relations. His sister slid off his shoulders and Isaac was frantically apologizing. He didn’t listen to either of them. All he did was grab their hands and pull them from the next singeing fire ball. 
Trees cracked and bent under the pounding steps of the monster cow. Jason didn’t look behind him, but focused on the cement stairway in front of him. Isaac was now leaping two steps at once and Shiri was so frightened that Jason had to drag her up behind him. Jason’s hand pushed through the revolving glass doors of the research institute, triggering a last desperate howl from the beast. It’s shriek hit a particular tone that made the windows shake. It was losing its prey.
Out of nowhere the golden warrior burst through the windows above them and landed inside the entrance hall. All three teenagers flung their arms up to protect their heads from falling glass. Strangely nothing fell. She left no hole or missing glass. It was like the woman just materialized on the other side of the wall.
Already on her feet, she stood in front of the glass entrance with her hand outstretched. A thin circle of light flowed from her fingertips and raced along the doorframe like water. When the two ends of airy liquid met, it glowed brightly and disappeared. She sighed with relief and turned to the group. “That should keep you safe in here.” With her job done, she leaned back against the wall. She wasn’t breathing hard, and after all they’d been through, she didn’t even seem fazed.
                “Who are you?” Jason could blurted out.
The female warrior cocked her head to the side. “I thought I already told you,” she said with confusion. “My name is Sun. I’m your new guardian.”
================

No comments:

Post a Comment