Fun fact: I wrote draft #1 of Above the Star during #nanowrimo2012 while I nursed a newborn. Good times! Oh, the life of a writer-mama! Www.AboveTheStar.com
I've been forgetting to tell when I post up new chapters. MAH BAD. But just click on my DA link and go to my gallery, I have it in a folder set in chronological order if you wanna do that.
I don't quite remember if I posted this once before. But here's another.
My NaNoWriMo project from last year is slowly being posted on my DA. I aim to update at least once a month, maybe twice if I remember. Right now it's on Chapter 7 w.prologue. If I remember I'll post here saying that a new chapter is up. But yeah read if you want.
I wrote a novel based on Terrible Things. Keep in mind I wrote this novel in a month and stuff and just edited this chapter in like 2 minutes, and that was mostly typos fixing. So be nice.
Word count: 3,238
Nick walked home from school; his orange backpack slung over one shoulder. His bus dropped him off at the corner by his house, so it wasn’t a long walk. But on a day like this, gray and cloudy, with the threat of rain at any second, he couldn’t wait to get home. He really hated being caught in the rain, and he was pretty sure his backpack wasn’t waterproof. He heard a clap of thunder, and he sped up his pace just a bit; he was almost running.
Nick was fourteen years old, a freshman in high school. He had sandy brown, crew cut hair, although it was getting a little too long for his liking. He had brown eyes, so dark they were almost black. He almost looked just like his father, only younger. His father had the same eyes, a color so dark they were almost black. His father also had a similar haircut, although his hair was kept cropped close to his head. His hair used to be black, but there were slight hints of graying hidden amongst the black strands.
Nick did have some features from his mother, like her five foot one inch height, her thick, sandy hair, and her loud, booming laugh. He didn’t really remember her much; all he knew of her was from a picture on his father’s desk. And what other relatives had told him of their memories of her. It still wasn’t much. His father quickly changed the subject every time the subject of his mother came up. Nick didn’t really understand why, but he wasn’t one to press for information on a subject someone didn’t want to talk about.
He opened the door to his house and stepped inside. He was greeted by his puppy, who had leaped up to lick him “hello.”
“Hey, there, Tyler,” he said, giggling. Tyler always greeted him the same way, full of enthusiasm and energy. Nick loved it. The puppy was so ridiculous, he always made Nick smile. Even after a bad or long day.
Nick let his backpack slide off his shoulder and thump to the ground. He pushed it with his foot so the backpack would be in the corner and out of the way. He slid off his black sneakers and left them in the corner with his backpack. He padded up the front stairs in his socks and went into the kitchen to get something to eat. Tyler followed Nick upstairs, wagging his tail.
Nick grabbed a bag of pretzels from the pantry and a can of coke from the fridge and popped the can open. He took a sip from the can and took the food into the living room. He set the food on the coffee table. “Okay, okay,” he said to Tyler, laughing. “I’ll let you outside.” He walked over to the sliding door that opened into the backyard. He unlocked it and slid open the door. Tyler bounded out the door and ran around the yard. He promptly started chasing his tail.
Nick closed the door, laughing and shaking his head at his silly dog. He walked back into the living room. He sat down on the couch and grabbed the remote from the coffee table. Changing his mind, he tossed it back on the couch and stood up. He grabbed a handful of pretzels and went back downstairs to pick up his backpack. He slung it back over his shoulder and padded back up the stairs, eating the pretzels on the way.
Nick sat on the couch again and placed the backpack on the floor next to him. He took another sip from the can of coke. After setting the can back on the table, he unzipped his backpack and flipped through, looking for the yellow folder for his General Art class. He grabbed the matching yellow notebook and a pencil as well and set the notebook next to him. He zipped his backpack closed again and opened the folder, looking for the assignment he had been given that day. He found that piece of paper and pulled it out, setting it on top of the notebook. He started to read over it again. He was almost excited about a homework assignment for once. The assignment was to create a family collage.
“Using pictures that detail your family member’s personalities and important family events (like weddings, vacations, funerals, etc.) put together a collage that best represents who your family I, individually and as a whole. Any written parts are not required, but are allowed if it furthers your point. You may include anyone whom you consider family, like your friends or other people close to you. Even pets if you wish. Family does not have to be blood related to be important. The purpose of this project is to show that art can be all forms, not just paintings or drawings and to have you draw inspiration from all parts of your life. This project will be presented to the class in a quick two to three minute presentation explain the main parts of your project. The presentation counts as twenty-five percent of your grade. This will be a one hundred point assignment.” The assignment said. Nick thought back to class that day, when his teacher had explained it.
“Art can come from any parts of your life. Most artists draw from things important to them, things they deal with on a daily basis. And one thing most people deal with on a daily basis, luckily, is family. Whether family, to you, is your mom, dad, sister, brother, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc., or friends, pets, neighbors, or anyone else important to you, they are a part of your life. For some people, family is bigger than others. With this project, I want you to analyze what your family is and what your family is to you.”
Nick leaned against the back of the couch and thought. He had his dad, obviously. He didn’t really know who else he counted as family. He had his puppy, too. But he didn’t know if he wanted just his dad and his puppy on the poster. He tried to think of friends he could add, but he wasn’t really close with anyone. He was pretty quiet, and he was shy. He had a few people he sometimes talked to, or that he could ask what last night’s homework was, but he didn’t really have anyone that he considered a close friend.
He opened his notebook to a clean sheet and wrote “Family Project” at the top. He wrote “who to include” on the next line and started a bulleted list. All he had on the list was his dad and Tyler. He started doodling on the page. It shouldn’t be this hard, he thought, still doodling on the page. His notebooks were filled of the little drawings; he did it all the time when he was bored.
He had drawn a portrait of his puppy on the page. Tyler was a little Boston terrier, with mostly black fur, although he had a few brown spots mixed on his fluffy fur. He was about ten months old. They had found him at a pound, after Nick had finally convinced his dad to let him have a pet. Tyler had just been born. As the runt of the litter, they thought he would survive, but Nick took an instant liking to him and, after much begging, took him home and nursed the puppy until he was healthy.
Nick decided to wait until his dad got home to start the project. He felt he could ask his dad for help on whom else to include. And his dad could help him get some pictures together. He finished the soda and stood up. He grabbed the pretzels too and walked into the kitchen. He put a bag clip back onto the half-full bag of pretzels and put them back in the pantry. He rinsed out the coke can and tossed it into the recycling container on the counter.
He heard it start to rain. Remembering Tyler was still outside, he ran over to and opened the door to let the rain-soaked puppy in. the door slid shut behind the puppy. He grabbed a towel and dried off the puppy a bit. He hung the towel back up and petted Tyler for a bit.
He walked back into the living room and sat on the couch. He thought about doing the rest of his homework while waiting for his dad, but decided to take a nap on the couch instead. He lay down and stretched out his legs. He grabbed the blanket off of the arm of the couch and covered himself with the blanket. He closed his eyes as he felt Tyler leap up to join him on the couch. Tyler cuddled up next to Nick as he drifted off to sleep.
***
“Good morning, sleepyhead.” Daniel, nick’s dad, said. Nick opened his eyes.
“Hi, dad. Very funny.” Nick said, sitting up and stretching.
“Did you have a good nap?” his dad asked as he sat on the arm of the couch.
“Sure.” Nick said. He reached over to the coffee table and grabbed the paper with his art project on it. He handed it to his dad.
“What’s this?” his dad asked, while starting to read the paper.
“It’s my art project. I was wondering if you could help me.”
“I probably can. What do you need help with?”
“Um, I guess finding pictures. And I don’t really know who else to include. I have you, obviously, and Tyler, but I really can’t think of anyone else.” Daniel set the paper down on the table.
“Come with me.” He said, getting off the arm of the couch and walking down the hall.
“Where are we going?” nick asked, pushing the blanket away and following him down the hall.
“Down to the basement. I have some old scrapbooks and stuff up there. What were you wanting pictures of?” they headed down the stairs. They reached the downstairs landing and Daniel reached to turn on the light. He opened the door into the main part of the basement and walked to the back of the room.
The basement was a large room, with a concrete floor. The walls were white, but they were covered with shelves, almost to the point where you couldn’t really see them. The concrete floor had been painted a light green, almost making the room feel colder. Nick was glad he had kept his socks on; the floor was freezing. His dad still had on his shoes from work; he hadn’t bothered to take them off.
“I was hoping for some pictures of you. My teacher suggested taking pictures from family events or vacations. He also said we could include some pictures of ourselves from when we were really little kids.” Meanwhile, Daniel reached to the top of a shelf against the wall and pulled down a box. Nick walked over to his father’s side.
“Well we have this box of pictures from when you were first born. We have some more recent pictures in this box.” Daniel said, opening a box that was on the ground. “I think that box has pictures up to your middle school graduation.” Daniel said, motioning to the box he had handed nick a little earlier. “We can start with that one.”
“Alright.” Nick said. He took the lid off of the box and set it on the ground a little bit behind him. He pulled an envelope from out of the box and opened it. He reached inside and pulled out the pictures from inside.
“Just let me know when you see a picture you like, and we can take it somewhere to get it copied or something. I’d rather you didn’t use the original pictures.” Daniel said, opening the other box he had taken off the shelf to start looking for more pictures.
“What are these pictures from? The guy looks like a younger you.” Nick said, flipping through the stack. The pictures were of a couple; the man was wearing a black tuxedo, and the woman was wearing a long dress. The dress she was wearing almost hit the ground, and was very simple; a black strapless dress with a red sash around the woman’s waist. There was a corsage on her wrist. The storage had a red rose surrounded by little white flowers.
The woman herself had long, sandy brown hair. She had it down and perfectly straight, with a black flower pinned above her left ear. She was short, looking to be about 5 feet tall. She had on black, strappy stilettoes that added a few inches to her overall height. She had blue eyes, and a large, lovely smile. In the top picture, they looked like they had tried to take a traditional, smiling prom picture, but he had cracked a joke, “ruining” the moment. Her head was thrown back in laughter; he was smiling down at her like she was the only person in the world.
“The man is me, at my senior prom. My parents made us take a lot of pictures. They’d said we’d love looking back at them later. They were right. The woman is my date for the prom, your mother.” Daniel explained, taking the picture and smiling down at it. His eyes looked like he was in another place; perhaps back to that night.
“How come I don’t recognize her?” nick asked his father, looking down at another one of the pictures. In this one their attempt at a serious picture had worked. They were both looking at the camera and smiling. He had his arm around her, and she was leaning into him. They both looked so happy.
He thought to the picture his dad kept of her on his desk, the one he had been looking at most of his life, every time there was a “take your child to work” day or he was at his dad’s office for some other reason. He loved looking at the picture; it was the only picture he had ever seen of his mother. She was standing in front of a huge willow tree. The tree was at a nearby park, as nick had been told. Her hair was short, cut in the style of a bob haircut, and she had it tucked behind her ears. She wore a colorful striped sundress, although the picture was black and white.
The picture on his dad’s desk had to be much more recent. In that one though, she looked much older, like she had aged too much in such a short time. She seemed to look extremely tired, like she hadn’t slept in weeks. Her hair also looked much thinner. Daniel didn’t seem to have any other picture of her in the house.
“She died a couple of months after you were born.” Daniel said quietly. Nick almost didn’t hear him. Daniel still hadn’t looked up from the picture. He bit his lip. He continued to study the picture, like he hadn’t seen it since all the pictures from his past were packed away years and years ago, before nick had been born. It was almost like he had forgotten about it, or like he was seeing it for the first time.
“How come you never really told me what happened to her?” nick asked, setting the pictures aside. Daniel winced at his son’s word choice; the question brought back memories of a similar question he had asked lily that night. “At least, I don’t remember ever talking about it. You always seemed to change the subject. I’d like to know. Uh, if you want to tell me, that is.” Nick continued, speaking in a rush. He didn’t really know what he was saying anymore.
All he knew is that his mother wasn’t around. When he was younger, he vaguely remembered being told she had gotten sick and died. He had asked his father one day when he was about five, after realizing he was the only kid in his class without a mom. His dad seemed in pain when he explained why she wasn’t around that he never wanted to ask again, and he had only come up a few times in the years since.
His dad still looked lost in thought. Nick didn’t really know what to do or say at this point. His father had usually changed the subject by now. He scooted across the floor so he was sitting next to his dad. He knelt on the floor, with the box of pictures on his left side and his dad on his right side. He turned a bit so he was facing his dad.
Daniel set the picture he had been holding down and looked straight ahead. Nick picked up the picture and added it to the stack he had been looking through so it wouldn’t be on the ground. he picked up the full stack of pictures and slid them back into the envelope he had found them in. he set the envelope in the box, right on top. He looked back at his father.
“Dad?” nick asked. Daniel didn’t look like he was in the basement anymore; it was like he had been sucked into his own world. He looked back at nick, and then away again.
“I don’t know. I guess I just didn’t think you were ever old enough. Or I didn’t want to talk about it too much. Or something. I don’t really know, honestly. But I guess you’re old enough now. And you are right. You do have a right to know.” Daniel paused, collecting his thoughts. Nick sat there next to him, waiting patiently for his dad to be ready to speak.
“We met when we were high school juniors, a little older than you are now.” Daniel started. Nick listened. He repositioned himself so he wasn’t kneeling anymore; his legs were starting to fall asleep. He was now sitting cross-legged next to his dad, surrounded by the boxes of pictures.
“Your mother, her name was Lily, was the new girl in school. Our school principal brought her into my English class one day towards the beginning of school. I think it was only the second or third week of school that year. It was a Monday. I was sitting, alone, in the back of the room, reading the book our teacher, Mrs. Evans, had assigned for us to read first thing that year. She was having us read To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I was probably the only one doing something school related. The bell had already rung, but class hadn’t started yet. Mrs. Evans was still trying to get the class to settle down so she could start the class when the principal walked in with Lily. I looked up from the book when I heard the door open. You could almost say it was ‘love at first sight,’ and, despite how cheesy that sounds, I guess it’s right. I couldn’t stop looking at her; she was so beautiful. She probably thought I was really creepy.” Daniel said, laughing a bit at his silliness. His mind drifted off as he told the rest of the story, almost taking them to another place, back to another time.
It's finally here: the last voting day of Round Two!
VOTE HERE
Goodness, the last two weeks have made me into a mess of nerves. Do I spend the weekend in intense anticipate for the results on Monday or do I try to calm myself down and enjoy the days off?
Anyway, this time I thought I'd tempt you with share the synopsis of my novel, titledThe Last Life, Book One of the (Im)mortality Trilogy, so here goes:
Mankind is given the opportunity to live forever after a medical breakthrough, but it isn’t long before the immortals realize there are far-reaching consequences to cheating death and the “Mortality Cure” is outlawed world-wide. When some people refuse to return to mortality, a secret faction splits off from humanity and sparks a war that may last until the end of time.
Hundreds of years after the Mortality Cure is banned, Sable and her two best friends Olen and Laris are busy planning adventures to far-off places, unaware of the growing tension and perilous nature of their world. When her friends don’t show for the Village’s annual festival and no one in the Village will tell her where they’ve gone, Sable becomes convinced that something is terribly wrong and sets off to find them.
Secrets, betrayals and death come from every direction as Sable tries to navigate the outside world and learns the value of trust, alliances, and the last life.
This is the link to the submissions page, where you can find my YA/Adventure novel titled (Im)mortality under the “Speculative/Sci-Fi” category (really, it's not sci-fi; that genre is just not for me). Read the first three pages here if you’re bored, you need to look like you're doing something productive, or because you want to read it.
There are three rounds and this is round one, judged by YOUR VOTES! The important part of all this is that the winner gets a publishing deal. "What's in it for me?" you say?
Maybe you'll find a novel there that you never knew you wanted.
