november and december snippets

There are quite a few long snippets this time around. My excuse is that most of them are from Copper Blood, and I just love this story beyond all reason. So yes.

“You’re from 001,” the ambassador said softly, his voice matter-of-fact. The sounds of fighting from across the room had cut out, and Nate wasn’t at all sure who had won. For all he knew, he was about to get grabbed just like Brittany had been. But he had to focus on this, on pulling the trigger, on fulfilling his mission. 

There were two bullets in the gun. His life didn’t matter, only this did, the mission, he must he must he must he must 

He opened his mouth to speak, to say something, to excuse himself, to apologize. The man’s face creased in a slow, sad smile, lines appearing by his eyes. “I’m sorry, son. I’m so, so sorry. How old are you, nineteen? Twenty? It takes ‘em young.” The man stepped closer to him, pressing the barrel of the gun into his chest. The smile was gone, and only the sadness remained. “It was a mistake, all of this. Your creation. That thing’s creation. And I know it doesn’t make sense. But I’m sorry. Do what you must.” 

 Nate dropped the gun. “I can’t,” he said. “Go home. Go home and love that daughter of yours, because by God I can’t shoot you.”

- Copper Blood, NaNo 2012

Nate wasn’t prepared for the pain when it came. This time around, it shut out all thought, every impulse that was not of itself. The bite of the cuffs paled, and disappeared completely, lost amid the roaring beast. It tore through his mind, poured itself into his veins, a thing of molten fire that set his blood to boiling, so violent that the atoms seemed to split, reforming into chunks of iron and copper, crystallized remains of what had once fed him life. Pain tore at him from the inside, his whole body jerking against it.

- Copper Blood, NaNo 2012

“I guess you’re not a travelling person?” Nate asked, raising an eyebrow.

 She gave him a withering look. “That is putting it mildly,” she said. “Particularly when you have a hyperactive tribble and Agent K to keep you company, not to mention the ignoramus hunk of muscle that keeps trying to get away. She’s already kicked out our taillight and Nathaniel whatever-your-last-name-is, I swear to you, I am going to make you pay if she gets me stopped by the cops.”

- Copper Blood, NaNo 2012

There was no one about when he coasted into a courtyard, nearly crashing into a statue he hadn’t remembered being there. This landing was even worse than his last; he fetched up against a pillar, Jo half-cradled against him. No outcry had been made, no alarm sounded. Stupid Frey, was his last thought before he Shifted, falling onto the stones with one bare arm still draped over Jo. Stupid, stupid Frey.

- Caste, novel in progress

 - Kyla Denae

i'm a winner and stuff

I have no idea what my 50,000th word was.

I have no idea when I passed the mark, though it was at some point near 12:30am on the 22nd. 

The one thing I do have a very definite idea about is the quality of my novel. Goodness gracious, a lot of it is bad. But thinking back, I can remember a few moments of brilliance. I can remember that I've fallen in love with these characters. That, at some point in the past twenty-five days, I wrote the heart of a novel.

And that's pretty awesome.

- Kyla Denae

day three

The first day of NaNoWriMo passed so fast, I feel like I hardly blinked (though that might have been a combination of fear of the statues that seem to be everywhere and those weird gaps in my memory...). I got about 5,000 words into my novel that day, dealing with near-amnesia, a head-jerking doctor, and a main character who insisted upon having a girlfriend.

Yesterday, day two, I didn't get much written due to an eleven-hour long shift at work. I still managed to get about a thousand words written though (and no, I totally didn't stay up until midnight to get there. Honest. Shh).

Today, I'm hoping to hit at least 10,000, and hopefully get a bit higher. In pursuit of that, the next few hours of my life will be filled with existentialist crises as I force Nate to figure out what's going on, a combination of music from Matt Kearney, Clint Mansell, and Murray Gold, and numb fingers as they work way too fast.

So while I'm doing that, I'm going to just paste this excerpt from my novel and run.

            His mom and dad were nowhere in evidence, though he could hear the sound of some TV commentator coming from the living room. Heading that way, he went into the kitchen to find himself a drink, only partly focusing on the tinny voice on the TV.

            Until, that is, it mentioned Doctor Kane. Rounding the corner, cup of soda in hand, he leaned against the wall leading into the living room and focused on the screen. A man, sitting behind a desk, was gazing seriously into the camera, the younger woman by his side nodding seriously as he spoke.

            ‘Doctor Herbert Kane, as we’ve said, has been one of the foremost experts in the new field of Neural Reprogramming, which is basically where the brain is taught, through some means both medical and psychological—we’re really not quite sure as to the exact process, too much mumbo-jumbo,’ the commentator gave a nervous laugh. ‘But the applications of this process, this operation, could be immeasurable. Apply it to, to criminal justice, to mental illnesses…’

            ‘You could literally transform the world,’ the woman chimed in.

            ‘Well, obviously,’ the man said. ‘Which is why Doctor Herbert Kane–’

            Nate turned away and headed for the stairs, unwilling to sit around and listen to them sing praises of a man he wasn’t sure about himself. Then again…whatever it was that Doctor Kane had done to him, it had ‘immeasurable’ applications.

- Copper Blood, WIP 2012 NaNoWriMo novel

- Kyla Denae

fourteen hours and counting

In fourteen hours, I will embark upon an epic marathon.

I will meet new characters

see new places

invent fantastical new turns of phrase

I will laugh

cry

tear my heart out

dance around my room in pure happiness

go on song-finding expeditions when I think my writing stinks

think my writing stinks

think I'm brilliant and the next Shakespeare

I will find new friends

perhaps torture a few characters

kill a few more

let a few live in happiness

or something closely approximating happiness, anyway

in other words, in fourteen hours

NaNoWriMo 2012 begins.

let's do this thing.

- Kyla Denae

nanowrimo 2012

Sometimes I get a really, really good feeling about a story before I start it. I can feel it, already yanking at my heartstrings, just waiting to be typed out in beautiful, exuberant, wonderful detail. Sometimes this heart-tugging comes later, when I'm halfway through and all at once realize just how beautiful the world I've created is. (Yes, I am in fact that egotistical.) All at once, I can hardly sleep for thinking of this-or-that twist, or an event I can't wait to write, or crying over my poor, poor characters and all that I, their loving creator, are forced to put them through. I felt this way about Royalty, my as-yet-unedited (but finished) novel about a young farmgirl who's pushed into a world of courtly intrigue.

And I think I just might end up feeling that way about this year's NaNo novel. Because it's pretty darn epic, if I do say so myself. This year's novel is currently named "Copper Blood", a title with absolutely no symbolic meaning as of yet. Except for the fact that copper wiring is sometimes used in some places, and wiring has a lot to do with this story. Sort of. Also because I like the sound of it. Just say it out loud. It sounds so polished and writerly.

Cover made by the wonderful Vincent from figment.com. He's got srs skillz

Anyway. Copper Blood follows a young man, Nathaniel, who is chosen by an unknown entity to undergo an operation that turns him into a superhuman. After a message is sent to his phone, he is led to the Nexus, a staging point for thousands of Commandants--the backbone of a new world police force, dedicated to eradicating warfare...for humanity's own good, of course.

This whole plan is overseen by a supercomputer, designed to create a contingency plan for a variety of disasters, both natural and man-made. It's ultimate solution was to simply take over the planet and administer everything from its own core processor...hence the invasion force of Commandants. Nathaniel finds himself thrown into this world of subterfuge and violence, and when the orders come through to subjugate the planet at all costs, he is forced to look hard at his own humanity and evaluate just what that humanity means.

Joining him are a cast of other characters who are at various stages of development. There's Brittany, my snarky, confident, but very broken, African-American heroine. There's Laren, a woman who once wanted to be a doctor but is now forced to deal with the fact that she's been turned into a ruthless killing machine. Mariah is probably my favorite; possibly the youngest Commandant in the world, she has been forced to live with a world inside her head, thoughts from everyone else threatening to overwhelm who she was. Slash, the computer expert, who is suffering under a secret that will mean his life, whether secret or no, and is out to prove what he's made of. And Rob, a man unable to trust himself because of the conscience-less monster he's been turned into--or at least, what they've tried to turn him into.

I'm just really, really excited about this year. Because this story is going to be amazing. I can feel it, just longing to burst out, to make itself known in the most beautiful way. And I can't wait.

- Kyla Denae

why yes i am ready for november

Ah, November. How to explain how much I love the exhilaration of fallen leaves, the first snows, a snappy chill in the air, the smell of wood burning in fireplaces, and the press of a warm mug filled with hot chocolate against my hands?

And then, of course, there's NaNoWriMo.

Forget everything else; NaNoWriMo is undoubtedly the most important part of the autumn season. It just sort of completes a year. After eleven months of having done nothing in particular, traveling and reading and writing a bit, trying to keep myself from getting too bored, all at once this wonderful thing comes again. And all at once I have a purpose! I must beat Mirriam! Nay, I must beat the whole world with my industrious word-crafting! My life becomes all about that purple bar at the end of the month, that simple purple bar that will tell the whole world (or, at least the bit that cares to check) that, hey, I'm accomplished.

I wrote 50,000 words in 30 days. 

What did you do this year?

Bet it wasn't as awesome as this.

So I am very ready for autumn. I've been planning for months, as always. Well, by planning I mean figuring out who my characters were and roughly what I was going to put them through. Still don't know how it's going to end. Guess we'll find out when we get there, eh?

- Kyla Denae

Post-NaNo Thoughts

Well, NaNoWrimo is finally over. Final word count was 74,000, a number that has increased to over 79,000 in the days since NaNo ended. I got a bit excited yesterday about my story. ^.^

I'm putting True on hold for a few weeks so I can wrap up Valiant. I'm currently building up to my big battle in that story, and since I'm going to be getting five free copies of a novel, I figure it might as well be Valiant. Who knows, maybe eventually, Valiant will be up for sale on Amazon!

Anyway. NaNoWriMo this year involved all the usual emotions: optimistic excitement, hope, absolute despair at my rubbish writing, second-guesses about my topic and plot (which isn't very original, it must be said), and then the frantic hurrying that always typifies NaNo. I didn't finish my novel, far from it; I'm pretty sure I have at least another 70k, and possibly even more after that because I'm not at all sure how I want to end--or when. Should be interesting. -.-

Next year, I'm going to be sure that I have a better plan. Or something.

爱於耶穌,
~Liberty (紫涵)

NaNo '11 ("True") Excerpt

Another, more serious one this time. They're in a network of dungeons, trying to break out my main character's cousin.

They met their first prisoner a few dozen paces beyond the staircase. As the light of the lantern glanced along another set of bars, a scrap of shadow shifted, scrambling up. Knobby knees stuck out under the remains of what might have once been trousers, a dirty shirt hanging off the top of his body. A massive beard twisted on his cheeks, falling halfway down his tunic. A thin hand came up, shaking as it tried to ward the light from its owners eyes, but at the same time, the man tried to catch a glimpse of the light.

In the next cell, there was another unfortunate, and another in the next with a few more beyond, all crowded into one cell. A woman was in the next one, her face thin in the light of the lantern. She squinted against the light, just as her fellow prisoners had done. Jakov stopped dead, staring at her.

Her hair was dark and tangled, her face pointed and, perhaps pretty once, her skin perhaps once darker. She extended a hand through the bars, a hand that had known privation before the prison. She was Yahafin. Jakov took a step toward her, hand fumbling for the key, hoping to find it, hoping to let her free, but a heavy hand landed on the back of his coat and pulled him back around.

“Ya can’t go lettin’ ‘em all out, boy.” Till growled. “We’re on a mission, ain’t we?”

“Kojnebi,” the woman called out as loudly as she could. It came out as little more than a whisper between her cracked lips. Her hand trembled as it stretched towards him, begging, pleading with him. “Kojnebi.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he murmured back as Till put him back on the path and gave him a none-too-gentle shove forward. He glanced back once, just as the light fell away—she had sunk down to the ground, her dark eyes still looking after him, pleading.

Jakov’s body felt empty as he walked through the dungeon. People looked up at him from their cells. Some had torches burning on the walls opposite, evidence of the guards they’d not yet seen. Some seemed newer to the prison, not yet completely broken, with enough energy to scramble up and try to attract the newcomers’ attention. Most just lay on the floor, managing to lift their heads or open their eyes. Some could summon only a weary twitch of their fingers.

Some lay still and cold, the pallor of their skin and the unnatural stillness of their forms evidence that they would never rise again.

You can read more here, on Figment.com.

爱於耶穌,
~Liberty (紫涵)

Official NaNo '11 Winner!

Yes, I am an official winner of NaNoWriMo 2011! See, see? It's been a very...interesting ride, as always. But it's well worth it, of course, and I have...1/3...of a new novel to celebrate over!

True will be going on hold in a few days so I can finish Valiant. I'm looking to claim my CreateSpace winner goodie and using it to get another proof copy of my first-ever novel, which I'm rewriting at the moment. Then I'll probably launch back into True, get it finished up...

And maybe edit last year's NaNovel. Hey, hope springs eternal.

爱於耶穌,
~Liberty (紫涵)

NaNoWriMo, 50k, and Dallas

Yes sir! My 50,000th word was 'that'. Quite anticlimactic, I know. But hey, it is what it is. Last night I hit 50,000 words on NaNoWriMo, an accomplishment that I am quite proud of. 10 days! That's how long it took me to write 50,000 words on a novel.

Unfortunately, I'm only about one quarter through the events that I had planned for this novel. That's less exciting, just because that means I probably have another 150,000 words before I can be done and get back to Valiant. Either that, or True is going to end up like Ravaged Time, and I'll be scrambling in September and October to finish it before NaNoWriMo.

Of course, I might not even be in the US come September 2012! Hopefully, as you know, I'll be heading to Zambia, Africa. As a sidenote, one of my good friends Chelsea (who is currently on the World Race and will be back in the US in approximately 9 days, and back to my house in the beginning of December), is considering coming with me! We'll probably make a quick, month-long detour by China if everything works out, so...yeah. I'll keep you posted! :D

In other news, my mom and I are going to be driving with some friends to Dallas, Texas today. There's a Students for Liberty conference we're going to be attending. We're gonna get free books. So yeah. That's pretty exciting.

爱於耶穌,
~Liberty (紫涵)

And...Go!

So NaNoWriMo began on Tuesday. After writing over 7,000 words that day, I wrote only 4,000 yesterday, bringing me up to 11,000. But all is well in the world of NaNoWriMo, for I am projected to finish on November 10th-13th, provided I keep up this level of writing! It makes me happy, because I have three days where I have nothing scheduled but writing!

Now, just to display what my characters are getting up to this month, here's an excerpt of my third chapter, as Sonakali and Jakob prepare to leave Environ and head to the Valley of the Kali:

Sona didn’t speak to him again until they reached a small hut on the edge of the village. It, unlike most of the other houses they’d passed, was much like the little house Jakob had woken up in: small, drafty, barely holding itself together, and what was sticking together was mainly there through some complicated combination of wind angle and prayer.
Sona stepped up to the door and gave a little knock. It promptly flew open, to reveal a rather wild-haired older woman. She glared first at Sona, then at Jakob, then grunted. “You’re the Princeling and his Warden, I suppose? Yes, o’ course ye are. I’ve known Jakob Isriel since he was a boy.” She narrowly stared at Jakob for a second, then extended one bony hand and crooked a finger at him. “Come ‘ere boy.”
Glancing at Sona, a bit surprised, Jakob stepped forward to stand before the old woman. She glared up at him, then lightly slapped him on the face. “She tells me you don’t remember who you are, nor where you came from. How careless, boy, to leave your whole life behind you. Useful, I’ll grant ye that, but careless. Look at ye, standin’ there starin’ at me. You and your cousin used ta’ look at me jus’ thataway. Poor Jakov. I figure he’s dead then?”
“We’re not sure where Jakov Isriel is, madam,” Sona said, speaking up for Jakob. “But the Kali are working as hard as they can to find him.”
“They’d better be,” the old woman grunted, then stepped backwards into her hut. “Come inside here. I’ve got your packs, those ones you wanted me to get you. They’re safe. Like I told you. No one ever bothers to come down and see Aunt Yutil. She’s just an old woman, they say…”
Jakob stepped into the hut behind Sona. It was dark inside, except for the beam of light coming in through the door. There were no windows, and he couldn’t see anything but the dim glowing of ashes that were the only remains of a fire in the corner. He could hear Aunt Yutil rooting about somewhere inside the room. Did she need light to see, or was there some sort of magical, mystical process that she used?
Finally, she reappeared in the beam of light, holding two rather old, dirty canvas packs. She thrust one at each of them. “There’s enough provisions and water here to get you to the boundary. No farther. I’m trusting you, Warden, to get him there safely. Watch out for birds. Goodbye.”
She practically shoved them out the doorway, and the wooden plank that served her for a door slammed against its frame. Jakob heard something slam down behind it, along with the rasp of a metal latch.
“She is somewhat paranoid,” Sona explained, throwing the pack over her shoulders.

If you'd like to read more, I'm posting it on Figment as I write! Feel free to tell me here what you think or create an account over at Figment. We love new people, and we don't bite. ;)

Off to reach new heights of word count,

爱於耶穌,
~Liberty (紫涵)

Snow in October and NaNoWriMo

Last week, it snowed here. Last Thursday, to be precise.

It was rather miserable, actually.

Because I was sick. And my bedroom has no insulation to speak of. And our heater smells. And it was cold. But anyway.

The snow was pretty, all four inches of it. It lasted until Friday morning, when it all went away, because our weather is mental and can't decide what it wants to do. Right now, it's about 65 degrees outside, which is actually quite nice, because fall has officially arrived. It's nice. Maybe now our trees will actually have time to decide it's time to change.

In other news, tomorrow will be the first day of November! As a consequence, I will most likely be posting either quite often or not at all (depending on my procrastination level), since NaNoWriMo begins!! I'm going to be attempting to knock out my 50k by the 10th of the month. We'll see how it works. It's only about 5,000 words a day, and if I can get in a good starting spurt on the days between Tuesday and Thursday, I should be able to knock it out!

I also have incentives this year, in the form of kitkats, york peppermint patties, 5 gum, and oreos. So yes. We'll see how well I can do!

爱於耶穌,
~Liberty (紫涵)

NaNoWriMo Characters

So I'm impatiently waiting for the new NaNoWriMo website to come online. If it hasn't already. I don't think it has, because nothing's been wiped yet. 'Tis sad. I want to see my new, shiny, un-purply ticker! Meanwhile, what is there to do but make Polyvore sets of my characters? And so, I present to you, the characters of "True", NaNo '11!!

Jakov Isriel, the amnesiac true king. He has to fight to get his throne back, which is quite a fun process, actually.

Sonakali is the Throne Warden, one of the few remaining in the bands of the Kali. She is a shape-shifter, a magical being that can take the form of a unicorn or a human at will. She mostly chooses to take the shape of a young woman, for various reasons.

Jadira al-Salidin is my heroine! She's a spunky Princess turned Gypsy, turned Princess, turned homeless vagrant. Quite an interesting girl, as you can tell. She is a Yahafin, a group of people something like Arabians. They live in the vast deserts of Kadrah.

This is Tomas Jolend, who is a "bad guy" in the beginning, but really isn't so bad once you get to know him. He's actually quite pleasant. And as you can see from this set, he and Jakov have a bit of a rivalry. Since it's rather small here, here's what it says:

(Tomas is first, Jakov second)

"Well, don't blame me. It's not my fault my forefathers stole from you'rs."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Jolend."

"Really, Isriel? Well, let me make it clearer for you. It was seven hundred years ago, and you're only jealous."

"Really? How so?"

"Oh, I don't know. Because your girlfriend likes me better than you?"

"That's prepestorous."

"Just man up and admit you've lost, Isriel."

"That...that...shut up. Just shut up. I'm your king, anyway."

"Whatever you say, my liege."

I don't know if I'm going to actually be able to utilize this conversation. But I hope I will. Because it is brilliant, if I do say so myself.

Whatever You Say, My Liege

So there you are! My NaNo characters--at least, the good ones. :))

爱於耶穌,
~Liberty (紫涵)

NaNoWriMo...

Is almost upon us! The brand new site launch is today...and no, I haven't been checking in every half-hour to see if it's happened yet.

Not even once an hour.

Okay, maybe once an hour.

Possibly a bit more than once an hour.

I'm not pathetic. Honest.

I've had my idea for this year's NaNo novel since...oh...January. December. Possibly November. But it was the tail-end of November.

Once again, I'm not pathetic. I do have a life. It just gets regularly eaten by things.

Like NaNoWriMo.

Anyway. This year, I'm going to be trying fantasy again! The plot centers around a stolen throne, an amnesiac heir to that throne, his cousin, shape-shifting unicorns, an Arabian gypsy, and an evil league of kings and queens who want to keep control of all Kadrah for themselves.

It's going to be pretty epic, and I can't wait to get started. I've written out a plan/outline/thing on my iPhone, which I really need to finish, and I have no less than three versions of a map, including one hanging on my wall that I've not yet finished drawing. Hey, I only hung it up around April. I do have a cover though! See?

The Phoenix on it actually has relevance--one of the legends of Kadrah is that a Phoenix is seen and heard only when a true king is crowned. It has a place in the story, and it's going to be pretty amazing to weave the threads of this story together.

I can't wait. Now if I can just shove the inner editor back into his box (he doesn't like to go very much), and can ignore the feeling that I'm a totally rubbish writer, this NaNo should be pretty awesome!

So. Who else is going to be doing NaNo? (I'd like usernames if you're willing to hand them out--I'd love to add you all. :)) )

爱於耶穌,
~Liberty (紫涵)