Saturday, October 9, 2010

Sunday Snapshot!

(This wasn't supposed to show up until tomorrow, but for some reason it did anyway.)

I just had a really cool idea.  Let's take a snapshot of all of our work... right now... What's the last thing you wrote?  Even if you haven't written for a while just open the last file you worked on. 

Then put the last paragraph you wrote into the comment section.  If it's very short, or back-and-forth dialogue, you can include up to ten lines.  But only ten lines.  Just a quick little glimpse into your writing world.

I can't wait to see what everyone is working on!  I love reading other people's styles and voices. Don't be shy.. it doesn't have to be perfect.  Heck, it doesn't even have to be good. It just has to be yours!

Here's mine: (as of Saturday morning, when I made this post)
He fumbled with the flask and took a drag himself. “You will be sore for a while, but you can walk. We have to get out of here.”  He helped her to her feet and she swayed a little. Her newly-healed leg felt strange and raw.

“Take me home.”

“You can’t go home.”

13 comments:

  1. That's some fine hooking right there, so many questions...

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  2. The graveyard is quiet. Beyond the walls the sporadic hum of traffic, stutter of diesel engines as buses and trucks labor up the hill by the cemetery gates. The church keeps brooding watch over the dead, a lightless hulk against the pale, electric-washed clouds. White gravestones and monuments march in ragged ranks up and over the hill, down its slanted sides to halt at the rough-hewn stone wall that hems in the dead. Spear tipped shafts of black iron atop the stone provide additional deterrent for thieves and vandals. But I am neither.

    That's mine, baby. Figured I'd play along, since it's easy. :)

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  3. Awesome, Simon! That sounds like an opening for something new??? Maybe a Halloween tale?

    Thank you for the comment, Will. That is really where I am, about 63K into the story.

    I just realized I made a classic mistake in the first paragraph: I buried the dialogue between two descriptions. I should have put the second part with the next line of dialogue, or made it a separate paragraph.

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  4. I was working on a children's story

    Krista
    ....

    Ceila decided that it wasn't fair for the Octopus-who-was-a-mermaid to be unable to play his harp so she asked her dolphin friends if they would take her to the palace under the sea.

    “It's very far Ceila, in a dark part of the ocean where the water is cold. Barto doesnt like visitors. Many dolphins have gone there never to return.”

    “Just take me there and I will go in by myself.”

    Finally the dolphins agreed to help. They swam for a long time. The water got darker and colder as they swam. Ceila didn't think they could swim any longer. The ocean must be bigger than she thought. They saw odd creatures as they swam – fish that lit up in the water with many colors, some had teeth and others had razor sharp fins.

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  5. this is from my sequel. a little rough. it needs work. this is Tiana and Arathor, my two MC's. this was 10 lines when i got it ready, it just looks longer.
    *********
    “You’d rather I left you?”

    “Yes. Get out of here.”

    Her eyes took in his wounds. He didn’t want her to see him like this. She sucked in a breath when she saw the gaping wound in his chest. Her hand came over her mouth to stifle her sobs.

    “Arathor…”

    “You have to get out of here.”

    “Hayden and I need to get you away from here.”

    “No! If you do anything, Dar'vosh will know you’re alive. He’ll send his men to look for you. Get Hayden back to Korisan.”

    “I won’t leave without you or Lydia.”

    Arathor hissed through his gritted teeth. “No. Get out of here now.”

    “Not without you.”

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  6. Michelle - I can't wait to read that sequel!

    Krista - I love the story. Especially the "octopus-who-was-a-mermaid." Sounds very intriguing!

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  7. I hope it's not too late to put this up... I'm writing a love story...

    Michelle
    ----------

    “Or, her?” Nick asked once more, after pressing something on the keypad. I looked up at the screen, and found myself clutching on to Natalia, as if we were performing a dip from a dance routine, except our faces showed abject horror. He pressed another button, and the image shifted to the one that was taken by the lady photographer, with my arm behind her, and her hand over my chest. My eyes quickly darted to the gold ring she had on her index finger. I may have smiled when I saw us posed together. She looked marvelous beside me.

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  8. I'm editing right now, BUT i have made some changes so that should count, right?


    She was stupid to return here, to ask for help. These people had abandoned her in the first place. They would certainly abandon Fox as well, a boy they didn't even know.

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  9. This is a new wip, and it's the last paragraph I wrote:

    Becca wasn’t sure, but she thought her heart may have stopped...just for a moment. Which test? The blood work? The mammogram? Which test? “They’ve never called about my tests before.” How could they do that? How could they just call, reach through the phone and rip your heart out of your chest? She turned off the light and started to cry.

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  10. what a great idea! I just returned from a writing workshop.... the inspirations continues!

    I wake to my mothers’ desperate weep. Slumped over my open urn, her tears spew from her cheeks into my ash. Without warning, she picks a small gray bone from my remains, and places it in her mouth. With a look that longs for approval, she swallows hard. “I need a piece of him inside me,” she cries.

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  11. From my new YA WIP. I'm 4,300+ words into it. Literally, the last 10 lines (or so) that I just wrote:

    Fallon, Herrick, and Orlo are standing behind Brother Kajen, their faces sullen. Fallon looks as though he might have a black eye.

    "Na' Sullivan, Master Talya would like see you in her office."

    I set the scrubber onto the counter and dry my hands, then glance at Kajen walking out the door. I start to walk past Fallon, then stop.

    "Looks like you might've stepped in your own shit, Fallon," I whisper.

    "You better watch your back, Sully. Jeron's not here to do it, in case you hadn't noticed."

    "Boys!" Brother Sheffin starts across the room.

    I smile at Fallon and head out the door.

    My smile fades as I nearly run into Brother Kajen in the hall. The glare he's giving me tells me he heard the whole thing. I shrug and he shakes his head and walks down the hallway.

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  12. By the way, what a cool exercise! Thanks for giving us an opportunity to share a bit of our new stuff.

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  13. The branches lashed at my face like skeletal claws as the thunder of my horse’s hooves was hammered into my head. Dead ashes rained around me as my wife’s horse, from ahead of my own, kicked them into the sky. I held my left arm over my nose and mouth to both keep from choking, and muffle my coughs.

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I apologize for the word verification. I hate it, but the spammers made me do it.