The 69 Test: Broken Destinies

I heard about the 69 Test from The Sharp Angle, where you look at page 69 of a novel for voice and if the story goes along with the premise. My novels: not too sure if they pass. None of them are even completed drafts yet, let alone revised much.

But here's page 69 from my contemporary fantasy, currently titled Broken Destinies. It's the most completed story I have right now thanks to NaNo. Though still just a young teen, Kaylin is the lynchpin in the current struggle between Order and Chaos because of her abilities.

Would this excerpt make you curious? Just remember it's still raw. But then so is my logline. Come to think of it, learning about the 69 test and pulling up this page helped me finally write my logline. But I think it works, more or less.

Lugh shook his head. “I’m baffled. The lab was under the influence of Chaos. I saw in her mind the person who shattered her, my old foe Balor. He loves Chaos. However, the person who grabbed Kaylin was extremely orderly. That was carefully planned. He had every move figured out, like how to keep her from calling for help, probably drugged her, which fits why she blanked so quickly. His car was nearby and ready. I’d imagine he has a specific destination in mind. Things probably arranged in advance. We should expect delays dropped in our path. I just can’t imagine anyone in my circle who would do such a thing.” He sagged in his seat. Probably felt to blame for this.

Madai understood all too well. He sat up. “Any of them Kaylin has met would have used a different method. She trusts them, so different tactics. Therefore, at most they would have reported to someone. And since all of your contacts who have been in her presence, have spent more than just a few minutes with her, I don’t think they could have hidden such intents from her.”

Lugh straightened. “You’re right. And the only people I’ve mentioned her to have met her. So we can almost safely say that my alerted contacts are above suspicion. Which brings me back to: the lab is Chaos influenced, but this man isn’t. How would he have learned of her and why would he have snatched her from our care?”

There was no answer to that.

They were following. That was Father Rafael's expectation anyway. The first phase of liberation went well. The actual snatch worked just like his plan, although he couldn’t see how she could have alerted her captors. He was sure they hadn’t been watching. And they’d taken too long to get outside if they had been. He might have had a fight on his hands if they had exited more quickly. Granted he’d been prepared for that as well, but it was a distasteful course of action.

But she hadn’t made a sound, not even a muffled yell through the rag. He’d expected yells, not the soundless fright. With no sound and no immediate visibility, how could she have signaled to anyone? Maybe they’d had cameras on the backyard. He’d looked but hadn’t found any.

Pep Talkin'

Time for some pep talks for anyone who, like me, has bogged down in their writing and needs some pick-me-ups. (I've got 21,152 out of 25,000 words. That's 3,848 more words to write by the end of today in order to catch up. And I work this evening.)

Since I don't have time to write much for you here if I'm going to clear much of that, I'm going to share links to some of my favorite pep talks on the NaNo site from both this year and past years. (They save all the talks.)

Mercedes Lackey's talk on the value of fanfiction for honing craft.

John Greene's talk on perseverance.

Aimee Bender's talk on experimenting with tangents that could lead to something better than what you'd planned.

Piers Anthony's talk on getting started even when all you have is a wispy daydream. (very funny, much like his Xanth novels)

Lynda Barry's talk on how hand writing your story can be an asset.

Meg Cabot's talk on not giving up on your battered WIP for Shiny-New-Idea.

Brian Jacques' talk on building that spark for others. I especially like the last paragraph.

That's all for now, but if you want to read more of these talks, check out this year's here and archived years over here. They've gathered an interesting group of writers to write the talks from most of the genres from what I can tell. Have a look even if you aren't a Wrimo. You may find something of particular interest to you.

Filk Friday: Star Trekkin Across the Universe

I'd wanted to find an SF song that somehow related to alien life. Something that would go well with what Juliette talked about on Wednesday. But, I had a terrible day with my writing yesterday. The character I was going to use to drive the conflict for the middle third of the book is the completely wrong personality for what I want him to do. By the end of the day I finally decided to quit trying to figure out how to mash the square peg in the round hole and just save him for a later story. So, I'm creating a new character from scratch.

But this means I'm now a full day behind on my NaNo story plus the bit I hadn't finished making up from last week. So, instead of getting a perfect song, you're getting a fun song. Here is Star Trekkin Across the Universe. I first heard it on the Dr. Demento: Songs From Outer Space compilation CD my husband bought a couple years ago. Enjoy!

First day of NaNo 2010

Sorry I'm so late with posting. I got dozy this morning after a bit of writing, took a nap, then awakened by kid's school saying he was feeling bad and needed picked up. Turns out they were being a bit paranoid. He's had a rash all weekend, but it was nearly gone. It flared up a bit from him scratching, and with his temp being up slightly and his throat looking red, they were afraid he had strep.

Doctor said nope. They can test throat swabs in 5 minutes now. Did you know that? I didn't. I remember they used to take a few days back when I was a kid. His doctor said that when kids are on an antibiotic, sometimes they get rashes from funky viruses and not to worry. He didn't need any other medicine. He also got the A-okay regarding the ear infection he'd had. That's all better.

Despite all the time eaters I've had today, I've managed to write a thousand words. After I put my son to bed, I'll get back to work to knock out another thousand. So far my writing stress level is still low. While I'm still using the delete key more than I probably should, I'm doing pretty well with not obsessing over phrasing, which slows me down.

Best of luck to my fellow Wrimos.

I'm tackling NaNo!

I finally decided that I'm going to go for it this year. My sign-up is done. NaNoWriMo, I'm gearing up my engines!

I've already added a few people as buddies, but if I haven't tagged you yet, feel free to tag me as one. This should be exciting. I'll be sure to show my progress reports each week, even if they're dismal. My project is loosely titled Broken Destinies set in my husband's homebrew game setting of Dark Messiah. (which refers to a comet, not a person) We've been discussing this story for months, so now I'm going to dig in and see what I can crank out.

Obviously, with all this writing, there will be no reading list for November. But if I do read anything, I'll be sure to tell you about it. Catching Fire and Mockingjay are sitting on the table waiting for me to get through them so they can go back to the library. I guess I know what I'm working the next couple days. ;D