Young Writers Society

Introduction:

I'm revisiting my favorite fantasy I've ever written: StoweAway. It didn't turn out all that hot before, but I trust that I can now accomplish what I want to with this story. It has so much potential to be awesome, and I really want to show the world the story of Aly Stowe and her adventures. So. Here's a summary of the first (and only part planned) part of the book. It's in a spoiler because it's a bit long.

Summary:

[spoiler]Aly Stowe lives in East Bristol, England in 1804. She is twelve years old when the novel begins. Her psychic ability to communicate with animals allows her to converse with her snow leopard, Zekyll. She is a cub when the novel opens. East Bristol is a small village or town set in cobblestone and brick. It is a middle class city. No royalty lives there. Farmers and workman reside there with their wives and children.

Uncle Steven and Auntie Clair Stowe were left with Aly when she was just a baby. They refuse to let the girl know who her father was. Uncle Steven is an onion farmer, and Auntie Clair is a schoolteacher. She teaches all of the children, and even some adults in East Bristol. Aly, though, refuses to learn and act like a lady, as Auntie Clair wants her to. The little girl doesn’t have a strong relationship with her uncle because he is always farming and never has time to talk and be friendly.

In the beginning of StoweAway, Aly and Zek meet up with a gang of boys called the Rats who wreck havoc in East Bristol. She is the only girl because she is a tomboy. They create mischief around the town, and we begin to realize that Aly has a link to the animals of the world. She doesn’t realize what sort of a power she has.

The story goes on with a raven telling Aly about an army marching towards East Bristol. The city has guards and armor, but has no sentries. They wouldn’t be able to withhold Lord Isaac’s men. Aly races back to Uncle Steven and Auntie Clair and tell them about the army, and they refuse to believe her. They punish her for lying, but soon realize that she was telling the truth as a large army, hundreds upon hundreds are spotted heading towards the city. All of the men are summoned to fight with guns and knives and any sort of weapon they had.

Aly and Auntie Clair remain at their home with Zek for the battle. They hide in Aly’s room and curl up with each other. The battle rages on around them, and soon, well into the night, it is over. Auntie Clair discovers that Uncle Steven has been taken captive, along with any other surviving prisoners. Some of them heard rumors from the captain of Lord Isaac’s army that they were searching for a child. Auntie Clair knows that he is looking for Aly, because she is Lord Isaac’s daughter. She makes a hasty decision to flee the country and live in America. Aly, though, protests, saying that she refuses to leave her friends. In the end, after Auntie Clair mentions that she is three months pregnant, Aly decides to go to ‘help the baby grow’.

In the next section of the book, Auntie Clair and Aly journey with others to the coast. From there they will sail over the sea to America. A day before they reach London, Auntie Clair dies in childbirth, giving birth to an infant named Tristan Stowe. Aly vows to take care of him, but the people take the baby away, saying that Aly is only 12 and cannot care for a child. After much protesting, the baby is given to a family and never heard from again.

Aly is alone in the world, save it for Zek, who has traveled along with her. Zek is nearly full grown now, and is considered unusual when seen walking around the London streets. Aly finds an empty warehouse and stores Zekyll in there. The girl returns at night to feed and sleep with her.

Aly remains in London for two weeks, missing the boat that she would’ve taken with Auntie Clair if she had been alive. The girl and her leopard decide to travel to America still. They stash themselves away on a ship—soon to discover that it is a pirate ship. The pirates had though to been extinct for almost a centaury, but this band of robbers had survived. Aly stows away in cell in the ship and is discovered and questioned. There is a storm that night, and Aly and Zek are thrown into the sea, where it swallows them whole, and the girl knows that she is going to die. [/spoiler]

Progress Journal:

8-7-08: I have finished my character chart for Aly Stowe, and my synopsis. I feel like I've accomplished a lot so far. It's been a lot of fun working with the characters that I fell in love with a long time ago. I think this time 'round I'll make them much, much better.

I'm having some trouble, though. East Bristol is the city that Aly grows up in. I want to make it rich. Not monetarily rich, but rich in history. Culture. I talked with Saint Razorblade about it a while back and gave me some good advice. I suppose that I'm going to have to write the whole history of the city out, even though most of it isn't going to be included in the actual novel. Do you guys plan out your major cities before you write them?

I haven't began writing anything yet, considering I can't figure out where to start. In my first draft that I wrote, I started out with Judge Isaac debating with the Prime Minister about his plan to kill the poor people so that the rich can have more money and won't have to waste it on charities. The Prime Minister disagrees and Judge Isaac ends up killing him.

Anyway. That's the beginning. I don't know whether to start there, or start with Aly Stowe. What do you guys think?

Sounds interesting. I think I'd prefer the first part to the second, but most people would probably be the opposite to me. That's not a reflection on the story, it's just my taste. I'm not a huge fan of the whole 'ships, adventure, etc' type stories.

Let me know if you post any, I'd like to read it.

Progress:

8-7-08: Yes! I just finished my summary. I love the storyline right now. It's so incredible. The ending is just amazing, and I cannot wait to finish it. Oh, man. I seriously cannot wait for this to be written. It's going to be so good. Of course, this is just the basic outline, so not everything that happens in the story is going to be included. I need to find a way to make Aly's physic link to animals more 'into the plot' because it's only used in the first half of the story, which sucks. Maybe I should just get rid of the whole thing. Anyway. Here's the entire summary if you would like to read it. It's in a spoiler again because it's long.

[spoiler]Aly Stowe lives in East Bristol, England in 1804. She is twelve years old when the novel begins. Her psychic ability to communicate with animals allows her to converse with her snow leopard, Zekyll. She is a cub when the novel opens. East Bristol is a small village or town set in cobblestone and brick. It is a middle class city. No royalty lives there. Farmers and workman reside there with their wives and children.

Uncle Steven and Auntie Clair Stowe were left with Aly when she was just a baby. They refuse to let the girl know who her father was. Uncle Steven is an onion farmer, and Auntie Clair is a schoolteacher. She teaches all of the children, and even some adults in East Bristol. Aly, though, refuses to learn and act like a lady, as Auntie Clair wants her to. The little girl doesn’t have a strong relationship with her uncle because he is always farming and never has time to talk and be friendly.

In the beginning of StoweAway, Aly and Zek meet up with a gang of boys called the Rats who wreck havoc in East Bristol. She is the only girl because she is a tomboy. They create mischief around the town, and we begin to realize that Aly has a link to the animals of the world. She doesn’t realize what sort of a power she has.

The story goes on with a raven telling Aly about an army marching towards East Bristol. The city has guards and armor, but has no sentries. They wouldn’t be able to withhold Lord Isaac’s men. Aly races back to Uncle Steven and Auntie Clair and tell them about the army, and they refuse to believe her. They punish her for lying, but soon realize that she was telling the truth as a large army, hundreds upon hundreds are spotted heading towards the city. All of the men are summoned to fight with guns and knives and any sort of weapon they had.

Aly and Auntie Clair remain at their home with Zek for the battle. They hide in Aly’s room and curl up with each other. The battle rages on around them, and soon, well into the night, it is over. Auntie Clair discovers that Uncle Steven has been taken captive, along with any other surviving prisoners. Some of them heard rumors from the captain of Lord Isaac’s army that they were searching for a child. Auntie Clair knows that he is looking for Aly, because she is Lord Isaac’s daughter. She makes a hasty decision to flee the country and live in America. Aly, though, protests, saying that she refuses to leave her friends. In the end, after Auntie Clair mentions that she is three months pregnant, Aly decides to go to ‘help the baby grow’.

In the next section of the book, Auntie Clair and Aly journey with others to the coast. From there they will sail over the sea to America. A day before they reach London, Auntie Clair dies in childbirth, giving birth to an infant named Tristan Stowe. Aly vows to take care of him, but the people take the baby away, saying that Aly is only 12 and cannot care for a child. After much protesting, the baby is given to a family and never heard from again.

Aly is alone in the world, save for Zek, who has traveled along with her. Zek is nearly full grown now, and is considered unusual when seen walking around the London streets. Aly finds an empty warehouse and stores Zekyll in there. The girl returns at night to feed and sleep with her.

Aly remains in London for two weeks, missing the boat that she would’ve taken with Auntie Clair if she had been alive. The girl and her leopard decide to travel to America still. They stash themselves away on a ship—soon to discover that it is a pirate ship. The pirates had though to been extinct for almost a centaury, but this band of robbers had survived. Aly stows away in cell in the ship and is discovered and questioned. There is a storm that night, and Aly and Zek are thrown into the sea, where it swallows them whole, and the girl knows that she is going to die.

Aly wakes up to discover she is with the magical creatures mermen. Surprised, shocked and incredibly enchanted, she becomes friends with a merman named Sureal. He looks seventeen, but he tells her that mermen are immortal, and cannot die no matter what happens to them. He was transformed into a merman at eighteen more than three hundred years ago. Aly learns from Sureal that she is in the Mermen Kingdom, Atlantis. After thousands of years, the lost city has resurfaced, creating a small island that Aly resides on for most of the book.

Zek is lost at sea and is not found by the frantic searches of the mermen by the authority of Sureal. Aly weeps and mourns over the loss of her only friend. After a while, seeing that there is no point in living anymore, Aly decides she wants to become a mermaid. The king of the mermen won’t allow it. The toxins that flow throughout merpeople’s bodies is deadly to children under the age of fifteen.

Aly resides in Atlantis for a couple years before war finally strikes, and the mermen are attacked. The war is raged by Phyllis _____, a rebel who had caused a great uproar many centuries ago. Wars, of course, had no meaning to mermen. Wars were to kill, and if you are immortal and cannot be killed, there is no meaning to it. But Phyllis has discovered the secret to dying. He and his men want to die, but they cannot kill themselves. They have to go into war. The Altantians win, of course, after killing all of Phyllis’ men. They are surprised and shocked to find they had killed merpeople. The King of the Mermen wants to discover the secret that Phyllis had uncovered, so he sends a troop of his men to find the rebels’ base. They come back many days later to discover that the place is overrun with poisonous fumes and gasses that travel through the water, killing off any life.

The situation because happy because now the merpeople can finally die. Aly, though, tries to convince them to stay alive. After all, if they all die, she is stuck at Atlantis with a limited supply of food. The protests to her actions are relentless though. Aly is forced to remain quiet as the gasses pass through Atlantis, and everything is quiet. When the gasses float away, the merpeople discover they are still alive. Any fish or seaweed, though, is dead. Aly had been immersed in the toxic fumes for more than a minute, and her throat is clogged up. Sureal tries to revive her, but Aly is slowly dying. He has no choice but to save her, and the only way to save her is to turn her into a mermaid.

Aly wakes up under water, and realizes she is a mermaid. She has gills and flippers and is happy at last. She doesn’t want to kill herself, like the rest of the mermen. She wants to live forever with Sureal and tells him she loves him. He is, after all, the savior of her life. Sureal tells her that relationship bonds between two merpeople are strictly forbidden and refuses to love her.

A decree by Lord Isaac is forced that all magical creatures are deadly creatures. Lord Isaac is extremely powerful, like a Hitler in our world. His armies march throughout the land, killing off magical creatures and items. Mermen are very magical, and so they are in danger of Lord Isaac. Later, when the Lord’s armies discover Atlantis, Aly, Sureal and many others hastily make their way to London, to kill Lord Isaac. It is done in the dead of night, and they are greeted with guards and armies. Using guns and other weapons, they fight their way to Lord Isaac’s lounge, where they find him. When Aly sees him, she instantly knows she has some sort of a link to him. In a suspenseful ten minutes, Lord Isaac tells Aly that she is his daughter and wants to bring her home, but Aly refuses, and threatens to kill him if he touches her. Lord Isaac refuses for his guards to harm Aly and her friends. Then he asks Aly to kill him, testing if she really could. In the end, Aly surrenders, and the guards begin to close in on him, but not before Sureal can shoot a bullet through Lord Isaac. He stumbles backwards and falls through the wide, glass window behind him. He falls three stories to his death.

Aly and Sureal and their friends fight off the remaining guards and flee back to Atlantis to tell everyone the wonderful news.

As the book nears the end, Aly decides that she will not stay with a bunch of suicidal mermen, and goes to the surface of the ocean. She then decides to hijack a sailing boat and sail to America, like she was supposed to with Zek. The mermen in Atlantis make no argument with her. Aly can do what she wants.

In one final attempt, she urges Sureal to travel with her. He refuses, but Aly can see in his eyes that he longs to escape from Atlantis. His is an officer, and abandoning his posts could get him locked in a cell for eternity. Aly, hurt and betrayed, goes to the surface once more and steals a boat in the middle of the night. Merpeople, when on land, can walk with two feet. When they slide into water, though, their feet instantly mold together and become flippers.

She sails away by herself for one day, and knows that it’s too much of a burden. She hasn’t packed any food at all. Water isn’t a problem. Merpeople can drink the ocean water. Aly just about gives up when she sees Sureal swimming toward her. Aly, breathless, helps him onto the ship, and they kiss. Sureal tells her that he loves her and wants to spend the eternity with her. Aly agrees and they sail off into the sunset, hand in hand, towards America where they will start a new life.

THE END[/spoiler]