NaNo '19: Isle of Gold

Daily Word Count: 1,466/0

Total NaNo Word Count: 52,007/50,000

Character Meme:

Spoiler

Thoughts:

I procrastinated after LMS all day but I STILL GOT IT DONE. yay *wiggles arms in victory* I ended up actually merging some of this chapter with the next Isha chapter from my outline so, moving things along? maybe?

Everyone is freaking out, everyone is yelling, and Whisper is REALLY MAD. aka things are coming to a head and Finn is trying to will himself out of existence and Shiloh is ready to cry because Whisper thinks Carter got snatched by the coterie. Nobody knows where Gideon is, and everyone's freaking out about it.

The party is Officially Split, and paths are getting very diverted now 👀 how will they get out of this mess? stay tuned to find out! (more like, I probably won't solve it before nov ends so actually staying tuned probably won't clear anything up because I'll run out of month to do nano updates)

First and Ending Line:

(because the drama of the last line)

"We have to move soon," Finn said, for about the hundredth time. Valérie was ready to knock him over the head with her spear.

Then he said, “By order of the Comte, we’re to escort you back to the Capital.”

Daily Word Count: 1,315/0

Total NaNo Word Count: 53,322/50,000

Character Meme:

Spoiler

Thoughts:

I didn't do as much today cause my father and I had a LoTR marathon so, obviously I was busy lol.

Gideon's got One (1) friend in the coterie! I've written this character who I didn't intend to do anything with and now ?? I love him??? anyway.

also the whole "accidentally giving Carter a dagger" thing has come full circle. I love it when I can tie stuff up in a neat bow.

Favourite Scene:

(not completed cause it was long and it's kind of out of context Oh Well)

Alban stared at him, pointedly. “You almost died. You’ve almost died more times than I can count, but that last time…” He tilted his head. “Mother says you’re here because you’re too afraid not to.” He eyed the pile of clothes. “I remember that you always hated people touching your weapons. Vee said it was because you needed to feel like something was yours. I thought you’d take one of the recruit’s hands off when he took your little dagger once.” He smiled, and then took a step back. “You didn’t even like giving her or Shiloh any of your weapons.”

He frowned at Alban, trying to think of why he would be bringing that up. “Did you and Valérie psychoanalyse me a lot?”

“Just an observation. The kind that my parents, or my brother, or Adrienne, would never notice,” Alban said.

Daily Word Count: 1,889/0

Total NaNo Word Count: 55,211/50,000

Character Meme:

Spoiler

Thoughts:

I got through the rest of Gideon's chapter and then I kind of lost my momentum for a while to write anymore, and I was starting to think I wasn't going to write anymore but??? then I took a break and got Isha's done so woOO

Gideon has to make a nasty choice. The others are being accosted. Something happens to Shiloh.

yikes!

Favourite Scene:

(not completed cause it was long and it's kind of out of context Oh Well)

A sour flavour filled her mouth, but she held her tongue from spitting something back at him on instinct. There was something inexplicably familiar about the way he held himself, something angry and bitter.

She’d seen Gideon react like that a thousand times.

What are you afraid of?

Daily Word Count: 1,118/0

Total NaNo Word Count: 56,329/50,000

Character Meme:

Spoiler

Thoughts:

I DIDN'T WRITE YESTERDAY AGAIN rip me and "i'm going to do 1k a day still!" lol no you're not??

hopefully I'll get some done tomorrow but I'm sure not counting on it.

ok SO obviously this chapter is Yikes for reasons, but like,,, I've been feeling kinda mushy about my writing lately cause it just doesn't feel up to par but?? today??? I don't know what it was but I got into it and it felt good and I'm actually happy with the quality? I don't think anyone looked at their hand in this chapter!! I didn't only describe where everyone was looking!! ayyyy!! I didn't write "pain" 50 times in one paragraph!!

we'll see how long it lasts ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I GET TO WRITE THE REUNION NEXT it's gonna be A Lot

Favourite Scene:

“It won’t matter,” Adrienne said, and didn’t sound particularly upset that he hadn’t answered her. “Nothing about who, or what, you are will matter now.”

And then he dared a glance up and saw her eyes narrow. It wasn’t of suspicion or anger. Determination, or satisfaction maybe. He bit into his lip and choked on a sob when his teeth sunk into the cut that he’d all but forgotten about. Blood began to well in his mouth once more.

“Fear betrays everyone,” she continued, turning the rod over in her hands again. “You’ll live long enough to know that.” Then her grip twitched, as if her hands had spasmed. “Tell me of Gideon.”

Daily Word Count: 3,708/0

Total NaNo Word Count: 60,037/50,000

Character Meme:

Spoiler

Thoughts:

DID TODAY'S WRITING SESSION FEEL GOOD? YOU BET! but then I stopped and found I had written up to 58k and my goal was to get to 60k so you bet that even though I have to get up an hour earlier and have to pack tonight I WAS GOING TO SPRINT FOR THAT SWEET, SWEET 60K

I can't have myself from last year outdoing myself of this year. yes, I only got about 20 more words than I did last year. BUT I HAD TO OK.

also?? I ENJOYED WRITING AN ACTION SEQUENCE??? stop the presses the WORLD'S ENDING I actually ENJOYED WRITING AN ACTION SEQUENCE.

anyway, it's probably not great, but like. it's better than any of the others. and also SO much more satisfying than this scene was in the first draft? Like, it felt really anti-climatic in the first draft-- Gideon confronts the person who's been abusing him and breaking him down since he first got pulled into the coterie, and just-- beep boop, she dead. But this time it was a fight and he won cause he played dirty (and also because she hurt carter and he was Mad™). mostly because of the Mad™. it was fun to write him like this too? like, it gets DARK. idk what it is this is the second scene I've written where a character went berserk on their abuser and went "stab!!!" in a really vicious, feral way.

and then the mood drastically changed to everyone being sleepy, but the anger carried over into Isha cause she's also mad but not stabby mad. it was kinda weird to go from the really, really emotional beat of Gideon's confrontation with Adrienne, to Isha, Shiloh, Whisper, and Finn being escorted by soldiers casually. But I also couldn't cram another 1k in a scene that it wouldn't work in, so I had to for that Sweet Sixty Thousand Word Count.

I STILL haven't been beat the word count of where I was at chapter 12.1 [chapter 17 lmao], which pleases me IMMENSELY. I'm doing good.

Sad that I have no more excuse to post about my progress and how I'm doing? maybe I'll update my old lms thread with progress as I go along or hit milestones. I have so many memes I was excited to use for the Capital sequence, and I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO THE CARTER/GIDEON KISS (which??? holy crap!!! that's coming up!!!!! I'm so excited).

We'll See.

so. nano 2k19. sUCCESS. I'll be back next year losers (jk if you're reading this ily you're not a loser)

Favourite Scene:

enspoilered cause gore. quite gruesome and full of anger.

Spoiler

He pulled the dagger from her throat as her eyes rolled back, unfocused. It came faster now, the blood, and there was something visceral in the image that set fire to his veins. He spat at her, and his own blood dripped down onto her cheeks like crimson tears.

“You were wrong about me,” he snarled to her listless form. Then the scene began to wobble, and Gideon realised there were tears collecting his eyes. His face was hot, and the pain beginning to trickle back.

He sat back, kneeling now. He was panting, cradling his right arm to his chest. He dropped the dagger, and it clattered to the floor next to him. His whole body shook, like a tree caught in a storm.

“You were wrong.”