July's Camp '21: Pirate Novel

The Project
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Premise:

Shana Madigan's father was supposed to be home when she went to the Council of Elder Witches to seek out an apprenticeship so she could learn how to control her volatile storm magic. Except he isn't: and that's where it all slides downhill. When a blood witch kills Shana's aunt and abducts Shana, she finds herself uncovering secrets of her family's past that her father was desperate to bury.

Maeve Castilla was not always an accessory to her father's bloodlust, but after an incident which led to her and her brother joining his crew of pirate hunters, her only goal is keeping her brother safe. And safety is not a priority on any ship, but particularly one where the living loathe to dwell. Freedom is second to protecting Kassidy, but opportunity arises when her father attacks the ship of one of the most notorious pirates on the sea, hunting a sorcerer who killed his sister.
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Goal:

30,000 words, because I'm insane. Also I want to actually finish this draft eventually and I'm trying to pressure myself into it. (Draft is currently at 42k so this should get me close)
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Characters:

Shana Madigan: POV Character. Born a storm witch, but possesses an unusual secondary magic drawn from the stars. "my mom likes to tell me 'you have to pick your battles' well im full of rage and im picking all of them".

Spoiler

Through her eyelids, a light flickered on. She traced in, even with her eyes closed, as it danced in front of her face.

“Still, always remember,” said the voice, whispering now. What felt like a hand graced her chin. “Stars die too. Don’t expend all of you at once. All that pressure will burn you inside out. Don’t let yourself collapse, Shana.”

Maeve Castilla: POV Character 2. Only half-human. "forgive and forget? haha no, resent and remember."

Spoiler

And she did not cry. Some locked away, quiet part of her despaired and wailed and keened.

Maeve wondered if she was not already completely monstrous.

Kassidy Castilla: Maeve's younger brother. Also only half-human. If sunshine were a person. "Friendzoned again!" I shout, pumping my fist into the air. I made a new friend today. Today is a good day.

Spoiler

“¡Mamá!” Kassidy ran over to Mamá instead and pounced upon her back. She yelped, but then rolled over and grasped him like a hunting tiger. Kassidy shrieked and squirmed, and she began to tickle him. “¡Mamá!” Despite his noisy, wordless protests, there was clear joy in his giggles as he tried to wriggle free of Mamá’s grasp.

Cailean Madigan: Shana's dad. a pirate merchant sailor. of the dads in the story, he's the cool one. loves his family with his entire being. ptsd though. "why be sad when you can be dad"

Spoiler

“Whatever...fiend you have become,” Cailean said, lowering his gaze. “Whatever path you have walked, find it in yourself to leave them alone. Spare them of the dark forces you hold so close to you at night. That boy is a child, and the rest of my men are already bound at your command. They are no extension of me, so your plight is not with them.”

Gareth Driscoll: Maeve and Kassidy's dad. a pirate HUNTER. of the dads in the story, he's the terrible one. thinks he's cool and definitely taking his trauma out in the worst ways possible. "my therapist once told me i have this obsession with seeking revenge... we'll see about that"

Spoiler

“Prove yourself to me,” he whispered. “Prove you’re strong enough and loyal enough. To me. For me.” He pulled away, placing the cat of nine tails in her hand, and then his hands on her shoulders. “I know you can do this. I know you can do right by me.”

“Loyalty,” she murmured. She twisted the whip in her hand. Stars danced at the edges of her vision and she wasn’t sure she wasn’t about to pass out. “I have been here three years. I am your daughter.”

there's way more but I'm ~lazy~

DAY ONE

Daily Word Count: 837/967

Total Word Count: 837/30,000

Snippet:

The idea of uncovering the secrets of a hidden crypt of an ancient witchlord in a place and with a crew where her magic was not feared, but embraced and even regarded… She looked down at her hands. Sparks of electricity dancing across her fingertips, leaping from one to the next, with control that kept them orbiting her and her alone. All she had ever wanted was this chance, this chance to be something more than a danger, a threat, a ruinous thing.

Her family’s love, their absolute and unconditional affection for her, and this absolute desire to be included despite her magic by those who had no business or intimate investment in her, were two very different things.

Thoughts:

"MEL you stopped like 130 words short of your goal, WHY?" because the hour turned to midnight and time is one of the few things I have little control over

I wrote 731 more during this session, so technically I wrote over a 1k in one sitting (some I wrote earlier in the day, because I wanted to try to get A Little head start because I knew tired!mel from work would thank me later.

but that means I have a good head start for today, since those 731 words were after midnight, which is super awesome because I have a nine hour shift today that'll keep me at work way later than usual :')

ANYWAY wow I pulled a lot out of thin air for this chapter! I really said "and this character's motive will be to look for,,, something" and this was only a few days ago, so I really pulled all this out of nowhere last night and just made up a bunch of stuff about what this character was looking for. am I making the plot too complex? who's to say?

I decided to write 30k for this month and I have *checks notes* only the next chapter outlined so far. so that's where I'm at.

what could go wrong?

DAY TWO + THREE + FOUR + FIVE + SIX

Daily Word Count: 4,502/honestly who knows

Total Word Count: 5,339/30,000

Snippet:

As the light began to leave, the pools of almost moon-like iridescence rising up to find more skyward position back where it seemed to belong, Maeve gritted her teeth and listened to them grind together. The lingering, now distant currents of Shana’s magic still coursing under her skin.

“Shana,” she called, keeping her tone low. She shifted onto her knees on the cot, to the edge, where she grabbed a bar with her hand and leaned forward, mirroring Shana’s posture moment’s earlier.

The sorcerer glanced back, and from this distance, it was almost more noticeable that her eyes were glowing and they were nearly white. That anger, that fire, was beginning to shimmer in the air around her.

Maeve leaned forward, frost splintering through her veins until it found her heart. Ice turned her pulse frigid and she focused on that coldness. A blade made to cut. “Never touch me with your magic again.”

Thoughts:

IT HAS BEEN A WEEK

what's it like having more than one day off I don't know anymore

I am holding onto both a) going camping for two whole weeks in the middle of a forest next to a lake and seeing people for basically the first time outside of family b) the (comparably) large paycheck I'm going to get by the end of these shifts c) possible car in the next few months hopefully

I've been falling a little behind, but I am happy for what I have been doing. honestly, 30k might have been a little ambitious. I'm HOPING that while I'm camping I can catch up since I won't be working or tired all day.

EITHER WAY. girls have had a real conversation! plot things have been discovered! everybody is angry! I don't have the next chapter outlined! *cries*

I'LL FIGURE IT OUT you'll catch me dead before you catch me missing the goals I've set forth. I've written 36k in a week and 18k in 6 hours, catch these hands.

DAY SEVEN (but actually for real this time)

Daily Word Count: 1,172/986

Total Word Count: 6511/30,000

Thoughts:

BACK TO WORD CRAWLS BABEY

if anyone who has peered into The Beehive, you'll know I did a dice crawl a little while back (and then never did anything more with it). well it's back! starting over from the beginning so can take some small bite-sized chunks off at a time.

a d4, and whatever number is rolled is times 100, and that's how many words you write. I rolled a 1, which means it's a nice easy 100 for me.

"easy 100!" I wrote 434 lmao but more's the merrier! I have to do more anyway. 552 left.

Now I have to roll 3 d6s and multiply them all together. 2, 3, 6. lmao 36 words. I eat 36 words for breakfast.

105 because 36 is a really tiny number to be stopping at. But! I get a cool weapon if I do it ~again~ so let's see what the dice have in store for me this time.

54 (3x3x6), let's go, I want a cool weapon.

123 lolol which leaves 323 words left to go, which is basically nothing! bite-sized pieces was Good For Brain tonight (or maybe brain is just being kind to me today, it's really a toss-up)

(or maybe it knows I'm going to be exhausted the next three days. it's anyone guess really)

next is the d8 and it's even easier than the d4 or the d6's, because I roll two and multiply those together. so. 40! (8x5) god where's that eight when I'm planning d&d.

286! I hit a jam! I literally only have 37 words to go that's NOTHING

Crawl is done for tonight because the next one's a little More than I can do right now (it might not be but I am currently in the process of waiting to be interrupted and I don't want to forget my place), so time to knock out 37 words and then snooze because I'm already exhausted and I have not even worked my long shifts yet *finger guns*

knocked out more!! anyway I Did get interrupted and now I'm tired so it is time for me to SLEEP

DAY EIGHT

Daily Word Count: 500(ish)/979

Total Word Count: 7,556/30,000

Thoughts:

I'm almost certainly not going to hit that daily word count I need because I've been procrastinating for the last *checks watch* two hours, but in my defence brain is dead and I want a break from everything

the idea that I was going to have the 30k for pirate novel done before camping *snorts* at this point I'll be lucky to get the 30k done for this novel, never mind anything for Colonia Heights.

I'm gonna carve tonight's jam out in Fighter's Block, because that's always worked in the past. if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'm starting with 500 words and we'll see where I am after that.

all right I'm back and I did actually write 1k+ words which is cool! however it turned over to midnight 20 minutes ago so I'm just splitting it up about halfway between the two days. this gives me no actual head start really today now, but it will make me feel better when I'm exhausted tonight and already have 500+ words done for the day.

it's confusing but the total word count reflects what I wrote in total, whereas the daily word count reflects what I wrote before the clock turned(ish). also, I was at a few more words, but because of spanish translations we went down. so I have,, made this even more difficult for myself lol.

but!!!! I am finally writing that chapter I skipped over twelve weeks ago (not literally) because I didn't know what to write for it and am now filling it! with abstract and floating character introspection and some trauma stuff that forwards the plot very little, but I am pretending it is establishing some important technical elements, character relationships, and plots for later.

maeve is having a bad time, guys.

DAY NINE

Daily Word Count: 1,065/1,000

Total Word Count: 8,076/30,000


Snippet:

"No," she said quietly. "Of course he does not." The wind tugged at the strands of her hair, catching her locks in its breeze. "He is our father, Kassidy. He is the only family we have."

They fell to silence, then. She did not know if Kassidy did not protest because he had finally decided she was a lost cause, or if he had finally given up on them.

She did not know which would be worse.

Thoughts:

I'm still behind on my overall word count, but hopefully I can start edging those daily word counts over until I level back over again.

I also just bought Baldur's Gate 3, which will certainly be no help to my motivation.

still!! I'm getting that chapter written than I only had like, a five word placeholder for before, so I'll actually have the first fourteen chapters written soon instead of being like "well I have fourteen chapters but not really because ten is actually not written yet"

I already know a lot is going to have to change lol there's been a lot of characters thinking and not a lot going on. but that's what a third third first draft is for amiright?

DAYS TEN-THIRTEEN

Daily Word Count: 3,776/a lot

Total Word Count: 11,852/30,000


Snippet:

The wind curling around her turned heavier. Colder. “Your magic is not the only thing that shapes you,” said the voice, firmer now. Like a mother scolding a child. Shana had heard that tone from her mum before. “You have a mind which can think, and a form which can move. You are not solely reliant on your magic. It is not a crutch, Shana.”

“I was fighting another witch,” she protested. “And a crew of men half-dead and immortal who can’t be killed by mortal weapons.”

“Then perhaps you should worry about finding immortal weapons.” Some of the lights flickered around her, and she could taste the displeasure on the air. “I did not grant you my boon so that you could burn and destroy everything around you in one resplendent supernova. Your magic is not a crutch, nor is it a weapon. It can be the latter, but that is not what it is composed of. It is not the whole of what makes it.”

Thoughts:

I'm actually at 12,807 words right now, but I'm not tracking today's yet because I am determined not to be finished yet. I need to do some catching up.

Also I cheated because the snippet in from today's session but I really liked it so shut up I make the rules here in my own thread.

it's been kinda rocky, I've been behind still every day. I'm really hoping I can catch up on the drive to camping and really crank some of this out in time so I can still meet the goal for Colonia Heights as well. It's been hard because I've hit the point where I'm like "idk what's happening now" and it's gotten a little stagnant ah the days where I actually outlined anything :'). also I'm realising I've done some things I Do Not Like and it's crippling parts of the story and making it longer and slower than it needs to be. This novel, as always, loves to be as cumbersome as possible.

But I'm past the 50k mark (55k!) and I don't completely hate it yet! this time around, I've still felt consistency way better about this draft than any of the others. In need to find my feet a little more with it, and really dig into the meat of it and unearth that more, but honestly that fact that I've gotten this far and haven't wanted to throw my computer into the sea yet is a miracle. It's still kinda pulling teeth, but it's because I didn't outline, not because I hate what's happening or where it's going.

it's going to need some help after this draft is finished but honestly, editing the chapters when I picked this back up again was pretty fun, so I don't think that shifting and cutting what needs to go is going to be as much of a hassle as actually writing it. We'll see, I guess. I think any discontentment right now stems from me being frustrated with my actual writing and feeling as though it's not good, rather than the actual story itself. So, digging into it to edit will probably be way better. idk, we'll see.

I miss writing other things though lmao but that is because I've been working so much and have barely had the energy to write what I have for this novel, let alone anything else.

DAYS FOURTEEN-THIRTY-ONE

Daily Word Count: a lot/a lot

Total Word Count: 30,024/30,000

Snippet:

“Impress them?” Mordecai gave her a look that was half pitying, half disgusted. “They sit in their opulent, marbled halls and read books and hardly bother with the outside world unless they are heavily persuaded to help handle some magic crisis or another. Why would you want to impress them?” They frowned. “Why would you want to be them?”

“My magic is… It can be too much for me to handle.” She held up her fingers and, remembering she was in a place where magic was actually lauded, let sparks dance off her fingers. “Where better to go to learn to control it?”

Mordecai studied her without changing expression, looking at her like she was a child. Or very stupid. “It sounds less like you need a bunch of secular old men telling you what to do and locking you away, and more like you need someone to tell you how not to fear your magic.”

She frowned. “I’m not afraid of my magic.”

They sipped whatever nasty, fruity rum they had bought, and raised their eyebrows delicately. “I would love to say that I wish I could dignify that with sarcastic agreement, but we both know that I can’t lie.”

Thoughts:

hello, I have Returned. I meant to update this yesterday but Alas, I did not.

HEY I FINISHED CAMP NANO GUYS

My fears were unfounded! I did catch up while I was camping and finished this one three days before we came home (yesterday), and Colonia Heights I got done with yesterday.

This draft needs So Much Help. I already know this one is going to be longer than I really would want it to be, but that's what Revisions are for. It's still way better than the last two drafts, it just didn't help that I threw plots in at like, what should be the midpoint wasn't helpful lmao but now I know what's going on, I know what I'm generally aiming for because I got some planning done, and now I have meat to work with to come back and mould to actually have a story.

I'm also stuck in a place of trying to decide whether to write it as near to historical accuracy as possible (because, you know, magic and fantasy creatures and all that jazz), or whether I want it to be a historical fiction essentially "translated" to a modern style. It would be way easier to do the latter, but maybe I'll dive into some heavy research and focus on that for editing, and this will end up just being a project that's gonna be in the background being worked on for a long time rather than one I'm trying to clean up for doing anything with.

anyway!! I finished camp nano, I'm (almost) at 73k words for this draft, and I know where it's going, and honestly, that's all I can ask for.

now can I finish it before school starts survey says almost certainly not. but I surprised myself this month, so we'll see!

(as much as it was hard work to get this all done, it was really good to flex my writing muscles more strenuously again, and I'm Super Pleased that I got 40k done despite having such a rough first half of the month)