Young Writers Society

I misread the challenge! If I had taken the left path, I would have had to sprint for 30 minutes as I fought pirate skeletons.

But I got the right path, and my party is attacked by crazed zombie monkeys. And for all my excitement for having got that sweet 600+ words in 20 minutes was for naught because now I will have to sprint for 40 MINUTES as I kill the monkeys. (credit where credit is due though, I haven't seen crazed zombie monkeys in a pirate film before, so bonus points for creativity I guess)

However, all of my plans for today's productivity levels got thrown out the window because I did a Big Sad (or,, continued a big sad I guess because it's been bad the last several days when I'm left on my own). bless my dad for being gentle and supportive and allowing me to be sad for a while and then coaxing me into halloween decorating.

So, I didn't do any of the word crawl today, but I did get 20 minutes of writing in, and I got a solid 494 words in. Am I putting off the conversation with Cailean? perhaps. But I got a little over 20 minutes in and that's what matters.


don't feel like putting in my fancy formatting, so just have a snippet instead:

He picked up a lantern that he had, presumably, set on a nearby table. A dim orange light pooled out of it, seeming as though to illuminate a mist that wasn’t clinging in the air. It smelled of burning oil, saltwater, and the filth that clung to the walls and saturated the hull.

She let her fingers run over the metal of her prosthetic hand. It was cold and its edges were blunt enough that they did not outright cut into her skin. She pressed the pads of her fingertips in harder as she rubbed the metal.

Threat of her father’s retribution or not, she still had to face a man whom she had helped to break further. Gareth had hardly done anything to force her hand. She was simply too much of a coward to stand against him. Unlike Kassidy.

I have once again not done the crawl today, under both the assumption I did not have much time to write for the night and also I didn't want to do forty minutes straight. Instead I did an hour and forty minutes straight. It was actually pretty nice though, to just sit down and let the words flow.

I got in 2,163 words though! And I am once again satisfied with all of them?? I'm digging it (and hoping I can keep some consistency because I need it if I want to be close to finishing around November, though probably not, let's be honest). ALSO I finished this chapter finally so EXTRA CELEBRATION.

Conversation with Cailean has been tackled, and Shana's most vicious, feral chapter is up next so I am VERY pleased. I am way more satisfied with the way Maeve and Cailean (and Ace and, this time, Kassidy)'s exchange went, and I think the new direction makes a lot more sense than it did last time (especially because I realised putting the pressure of "Shana actually is probably in danger" as opposed to Cailean believing as long as he kept her out of it, she would be safe and ok, because then why on earth would he tell Maeve and Kassidy to go find her?? they're the children of his greatest threat lol).


Again, since I didn't do that challenge, I'll skip the formatting, but here's a fun snippet of the end of the chapter:

“Starlight,” Kassidy said, as if testing out a new word. “She is powerful enough to match Alise?”

Cailean slumped back. “She will know how to protect you from Alise.”

Maeve let out a long breath through her nose, a strange queasiness washing over her, turning her legs to jelly. “That is a no,” she said. “We have to go, Kassidy. Before someone finds us skulking down here.”

And even through her best efforts, Maeve could hardly sleep that night, with the first taste of a chance of freedom on her tongue. Like a meal prepared by a royal chef, so decadent and rich that it hid the smell of the poison that laced it.

40 MINUTES OF SPRINTING HAS BEEN COMPLETED I finally forced myself to be Responsible today even though I really wanted to throw it into the wind again and watch Critical Role.

We have defeated the zombie monkeys and I stumble now to the building of bone. The handle is made of a skeleton hand, which is neat where can I buy one of those, and I open the door. The structure shakes a lot and it's spooky and made going to collapse? But then it doesn't.

Inside I find three chests! I am immediately suspicious because it cannot be this easy (me playing d&d, even after battles where one party member went down and one nearly became a zombie), though I am also excited.

Then a SKULL on the floor starts glowing, and says, "You have come to take my ancient treasure! You made it this far, so I will grant you a chance. One of these chests holds my treasure. The other two are cursed! Choose wisely, pirate!”

So there's a CURSED CHEST. I'm saving the next challenge for another time though because it'll take at least 30 minutes, give or take. All I want to do is get to 1k for the day and I'm good.

OKAY 1k DONE. Haven't quite gotten to the Revenge yet, but I set it up, and I'm content with that. I've pulled a lot from the other chapter I wrote originally for this draft because I still liked it. There's some stuff I want to change though, and some stuff I already fixed. I'm not too happy I was leaning on that one, because it slowed my writing down and left me pretty dependent on it, but I also wanted to minimise trying to mix the two later.

Today's Tally
Words Written: 1,116
Challenges Completed: 1
Pieces of Eight: 9
Shana's Anger-o-Meter: 12/10
Snippet of the Day:

Her magic grew warm in her chest. The blood witch had killed Reina. And it must have been her who brought Shana here and kept her contained.

She rolled onto her stomach, gritting her teeth against the pain from the ropes. It was moonlight that was granting her some illusion of light. The lantern that hung amongst the stars at night. With a storm, she could rend the building to its foundations. But with the stars and the night whispering against her skin, she could preserve her energy. Patience. Patience. Be patient, Shana.

Shana was no fire sorcerer. She had no inherent flames woven into her magic. Whatever fuelled her magic, that which did not come from the storm, it came from the night, from the constellations and the stars that made them.

Stars burned, and so did she.

I didn't do the challenge again today because I was about to leave to go out and drive for a while before I started writing, but I did have a fun, decent writing session. I got 513 done, which was good since I wasn't doing it for very long. And I had a good time! Turns out not having distractions is best for my writing space xD


Snippet from the session:

“I can offer you only my light, my earthbound star.” A breeze tousled her hair as the voice spoke, like a warm breath preluded by a mother’s kiss. “Take comfort in knowing that you are not alone. Take solace in my gift. Storms are strong, but they dissipate like smoke on the wind. Stars burn for aeons.”

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.”

oh my goddddddd you are destroying me alread just with snippets

ehehehe there's an actual PLOT this time blue it's a miracle

look as long as there's gay pining I couldn't care less about the plot (proud of u anyway though)

aha not YET but there will be PLENTY later. this draft the pining game is getting AMPED. hopefully lol.


I didn't get that much done, as yesterday, but I did convince myself to do it so I feel like that's a win in itself. No crawl today, once again, alas. But 501. Felt pretty good once again? I'm actually pleased with how the story is unfolding this time as I was Ruminating this morning, so even if it's taking me longer, I'm happy that I'm not just rushing it out this time and I actually might be weaving a story that, once finished, I can actually be like "I'm proud of this and actually enjoy its content" rather than, you know. Hating it like the other two lol.


Here is a Brief snippet, however, although the session was good, there's not many good snippets from it. So:

She had been taken from home. She had been taken and she was gods only knew where and Reina was dead. Her eyes grew hot and her vision blurred at the edges. She gripped the windowsill until her knuckles went white, until it felt like electricity singed her nerves, needles digging through the flesh of her fingers and pressing into her bloodstream. She wanted to scream, wanted to let out the tempest boiling in her stomach.

A hot tear dripped from her cheek instead. A second. She let go of the windowsill to wipe them away, breath coming in quick, sharp snorts. Her hands tingled from the intensity of her grasp.

I'M FINISHING THE CRAWL TODAY AND MOVING ONTO ANOTHER ONE BECAUSE I'VE BEEN NEGLECTING THIS AND I REALLY NEED TO STOP IT

And after I get some real progress here I need to do some PlanMo for Rival Bards so if you're reading this and you spy that I have not done that today publicly shame me.

TIME TO FIND THE CURSED CHEST PROBABLY. I have to roll 2d6 (it says roll the die twice but bold to assume I don't have a plethora or d6s. I have. so many. d6s) and multiply that number by 100. Write to that final results. If I succeed in under 30 minutes, I get to choose which chest I grab. If I don't, it's another roll.

And considering I rolled 800 (3 and a 6 on my ghost d6—for Shana's astral magic—and one of my d&d character's d6 but the colour worked p well for Maeve), I don't think I'm going to get to pick (which I prefer tbh). So, let's go kill a witch with her some starlight.

I got 748 lol I think this is mostly in part with the fact I kept changing the music because it was never the right vibe (until I remembered Eluvian Battle Suite was an absolute jam and cruised with that one).

I'm going to use my pale blue d6 again. We'll see if it betrays me or not, because I don't know what the chests do yet.

I rolled a 2. Historically this means I've picked one of the cursed chests, but we'll see.

I choose my chest and drag it outside. I'm covered in sweat (it says my BROWN is drenched in sweat and I am interpreting that) and blood and my clothes are torn and basically I need a nap for like, a year (just like Alise is about to do). Everyone is eagerly awaiting me to open the chest, which has no lock (except, you know, a curse. this sounds like Starry Veins a bit).

!!!!! MY DIE!!!!!! IT HAVE REDEEMED ITSELF!!! I GOT THE NON-CURSED CHEST!!!!!! I don't even care what's inside my lil blue die has come through for me and I would personally like to attribute my success to it.

here it is because I'm a nerd:



ANYWAY the chest is full of A LOT of riches and MORE treasure maps and all the fun stuff, but while the crew goes for all of that fun stuff, I find a bound leather book. It's a journal filled with songs, stories, poems, and ancient knowledge that I DELIGHT to have (of course). I also become a permanent member of the crew during all the revelry we share in the aftermath! I must write 100 more words to finish off my pirate's tale (lol wish I was finishing my ACTUAL pirate novel).

Okay, I actually wrote 860 words, because I was having a Streak and didn't want to stop to just update this post after 100 words.


Also I peeked at what the other fates were, out of curiosity. The second chest would have had me cursed, but with my pieces of eight, I could have at least escaped the island with the rest of the crew and stayed alive (without the pieces of eight, I guess I would have been stuck in a groundhog day of reliving the part of the treasure hunt that took place on the island? I'm not exactly clear on that).

The third one would have KILLED ME. The man who I feared would shank me (back in post number two if you can believe it) was also a ghost man. Now, while I died, the crew did try to save me, I have to add, because the next part is the captain telling them to retreat (as any sane person would do), but then suspicious-ghost-man is telling me I can get revenge on them as a ghost. While I personally would not want to do that (can't blame them from running from a spooky curse-death), I would have anyway, and become the new ghost-captain of the ship, which I guess is cool.


Chapter is done though! Alise is dead, Shana is wrecked (in several ways), and Gareth is about to lose his mind.

I'm going to make a second post for today because I'm going to try to get to at least 2k words in total for today (it doesn't make up for nearly as much as I've been slacking, but I still want to get PlanMo done for Rival Bards and listen to some pirate history), but it's going to be a new crawl (that I have decided to do an hour ago, as you do). I'll figure out which one it is by the time I've made the second post, but so this one doesn't become a novel or confusing with two different crawl stats, I'm going to split it up.


Today's Tally
Word Written: 1,607
Challenges Completed: 2? 3?
Pieces of Eight: 9
Meme of the Day:

Snippet of the Day:
This is the same snippet that I put in the thread when I was updating the one specifically for this novel, but now it's Updated since I started from the beginning again, so have some updated viciousness (but not as long because from the two "you killed my aunt" is way longer now and I won't subject anyone to that lol):

“Go back to sleep, Madigan.”

Stars burn for aeons.

She clenched her fists. Let the storm die around her, the wind gone limp and quiet and somewhere far outside, where it suspended itself only in memory. Her legs gave out beneath her and she hit her knees hard on the wood but gritted her jaw hard enough to make her focus.

In her mind, she imagined clouds that veiled a starry night. A moon so full it looked about to burst, showering the whole world in silvery light as pure as the heavens themselves. She drew the light that peered in the window, drew on her gift from the constellations.

Her right hand and arm, the one paralysed, flicked on like a struck match. Starlight glowed so bright she had to avert her gaze, twisting herself in such a way that she could still see the blood witch, but was not blinding herself by her own magic.

The witch’s face, which had been coolly concentrated with the bitterest trace of delight, shifted now to outright horror. Shana revelled in it.

I have chosen a Halloween crawl. Well, I choose it, and then got emotional about Starry Veins because of posting the last chapter.

But a Halloween crawl seems appropriate. Maybe it'll make me finish it before October is over (because why do a Halloween crawl when it's not October??)


I wake up. It is Halloween. I am throwing a party (this is someone else who is absolutely not me because I would never throw a party) and have to get ready for that. I have to write 500 words while I make a list of all the things I have to get done for the day.

604 words down!

I have a very long list of things to be done. Next challenge is to write 300 words while I freak out about these things I must do and all the decisions of what decorations and so forth I must make.

332 words down! I AM DONE FOR THE DAY. I HAVE ACCOMPLISHED 2k+ (2543 to be exact) AND I FEEL GOOD.

I would feel better if I hadn't skipped so many days, but I won't change the past.

Today's Tally 2.0
Words Written: 936
Challenges Completed: 2
Spookiness: 5/10
Total Deaths: 1ish
Snippet of the Day 2.0:

Her throat tightened. “Mamá never swam with us,” she said softly. She remembered the despair on Mamá’s face as she looked out at the water, but never crossed the ocean’s threshold. Hardly ever even strayed close enough for the water to kiss her feet. When Maeve was younger, she hadn’t understood why. Mamá had always spoke of the water as though it were her closest friend, someone she loved very dearly. Maeve had fallen in love with the sea from the way her mamá spoke of it, and it was the one thing she had loved that hadn’t left, besides Kassidy.

She understood now. Mamá could swim and touch the sea, but she could never return. Maeve knew Mamá had loved them, and now, since she had been brought aboard her father’s ship, she knew the pain that her mamá had endured all those years, bound to the shore. Maeve would never belong to the ocean the way her mamá had, but she knew what being taken from home felt like.

And the sea, though it may claim her forever only in death and not the way it could claim her mamá, still called to her.

So the next challenge is write to the nearest 1000 to go to other stores to find decorations (because I misread last time and I was freaking out that the store didn't have any decorations), and because I was tired last night, the next 1000 is like, 30 words away. I need that anyway for 20in20 today, so let's go.

I lied, it took a whole 82 words to get to the nearest 1000 (and a little more). The next challenge (if I'm understanding it correctly) is either to write for 10 minutes since I found a store with decorations and am now heading home, or write the total word count of all the numbers in your birthday combined to drive to the next town over to find decorations. Since I am in no mood to write 2000+ words, I'm opting for ten minutes (again, have to do that anyway).

10 minutes done and 383 words written. I could have done better, but it's better than nothing so I'll take it.

The next challenge is 20 minutes, and since I'm doing this to finish it so I can talk to some friends, I'm going to just finish the twenty minutes I need only for my daily.

Twenty minutes has been accomplished!

Today's Tally
Words Written: 622
Challenges Completed: 2
Kassidy's Use of Puppy Eyes: Completely Successful

We're going two for two today because 1) I need to get some wRITING done but 2) I didn't do this like, two days ago when I was actually writing.

I wrote for 20 minutes while I searched for food (specifically "ingredients" and "lollies" for some reason). I actually wrote for about half an hour, but semantics. That was the only challenge I did, however.

There is Drama Commencing. Maeve and Kassidy are about to yeet on out, which I actually have to write now. rip.


Today's Tally
Words Written: 612
Challenges Completed: 1
Snippet of the Day:

Though Maeve felt as though the world froze over for a moment—tiny crystal of ice forming in her hair and frigid water stilling the blood in her veins—a seagull interrupted that moment of shock. She blinked, swallowed hard against the winter claiming her throat, and let out a long, long breath.

She killed Alise. Alise was dead.

Yes, hello, I am already back for some more Halloween crawl. My new goal is to finish the crawl before October ends because it would be actually insane if I finished the novel.

It is time to unpack my haul after shopping for 2 hours (unrealistic, I hate shopping and would get bored after about half an hour). Now I have to write to the nearest 100.

I wrote a whole 63 words lol I only needed about 30, but it would have been silly to stop where I was.

Now I must sprint for five minutes while I begin the process of cooking everything (I hope this means the food for the party and not the lollies but I guess I am just a passenger during this humble writing voyage).

176 words! Which is not great, but not terrible. I had a Thought that I had to write in my notes and I forgot to halt my timer. oops.

Next I have to either write for 30 minutes at my own pace or sprint for 20 minutes with a subsequent write for 20 minutes at your own pace after that. I think I'm going to go for the 30 minutes, so I can try to get a few more challenges in today.

927 words! whoops I was so close to 1k BUT ALAS I will trudge forward. I have completed one chapter and started a new one, so let us see how far we can go (I mean, you know, how far I am WILLING to go before I'm like "no more I don't wanna!!" which is also currently what Shana is doing, because waking up is overrated).

Now, I must decorate. I have a lot to do, so I will call my best friend to help me decorate (the first person to reply after this post is my best friend, sorry I do make the rules and I'm actually not sorry). If they can make it, I have to write 500 words while we split the load. If they can't, then I have to write 1000 words while I do everything myself.

Now, I'm actually going to go for the 1k, despite my own protests, because I need to actually get somewhere with this novel, and digging my heels in and complaining that I have Not Done The Thing will not accomplish that. 1K HERE I COME.

1K HAS BEEN ACHIEVED! I wrote 1070 words! I think with that, I shall conclude the crawl for today. I didn't finish a second chapter, but it's about to transition anyway, and I have other stuff to get done.

Today's Tally
Words Written: 2,236
Challenges Completed: 4!
Otherworldly Interventions: 2
Snippet of the Day:

“Open your eyes, my tiny nightlight.”

Shana was suspended somewhere, choked with darkness. Everything was fuzzy, like her whole body was coming into focus. Pain centred from somewhere faraway, sinking in slowly like water she had put her hand in that was slowly boiling. Or rather, her head, and her arm, because those were they points where the agony was coming to life.

I need to sleep.

“No.”

She tried to shake off the intrusive voice. She was so tired, and wrapped in the darkness, she didn’t want to rouse herself. The edges of consciousness were starting to press into her, trying to needle her into a tendered and bruised wakefulness.

“You must wake up, Shana.”

*rolls up sleeves* it's time to get BUSY

also writing pirate novel dressed as discount pirate? yes, this is my life.

If I get done fast enough, I can watch the spooky actual play game that I meant to get to before October ended. As with everything else. rip.

I have to get dressed up! I can choose something scary, sexy, or happy. I don't know what that last one entails. I want to go spooky though, of course! I have to write 350 words.

454 words! Because when you're in a groove, it just be like that.

UGH this is such a weird scene to write. TRANSITION SCENES YO. they suck. I wouldn't even include it if TYRELL and GAEL (gosh darn it Tyrell and Gael) weren't being introduced. But they are. nyeh.

Friends have showed up for some trick-or-treating before the Big Bash (not my words, absolutely my capitalisation). I have to choose trick or treat. They basically serve the same function for me, because it's either "write 400 words" or "write to the nearest 1000" and the nearest 1000 IS about 400 words away. so, of course I will pick TRICK because I'm an agent of chaos. So, writing to the nearest 1000 it is.

332 words down and 2k for this chapter reached!

We reached a haunted house and it's pitch black inside (you know, as haunted houses are. ghosts absorb light, you know). I'm dared to go inside for an hour. I can either stay or refuse. The challenge if I leave is arguably way better, especially since I'm trying to finish the crawl today, but I really want to stay inside. So rip me! Pray that I roll a low number since I have to roll a die and then times the number by 50 and write that within the hour.

I rolled a 4, so I have to write 200 words. I realised after I rolled that it's only by 50 and not by 100 like the previous crawl, which is Super Great for me.

444! Because consistency. Also because I forgot it was only 200 words. lol.

Now I have to write for 10 minutes as I heat up the food and turn on all the decorations (because I'm mysteriously and suddenly home now) to get ready for the party.

266 words done!

The guests are here, which means it's time for me to be a Good Host (ugh). I have to write to the nearest 1000. So, this one is a little complicated, because I finished the scene, and the next part I pasted in from the original third draft attempt (because I still liked the scene that I wrote and it was going to happen anyway, and if I don't have to rewrite it, I'm not going to). So, I'll start a new chapter, and I,,, guess see how it goes. I'd like to spend sometime not writing today, so I may...adjust how this goes.

1078 words! I'm so done but I still have at least 700 words to go. NYEH why did I do this to myself.

Time to marathon some movies and write 500 words.

549 words! Someone please,, let me rest.

That someone is me, which I will not.

Movies are done, but now someone has accosted me and kissed me! I have options, but as I do not care for this at all, I will make my escape and write 100 words as I do so. (also I just need to mention that one of the options is letting my best friend yank this person off and then "counsels" me. Counsels)

157 words down!

Now everyone is either asleep or has left! Time to drag my best friend (who is still unknown and hasn't actually helped me with anything??) up to bed to crash. I've got to write another 100 words as I fall asleep.

106 words!

I wake up the next morning! I can either get up, or just go back to sleep. Considering I have to do a 30 minute sprint if I laze about, I'm going to take my chances with rolling a die and multiplying by 50 and HOPING I get a low number. pls, ghost dice, do me a solid. I rolled a 3, so 150!

196 AND I'M DONE BABEY!!! thank god.

Today's Tally
Words Written: 4,673!! holy geez I didn't realise that this is GREAT
Total Word Count: 27,554 (roughly)
Challenges Completed: NINE
Snippet of the Day:

Maeve glanced up, partially from instinct. But she also wanted to see if Mamá would follow Kassidy, if she would go back to the sea. An even smaller part of her whispered that, if Mamá swam in the ocean again, that she would never return. It was silly, of course, Mamá couldn’t live there anymore. But the village people still whispered that she would. People who came from the sea always went back to the sea, and its call would be too strong for her to resist one day.

But Mamá only sat up and shook her head. She still smiled at Kassidy, but Maeve was old enough now that she could see the sorrow in her mother’s features. The longing, the way that Kassidy might stare at a plate of fresh cookies.

Sometimes, Maeve wished she could go and live in the sea. That one day, she might find her own skin, and she would be free to wander the ocean as she pleased.

hello I have returned

the gif isn't much of a reflection of yesterday's chapter, which is where I'm picking up from since NaNo is over, but Nadia can shift into a bird (not that one) and probably (definitely) wanted to hold Celeste's hand as they got into a very Real conversation in which Celeste called Nadia out very hard and there was this part, which is one of my favourites exclusively for the dialogue:

"I hope—" She swallowed, her throat gone utterly dry. Celeste hovered beside the table, and Nadia dug her nails into her palms. She forced herself to meet Celeste’s gaze. "I’d hate to see you come in second place." That was as close as she was going to come to saying I hope you win.

Celeste’s expression softened, something Nadia could have called worry but didn’t dare to dancing across her face. Then Celeste nodded curtly, twitching a bit awkwardly in a way Nadia hadn’t seen before. "I think it’s far worse to die for something you don’t believe in."

And then she left.

anyway. Not a chapter I meant to write but honestly Nadia's are all come up with on the spot anyway at this point because she's way more in the dark about things than Celeste is.

Also, me? writing about family neglecting the mental health of someone and just going "be more positive" or "don't worry"? I'm not projecting at all, what are you talking about

Nadia is WAY more anxious than I ever meant to make her, but it works and it fits her, so I'm not complaining.


Also, I wrote a LULLABY and had the first intentionally violent confrontation scene in the novel, so there's been a LOT that's gone. also Celeste got to bite someone (not in a fun way though unfortunately).


Today's Yesterday's Tally
Words Written: 4,334
Total Word Count: 58,986
Deaths?: 0.5 (in this chapter)
Snippet (two) of the Day: possible content warning for suggestions of strangulation