Young Writers Society

Just a warning my next post may be a little while as I've been sick since Thursday and its been quite hard to try and think of the right words and things for people to do with a blinding headache.

Sorry guys, I've been having a lot of 10-hour days on campus, and I have a ton of reading for all my classes. I'll try to get up a post this weekend, but no promises.

Rule #76: No excuses. Play like a champion.

Kidding; though I really should come up with a set of rules for Storybooks, yeah?

Anyway. Thanks Loth for holding down the fort with his last two posts!

Question for this weekend.
...Is not a question, it's homework. I want you to plan two future posts, at least one of which needs to take place with another writer. It does not have to be in the immediate future, but it does have to take place within this storybook (obviously).

Why? Because it will get you looking to the future, so you'll look forward to building a relationship with the character of the person you decide to write with. I always get excited when I make plans with another writer for our characters, because I can use it as inspiration to push through the boring parts to get to those key scenes.

Once you've got your plans, post a summary of them here!

The Plan.

I'd like everyone to get your characters in a place that we can pass a few hours, 'til morning. I have one or two more posts planned before that, but if everyone can get set for their characters to do that, that would be fantastic. Please don't pass that time without my clearance, just get your characters into a place where I CAN pass some time without treading on toes. Tentatively speaking, we'll be fast forwarding to March 4th, 5:00am starting on Monday. will confirm before I do so.

I haven't had time to fully plan out these posts, but I know the general topic. I'll try to get to them later today.

1. Flashback. Jo remembers in vivid detail what happened after the supply run. Follows Bernard's flashback.

2. Jo and Kevin meet again. Should be fun times! As in, you know, she wants to kill him with her bare hands.

Jo is currently in her tent, probably not sleeping, but I'm not sure I can get any more posts in until we move forward.

Sam -- I really don't mind where you take the flashback scene as long as you make sure to kill off Dave and have Velna get bitten as she tries to save him. That's the only vague direction I had for it.

For my part:
1. Tempting to have another flashback, but probably more like a scene with Bernard in the present as he caves and takes half a sleeping pill. This is a great betrayal of trust and something that will eat away at his conscience.

2. Bernard will examine Becka following her arrival at the Settlement. Assuming she's clean, Bernard will take her in and show her around the camp. Could be fun to explore the routines of the survivors.

Becka's pretty well settled for now. She's back with her group for the night.

1. Desertion -- Becka ditches her group and heads towards the settlement. On her way she drops by some old haunts, looking for things she could use to barter with.

2 Detainment -- Once she arrives at the settlement, she'll meet Desmond, the leader, and Bernard, who will check her over for bites before letting her into the settlement and showing her around. Becka might also potentially catch a glimpse of Annika at some point. The Annika bit is still in the works, so we'll see how that goes. It might be saved for another post entirely.

Its a rough plan but I'll probably go with.
1. Flashback to Malcolm's run in with the sweeper team.
2. Talking to Kylie, trying to get hired as security for her group.
3. Eventually trying to take revenge on the Americans.

1. Kylie will try to 'fix' Kevin by witholding drugs from him. It won't go well and will result in him attacking her.

2. Upon arrival at the settlement Bernard discovers that one of Kylie's men is hiding a recent bite mark. He is told he can't enter and goes crazy, insisting there will be a cure soon and demanding they let him in. He turns his gun on someone and is shot by Desmond Walker. This irritates Kylie as she wanted to chain him up outside and use him for her research. She's also just generally pissed that Walker shot one of her men.

Sorry guys I'm on holiday at the moment. I will try to post as often as i can.

Okay, plans. Hmm.

Well, first would be that Amber joins Kylie and co.

Second, I'm not too sure. I've been trying to get on at the right times so I can plan, but something always seems to come up. Meh. I'm thinking she'll freak out when Desmond shoots Kylie's man. And freak some more when she sees the Zombies. Amber is unused to life outside of a compound.

If anyone wants to plan something, feel free to PM me or something and I'll try to reply ASAP. I should also post... Hmm.

In terms of timeskipping, Toni is pretty much asleep at this point, so that's all fine.

And, homework! Here we go:

1 - One night, Toni works herself up to the point of a panic attack. She makes it to Bernard, just as he is surrendering to temptation and making for the sleeping pills.

2 - Toni forgets to wake up for a guard shift. She is saved by a friendly acquaintance, who helps cover for her slip. This mostly to introduce the idea of Desmond’s more zealous followers, who would rain hellfire on her for failing in her duty, or something similar.

Rough Outline of the Plot in My Head

So here's (generally) how I'd like the storybook to go down, plot-wise (DISCLAIMER: This is all subject to change, PLEASE throw out ideas if you have any); Lowkey thought it might help people plan more long-term for their characters if they knew where we'd be going.

--Once the majority of the group converges on the Settlement, Kylie will proceed to recruit anyone she hasn't already through means of dealing with Desmond and asking for volunteers or paying people of the more mercenary disposition.

--The newly replenished expedition then heads toward Ashville, likely waylaid in the process by roadblocks, both zombie and concrete in nature. They'll be forced to leave the trucks just outside the city limits, when they run into the latter of these two obstructions.

--Once on foot, the group must make their way into town, to the area that Kylie wishes to get to (I have an idea for this, but I'd like to go over it with Rydia before I voice it).

--They get there, eventually. Possibly. Or maybe they encounter something new and more dangerous than your typical shambler and are forced to run/hide. Hadn't gotten that far.

ANYWAY. That should give us a start. Lemme know if you have any ideas, plot twists, alternate plots, etc.

Once Rydia posts her next post, I believe we're going to be advancing time. Please be planning your next posts accordingly ^.^

--D

Profile time!


Name: Tanya Carr

Age: 17

Height: 5'3 feet

Weight: 115 lbs.

Eyes: Brown, with bright gold rings around her iris, giving her a strange, cat-like look. Are rather prominent.

Hair: Black and silky, but chopped haphazardly and usually roped up into a clumsy ponytail and hidden underneath her very battered, ‘favorite’ cream-coloured cap.

Physique: Highly athletic, but because of her small height, she often comes off as frail or weak-looking.

Notable Features: If there is one thing that stands out about Tanya, it’s her ability to devote herself to the things she believes in, often to the point of foolishness. She’s passionate and doesn’t mind hurting herself to get things done. However, this rarely shows in her day-to-day behaviour; she usually comes off as calm and often childish, further emphasized by her child-like stature. She’s highly convincing when it comes to words and behaviour, something she attained from her time as a theatre-nut.

Gear: A camping backpack, with a walkie-talkie inside, several bottles of ‘zombie repellent’ and a few days worth of food. Also, a gun and a hunting knife, just in case she ‘ever loses the use of her gun’.

Education: Uh. I think she graduated grade-school.

Pros: Fast, quick-witted, stubborn, easily able to find her way out of problems. Good at surviving.

Cons: Low morals, manipulative, unable to revise her opinions without blatant proof, hides her real feelings behind a calm mask and...tends to be stubborn. Which can either be a good trait or a bad trait, whatever way you look at it.

Before The Outbreak: Before the outbreak, Tanya Carr had been just another typical high-school girl...that is, if you consider being obsessed with the theatre ‘typical’. She had wanted to act on Broadway someday, and despite the admonishments her well-meaning parents often laid on her, she had decided to follow her dream; almost stubbornly. Perhaps, part of the reason was that, back at home, the arguments were getting more and more frequent; despite the fact the both parents loved her very much, the girl knew that sooner or later she’d have to pick either one of them over the other; so she decided to immerse herself head-long into her dreams; perhaps too much.

Because, one day she stayed too late at the club writing up scripts, and when she got home, her parents were missing.

The house was empty. No note. Nothing to say they would be back tomorrow, or even the next week. The kitchen was untouched, which was odd for her mother; usually she left something on the table for Tanya. Even if they were rushing out, at the very least, her mother wouldn’t have forgotten. This prompted the teenager to look into the rest of the house. No, they weren’t up in their bedrooms, or hers. The garden at the back of the house was empty, as well. And then she heard the low, keening sound, the scratching of human nails on glass. She looked around--

--and there they were from behind the window that looked out into the garden, staring at her, mouths agape, blank eyes, clawing at the window, trying to force it open, slamming their heads and attacking the walls with their teeth--

--but it wasn’t just them.


Since The Outbreak: Tanya wasn’t sure how she stumbled out of there safely. It was probably because the Undead were either too stupid or too slow, and there wasn’t really a lot of them in the garden, not enough to overwhelm her. But she was overwhelmed, much more than she wanted to admit to herself. Wasn’t it just this morning that she saw her mother waving her off at the doorstep? It was just last night that she hit cricket balls on the TV screen with her father on the opposite team. Then...why?

But she didn’t have time to deal with these philosophical questions, or even spend a moment wiping away the tears on her face. There were more of the Undead, and even though she felt as though she couldn’t move another step, she kept running, and running, and running...

They were catching up with her, however. When she looked back, they were always one step closer; it wasn’t that they were getting faster, but that she was getting slower. She was exhausted, and they were closing in around her. However, a bang and a flash of fire went off somewhere in the distance; and suddenly, within a few moments, the entire town was in flames. The horde following her fled, leaving her to collapse in a heap of ash, smoke and fire. Perhaps she would have choked to death there; but when she woke up next, she found herself in a fairly comfortable room, with a damp cloth on her forehead and restraints around her body. She glanced around; some distance away, two people in hooded costumes were whispering urgently to each other.

It didn’t take her long to find out that she was in a building owned by the religious cult Mortega. Apparently, they were a clan that endorsed human sacrifice to placate the zombies. At first, she thought she was an offering, and begged them to let her go, and that she’d do anything just to be saved. To this day she isn’t sure whether they had intended to save her from the very beginning, or whether her words made them decide to keep her; but it wasn’t long before she became a member of the order. However, she wasn’t a simple member; but rather, an assassin, used to kill many people over the last few years; and to this day, she isn’t sure what to think of her role.

So unless someone has another post they'd like to make before 5a.m. in-storybook time, I'm going to be advancing time to that point in my next post.

IMPORTANT

I'd like to have a storybook-wide chat discussion in the YWS chat room tomorow--today, for some of you--at 11:00am PACIFIC (that's 7:00pm for most of your British-types). Please meet in the chat room around that time so we can brainstorm and go over stuff.

Consider this your homework for this week ^.^