SO. WE'RE DOING THIS. BOOK 4. THE LAST CONQUEROR. YEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAW.
Maybe I'll write a summary later...
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
Day 1: I wrote 2243 words for a total of 2243 words! Woo!
Favorite bit:
Spoiler! :
"Speaking of death," the man continued, "I have an invitation for you.” The man produced a envelope from a satchel that he carried and handed it to the Swan.
The Swan opened it up and frowned. "A party? So soon after Celebration? What could we possibly be celebrating now?"
"My impending death, of course," the man replied.
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
Day 2: I wrote 1424 words for a total of 3667 words.
Favorite bit:
Spoiler! :
At the name, Cyrus suddenly froze. For more than a week, he had been wondering desperately who the nice Swan was. He figured that the Swan might know of him.
But Tiziano? Even the idea of that Swan taking care of him seemed repulsive. When Cyrus, as a young boy, complained about his father to Grandma Kalie — and his father was a loathsome man in almost every respect — Grandma Kalie would chide him gently and remind him that his father was not so terrible as her father, Tiziano. The way she would describe him made him out to be monstrous and Cyrus never had any doubt that his father, as awful as he was, paled in comparison with how terrible Tiziano had been. She told him stories about how Tiziano had abandoned her in a war zone and made her give up her beloved children – it all seemed so terrible to Cyrus. At least Cyrus's father tried his best to take care of the family – that is, until he tried to murder them all.
And now he found out that this Swan was Tiziano?
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
Day 3: I wrote 1383 words for a total of 5050 words!
Favorite bit:
Spoiler! :
"And what did the Lady say in response?" Tiziano said.
"She seemed relieved, agreed to the favor, and gave me a big hug."
Tiziano suddenly sighed in relief. "Good! That's wonderful." Then, when Theron frowned, he added, "Most of the time when mortals are given a divine favor, they always choose ridiculous things that inevitably cause their demise and make them miserable in the process."
"I figured," Theron said dryly. "Francine was very excited by the offer of a favor from the Lady. She had a great many suggestions for me."
I didn't rant about this here, but I am still torn by whether I want to redo the first/second chapter or not. I can see benefits for both sides of the argument... so meh! I wrote a bit in my nano of what the first chapter might look like if it I changed it... which it is intriguing! And I sort of like the hook better of the nano...
Spoiler! :
In a way, it was almost a relief that Cyrus couldn't speak anymore. That way, he didn't have to answer any stupid questions.
And there were plenty of stupid questions around. All around him, Cyrus could hear whispers of those asking each other the same thing: "Why did the Conqueror surrender?"
But I was reading through the other chapter, and it's so... good. And I am torn, lol. Clearly, the obvious answer is I should probably frankenstein them together somehow and take the best parts of each and meld them together AFTER November. But gahhhhh.
I think I am going to continue writing what I had on chapter 3 and just... like... somehow get over the fact that Nano is supposed to be WRITING and not editing. XD There's a point in which there's a chance that the character in the well-written, non-nano version might show up later, so maybe everything will be all right??
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
Day 4 I wrote 1808 words for a total of 6858 words.
I am... actually astonished that I am regularly meeting word count every day. Though, this year I found out that I can write on my phone using google docs and I've been writing during the long nursing sessions with ze baby, so there's that.
Anyway, favorite bit:
Spoiler! :
"When did he find out that the quilts were destroyed?" Archondid asked.
"Yesterday morning," Hyssan replied. "See, I woke him up and asked him if I could go to the lake and marry Jineah and offered to regularly clean his bedpan a whole week."
Archondid suddenly frowned. "He didn't make you clean his bedpan already?"
His Black Swans suddenly looked at each other and cackled.
"See, he only commanded us to take care of him if he were ever incapacitated," Tertullian explained quickly. "But he never specified what level of care he required. So we've only been changing his bedpan if it's been overflowing."
The Black Swans began to laugh.
"One time, he asked us to bathe him because he was getting rashes from sitting in his filth all day," Hyssan added eagerly. "When we refused, he ordered us to give him a bath. But he never specified where he wanted to be bathed or how gently he wanted to be bathed or what temperature he wanted. So we threw him in a river which was fed by glacial run off, then dragged him out to wash him with some exfoliating soap till his skin was raw then threw him back in and held him down in the water until he passed out."
Archondid looked horrified. "And he was paralyzed when you did this?"
"Of course he was paralyzed," Tertullian said, bored. "Why else would he ask us to help him bathe?"
...I know, they're terrible. I am writing a terrible story. XD
...also, I should probably add my MC's name there somewhere instead of his pronouns? XD
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
ahhh you're doing NaNo!!! =DD I won't read the spoilers until I've caught up, so I can't comment on them right now xD but woot woot, you absolutely got this, Snoink!! <3
Yeeeeeeah, the bits that I chose purposely don't spoil too much to someone who's never read it, but you know enough that you might spoil something for yourself. XD
Thanks Mint!
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
For Day 5, I wrote 2189 words for a total of 9047 words.
Favorite bit:
Spoiler! :
And so, when Archondid leaned forward to brush away some of the matted hair that covered his eyes, Cyrus spat in Archondid’s face.
Archondid stumbled back and Cyrus was pleased to see that a gob of spittle clung to the bridge of Archondid’s nose. Archondid glared at Cyrus and took out a handkerchief to wipe off the gob.
“Now do you feel so happy about defending the Conqueror?” Tertullian said gleefully. “I tell you, there is not a single part of him that is worth saving! He is rotten to the core."
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
For Day 6, I wrote 947 words for a total of 10004 words.
I'm... not actually happy with what I wrote yesterday, unfortunately. But I did like this bit:
Spoiler! :
“That’s not true,” Tiziano said wearily. “Asha has been through a lot. She was abandoned as a baby by both of her parents, only for Clarise to bring her back in her life when she was three. But even then, the only reason why Clarise brought her back into her life was from guilt after she had her second child. But they never had a strong bond. Asha spent a large amount of her childhood watching her mother dote on her half siblings while ignoring her entirely, unless there was a chore that needed to be done.”
Theron’s lip curled. “So are you saying that she is justified in drowning her crippled stepfather?”
...it presents part of the conflict somewhat fairly to the characters, hopefully? Like, I can see both sides of the issue here and argue for both sides. And I can understand why both characters who are talking see what they do and are taking the sides that they are.
What I need is to bring the MC into this conversation somehow, since he is listening in on the conversation, which I haven't figured out how to do so yet. But perhaps in time...
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
For day 7, I wrote 700 words for a total of 10704 words.
...so we are officially below word count for the first time this month. :/
Not a lot of favorite bits, but I did kind of like this:
Spoiler! :
Tiziano looked out of the window. “Kalie wanted immortality,” he muttered. “She was obsessed with it. I sometimes wonder whether she ever changed her mind in the midst of all the carnage and destruction. It seemed that Uclepidies regretted it later. Perhaps she did too. I wonder, if she hadn't slayed Diamea, whether he would have given her the option of forgiveness, just as he gave Cyrus the option when Cyrus learned to regret his sins."
Theron snorted. "I don't think Cyrus regrets what he did. Why would he? He was in an impossible situation. What was he supposed to do? Sit back idly and let the Swans destroy him? Because that's what they would have done if he hadn't made them fear him!"
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
Okay, the TL;DR version is that I wrote 3363 words for a total of 14067 words!!!
YAYYYYYY.
So the long version???
OKAY. So I decided that I didn't like the direction that the story was going and that the scene with one of the characters was getting too long with no sign of stopping when it wasn't even the main scene!! And I was like, "NOPE. More action."
So... um... I rewrote the scene (while having the original scene in the same document, lol since WORD COUNT, and like... I wrote it for the story, so it counts for Nanowrimo, right???) and it feels SO MUCH BETTER and I have tons of awesome scenes now, hahaha.
For example, this one...
Spoiler! :
“You want immortality?” Tiziano snapped. “Here!” He strode to the kitchen area, grabbed the biggest knife he could find, and threw it on the floor. “You can bleed me and drink my blood if you want to become immortal that badly!
BECAUSE THE PATRIARCH OF THIS FAMILY IS JUST AS DRAMATIC AS HIS DESCENDANTS.
...anyway.
One of my favorite characters that I added to book 4 is a minor character, Ocsana, that showed up in book 2... she is a bit of a spinster who was acting as Moira's servant and is still working as her servant in book 4, lol. And, to prove how minor of a character that she is, she isn't even on the expansive list of characters that Spearmint built up, lol. Like, NIASTA is on there, but not Ocsana??? This amuses me.
(Though, to be fair, Niasta won hearts and minds everywhere when she suggested that somebody throw away the whole man into the trash where he belonged and walk away from what seemed to be a dysfunctional relationship, haha. Niasta hasn't been in the story since, except for a side mention to state that she moved on from her relationship with her previous boyfriend, and I like to think that she found someone who knew her worth and appreciated and loved her sassiness.)
But I love Ocsana too, because even though she is a bit of a spinster, she still loves Moira and they have a special relationship with each other... something like the odd relationships between Alonso and Encio, or Theron and Uclepidies, haha. Occasionally, Swans will "adopt" humans and treat them as close family, and this is the lady that Moira adopted, haha.
Anyway, I think Ocsana was able to steal the scene here... (spoilers, obviously, lol).
Spoiler! :
There was only one strange moment. Cyrus was about to doze off when someone started jiggling the doorknob frantically, as if somebody was about to break in. Ocsana set down her knitting carefully and put on fire mitts. Then she took out the poker, which glowed red, walked to the door, and threw it open.
Only to find Asha.
Cyrus recognized her at once, since Asha looked so much like a younger Clarise. When Asha saw Ocsana, brandishing the hot poker like a sword, Asha quickly stumbled back, murmured an apology, and suggested that she had only come to check on her father. Then, when Ocsana refused to move from her position, Asha quickly offered to come at a different time and hurried away.
Ocsana said nothing during this entire exchange; only stared at Asha with a frown. Then, when Asha left, she slammed the door and put the poker back into the fireplace.
“Wretched girl,” Ocsana muttered under her breath, picking up her knitting needles. “She made me lose count of my stitches.”
LIKE. "She made me lose count of my stitches." LOL. That kills me because I crochet/knit (mostly crochet, but a little knit!) and counting stitches such a huge part, haha.
(I sort of want to add more spoilers, but like... you'll see more later I guess when you read the books... does anyone want to read the books?? I have like... three of them written up, if you're interested. XD)
Anyway... back to writing!
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
My laptop died about seven times while I was writing, so I... um... gave up early because I was FRUSTRATED.
So I went out and got a winter coat for 60% off its original price at a consignment shop and I am feeling pretty awesome, lol. My other winter coats have not been fitting properly after all my pregnancies, so to have something I don't have to squeeze in is AMAZING. And it looks really nice??? I am so pleased with myself about this purchase, lol.
Anyway, yesterday I wrote 813 words for a total of 14880 words. SO CLOSE TO MAKING WORD COUNT. And yet so far...
Favorite part:
Spoiler! :
"I told you that, by the time you would see me again, you would beg for death," he said, though his voice sounded gentle when he said that. "Though, I suppose you couldn't foresee that it would end up like this."
...anyway, hopefully my computer lives today and I get back on track??? (Either that or I end up getting snow pants, LOL.)
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
I love reading through your updates! I haven't read much of this book series but I remember how hard you're working on these books so I wish you all the luck! And that your computer lives .<.
name: key/string/perks pronouns: she/her/hers and they/them/theirs
novel: the clocktower (camp nano apr 24) poetry: the beauty of the untold (napo 2024)
Do you want to be a beta reader, @JustPerks??? It's a story with magical Swans, a bloody family feud between immortal creatures, and tons of drama! (You can say no... I am mostly just over-enthusiastic but like... it is admittedly a HUGE story and I don't blame you if you say no. XD)
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
As long as you wouldn't mind if I took a while to read it, that would be absolutely delightful! I've been able to read a few YWSer's novels hehe I'd love to add yours to my mini list!
name: key/string/perks pronouns: she/her/hers and they/them/theirs
novel: the clocktower (camp nano apr 24) poetry: the beauty of the untold (napo 2024)
Gender:
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