Category: The Writing

It might be the end of November, the official ending of NaNoWriMo, but I have yet to find “The End” of my story, and so the craziness continues.

I had hoped to brainstorm plot with my Beloved Sis yesterday at Granny’s, but while we did talk Story a bit, I didn’t get any brilliant revelations as I hoped.  I still had no idea what was going to happen.

I had stupid dreams all night (yeah, one of those where clothing is missing!) and barely dragged myself up for church after such a hard night.  However, somewhere today, I found the details of the first Climax.

I don’t even remember the exact moment, which is weird.  It must have been gradual, a slow, gentle revelation that built brick by brick until I can see it all so clearly in my mind.  YES.  I know how the Black Dragon wins his way into Shanhasson.  I know a few more tidbits that lead toward the second Climax.  This story is looking like it’ll get a third major twist.  One character I’ve known since Rose is going to betray her.  The intermediate plot point is still foggy, and may be part of the third, I’m not sure yet.  There’s going to be a major decision made in those pages, and I still don’t know that answer.  I guess I’ll see.

Trust the magic, I keep telling myself.  The magic is there and it when it all unravels and becomes clear, I’ll be stunned that such and such had already happened that set everything up perfectly.  It’s happened many times before, but I admitted to Molly yesterday that I always fear THIS will be the time that the magic fails me.

Today:  2,003

Return total:  67,907

Snippet:  Hmmm.  It’s going to be hard.  After all, this is the major climax/surprise plot point, so I don’t want to give anything away.  Basically, three Keldari tals stand at the Shining Gates, and she has no idea which one is the Black Dragon.  She’s not close enough to smell them, and there’s nothing visibly to differentiate one from another.

“We have a custom in the deserts that no tal may be named azi until he claims a White.  You, Your Majesty, are the Last Daughter, the Last White known to us.  We wish to court you.”

She couldn’t help but laugh.  According to the Black Dragon’s Dreams, “courting” meant tossing her to a vengeful dragon who’d rip her limb from limb.  “Surely you jest, gentlemen.”

“Did you not declare a challenge?”  The tal on the left asked, a small smile flickering on his lips so quickly she almost missed it.  The little curl of smugness was awfully familiar.  “If any man wishes to wed you, he must challenge your Blood, iyeh?  We wish to join the challenge.  We three will fight, and the last standing will then fight your Blood.”

“Absolutely out of the question,” she retorted.  Her heart pounded so hard her head echoed with the sound.  Wind nickered, her head swinging to the south with her ears perked expectantly.  No, not her heart, then; the Sha’Kae al’Dan came at a hard gallop up High Road. 

“Interesting,” the tal in the middle said loudly, rolling his eyes at her and pitching his voice to the savages behind him.  “The High Queen is not a woman of her word after all.”

“I had heard there was no challenge she would not meet,” the tal on the right said just as loudly.

“The High Queen of the Green Lands never runs,” the tal on the left whispered, flashing that faint curl of his lips again.  “Yet she runs from us.”

  “Prepare to open the Gates,” she shouted to the men on the wall.  The tals smiled, sharing condescending, knowing glances at one another.  Lady above, she hoped that Khul rode them all down like dogs as he brought his warriors into Shanhasson.

I made it official: 

It’s been slow going the last few days.  I’ve been working on the same agonizing (nagging) scene for an eternity, or so it seems, but at least I have touched it every single day.  Finally on the road back and forth to Granny’s (my mom) today, I finally reached a good stopping point.  I need to change POV — I’m sick of being in Shannari’s head — but Dharman has nothing to add right now.  So I don’t know what goes here, and quite honestly, I don’t care.  I can fix this later.

What’s really troubling me is the big showdown in Shanhasson.  I have an enemy advancing hard and fast from the west, bringing a Black Dragon that Shannari only knows from Dreams.  Whether the Black will prove lover or deadly foe, yet, I have no idea.  Meanwhile, I have the Sha’Kae al’Dan galloping at all speed from the Plains to answer her Call.  AND, I have a hidden agenda inside Shanhasson that plans to take advantage of the overt conflicts to stage a coup.  The latter thread is basically non-existent right now.  I’ve hinted, and I know who the main plotter is, but I need a twist, a surprise, and I don’t know what it is.  I figured I’d learn it at the right time, and then go back and drop the little trail of bread crumbs that are missing right now.

So all these threads are converging at a hard gallop, and I HAVE NO IDEA how it all plays out.  Oh, I have feelings, a bit of a scene here and there, and I know the basic RESULT.  I just don’t know how it all plays out and where all the cards will fall.  What will force Shannari’s hand into allowing her greatest enemy inside the Shining Walls?  Will the Black Dragon be redeemed or not? 

This is the heart of the story.  All three books have been leading to this moment.  The Trinity’s story plays out one final time in Shanhasson.  Black, Red, White.  One always dies to pay the final sacrifice.  Who will it be this time?

Or can I find a way to save them all?

Meanwhile, we watched Hancock last night with mixed results.  I absolutely LOVED parts of it.  I despised other parts.  That movie is still bothering me, and I know it’s going to influence what I have planned out in Shanhasson.  Black and White are always drawn to each other, and nearly always die once they come together.  This is my chance to make it right, and I assure you, Shannari plays a much more crucial role than “I’m so much stronger than you but I’m not going to lift a finger to protect anyone, but simply live out my happy little life with my family,” Mary Embrey.  What a disappointment.

Accumulated new words in current scene: 1,929

NaNo Total:  65,904

Snippet:  Still nagging.  Sigh.  But here’s a sentence that cracks me up.

“You may take me at the bottom of the pool until I drown for all I care.”

As my last post implies, I was one busy puppy today.  It took off and on all day, but I ended up getting a nice amount of words considering how many errands I ran all day.  This is a tough scene.  I wanted to skip it because I knew it’d be hard, but that’s the coward’s way out.  I can’t share much at all because it’s all nagging.  *winks*

Today:  1,565

NaNo: 63,975

Snippet:

Vulkar certainly made impressive warriors.

Tough day but I hung in there and finally got Mykal’s response to yesterday’s debacle.  *laughs*  See if you can decipher “who” shows up near the end of the snippet.

Today:  1,318

NaNo: 62,410

Snippet:

“Impressive,” he whispered, shaking his head with a wry smile.  “I didn’t expect her to kill so many before we even started this dance.”

“And the rest flee!  We had an army she couldn’t possibly defeat, and now only a handful will be stupid enough to risk setting a single foot on her precious Green Lands.” 

Ignoring him, Mykal felt his heart stutter oddly and stumble to a halt.  Reflexively, he touched his chest, waiting long agonizing moments.  Pain banded his chest, his breath wheezing in his throat, Shadow enclosing him in deadly wings.

His heart refused to beat, which meant hers wasn’t beating.  He’d Given his heart to her, so when she died, he would too.  If her heart ceased to beat…

He reached down the bond to fly toward her heart, although she remained miles away in Shanhasson.  She lay crumpled on the Great Seal, her hair and gown dripping wet, plastered to her body.  Her young Red clutched her to his chest, smoothing her hair from her face, whispering urgently to her.

The connection was so strong that Mykal could hear the boy’s words.

“Please, na’lanna, take a breath.  Just one.”

Mykal staggered and fell to one knee, bracing himself on his left hand to keep from tumbling face first into the sand.  :Iyeh, brightheart, just one breath.  Will you let me take this dance so easily?:

Hovering over her, so close, he could almost touch her.  He stretched harder, his right hand reaching through time and space to stroke her cheek, to finger one of those beautiful marks on her body and dream about where his might lay beneath her creamy flesh, just waiting for his teeth to bring it out.

Her eyes flew open and she sucked in a deep, loud breath.  His heart crashed against his ribcage, thumping frantically to catch up to hers.  She saw him, somehow, staring directly into his eyes.  Her hand floated toward him, her mouth moving, but he couldn’t hear her. 

:Give me your blood, brightheart, and I’ll hear every–:

Something hard and cold shoved beneath his chin, snapping his head back, his teeth crashing together.  It flung him back so hard he stared up at the slip of moon again, flat on his back in the damp sand.

“What is wrong with you?”  Gana cursed and grabbed a handful of taamid to shake him thoroughly.  “Are you drunk?”

Mykal caught a flicker of Shadow, a small gleam of white, and then the presence was gone.  Something–or someone–had warned him off quite effectively.  He couldn’t help but laugh.  These warriors of hers would surely give him a beautiful dance.

I sat here tonight writing out the BIG scene I mentioned earlier, and I reached a point where Shannari was winning.  Yes, the impossible battle I’d so carefully set in motion, nowhere near the climax of the story, and she was winning! 

I sat there, staring at the cursor, and whispered, “Oh, shit.”

I couldn’t let her win!  I needed something to go horribly wrong, so wrong that I didn’t even KNOW it could be wrong, if that makes sense.  Once again, she had the Black Dragon pinned, ready to skewer him, and I couldn’t let that happen, else lose every bit of conflict and doubt I’d deliberately built page after page.

So I sat here a few minutes, sipping on a Diet Cherry Coke, trying to ignore the burn behind my eyes that told me it was late, the ache in my wrists that said I needed my braces, and most of all, the sick feeling in my stomach that I was absolutely, horribly up Poop Creek with nary a paddle in sight.

And my playlist just happened to roll back to Savin’ Me by Nickelback.  I listened to the words.  I smiled.  And I wrote the end of the scene.  The snippet below explains everything if you know much of anything about the Keldari and why this development might be a bit of a problem.  *winks*

What’s hilarious is this screws BOTH characters, completely fouling both their plans.  Now they both have to punt — which means I need to figure out what the *@!# that means!!

Today (2nd session): 1,390

NaNo: 61,092

Snippet:

Dizzy and sick, she tumbled from the sky, spiraling, white feathers raining down on the sands.

:Shannari!:  He screamed through his bond, stretching out both hands toward her, his face cloaked in Shadows.  :My heart beats for you!:

Something slammed into her, breaking the vision of tumbling toward the ground, but her heart refused to beat.  She couldn’t breathe.  A massive weight sat on her chest, silver eyes gleaming, sweeping black leather fluttering in the sky, darker than the night.  Razor teeth flashed and the dragon buried his snout in her chest, cracking open her ribs, exposing her heart swollen and bruised.

:I’m Given to you.:

Tough day despite “vacation” from the Evil Day Job.  Made the mistake of logging on to time report and got sucked into a discussion that lasted all afternoon.  Combined with errands this morning, I didn’t get nearly as much done today as I hoped, but still decent progress so far.

Today: 2,011

NaNo: 59,702

Snippet:  Shannari is having a very important discussion with her Blood, preparing for something she hopes will avert a war that she can’t win.  I’ll admit, there are crucial elements and nuances deleted to avoid spoilers, but I think you’ll get the general idea.

“I’m going to need all nine of you this time.  If you’re willing.”

Grinning widely, the other Blood nodded, jostling each other in to prove their willingness to be first to offer na’lanna Qwen their blood. 

“Last time, we broke Shadow’s hold on the earth.”  Dharman reached up to the high neckline of her gown and undid the tiny buttons one by one so it hung open down to mid-chest.  She barely breathed as he folded back the white cotton, opening it enough to bare the gleaming marks on her shoulders and the upper swells of her breasts.  He wanted all to see those scarred bites on her body, especially a certain Black Dragon.  “What will you do this time, na’lanna Qwen?”

Slowly, she smiled, and chills raced down Dharman’s arms.  He felt the wellspring of holy water bubbling within her, as eager as her Blood to answer her Call.  “This time, we clip his wings and muzzle the dragon.”

Mykal’s scene is done.  I have an idea in mind for the next scene that is entirely new.  Magic, that’s all I can say.  I needed something big, and I think this will work well.  BIG.  Shannari faces a battle she can’t possibly win, so of course, she’s striking first, directly at the heart of Shadow.  She’s going to need Nine Blood appropriately bleeding, a Rose Crown, the Great Seal, and of course, Gregar’s ivory rahke, which those in the know will remember how Road ended.

It’s CRAZY.  When I wrote the ending for Road, I didn’t know why the rahke did what it did.  *trying to be deliberately vague to avoid spoilers*  Now I do.  *shivers*

I’ve known the “epilogue” or final scene for Shannari absolutely — but this whole Keldari thread is entirely new.  Even my rough outline from last year had several things cloaked in Shadow that I simply didn’t know.  I’d messed up Mykal entirely and I had no idea whatsoever who my antagonist was.

So now I have two plot threads galloping full speed toward one another.  A battle of sorts is coming.  And I have no idea what happens.  *gulp*  I have no idea how Mykal resolves his thread.  Honest.  He’s not the man I thought he was, and so while I know what used to happen, that whole flimsy thread burned away in a flash of dragon fire.  (And Mykal’s dragon doesn’t even breathe fire.)

So I’m feeling very reckless and crazy and obsessed.  I want to stay up all night and find out what happens because I don’t know!  Despite my vacation, That Man has to be up by 6:00 a.m. and I’ve got to get the monsters off to school, so I guess I should go to bed.  It’s nearly midnight after all. 

You can bet that I’ll be priming my mind to dream in sandalwood rose.

The killer song for the upcoming battle:  Savin’ Me by Nickelback.

Show me what it’s like
To be the last one standing
And teach me wrong from right
And I’ll show you what I can be
Say it for me
Say it to me
And I’ll leave this life behind me
Say it if it’s worth saving me

Heaven’s gates won’t open up for me
With these broken wings I’m fallin’
And all I see is you
These city walls ain’t got no love for me
I’m on the ledge of the eighteenth story
And oh I scream for you
Come please I’m callin’
And all I need from you
Hurry I’m fallin’, I’m fallin’

Mykal’s scene: 1,012

NaNo total: 57,691

Snippet:  I don’t think any explanation is required. 

His purpose hadn’t changed, not exactly.  He would still grasp the moon in the palm of his hand.  Whether he would take the left or right hand path thereafter, he didn’t yet know.  Death waited on all sides, cloaked in Shadow.

Again, he felt that sense of tumbling through the night sky, wings bent awkwardly, painfully twisted and broken.  He fell, too fast, the ground rushing up to meet him.  [this plays a huge part in the Keldari mythology and their original devalki.]

So much depended on her, whether she was named truly as Daughter of Our Blessed Lady of Love.

:Run, brightheart.  Run to your Shining Walls and cower behind your nine Red geldings.  This time, I’m coming to mark you as mine.:

I “finished” the dream sequence from hell, only to find Shannari standing outside the Tenth Camp, needing to see some people inside very badly indeed.  Whew, some rough stuff is going on, both emotionally and physically.  Shannari’s never been this shaken and scared before.  NEVER.

Today: 3,083 4368 and counting.  Yes, I’m still going.  I’ve caught the na’kindre and I’m riding it as long as possible.  Just brewed another pot of coffee (10:30 pm.)  All dream sequence is finished; Mykal section upcoming.

NaNo Total: 55,394 56,679

Snippet:  In the first part of the Dream, she’s conversing with the Black Dragon, who took the form of a desert savage.  After a small disagreement *snort* she has him pinned flat on his back while she threatens a very delicate part of his body.

“Why not turn to me, brightheart?  Why not let me give you the solace you deserve after so much suffering?”

“Shut your filthy mouth, blackheart” she ground out, shaking with fury.  “The Gods have a purpose that we can never possibly understand.”

He stared up at her, his eyes shining in the moonlight.  Shadows peeled back enough for her to almost see his face.  High forehead and cheekbones created valleys of shadows where his silver eyes gleamed.  “I, too, have a purpose, brightheart, and I assure you, I refuse to fail this time.”

“You bring the tals to kill me.”

“Not at all.  They come to capture the White Dragon and sacrifice her into the flaming pit of Agni, He Who Burns.  If you die beforehand, none of us will be named azi’Keldar.”

“And you?”  She retorted, squeezing his balls again.  Her talons bit too deeply.  The scent of blood wafted up from his body, mingled with sandalwood and desert.  Lady help her, her mouth watered at the thought of licking that blood away.  Her teeth ached to sink into him.  “Why do you come?”

He laughed.  “You know why.  Or will you come first, brightheart?  Your roses are nigh on fire.”

Strategy.  Politics.  She could ignore the temptation of his body and blood if she kept her mind on the game.  “If any of your savages harm my people, my soldiers will ride you down like dogs.”

“You don’t have enough soldiers to stop us from burning a path of destruction across those Green and Beautiful Lands all the way to your Shining Walls.”

He was absolutely right.  She’d seen the massive Keldari encampment.  She shuddered at the images of burning villages, helpless screaming people mowed down by whooping savages swinging long sickle blades on all sides.  “The Shining Walls won’t burn, they won’t fall, they’ll never allow you into Shanhasson.”

Suddenly, he pushed himself harder onto her talons.  His breath hissed out with pain, but his eyes burned, his scent dark and inviting.  “Then I’ll fly over the Shining Walls to reach you.”