Despite having a registered NaNoWriMo account since 2005, this year was the very first year that I actually participated. I’d shrugged off the idea for the past few years because let’s face it, ACAD homework was ridiculous. Social life? What? For those of you who are not in the know, NaNoWriMo stands for “National Novel Writing Month.” Several years ago a group of crazies thought that it would be a brilliant idea to attempt to write an entire novel during the month of November. So the goal was set (50,000 words in 30 days), and not unlike many other crazy ideas, it gained momentum. I mean, who doesn’t want to write a book? Who doesn’t have a story of their own to tell? Alright, so maybe not all people… but I’m going to hedge on the bet that there are probably still a lot of people out there who do.

I actually did really well, specially if you take into account that I decided to participate four days into the challenge, had no preliminary notes, have a full time job, a boyfriend (I’m sorry if I ignored you Aron!), and then didn’t write for 10 of the proposed 30 days. Granted, most of the story was already floating around inside of my head. So writing 50,000 words in 20 days was pretty good.

I think I may have even lost a bit of my writing at some point, because I’m missing a huge chunk of what I thought I’d already written. Although, it’s probably even more likely that I dreamt writing that particular sequence… It’s okay though, because now starts the really fun part: editing. Where I go back and fill in the cracks with Polyfilla (that stuff is awesome).

I decided to write about a story that has been in my head for a very long time. It’s of course based on my play-by-post game setting, Shadowlack, and takes place (for the most part) on a planet called Ramath-lehi. It’s a science fantasy story. There’s space ships, magic, evil aliens, some romance (if you can call it that), a few bad-ass bad guys, a fair amount of fighting, as a result there’s a fair amount of deaths… and well, it was really fun to write.

Fortunately (or unfortunately as it depends on your perspective), I’m not done writing my “novel.” I actually plan on working on it a little bit more because I haven’t quite reached the ending.

Also, some people will be pleased to hear that it a) does not include sparkles of any kind, and b) no one barfs up a fountain of blood. Anyway, here is a short little excerpt from the story. It’s the beginning of a scene in which Koani is pitted against her father’s personal guard, Synachi. Why? Well let’s just say that someone has a bit of a disregard for life. I really can’t say too much or else I’ll give all the good parts away. :s

2009 NaNoWriMo Progress

Excerpt:

Koani stood opposite Synachi, her heart racing wildly in her chest. She was scared, terrified even. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever once imagined a moment like this. She loved magic, but the idea of using it to harm someone terrified her – even if it was for self preservation. Her mother downplayed these feelings of hers and told her not to worry. Karryasa had told her that she was ready, so ready she must be.

Koani watched Synachi carefully, as if noticing the older thill for the first time. Synachi was dangerous – there was a reason why Zamfir had chosen her as head of his personal guard. Synachi was a murderer. Koani looked over at Karryasa, who smiled pleasantly in return. Zamfir, who was standing next to her, remained stoic. As far as he was concerned, he was merely entertaining his wife. This would be over soon.

Koani took a deep breath and relaxed. The quills that lined her spine fell flat against her back. She spread her arms apart and widened her stance as she lowered her centre of gravity. From somewhere along the sidelines a loud horn blew. The match had begun.

Brandishing no weapon, Synachi darted toward the young girl. One hard and fast crack over the head would be more than enough to end this match. Koani had a thin frame and completely breaking the girl’s body seemed more than easy to do. Synachi did not want to fatally injure her though. Knocking the abomination out would be more than sufficient.

As Synachi swung her fist, Koani twirled lightly out of harm’s way. When Synachi struck out at her again, once more Koani twisted away from harm. After a third and then a forth unsuccessful strike, Synachi took a step back and fell into a crouch. The head of Zamfir’s personal guards smiled faintly.

“I see what you’re doing,” Synachi said after a calculating moment. “You’re manipulating the air around me to redirect my motions. That will not work any more, little one.” With that, Synachi jumped to her feet and charged at Koani. This time when Koani tried to redirect the older thill, she found that she couldn’t. Instead the air that she was trying so hard to coax whooshed ineffectively past Synachi. Synachi had put up some sort of barrier that was deflecting the young Grader’s efforts.