... to all Saskatchewan WriMos.
At the small gathering we had in Saskatoon for coffee on Saturday we each started talking about our experiences with the blizzard that hit last January. It was a thrilling experience for us and became a pretty interesting conversation. In the spirit of that conversation...
I CHALLENGE EVERYONE TO INCLUDE A BLIZZARD IN THEIR NOVEL. It doesn't have to be a killer or anything, but I think it would make for some interesting plot advancement. I'd love to see some quotes posted here too, once they get written up!
----------
Lorianne in Saskatoon
Saskatchewan's Literary Attachée
57,172 / 50,000
Oct 18, 2007 - 22 43
Challenge accepted. I can't guarantee that I'll remember I took this challenge...but I'll try.
----------~Lomelindi~
18,000 / 50,000
Oct 19, 2007 - 08 08
I think I'll have to accept this challenge, too.
As October progresses, my plot is seeming -more- fuzzy, but maybe I can just start it off with the blizzard and see where it goes from there, haha.
50,143 / 50,000
Oct 19, 2007 - 16 32
I am doing a space pirate novel. They do have a planet they live on. So I can work a blizzard in, this should be fun.
50,049 / 50,000
Oct 20, 2007 - 06 23
Challenge accepted. I have a character who starts in a mountain region, blizzard would be perfect there, thanks.
53,659 / 50,000
Oct 20, 2007 - 06 32
Challenge accepted. Spomewhere I can stick a blizzard in, I hope.
----------William Louison
NaNoWriMo 2006 - Lost Worlds: Horizon - Won
NaNoWriMo 2007 - Demonria: The Dark Chalice - Won
ScriptFrenzy 2008 - Legends of Itherium: Episodes 1&2 - Won
50,475 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2007 - 07 50
Challenge accepted as well. My heroine is a high elf, rugged in battle (she is the Battle Cleric of the title), but somewhat fragile in exposure to extreme climates. Her environment, although susceptible to cold, does not experience snow. So a blizzard would be just the thing to put her in extreme jeopardy. Now all I have to do is to get her from the moderate climate of her home to a blizzard-bearing area. Muahahahaaaa
Raya from Esterhazy
(Getting crazy in Esterhazy!)
4,321 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2007 - 14 16
I'll take you up on that! My story takes place in a northern SK rez, so it should be pretty easy. :) I hope I remember to include it! Maybe I should start with one so I won't forget. lol
26,944 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2007 - 18 30
In this challenge thingy, do we get to hear Hurley's blizzard sequence????
26,944 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2007 - 18 25
Oh cool--- I forgot about that conversation.
I'll have to remember... it's NaNo! We can write any junk into our novels.
More words!
Oh wait a minute, I have to fictionalize it.....
So are you going to check up on us? Do we all have to hand in homework? Do we get free cappuccinos?
~~~~ Paphos... handing out choklit bars to little kids right now... and boy is the NaNo site ever slow!
7,460 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2007 - 22 43
How about anyone (including me) who writes a blizzard into their novel, posts the section (or a chunk of it) here in this thread.
Funny thing is, I had totally forgotten about this! Hee hee! I'll be sure to bring in a blizzard if I get stuck.... Is there such a thing as 'plot blizzards?' I've only ever heard of plot bunnies, plot monkeys, and plot ninjas.
----------Lorianne in Saskatoon
Saskatchewan's Literary Attachée
120,092 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2007 - 00 43
I accept the challange with a ready heart and a willing mind... "for the lady of the 'Black Rose' bloom in the worse of times"
18,000 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2007 - 09 18
1229 words in and I haven't mentioned the blizzard yet, but I -have- already mentioned frostbite.
57,172 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2007 - 23 41
Just thought I'd post my progress on this challenge-- there's no snow yet, but the blizzard is all set up already. I'm just waiting for the first snowflakes!
----------~Lomelindi~
14,905 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2007 - 11 14
Can do! Will certainly up my wordcount some!
57,172 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2007 - 16 55
Another update: the blizzard has turned into a major plot point. I don't know where this year's novel would be without this challenge!
----------~Lomelindi~
120,092 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2007 - 00 54
Done!... Check out my Novel except... It's just a small scene for now... but it will be cuase again!!!
Tell the sun rises!
18,000 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2007 - 09 18
An update on my progress in this challenge:
Still no blizzard. However, I'm starting to think that my novel might secretly be set in Prince Albert, SK. At least for now.
And, I'm trying to keep up with the snow/cold/ice imagery.
50,143 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2007 - 11 04
>Is there such a thing as 'plot blizzards?' I've only ever heard of plot bunnies, plot monkeys, and plot ninjas.>
There are also now Plot Pirates, so why not a plot Blizzard.
The only down side I can see is how do you have a plot Blizzard mascot. You can find toy bunnies, monkeys, ninjas and pirates, but is there such a thing as toy blizzard's.
Any suggestions?
84,248 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2007 - 23 55
How about snow globes?
----------Saskatchewan's International Ambassador
Script Frenzy 2007 Velocitized | Script Frenzy 2008 The Malevolent Planet Hypothesis
53,659 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2007 - 16 59
So, here is a small excerpt from my story, in which the blizzard occurs:
Two days into her journey through the mountains it started to snow lightly. Shimra didn’t mind, because she liked the snow. But then the wind picked up, and it didn’t stop snowing. It started snowing more, and heavier. Shimra wrapped her cloak tighter around her. As it got colder and snowed more, the mountains got steeper.
----------By the fourth day of her journey, the light snowfall had turned into a blizzard. Snow swirled around her very quickly, and freezing air nearly pushed her over. It got harder for her to walk, and more than once she got stuck in the snow.
The wind was ferocious, biting at her frozen face. All the warm clothing she bought was not enough to keep her warm. Many times she felt like turning back, but, determined as she was, she decided against it.
William Louison
NaNoWriMo 2006 - Lost Worlds: Horizon - Won
NaNoWriMo 2007 - Demonria: The Dark Chalice - Won
ScriptFrenzy 2008 - Legends of Itherium: Episodes 1&2 - Won
50,475 / 50,000
Nov 10, 2007 - 10 09
17K plus words into the novel and still no blizzard. I was starting to get worried. I don't like to drop a challenge. Then tonight it was sprung upon me. It's not the full-fledged blizzard of an adventure novel, but still, it's a blizzard and I'm satisfied. Here's the excerpt containing it.
I had my warmest woolen under clothes on, with my plate armor over it, heavy socks in my leather boots, and fleece half gloves with leather in the palms so I could grip my sword if necessary. None of this helped. I defy anyone to wear armor plate in the dead of winter and see how warm it is. A corpse is a paragon of heat in comparison.
So I was in a bad mood, almost unmindful of my duties which upset me even more. I grumbled as we rode. Basram, the predecessor to my beloved Huramesti gelding, Shadow, was surefooted enough, but she was no Huramesti mare. She skidded on a patch of ice and sprained an ankle, which meant that I had to walk and to lead her. I slipped her a healing potion to ease the pain and bound the ankle so it would not swell too badly and force us to leave her behind. She would not last long in the wilderness south of Challa. The orcs we trailed also hunted along the coast, launching themselves from their seaward base on an island many miles west. It was alarming that they were taking to the sea themselves, and burnt out villages along the western strand attested to their new talent. We were after such a band who had opted to move inland in search of richer booty.
The snow crunched unpleasantly beneath my boots and I was about to swear to the Maker and any other gods who happened to be listening that I would never leave the more temperate climes again. Shemara was about as far north as I wanted to get. A more southerly direction might even be preferable if it didn’t mean leaving the comforts and multiple opportunities to be of service that Shemara offered.
A howling assaulted my ears...I looked up into the blinding snow and saw...nothing. Yet, there was no mistaking that sound. It was definitely the ululating cry of the unholy undead. I peered into the storm and began to make out the grey forms of the animated corpses, in various stages of decay, from near–living flesh to bare bones and skull, an army of horror. I let go of Basram’s reins and held my hand to the hilt of my sword, letting my warmth soak into the bound hide. Then I drew it and moved forward. The team of battle clerics had already moved into action, and I decided to indulge myself in killing the ungodly. Whatever their sins in life, their greatest sin was in not releasing their soul to the Maker, in hanging on to the shell of a body and becoming a travesty of living men and women. I guess that is where the enmity between us sprang from—the living disgusted by the dead; the dead resentful of the kingdom of the living.
Our unit was holding its own well. There were few casualties, none dead that I could see. I sprang forward to take out my bad temper on these mockeries of the gods, and they bounded towards me with a howl that hurt my ears. For an instant, the wind picked up and swept over me, causing my hair to stand on end. I hadn’t thought much of it at the time, because it was cold there and this wind was just another phenomenon, part of the rising storm. It was only now, thinking about it, that I realized the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck had prickled in much the same way they were prickling now.
It was also then that the tide turned in the battle. Again, I hadn’t thought much of it. Battles went that way sometimes, and you could never really put your finger on why. But I felt weak and it wasn’t long before a long arm, trailing shreds of flesh, brought a mace upon my head. Fortunately, my helmet diverted most of the damage, or so I was told afterwards. For me, I remember nothing after that, until I awoke in a forward medical tent, with a young cleric bending over me. She had just roused me with a small healing spell and had rightly not pushed the healing too heavily until she could ascertain whether there was brain damage. Heal the physical wound and leave the inner damage untended and you had trouble.
The howl of the blizzard outside the tent blended in with the roaring in my ears. Shannah watched me open my eyes with a worried look. “Ma’am, how do you feel? Can you see me well enough?”
I squinted. The gloom of the tent was deepening and I wondered why it wasn’t better lit. “I can see you, Shannah.”
I could see her well enough to see some of the tension go out of her. Then she tensed up again at my question.
“Why don’t you light some more lanterns, though? The place is as dark as the underbelly of a three-toed bally bear.” I thought I was being funny, but she didn’t laugh. She looked over at Padron, another cleric, who was tending a wounded soldier.
“Principa, the room is ablaze with light, as we have five clerics in here working with the wounded in rotation, to keep the energy high,” she said.
I heard her words with a sinking heart. If I saw darkness, that meant that my eyes...I couldn’t even finish the thought. The shrieking of the wind outside seemed to have a triumphant sound to it, some frozen victory shouted to the sky. And I cried.
---------------------
Raya - (getting crazy in Esterhazy!)
First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him! - Ray Bradbury
2002 - Witchcanery - won
2007 - Battle Cleric - we'll see :)
50,143 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2007 - 20 11
How about snow globes?
Of course. *smacks head* It's getting very crowded around the computer terminal. ;)
50,143 / 50,000
Nov 22, 2007 - 15 21
I just finished putting a blizzard into my novel and it helped get me over the 30k mark. It's fairly long. So I will post the expert in my profile instead of here.
82,096 / 50,000
Nov 29, 2007 - 23 18
I put a freak Summer blizzard in my Fantasy novel that covered all the kingdoms of the elves, usually verdant Jungle-covered lands. In fact the sudden blizzard may be considered one of the "Herald's of Demise" for my novel (of that name). . . eventually the entire planet dies... or does it? Find out in book 2. :-)
-----------
"Mankind proposed that it was intellectually far superior to dolphins because it had discovered, science and religion, and had evolved to build great technologies such as science and the atomic bomb. The dolphins stated they were intellectually superi
77,093 / 50,000
Dec 1, 2007 - 02 04
I spontaneously ended up writing a blizzard into my novel even though I hadn't really though it was possible. But what do you know, a blizzard occured.
"Is there something you want to talk about to get it off your chest?" he suggested, tone suggesting that he wasn't entirely sure of that plan himself. We both shifted around a bit more before I settled on the answer.
"I guess. Maybe. I feel like talking about myself is only going to go in circles since the problem is not having enough information...we could theorize all night but I think that would just make me go insane."
"Uh...so what's the other options then? Talk about the weather? Hey, look, it's a blizzard." He waiting a few second before adding. "Oh, look, it's still a blizzard."
"Oh, well done," I said, lips curving slightly before being overwhelmed with solemnity again. "But...could we talk about you?"