As decided by popular vote at tonight's kick-off party, we now have a new THING TO INCLUDE IN YOUR NANOVEL for 2007!
For those of you who are new, we have a little challenge within our region every year, where you try to include a random thing into your novel somehow. Two years ago it was "a door to nowhere", which ended up being really fun to write.
There aren't any rules or anything. You're not required to write it into your novel, nor are you required to stick with the exact prompt, should you want to include it. It's just for fun!
Anyways, this year's item is:
"A small left over pie gone fuzzy".
Enjoy!!
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Michelle (Aya)
ML for Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
ottawa_on @ nanowrimo.org
72,146 / 50,000
Dec 1, 2007 - 18 49
It took me 70 000 words to get to it but here is how the pie appeared in my story
"Again the thing growled something at her. Sara shook her head. And put her free hand down on the counter to help support some of the weight of her upper body. She felt something under her hand and grabbed it firmly as the thing reached out with its other hand for her neck. Sara swung her arm with all of its strength, twisting her whole body to add any momentum she could behind the movement. She felt the utensil in her hand come in contact with the monster’s side and break through the skin with the same intensity that she felt its hand come in contact with her neck. For an instant she thought the book had let her down. Then the thing screamed. Sara was forced to close her eyes and turn her face away as there was a sudden burst of green flame. Sara clung to the counter as the thing’s scream died and the flame was replaced by black smoke.
Sara spent a moment staring at the ceiling trying to catch her breath. She was half lying on the kitchen’s island with only her right toe just barely touching the floor. Carefully, she pulled herself up to a sitting position on the island and looked down. There was nothing there now but a lumpy charred mass covered by a light coating of ash. It looked to her disoriented mind like a huge piece of mushed up pumpkin pie that had been left too long and gone moldy. Sticking out from one side of the mess was the charred remains of one of her prized salad forks."
51,194 / 50,000
Dec 2, 2007 - 11 04
I think I managed to fit it into the story within the first couple of days...
**She greeted Sombre, and threw down her clothing and meager gains from the night out. The sooty bird cocked his head, his beady eye looking over the very unshiny objects, and hopped away from them disgruntled. Drithneis shrugged, “not much left out there of interest, luv.” She tucked a finger under his feathers below his skull and rubbed gently to ease is disappointment. She went off to get a piece of stolen food from her satchel and offered it to him. He did not descend on it immediately but looked curiously first, to decide it was worth his time. “Eaten already, did you?” She broke it in half, leaving part for him on the end of his suspended branch, and tossed the other half into her mouth, her shriveled stomach roiling as she did. She moved off toward the cupboard to see if that pie was still there, and found it had gone fuzzy. Her shoulders drooped in disappointment, she sighed in resignment, grabbed up her knife to scrape the moldy bits off, and carried it over to the table. She sat staring at it a moment, then looked at Somber. Ruffling his feathers, as though laughing at her, she scowled, and spooned some of it into her mouth. Grimacing, she finished what had been left of it, then found something to drink. Moving to her bag she inspected her finds while waiting to see if her stomach convulsed into pains that would send her running to the chamber pot. She sincerely hoped not, and sent a few off-chance prayers up lest they be heard by, someone. **