A number of years ago, I was blessed when during a word war, the Traveling Shovel of Death (TSoD) visited my novel, killing a character and prompting a large increase in word count. I immediately shared this information with other wrimos in chat. The next break, one of the wrimos told me the shovel had entered his novel. The break after that, the shovel had affected another story. Recognizing the pattern of the TSoD, I decided to post a message to all participants, alerting them about The Shovel.
each year, TSoD has returned to NaNoWriMo. Last year, I didn't have net access for most of the year, but found a few threads detailing the activity of the shovel. Once you hear about it, the shovel will be bound to show up in your story (yes, it isn't too late now. This isn't a dare, it is more like an infection. I haven't been able to avoid the shovel's appearance for five years now. I don't plan for the shovel this year either, but I expect it will return. The good news is, TSoD and the death of a character are a great way to make that push towards 50k.
Once your story has been infected by the shovel, post it here. In the meantime, if you have plans for the shovel, let us know. If you'd like to share past experiences with the shovel, let us know. I'll see if I can pull up past instances.
For those who have questions, I've included a brief FAQ regarding TSoD.
Shovel FAQ
What can I do with the shovel?
Use it as a murder weapon. Kill a main character, a supporting character, or even a background character.
What if I don’t like violent scenes?
Have the shovel show up bloody on the ground, or maybe just a body that has been beaten. You don’t need to describe the murder to use the shovel, though I’m sure it wouldn’t stop you.
Why use the shovel to murder someone?
Easy, it provides conflict. Conflict drives stories.
Couldn't I just use a gun or a knife, maybe a sword?
I’m sure you could. Personally, I haven’t seen any guns knives or swords traveling around from novel to novel wreaking destruction though. The shovel is something bigger than you or I. It is bigger than our novels. It is a weapon of mass destruction if you will.
What if I don’t want to use the shovel?
No one is forcing you. Don’t be surprised though if it pops into your novel. It popped into mine. Others who heard of the shovel couldn’t resist. Can you?
Does it have to be used as a murder weapon?
I suppose not, but the shovel has developed a taste for blood.
What do I do with the shovel when I am done?
Return it. Set it free so it can travel to another place, another land, maybe even another world.
I’m still not convinced.
Well, use of the shovel will provide you with words. Anyone could easily milk a small 1,000-word scene from the shovel. Those more talented could get more. Heck, I’d bet someone could even get a whole novel out of the shovel’s exploits.
Are there any rules regarding the use of the shovel?
No, but we would like to hear about its use. Post the fact that you send it here, and maybe the excerpt from its use.
This sounds silly. It couldn’t possibly fit in my novel.
Maybe you are correct. I don’t know what you are writing about. The first year the shovel visited me, I wasn't writing a silly novel and it fit in mine with little problem. TSoD does not discriminate based on genre.
Anything else I need to know about the shovel?
No. Well, don't turn your back on it.
----------
__________________________
Metaphors be with you.
yangnome
ML, Monterey, CA
40,314 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 08 41
Thanks for this post! I was stuck until I read about the TSoD. I just added 940 words to my total. Still a long way from where I should be, but closer none the less. So here's an excerpt of what I go. Not the best stuff ever written, but the rules don't say it has to be good. : )
The shovel connected with Dealer Two square in the face and dropped him to the ground. The second hit landed even harder, this time cracking his skull open. When the police arrived, Dealer One was sitting by Dealer Two, shovel in hand, with a look of amazement on his face. When the officer asked him why he did it, Dealer One had only this to say “Do you think Wal-mart will give me a refund? The handle broke.”
39,937 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 09 16
interesting a shovel that travels from novel to novel. I may have to use that sometime later on.
----------going to finish before november 25!!!!
47,354 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 10 02
I didn't need the word count and I don't think it added many. But you were right - it's an infection. There it was yesterday whether I needed/wanted it or not!
80,382 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 10 20
Since I read this thread yesterday, I have been determined not to let the Travelling Shovel of Death seep into my novel.
But then I found myself planning a chapter in which my MC has to dig up a grave and he ended up imagining how he could kill the pirates holding him and his sister captive using the shovel.
So yeah, you were right. You just can't escape the Travelling Shovel of Death.
----------2008: Bittersweet Decay
Final Word Count: 100,000
2009: Mortals, Maps and Underground Traps/The Forbidden City
Final Word Count:
60,182 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 11 17
I wrote this opening line:
"It is odd how closely misfortune is tied to shovels."
Before I even knew about this shovel business because my main character was digging a grave. No one was killed with the shovel, though the MC has been on the wrong side of a few of them in his life. (Shovels are mean in my world, apparently.) So, there we go: TSoD cameo in the first ten words.
----------My '09 NaNoWriMo Blog
Join the protest at the Free Shrimp Dinner post, now with crafty poetic shrimp lovers! (And those who want one on principle.)
24,342 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 11 43
Yes, this totally secured my adding of an entire subplot onto the end of my novel :3
The shovel will definitely be appearing in my novel, wielded by a drugged, pissed off version of my FMC as she bashes her brother's face in.
And then she and one of my MMCs can debate on where to dispose of the body!
Here's a cookie for posting this -hands cookie-
21,000 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 12 19
I was sure the Traveling Shovel of Death wouldn't find me since my work takes place in a high school theatre department and no one dies, but I needed an excuse for a character not to be in a scene... so he broke his leg in a "shovel accident."
----------Remember, Remember, Revise in December; then add witticisms, good writing, and plot. Put your inner editor to rest with Shovel of Death, and next month, revise... a LOT.
I'm a rebel. Because I'm cool like that.
54,514 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 12 55
I was totally cracking up while reading this, and I decided then and there to include the Traveling Shovel of Death, even if I had to kill of my favorite character.
Mwahaha... I have found a new way for a runaway to make it look as though he was kidnapped and killed... strange footprints... something thrown into the river... a blood-covered shovel... THANK YOU TSOD!
----------"Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world."
— L.M. Montgomery
NaNoWriMo -09 FTW!
18,128 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 13 49
The shovel just gave me 500+ words!
*Squee*
40,001 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 15 31
She crept to the window and peered out cautiously.
But there was no one there. Just an old, rusty shovel lying on the grass.
Looking oddly menacing, for a garden implement.
Bloodthirsty, somehow.
Teehee!
----------40,003 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 15 38
The shovel made it!! And apparently, doting-boyfriend-with-a-quick-temper is now doting-boyfriend-who-likes-to-kill-people-with-shovels. He even has his favorite shovel at home, and now he has to make due with a lesser shovel and... I'm scaring myself, just a little bit. I used to like this character...
----------I just finished, at 40k. I'll be adding a prologue.
10,566 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 16 46
The TSoD will grace my novel. It'll be something along the lines of "Oh, crap, she's ticked AND she's carrying around a giant shovel." Not the most graceful weapon for a bounty hunter, but her blades were elsewhere! Her aggressor was holding her blades!
----------Word Count: 10,085 and counting, not bad for NaNo 1
Divided Sections: 20
Bottles of Dew: I lost count
Hours of Sleep Lost: about 5ish thus far
Sanity: Nonexistent
1,972 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 17 37
One of my MCs killed a huge nasty rat with a shovel. Maybe I've been visited by the Traveling Shovel of Small-Mammal Death.
----------'06-Vaudeville
'07-Untitled
'08-Dragon Road
'09-Untitled
29,918 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 17 40
I was stuck for plot for my story, and then my main character sensed danger. She just so happened to find a shovel and used it to kill a fire-breathing vulture, thereby saving a character and breaking a new one's arm.
I love the TsoD! :)
----------27,255 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 19 46
Thanks for the shovel, dude. It also gave me at least 500 words, for now, and will probably reappear. Right now it is sitting in the corner of a second hand store, and someone's cat is missing . :D
63,843 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 20 10
I posted in part I of this that i was going to use the shovel, and use it I did to kill of fmy Mc's parents. but then i found my MC having the following conversation and I just had to share it because it made me giggle. a lot.
“Already on it.” Selene chuckled. “did you know that you actually have the ability to transform yourself into a shovel and attack people?” the tone of Selene’s voice made it quite clear she was grinning ear to ear. “I think that’s been my favourite so far.”
"Was here any more wretched existance than the life of a writer who had run out of words?"
-Cornelia Funke, Inkdeath
4,130 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 21 10
i used the shovel, thanks it has already added some words. here is how i used it:
There were rumours that he once killed a man with a shovel and more in which he beat up a police officer with it, and many others, but they were probably all nonsense anyway. Well it must be, right? I thought, until I saw him advancing towards me, a shovel in hand. I knew he was stronger than me, the guy is the size of a bull.
10,471 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 21 48
I already killed my MC, and the other MC is immortal...now I'm thinking I just might have to rewrite the death scene, just to include TSoD :D *gasps* I have a better idea!!! My MC is a killer, and MC could kill one of the victims with TSoD!!! Wow, this is fun! Thanks!!!!
----------Do you think it's because we're awesome? I think it's because we're awesome
9,412 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 22 30
Ah, TSoD entered my novel, too.
Diosk turned his attention back to the proceedings after the priest had finished. His eyes drifting to a bloody, dirty shovel stuck into the ground beside the freshly dug grave. He rose a brow slightly, curious if it was truly blood stained or if he was mistaken. Honestly though? He did not care. He would care when he took his place leading the city, but today, moments away from burying his grandfather, he did not care.
----------You're not alone ever, I'm here forever.
Leap Year - '08
Kwarantine - '09
15,002 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 22 54
In my story, The protagonist will grab the TSoD and bash the antagonist (her future self) with it. See? I figured a way to get this shovel AIDS into my story. :D
----------That's what SHE said...
My First Year!
NaNo '09: Too Perfect For Elena
40,142 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 02 48
I barely milked five hundred words out of the shovel, but it made for an interesting scene nonetheless...
---
Her sword lying at her feet, Brideila stuck her hands out to warm them by the freshly lit blaze, watching Lenne struggling with a bit of board. It cracked slightly as she tugged on it, trying to free it from the house with no success.
It was amusing, but Brid got up anyway, the kind soul that she was. There was a shovel leaning against the inside of the back door, which she grabbed on her way to help.
“Move over,” she grunted, and smashed the shovel into the board, hacking it from the wall. With a shower of splintering wood, it slumped to the ground.
“That was useful, thank you,” Lenne said breathlessly.
Brid nodded, picking up the board and sliding it onto the fire. “You’re welcome.” She had never been very scrupulous with her manners, and the last three weeks amongst beggars and commoners had only sharpened her unorthodox attitude. The motto ‘if it don’t bend, break it’ was unusual for a Lord’s daughter, but surprisingly at home in Brid’s mind.
“This is cozy, I guess,” Lenne observed, sitting down by the fire.
“Yeah – we could’ve come upon a worse place,” Brideila replied, feeling that the small talk wouldn’t go very far.
“I wonder why it’s abandoned?”
That was when the fanged beast jerked out of the shadows, its’ claws reaching out to take Lenne’s arm, wild eyes turned freakishly red.
Murder and Dante were halfway across the paddock when they heard the first heart-stopping scream.
After a half-second of silence, they both broke into a sprint toward the house.
Lenne’s pained shriek split the air like a knife, setting Brid’s heart racing with terror. The Halfling was latched onto Lenne’s arm, grimy teeth sinking into soft flesh. Blood sizzled as it hit the fire, and the dark-haired princess gasped in pain, gripping her arm. Her foot kicked out, sending Brid’s sword skidding into the shadows.
Brideila’s eyes were wide as she took a step back from the fire, frozen with indecision. Her instincts were urging her to run, to find some sort of weapon –
Her gaze fell upon the rusty shovel that still leaned against the wall. Frantically, she ran towards it, grabbing the handle. Lenne screamed again, thrashing in an attempt to free herself from the monster.
Brideila raised the shovel, smashing it into the Halfling’s head. It released Lenne, snarling at its’ new attacker. Brid gritted her teeth and struck at it again, and again, beating it senselessly, the shovel cracking its’ bones with a sickening sound.
Lenne, on her feet behind her, was shouting something, but Brid couldn’t hear anything anymore. Blood was rushing in her ears, killing the sound. She just kept slashing at the thing, desperate to defend herself.
Suddenly, somebody grabbed her by the shoulders, forcefully pulling her away from the Halfling.
“It’s over! Stop, it’s finished!” a man’s firm voice broke into her concentration, and it took her a moment to make sense of the words.
The shovel, covered in blood, hit the ground at her feet.
Suddenly, Brid was aware that her breath was coming in sharp, painful gasps, the pounding in her ears her own heartbeat. She stared down at her own shaking hands, watching the crimson blood drip from her fingers. On the floor, the Halfling was nothing more than a gory pulp.
The firm hands holding her shoulders slowly released her.
“Are you okay?” the same voice asked, softer now. Brid turned to look at the two newcomers. The one that was closest to her, the one that had stopped her, had dark hair and piercing blue eyes, and was wearing a long black coat.
“I… know you,” Brid said faintly. “Did I…?”
“It’s okay. You’re safe now,” he said soothingly, watching her closely.
Her wide, frantic eyes stared back at him, still soaked in adrenaline. “I-it was going to kill us...”
Suddenly, Lenne appeared in her field of vision. “It’s okay, Brideila, you did it. You saved me.” She looked as shaken as Brid felt, and the sight of all the blood running down her arms didn’t help Brid to feel better.
For a moment there, she had lost control of her mind. In the midst of her fear, she had felt only the desire to kill. Brid looked slowly from the reassuring faces to the mashed pile of Halfling on the ground, and the sheer merciless violence that she had committed made her gut churn.
She pushed past the dark-haired man and ran outside, throwing up into the bushes.
---
SHE WAS POSSESSED BY THE SHOVEL.
----------Writing Status: "Why are you people [characters] obsessed with spending the whole novel IN PORT FORSYTH? The plot is meant to be developing in Del Vantage!"
46,284 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 10 13
I got 1100 words out of the shovel, it's going to be on a news report my MC watches later today, and it's visiting two more people in my region, that thing gets around!
----------http://www.quantumtea.com/blog/
8,442 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 10 49
TSoD first appears in the second chapter of my NaNoWriMo, as the MC trips on it and falls on the way to school, only to further get embarrassed. Here's an excerpt of where it appears.
I tried my best not to yell, but my nose was throbbing so hard, the pain was almost intolerable. Suddenly, my nose started to bleed, and it was a gusher. I lost my balance as I stumbled up, and what was the first thing I saw? A silver truck, filled with little girls in soccer uniforms, taking pictures of my intense bleeding with camera phones.
But in a later chapter, the MC will realizes that TSoD he had tripped on would eventually become the murder weapon used to kill his best friend. So he has to go back in time to destroy TSoD so it can't be used.
----------23,635 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 11 50
I have a strong urge to use the shovel.
----------It might eventually show up.
Number of...
Hot chocolates drank: 2
Bowls of popcorn eaten: 1
Times I was going to start over: 3
Times I actually did: 0
Times Shovel of Death appears in novel: 1
Hours spent procrastinating: COUNTLESS.
8,000 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 12 26
Yay! This will be perfect for my novel. =)
34,578 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 12 35
My MC's just started wondering whether shovel was involved in the disappearance of two people who once lived in the house they're currently in. (it's now a motell, said to be haunted).
----------Of course one of the MC's then had to explain to the other what the tsod was, and where it came from... and suddenly I had written just shy of 1000 words!
http://www.sangfugl.net/
9,047 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 13 01
My MC visits a Sci Fi convention, and at the convention some random passersby are talking about the Legendary Traveling Shovel of Death, the signature weapon of a certain Mr. Ian Woon. They're obviously heavily inebriated fan geeks.
55,400 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 13 14
The shovel made its appearance in my novel last night; a perfect weapon of opportunity at a farm. It pushed me over the 15k mark, woot! :D
----------77,137 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 13 53
I have decided, since I chose to forgo the dare threads this time, to take on the Shovel Challenge. It will be in the next segment. I have a fight scene coming up, person gets ambushed and grabs the first handy thing. Why she has a shovel when she lives in an apartment is something I'll worry about in the editing process XD
Hope it counts since it doesn't kill anyone, but not for lack of trying. If the thing COULD be killed, it would be.
----------23,674 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 14 10
I've introduced the shovel into my novel, but it hasn't killed anyone. yet. Chekhov said that if you place the shovel of death in act one, it must be a murder weapon by the final act. I think that's what he said...
----------NaNoWriMo 2008: The Experiment (and I won!)
NaNoWriMo 2009: Drifting (and i hope to win!)