Nanowrimo hath commenced.
Nov. 1st, 2005 02:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackofallgeeksI don't expect to get anywhere at all with any of these, but I'm hoping to be able to get something on one of them, and then concentrate on that. Here's the first few opening bits; the third one is hardly a beginning at all since I've decided I'm tired and I'm going to sleep, but there you have it. I've been told often enough that one shouldn't discuss a piece their working on while they're working on it -- once the story's been told, it's been told and loses force -- so this might be the last I post any actual excerpts. Of course, I've never been on to take sound, reasonable advice, and I'm bad at keeping my mouth shut when i'm excited about something, so that rule may go out the window. Pardon the poorly-though working titles; it's not yet my concern what i'm calling these.
The Real World
He found himself once more in the wide open field, a vast and dusty expanse of cracked and dry rock. In the distance rose a great mountain, an iron-dark monolith dominating the sky. The sky itself was slate gray hanging low about his head, flashing with streaks of blue and purple lighting. The very air around him felt charged and there was a haze to it, like waves of heat. There was light everywhere but no source he could find, no sun.
He was naked to his waist, wearing a pair of loose tan-colored pants; his feet were bare. The wind pushed against him, wrapping around him from all sides and whipping through his hair. He began to walk, pressing against the wind step by step, toward the mountain. He did this every night, for a very long time, and he wasn't ever really sure why.
There was a large crack of thunder and a blinding flash of light. He looked up, not having realized that his eyes were cast down toward his feet, and the grey clouds were alive with light from within, seeming almost silver. And against that silver he saw something at the peak of the distant mountain. Too regular to be simply rock, it was man made. It was a tower.
That was new.
Heroes of the City
"Just a few more forms to fill out, Miss O'Toole, and then we can have you on your way back over to Personnel. These here are just a few more legal statements, generally to the effect that your actions are your own and that our Organization, while a useful support structure, isn't legally accountable. Do you have an alias, Miss O'Toole? Many do, and it's generally encouraged. Yes, just sign there on the line and date it."
At the age of twenty-two, Elizabeth O'Toole, 'Bethan' to her friends, wasn't exactly sure what she was getting herself into, but if the man said to sign, she figured there wasn't much else to be done.
"Now, this form here is an application for your Registration and Identification, or RAID, card. It's pretty much the same as the last form, with your Social and place of birth; they also want your mother's maiden name and your next of kin. Do you have any official legal council? No? Well, if you should get some later, most do eventually, there's a form you can fill out to have it appended to the RAID."
Bethan had been born and raised in northern Massachusetts. She went to an all-girl high school a short ways north of Boston She was on her way through college with plans to go into law school, when she suddenly found herself in Smithport, Rhode Island, a city known for... well, it wasn't really known for anything.
"Right, then that's that. I'll take you back up to Personnel."
She didn't know exactly how, but Bethan was pretty sure this was her grandmother's fault.
Through Hostile Eyes
The family sat in the eerie glow of electric heating elements; the generator had to be kept low which meant they could have lights or the stove, but not both. Mother was boiling potatoes for dinner, and as that required the stove, they sat in the dark.
The Real World
He found himself once more in the wide open field, a vast and dusty expanse of cracked and dry rock. In the distance rose a great mountain, an iron-dark monolith dominating the sky. The sky itself was slate gray hanging low about his head, flashing with streaks of blue and purple lighting. The very air around him felt charged and there was a haze to it, like waves of heat. There was light everywhere but no source he could find, no sun.
He was naked to his waist, wearing a pair of loose tan-colored pants; his feet were bare. The wind pushed against him, wrapping around him from all sides and whipping through his hair. He began to walk, pressing against the wind step by step, toward the mountain. He did this every night, for a very long time, and he wasn't ever really sure why.
There was a large crack of thunder and a blinding flash of light. He looked up, not having realized that his eyes were cast down toward his feet, and the grey clouds were alive with light from within, seeming almost silver. And against that silver he saw something at the peak of the distant mountain. Too regular to be simply rock, it was man made. It was a tower.
That was new.
Heroes of the City
"Just a few more forms to fill out, Miss O'Toole, and then we can have you on your way back over to Personnel. These here are just a few more legal statements, generally to the effect that your actions are your own and that our Organization, while a useful support structure, isn't legally accountable. Do you have an alias, Miss O'Toole? Many do, and it's generally encouraged. Yes, just sign there on the line and date it."
At the age of twenty-two, Elizabeth O'Toole, 'Bethan' to her friends, wasn't exactly sure what she was getting herself into, but if the man said to sign, she figured there wasn't much else to be done.
"Now, this form here is an application for your Registration and Identification, or RAID, card. It's pretty much the same as the last form, with your Social and place of birth; they also want your mother's maiden name and your next of kin. Do you have any official legal council? No? Well, if you should get some later, most do eventually, there's a form you can fill out to have it appended to the RAID."
Bethan had been born and raised in northern Massachusetts. She went to an all-girl high school a short ways north of Boston She was on her way through college with plans to go into law school, when she suddenly found herself in Smithport, Rhode Island, a city known for... well, it wasn't really known for anything.
"Right, then that's that. I'll take you back up to Personnel."
She didn't know exactly how, but Bethan was pretty sure this was her grandmother's fault.
Through Hostile Eyes
The family sat in the eerie glow of electric heating elements; the generator had to be kept low which meant they could have lights or the stove, but not both. Mother was boiling potatoes for dinner, and as that required the stove, they sat in the dark.
