Blog Archives
Strangers In The Land: Chapter 2
Author’s Note: I remembered to copy-and-paste into WP’s Visual editor this time in order to retain as much of the formatting as possible, but I probably won’t read through this ’til tomorrow morning at the earliest. As usual, feel free to comment both on any weird formatting glitches and on the finer points of craft, storytelling, and so forth.
CHAPTER TWO
Toby
I was thirteen when I first laid eyes on Arthur Winterbourne.
It was July: full summer, even in Connecticut. A sapping heat bowled in oppressive waves from the chipseal roads and a hot wind roiled out from the land to move upon the steely face of Long Island Sound like the spirit of G-d before the creation of the world.
Insofar as such a thing is possible on Long Island Sound in July, the beach lay deserted. Now and then, a disembodied voice would shout down the searing sand, “Not so far out, Jimmy!” or “Allison, watch your sister!” but for the most part the only sounds were wind and waves and the yearning cries of herring gulls.
It was not, in short, the kind of day that gets you moving.
So, I Didn’t Miss NaNoWriMo After All
For some reason, I imagined NaNoWriMo was in October.
It’s not, so I’m going to attempt to finally finish the first draft of Strangers In The Land, which is the more strictly literary of the projects I’ve got going right now.
This will take some doing, as I’m wrestling right now with how exactly to tell the story in the first place (and with Not Going All Epic Ballet Fanboy, since one of my characters is a dancer).
The novel explores themes of love, betrayal, loss, and forgiveness (which is to say, I guess, the same themes as every novel, ever — sigh) … as well, I guess, as the concept of the ways one can respond to tragedy.
I’m debating whether to post it here as it progresses. Any thoughts?
Quick Update:
After today’s writing and revisions to existing material, I’m starting with a whopping 18,676 words behind me already.
Wow. o.O’
I do think I’ll post my work-in-progress here, but I’m going to give it its own category and page so it doesn’t clutter up the rest of my blog so much.
danseur ignoble 