Lord of the Rings Fanatics Plaza

@Nessa Saelind I swear I wrote it a year ago. it's rather frightening to think of now.

For the Graveyard, @Taethowen :

Warriors of the Hoiyan Wasp Clan

Brutal barbarian marauders with blue-black hair.

Startlingly defeated by a raging weretiger and an Earth-girl who's HEMA-trained & stage combat certified.

Thank you, @Nessa Saelind, it matters to me knowing a fellow Plaza writer enjoys my work not associated with Middle-earth! Also, thanks for patiently waiting for my next Buccaneers post while I focus on my book for NaNoWriMo. Another snippet below. First shared with @Dimcairien Luiniel who says: "That’s quite the scene. A turquoise tiger certainly sounds interesting. In a fantasy world, animals can be whatever colour you want them to be." Annúnfalas has told me: "That was great. It was a real nail-biter."

He knew his eyes were no longer grey but gleamed brilliantly blue. Katoga gritted his teeth waiting for the burning torment to come then flinched when the blazing heat engulfed his body in searing waves of anguish.
He writhed, gulping down a scream. His feet transformed to paws. His strong arms grew larger, snapping his bonds. Katoga's legs strengthened and his muscled chest swiftly broadened, ripping his sky-blue trousers and brocade jerkin.
Turquoise fur rapidly covered his bronzed skin, vibrantly displayed through the now ragged fabric. He strode toward the locked iron door, his human face expanding into snarling feline features.
“Do not fear the margrave,” a Hoi Waspman lectured a young, jittery warrior standing guard outside. “He's a beaten man.”
The unexpected growl impelled their terrified investigation. When they saw the weretiger, the Hoiyan fled the dungeon. Their clamorous wailing alerted five warriors in the feast hall.
The Skinshifter emerged with catlike grace from the red moonlight flooding his prison. He silenced the cries of the fleeing sentries with his slashing claws and fierce lunges of his rushing jaws. Katoga licked Hoiyan blood off his widened mouth and charged the remaining captors with a roar of triumph.

Made it to 29K today. It's looking like I just might be able to win NaNo this year!

And a little excerpt for you all. If you're familiar at all with the show Downton Abbey, I'm writing a fanfiction story that goes into AU from episode 2.5.

He leaned back against the headboard and pulled Mary into his embrace. Mary placed her head in the crook of his neck, her fingers tracing his bare chest. She gently stroked the many small scars that were dotted across it. They stood out white against the tanned background and so different from the injury on his back that had permanently changed him. Each and every one reminded her of everything he had gone through and just how much of it she did not know.

I mean we can just unanimously vote that I am the Bone Queen of the Graveyard now right??? No? Find MORE BONES.

Characters: Norling Jr.
Epitaph: Please no.
Cause of Death: Executed with a bullet to the side of the head to punish treasonous Skadi Norling

Characters: 20 distantly related people to Skadi Norling
Epitaph: A tribute to the brutality of the human race
Cause of death: Bullet to the side of the head

Characters: Admiral and Commander of the Dreadnaught Artemis
Epitaph: It was my right.
Cause of Death: Sure it was, and it's our right to cut of your right hand... and right fore arm, and left forearm and hand before gutting you quite publicly so that all of the Earth can see what torturing someone gets you in terms of elves reacting.

Characters: Head of Ship of the Elenaryth
Epitaph: An elf that was being far too human.
Cause of Death: 'Exiled to a Hethren planet' Which is really just a polite way of saying asphyxiated on lack of atmosphere

@Tharmáras - Firstly, no worries about the Buccaneers, this crew's not going anywhere soon. I always admire your talent for writing such fascinatingly detailed descriptions. I can picture your writing so vividly in my mind and whoever gets to make a cover for your book(s) will be spoilt for choice!

@Dimcairien Luiniel - Oh! A Downton Abbey AU fic in the seasons that were still awesome (imho)! I am here for it!

@Fuin Elda - I always have a good laugh reading your epitaphs You need to find ways to include this in your work. Somehow. Make it happen, they're hilarious

@Nessa Saelind I am happy to send you the link to the fanfiction site where I'm posting it. The first couple of chapters got reworked a few months ago and are available. What I've written during NaNo will be available at some point once I've edited them and gotten all the scenes into their sequential order.

@Fuin Elda Yes, I do think you win the death count.

Apologies for the double post, but I finally have an entry for the graveyard! (Does a death reported in a newspaper count? Most of the appropriate details are written down in said article.)

Character Name (or any of the possible entries in rule #2): Not so nice of a woman who likes to cause trouble for others. (Leaving the name anonymous so as not to cause spoilers)
Epitaph (basically, tell us a little something about the character): I'll get my revenge.
Cause of Death (entertain us with this if at all possible!) Run over by a London bus. This is an historical fiction story, so here's a photo of what the type of bus used on the particular route in question around the year 1918 looked like. (Yes, I'm that kind of author who looks up obscure historical details for something that is mentioned in passing).

I am doing VERY POORLY at this.

Work had been eating my time, at work and into the evenings, and I am finding my current prompt is taking me a great deal of time, for very little payoff. Eh. I am just saying. I am not cut out for this daily writing schtick.

@Nessa Saelind The highest compliment! Unfortunately Covid has managed to wretch the one thing it couldn't cancel: nanowrimo. (I don't have it, but my child's school has gone back online, and my job has increased in demand at the same time. Yay.) On the other hand, it gave me the impulse to start writing and I won't stop when November finishes, so there is definitely more to come!

@Dimcairien Luiniel - re the graveyard entry I love that you took the time to researched that historical detail! That is so awesome! You're my kind of writer! And you can send me the link via Discord (one of these days I'm going to google how to use it, because seriously I have no idea how to use it ), the username is NarratriceNessa#2933. If that doesn't work there's always good old e-mail - I certainly know how to use that

@Lirimaer - *sending support hugs* and I'm just going to link this article by Daniel José Older that helped me when I was beating myself about not writing more Writing Begins With Forgiveness. Maybe it will help, maybe it won't but it's worth the read. :-)

@Eldrith - Covid and other disasters (should really be the subtitle of 2020) have really been wrecking everyone's year. But keep going and don't let the bastard grind you down and stop you from writing!

@Nessa Saelind You are super kind! I am not beating myself up about this, I promise ... I just maybe need to change the title of the thread after November ends!

@Tharmáras, @Fuin Elda, @Dimcairien Luiniel - I will get all your graveyard entries up tomorrow (when I'm not on mobile). I have a couple to add myself, plus potentially a 3rd burial tomorrow depending on how much time I get to write.

And yes @Fuin Elda, I think we can safely say you're the Bone Queen this year.

So, here's MY graveyard entries for any curious folk:

Lord & Lady Taph
At Least We Went Together
Victims of the Sconnelan Plague

Lord & Lady Haka
Brave & Cunning, but Only Human
Victims of the Sconnelan Plague

Sorry I'vd been absent here the last several days! All my energy funneled into actually working on my NaNo project, and I can say that I'm finally, actually ahead now! I passed the 45k word mark this morning and hope to reach 50k tomorrow, or Thursday at the latest!

I'll share another snippet when that happens.

@Eldrith boo Covid! Glad you and your family are well, but I'm sorry for the extra complications and I hope you find some time to write between the busy-ness!

@Taethowen Is there a prize? Lol (not for my characters obviously they died horribly best prize would be for them never to be reserected to have to die again).


That said I am done 164 words over 50K. The last 2K was a grueling stretch and I hated literally every single word and I will probably promtly delete the file becuase I hate the story.

The last snippet anyone will ever read of this story (so you can also guess why I hated it) This is also how the story ended because I realized I'd cleared the 50K mark and wanted to be done with it permanently

And for the next twenty four hours she was wrong, it was not she wanted to kill Keelan and she did break their hand... but after that, she was right everything was just fine.

@Fuin Elda I would like... draw you an awesome throne of bones or something but my artistic skills are... lacking. Greatly. Prize is bragging rights? Lol.

Ok! I think I have everyone's kills added to the graveyard. You might double-check your entries AND your kill tallies, because my brain is fried.

And alas, I am not going to hit 50k today. I figured I was overestimating the amount of time I would have to write today, and while I have written, I just haven't had the time I needed to write 5k. TOMORROW I will hit 50k!

@Taethowen i am afraid you are 1 short for me (or two if you want to count mr and mrs morning separately) I should be at 14.

And honestly a drawing of a bone throne by you no matter how...lacking you think your talent may be would be awesome lol

@Fuin Elda I've fixed the count, I've just been counting each 'entry' as a kill tally vs. each person listed (not that it makes much difference for your tally ).

And erm. I will possibly attempt to draw a bone throne OR I will see if I can convince my husband to do so. Believe me, if I draw it, it may not even be recognizable.

@Taethowen - I might just try to help with that Throne of Bones I had an idea for it, I just have to find an anatomy textbook somewhere and tracing paper so I can copy the bones

@Nessa Saelind YES PLEASE.

So I hit 50k yesterday! And then I figured why not keep on writing and I made it my most productive day of NaNo this year so far and wrote a total of 6k words. And now I haven't written on NaNo today at all despite my story being nowhere near complete.

So right now, my word count is sitting at 52,749 words, and I've got roughly a hundred pages of content to still work through for rewrites/adding content.

And I do have another entry for the graveyard, and depending on how quickly I can type, I may have a couple more before NaNo is over.

Kama
Selfless Spy
Sacrificed to the mountain gods/executed for treason


And a small snippet...


An hour. He’d promised Rillaph he’d meet her at the Blue Raptor within an hour, and the time was near at hand. A curse slipped from his tongue as he leaned against the corner of a warehouse, panting heavily. Lapik had only managed to check four locations.
Sweat dripped from his brow. He needed to find Saral in the next few minutes, and then they would need to run to make it back to the inn by the promised time, but Lapik was beginning to think his quest would be futile. There were many other smugglers he could possibly engage to help Rillaph… but Saral was the only smuggler he trusted.

Kveres, please…I will serve you till I die, Lapik silently vowed again. Thrice-vowed is fully binded, by all the laws I know. Please help me save her.

A breeze brushed over him, cool and soft, and he shivered. Then a hand clapped his shoulder, and Lapik sucked in a breath as he jerked his head up. That same breath whooshed out of him as he almost fell to his knees in relief as gleaming silver eyes met his gaze.

“What is wrong?” Saral asked as he steadied Lapik.

Lapik gasped for air just a moment before he could respond. “I need your help,” he panted at last. “You mentioned once, long ago, that your people would offer refuge.”

Saral’s face grew dim, and Lapik saw—for the first time ever in their friendship—a hint of anger in the man’s gaze. “What has happened?”

“My…” Lapik hesitated. What was he to call her? By law, their betrothal had been broken, but Rillaph was still his betrothed in his heart. “Betrothed. It was her I saw today, and I met her again in the marketplace after you and I parted.”

He paused again, still catching his breath. “The trouble I spoke of earlier… the Order of the Mountain Gods is demanding a sacrifice. A human sacrifice. My betrothed’s bloodline is one of the families that has traditionally provided those sacrifices throughout Sconnela’s history. She hasn’t been chosen, but her brother has. And I think she means to try and flee Sconnela to save him.”

When Lapik looked at Saral again, he knew the man was capable of anger after all, and yet his voice was calm when he answered. “I need to know more before I can promise the aid of my people, but it is likely we would.”

“If you are willing…” Lapik straightened fully at last, though he still panted, “I promised to bring you to meet her at the Blue Raptor inn. But the time is almost at hand.”

It would take nearly half an hour, on foot, to reach the inn from where they were now.

Saral held out a hand. “Then we must go.”

Lapik glanced at Saral’s hand, confused, but clasped it regardless. There was a whispered word, then a whirling breeze surrounded them, and the ground melted away beneath Lapik’s feet before returning a moment later. When the air settled again, Lapik realized they were no longer at the warehouse, but in a quiet alley beside the inn.

“What—”

“Come,” Saral interrupted as he pulled his hand from Lapik’s grasp. “You said it was nearly time.”

Rishka magic, Lapik thought, jaw slack, as he ushered Saral toward the door.

50k, but not done. I wanted to get to the dragon, a scene which has been rolling around in the back of my mind for a decade. And it's only probably around 15k words away.

I have killed one person on page so far.

And done! (though there are at least 10-20k words left for this story) I don't think I've ever been so tired and so satisfied at the same time since I completed my MA thesis three years ago. Also, I wrapped things up with one more graveyard entry. Decided to skip ahead and write a scene that I knew would be productive just so I could hit 50,000 tonight.

Male father figure (again, leaving out the name as it's a major plot point)
Kind, thoughtful, though a bit stuck in his ways
Died of the Spanish Flu

@Elenhir Woohoo congrats! And you should definitely keep writing and get to that dragon scene! Otherwise the dragon will probably eat you.

@Dimcairien Luiniel YAYAYAY! (First time win, right?) I'll get your graveyard entry added pronto!

I just want to say I'm so proud of you all. Whether you're crossing the finish line or not, you've written words! A lot of them! That's a major accomplishment this year especially.

Whoops I just wrote 2500 more words and have those couple more graveyard entries now.

Grandmother
Beloved by all who knew her
Victim of genocide

About Twenty Rishka
True to the Kveres till the end
Victims of genocide

There is at least one more planned death in this story, but I don't think I'll get to it before end of day on November 30.

@Taethowen Yep, first NaNo win. It's been a wild month, but thanks for getting this Plaza NaNo group sorted. It gave me the motivation to finally attempt it again after many years.

You've brightened my day with your praise, @Nessa Saelind ! I'm sure I'll be spoilt for choice regarding cover art myself offering my share of option scenes / characters to the artist!

Another excerpt:


A large horned wolf slept with feathered wings folded amidst the mauled Vale Wardens. The Unseelie Hound's long sleek fur was bluish-red and dried blood stained the beast's curved tusks. The snoring monster swung its tail with languorous motion, rolling a gnawed skull toward the Venturer and Katoga hiding in the shadows.
“Alright, now boarding the Nope Train...” Ann muttered decidedly, already turning away.



Here are two others for the graveyard, @Taethowen :

The barghest
An evil beast loosed from the Well of Shadows
Killed by two girls and two cats.

Gregory Flint
A courgeous knight, Azalea's young brother.
Threw an axe at the barghest. He missed.


I'm overjoyed you won this year, @Dimcairien Luiniel ! Big year of writing for you !

Oh, you wonderfully talented and inspiring people! Congrats on completing, finishing or just beating the living shire out of those stubborn stories and birthing them into the world! You're awesome and deserve cookies and hugs.

@Nessa Saelind (and anyone else who would be interested: Here's the link where you can find my current story.

I started writing this story well over seven years ago and had the majority of it uploaded on various fanfiction sites. At the beginning of quarantine, I pulled it down in the hopes of revising/rewriting it as my writing has greatly improved over the years. I got a little bit done early in the year, but hopefully more will be coming over the next couple of weeks as I get to the editing stage. No promises as to how quickly updates will happen. Anyway, if you like Downton Abbey and don't like the direction it ended up going, maybe this will be a story you enjoy.

@Dimcairien Luiniel I'm so proud of you! That first win is always such a huge thrill. I will possibly check out your story at some point. I'm a huge Downton Abbey fan, though for the most part I was okay with the series overall, even when there were some character things that I did not like.

@Tharmáras I got your kills added to the graveyard!

@Nessa Saelind

Go guys go! Last day! You can do it! Get them words out of you fingers and onto the page

Unless I decide to churn out another 850 words tonight solely for the sake of hitting 62,000 words, then I think I'm 'done', lol. My story is not by any means done, and I hope to keep writing on it every day until it *is* finished. But at this point, my ending word count for November 61,158 words written for NaNoWriMo.

This is actually my second best year ever. My highest word count was in 2010 with 81,987 words.

And as this is the final day of NaNo, I'll bring up a subject here that we've discussed in the Plaza NaNo Discord:

Turning the NaNo discord into a year-round Discord server for our Plaza people who happen to also be writers, whether you're a fanfic writer or someone hoping to make a living off your writing one day (or both!). I think we could absolutely have a corresponding thread here on the Plaza (I have some ideas for that but need to flesh them out a bit before I say anything more), but the server is handy for things like running writing sprints. (A forum just doesn't do that well, lol.) This will definitely be open to ALL Plaza-ites who write, not just those who participate in NaNoWriMo.

If you have any specific ideas/suggestions of what you'd like to see out of a server like this, please drop a note!

(Tagging those in the server who haven't been super active the past week or so in the server: @Androthelm @Almarëa Mordollwen @Eldrith @Lirimaer @Moriel)

I think that's a great idea! I ended up getting caught up in editing, so my NaNo went a bit sideways, but I think opening the server up year round would be a great idea, even just as a place to talk about creative writing stuff while folks aren't sprinting as much as NaNo. I'd love to have a forum as well -- it's been nice to get little glimpses into other peoples' projects, even if its just titles and word counts mostly.

And my ending word count for the NaNo year is 62,203! With still about 80 pages of revisions to go.

And final NaNo count is 60,330! Word count for the final day was 6005 and the last 30 words or so of that was simply removing contractions.

And congrats to everyone who participated this year! We survived!

As I stated on the discord I think it's an absolutely fantastic idea.

I would love to see channels dedicated to types of writing and possible editing/beta reading so that we could get fresh eyes on things that are being problematic.

Firstly, once again a huge congratulations to everyone who wrote and edited and rewrote and wrote and screamed at their creations this month and made it to the other side! You are awesome and I honestly can't wait to see what you've created. One day. :-)

I'm not much of a writer, but I'd love to pitch in and help in any way that I can. Maybe as a beta reader/editor or just as a one woman cheerleading squad. :-)

@Nessa Saelind Your enthusiasm for us over November was awesome and encouraging. I'm sure we can find a spot for you as a non-writer in the support system.

I am always happy to have beta readers and editors looking at my art to make sure I haven't missed bits lol. Though you will never see this year's nano creation as it is word soup and little more so apologies on that lol

I think I just need people to yell at me and to low-key get envious of when they add to their count.

@Elenhir I can accommodate that.

So clearly I was unable to hold down the NaNo Fort and the Plaza Fort at the same time, but many thanks to @Taethowen and company (including the bot!) for the NaNo discord! I do plan to stay active there.

Probably the most useful thing that NaNo did was prove that I *do* have time to write, even if 50k a month isn't exactly sustainable. I don't plan to continue my actual NaNo project immediately. It had its moments but it took a few shaaaaaarp left turns and needs to be reorganized. But I hope to use the momentum to pull together a few short, submittable stories.

I'm also probably up for trading editing, and I really should - - somewhat reluctantly - - learn more and ebook formatting and publishing since that's what a lot of folks want these days.

I do mean to share a few short NaNo excerpts...when I get around to it. *g*

Elenhir wrote: ↑Tue Dec 01, 2020 8:20 pm I think I just need people to yell at me

I feel seen! This was me to a T when I was writing my MA thesis