Fictional Fridays #20

This is not the original story I had planned. I had written a draft with a complete story titled ‘Resilience’, but the page refreshed and I lost the original. I had hoped that the draft would be saved somewhere, but no such luck. I am disappointed and quite angry, but what good will that do? I couldn’t recreate the story and do justice to the original, so I decided to write a new one. I apologise for the length, but there’s only so much you can write when you’re frustrated.

#NaNoWriMo Stage 4

I almost forgot about this post. Well, I’m supposed to be studying, so hopefully that’s a good enough excuse. Anyway, I just wanted to check in with my readers and talk about how my insane NaNoWriMo attempt went. When I was typing my previous post, I honestly didn’t expect the Saturday and Sunday after that to go the way it did. I have one word for that weekend – insane! I was so dazed by the end of it, I had to verify twice that my word count was correct. My fingers were a mess (Still are, in fact, because I haven’t been able to give them the rest they so obviously deserve).

#NaNoWriMo Stage 3

This one’s just going to be a quick update because I really, really need to get back to writing. Current word count is 15,331 and the impossible goal is looking, well, impossible, at the moment. Sure, it sounded doable last week and it probably still is. But time is the great equaliser, isn’t it? The one thing we all could do with a little bit more and probably waste it if we got it anyway?

#NaNoWriMo Stage 2 + GIFs

Imagine a rocket lifting off – the vibrations that shake the very foundations of the earth, the almighty roar as the engine blazes to life and the fumes mingled with dust that partially obscures the rocket itself. If you’ve seen it, you know what a majestic sight it offers. You feel a sense of deep relief and awe as it takes off on its calculated course. That was me on the first day of November, hugging my characters with happy tears and addressing the press outside on my soaring success.

Now the said rocket has veered off course and the happy engineer in the control room is in shambles (not to mention the loss of crores of fictional money). She is furiously trying to recalculate the variables and chart a new course that would enable this wayward rocket to successfully complete its mission. That was when she was struck (the clichéd mad scientist scenario, it would seem) by a glorious, impossible idea.

#NaNoWriMo Stage 1

I feel like I should be saving my words up for my novel, but of course I couldn’t resist checking in on my favourite readers. Also, I had an epiphany and realised that writing blog posts are much easier than trying to write a fictional chapter. I had no idea I was so out of practice and that third person would feel so unfamiliar to me all of a sudden. Of course, it had to happen in November.

Good to Be a Little Bad

My Camp NaNoWriMo project! Comments are welcome.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11373591/1/Good-to-Be-a-Little-Bad

A Lament for Rain

The months of June and July would bring with it the laden clouds that could almost make me forget what the Sun looked like.

I remember gazing out of my window at the pounding rain as a child. It came with the shrieks of its companion, the wind. It would go on for so long that I would find comfort in its familiar sound and drift off to sleep with my head resting on the window sill. The flashes of lightning and the boom of thunder would unsettle me in my slumber. They were the demons of my nightmares in those days. When the afternoon nap would run its course, I would wake up to see the world soaking wet, but never ventured out even in the light drizzle to jump in the puddles in my backyard.

Some Unsettling Truths

Deprive me of water,

You turn me into a raging monster.

Deprive me of food,

I may forget what it means to be good.

Deprive me of air,

I will shortly ascend Heaven’s stair.

Deprive me of light,

You rob my gift of sight.

Deprive me of love,

‘Tis worse than all the above.

Star-Crossed Love

We are like a planet and the Sun, you and I. I can feel your rays on me constantly, and yet you are so far away. Whenever I meet you, it is as if I’m at the perihelion. We are close for a while, but we inevitably move away. I can feel the cold getting to me when I’m at the other side. I long to be closer but I can’t stray from my orbit. I dream about the day when the gravity holding us apart will collapse. Maybe then we can truly be together, but we’ll never be what we once were. We are bound to this celestial dance. We are the slaves of time and the laws of nature. If there is a bigger power than you and I, I pray for an anomaly and bide my time. All things must come to an end and so will my wait.

 

Butterfly Muse

I faced the blank page yet again, all fired up about finally getting some writing done. I let the words come to me, but they quickly evaporated, leaving me frustrated. I wasn’t in the ‘zone’. The little noises irked me. I cursed the construction workers with their loud, annoying machines. I fled the solitude of my room, only to be surrounded by the sound of human conversation, which was equally distracting. I escaped into the garden, hoping for a measure of peace. But even there, my expectations were dashed as the chirp of birds and the scurrying of little squirrels gnawed away at my concentration. Time ticked by and the page was still more than half empty. I scratched out the few words that were on it out of exasperation. My patience was  gone. I was about to return indoors and call it quits when a butterfly fluttered past, settling lightly on my hand. It fluttered its magnificently coloured wings and probed around, tickling me. It was an unfamiliar experience and I did not dare to move, letting it take its time to realize I wasn’t the flower it was looking for. It gradually did, leaving me with the gift of pollen. I smiled as I noticed how the little creature had grabbed my attention, making me forget all about the world around me for those few seconds. Suddenly, the words began to form coherent sentences in my head. I reset the timer on my phone. I sat down where I was and scribbled away with unforeseen clarity. The ten minutes were up and my page was more blue than white. I marvelled at the end product, thanking the butterfly that became my inspiration.