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Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Plotting Along...

Just when I start to feel normal again, and I begin to think maybe I'm over the worst of the first trimester fun, my body likes to go 'Nope!' and throw another boomerang my way. Like getting hit with a bout of morning sickness while I'm in the middle of getting ready for work, or almost falling asleep on my Dad's couch while my Aunt, who I haven't seen in ages, is telling me what's happened to her since we last talked.

Despite all that I have been able to get a little work done on the Descendants. I was able to figure out the issues that were bugging me about the plot, and I also made sure to write down a plot outline so I wouldn't forget what I had done. In addition to that I came up with some more character names to flesh out the rest of the cast.

I would have done a dance to celebrate, but the cats were laying on me and wouldn't let me move.

Now I just need to decide if I want to have one of the girls be out of sync in her travels (IE the others go from A to B to C, but for reasons she goes from B to A then to C) but thankfully I don't need to figure that out for a few more chapters.

Unfortunately The Undying Ones is still at a stand still - however I had an idea regarding that on the drive home, so hopefully I'll be making progress on that story as well very very soon.

Anywho, it's that time of week again! Time for WIPpet Wednesday!!!!

Since today's date is 2/26/2014, I'll be sharing 20 'paragraphs' (most of it is dialogue) from chapter 2 - 2+2=4, 4+6=10. 4+1=5, 5*2=10. And 10+10=20. (I was never good at showing how I reached my results in math class, so that looks a bit wonky... but trust me - works out)

This bit picks up where my last post left off. Vivian was trying to escape an awkward situation by climbing out a window, but now she's stuck in a bathroom having to explain herself to Matthew - and he is none too pleased by her behavior. I have to say, the fun part about writing is the various plot hints that you can sprinkle throughout your story. This scene has a couple of them - can you find them?

“Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

Matthew snorted, “I’ve been stuck between a rock and a hard place myself a couple of times - but running away doesn’t solve the problem.”

“This coming from the man who refuses to stay put in one place for more than a couple of weeks at a time.” Vivian snapped. 

He sighed and shook his head, looking at the door with a longing expression on his face. “I shouldn’t have come.”

“Well, why did you?”

“Aunt Bree told me what was going on. Said you might need ‘moral support’ and a quick escape if things went South.”

Vivian snorted. “What I would like is to disappear.”

“Can’t help you with that, but my bike is pretty fast.” He moved, stepping away from the sink to lean against the door next to her. His arm bumped into hers, so warm in the cool bathroom air that Vivian thought his skin might burn her if he touched her again. “But you gotta talk to that guy first. Don’t just leave him hanging.”

“What do you care?”

“I care plenty.”

“I find that hard to believe. You’ve done nothing but avoid or ignore me and my friends for years - in fact I think this is the most we’ve ever spoken.”

“No, we talked earlier today.”

“I was teaching you, that doesn’t exactly count.”

“No, I asked what you were going to do on your trip. That counts.”

“Right.”

“Whatever. Believe me or not, just be honest with him. I’ve been where he is and it’s... not pleasant.”

Vivian glanced up at him in surprise. “I’m sorry-”

“It was a long time ago.” He cut her off, his expression stony. “I understand now why she did what she did, but telling the truth would’ve been much easier on both of us.” 

“I was going to.” She said slowly, and he glanced at her in surprise. “I was going to pull him aside and ask if he was going to pop the question and tell him that I wasn’t ready for that yet before he could make some big scene. But then I saw him and I panicked and...” She trailed off, suddenly embarrassed that she was confessing this much to someone who ‘didn’t care’.

“You’re stronger than you think.” Matthew gave her another one of his rare smiles, as he reached down and turned the lock in the door. “You’ll do fine - and if you do need to escape afterwards, I know a place that’s not nearly as noisy and serves some very strong drinks.” 

To see more ROW 80 updates, go here.
To see more WIPpet Wednesday posts, go here.


12 comments:

  1. Hopefully the worst of the first-trimester unpleasantness is behind you soon. I hear the second trimester is a lot easier for most women. (I can't speak from experience.)

    Good luck with your writing goals, Christina! Slow and steady wins the race. :)

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    1. Thank you! It's slowly starting to get better. Despite my issues earlier in the week, today has been pretty good. Now I better find some wood and knock on it before I jinx myself again!

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  2. I heartily approve of not moving when there are cats on you. They're warm and cozy and... well, they can scratch if you move too fast. :-D

    I think these two would make a great pair... comrades in crime so to speak.

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    1. I have more scars from cat scratches than I care to remember (they were never very bad, I just seem to scar easily) which always makes going to the doctor nerve wracking because I'm afraid she might notice and start thinking I'm being abused!

      But despite that they are very nice cats, who love to cuddle. They've been keeping me company, and love to give my husband nasty looks whenever he tries to get too close (I think they know somethings up...)

      Yes, Vivian and Matthew would make quite the pair. I love writing them because they do have so much history together (someday I will have to share that Christmas story I wrote...) But other things are amiss that are going to throw a very big wrench in that.

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  3. This is a great excerpt. We learn a lot about both these characters through the dialog, which is so much better than info-dumps. :)

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    1. Thank you, though I have to admit it was hard to write this scene. I wanted to foreshadow some things, but I didn't want to give too much away. Hopefully I found the right balance.

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  4. Ugh, morning sickness... so sorry you're going through that! I feel your pain SO HARD.

    Love the dialogue there. Very natural.

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    1. I don't know which is worse, the morning sickness, or the random gagging I was having a few weeks ago. At least with the gagging I could cover it up with a cough. The morning sickness I just have to sit and drink some soda and eat a little and pray for it to pass.

      Thank you! I was worried that I might be giving too much away, and that Matthew might be a bit out of character. However, he has always had a soft spot for Vivian even if she's totally oblivious to it. ..

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  5. Yucky morning sickness. But yay, kitties! My kitties didn't make my morning sickness go away, but the were very comforting when I didn't feel good. Hope you start to feel better soon.

    I love good dialogue. The way a character speaks is as important as their actions. Very nice. :)

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    1. The boys are very good about hanging out with me when I'm not feeling too good. In fact Murphy likes to follow me around from room to room right now - which is something he's never done before.

      Thank you! I had a lot of fun writing this scene... too bad things are going to go to hell in a handbasket for Vivian so soon ;)

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  6. In my browser, the snippet was in a teeny teeny tiny font, very hard to read. And since my eyes just aren't as good as they used to be, I had to give up, sorry! I have no idea what you can do to make it more readable, since I'm on Wordpress, but if you want to give it a whirl, drop me a line, and I'll take another look and let you know if it's better.

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  7. I never had a truly terrible first trimester... The third one was where things really sucked. Feet not fitting in shoes and could only sleep just in just this certain position. Hang in there!

    Your snippet turned out very tiny on my browser (as it did for Ruth), but thanks to Chrome's magnification feature I was able to read it. It was a really cute scene that made me smile. You see the opening of a new dynamic between them, but with her trip coming up you know it can close up too. Very interesting.

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