Across Oceans

Wow, nobody’s posted on here in ages! I can’t wait till you do again, I want to see what you are writing 😀 But for now, I’d like to share a snippet of a story I’m going to try to write. I just challenged myself to write 1000 words per day yesterday, and I did make it to that yesterday but I have yet to finish today. I know that it’s nowhere near NaNo speed or anything like that, but it’s what I can fit in every day.

My story is about a 16-year-old girl, a writer like me, named Olivia Williams. She’s been trying to write and publish a novel for ages, but she can’t ever get to the end, also like me. Unlike me, she has an awful home life and she spends most of her time with her best friend. Her friend tells her last minute about a trip to Portugal that she’s going on, and she jumps at the chance. While she’s there, she finally gets the inspiration she needs to write her novel, and lots of exciting stuff happens that I haven’t yet planned out. I really liked the beginning that I have so far, so I thought I’d post that. Please keep in mind that the title isn’t permanent and this hasn’t been edited yet and is by no means perfect! If I ever do get to the end, I’ll probably go through 5 edits or so just to make sure I don’t publish crud. So, without further ado, here’s my story.

 

     Rain could spoil the best days and take the happiness out of whole cities. In early July, weeks of it washed over the hopeful world in a torrent of precipitation, flooding trash out of little corners and allies and pushing the whole mass onto the street, where cars struggled absently against the water. Nobody liked rain. The world was too busy and important to get wet, and so women and men blocked it out with plastic circles. Again, the rain had sucked all of the happiness out of the city that so many called home.

     There wasn’t much happiness to be sucked out of a little diner off of 4th street. The whole place had a very defeated look to it; all of its former glory had long since been squashed out of the sticky red seat cushions. In place of the many former waitresses, there was one heavily tattooed woman who looked too old to have tattoos – in place of the former customers, there were merely flies and dirty dishes. It may have gotten more traffic at other times in the year, but that is not for us to know.

     Yellow, flickering lights shone down on a sad checkered table. A young brunette sat behind a thick milkshake with her head down. There was a notepad next to her filled with scribbled ideas, but all of them were crossed out. The rain had driven all of the hope out of her, too, even though she normally loved rain. It was the type of rain that made you think that you’d never make it out. That’s what Olivia kept thinking. The rain made her depressed, and being depressed made her unable to write.

     Ten minutes later, she paid for her milkshake and left the diner. The streets seemed dirtier than when she had come in, but it was darker now, so there weren’t any people or very many cars. The block to her apartment building felt like ten as she ran through the rain. The same old dingy shops weren’t anything to look at anymore – they only led to the dingy old staircase into another dingy old building. Olivia slowed her walk as she drew nearer to the chipped door that led into apartment number 12. She closed her eyes as the shouting from inside grew louder. So much hatred had already flowed through her ears, and she was only 16. She turned from number 12’s door to number 11’s and knocked. She couldn’t bear the fighting tonight.

 

So I know that was super short, but it’s the most interesting part of my story so far, and it sounds pretty good. I hope you guys liked it! It was fun to come up with a tinsy bit of a different beginning, starting out depressing and getting better. I promise it will! Thank goodness for Pinterest, I have no idea how I would come up with characters without it.

Anyways, have a great day!

In the Woods

Hey y’all! I’m Catharine. I’m new here, so I thought I’d share some character sketches and then part of a story I’m working on. (Sorry if there’s too much dialogue)(critiques needed)

This is Daphne Alderidge. She’s the main character of the story. She’s extremely ambiverted and has a group of close friends that she keeps around her. Daphne has one younger sister and an older brother in college.

Ajax Astor, 17, lives in the big house on Elmwood Street. He’s tall, strong, and Daphne meets him by chance in the woods. Ajax feels really deeply; he’s very tender and kind but covers that up as best he can. He doesn’t let on that he’s REALLY depressed…

Meet Danae. She’s been Daphne’s best friend ever since they were twelve, and Danae is the more optimistic of the two. She’s kind and gentle, and is the voice of reason in her friend group.

This is Iantha. She’s definitely a jokester and loves to laugh. She’s very close with both Danae and Daphne but also has a crush on [undisclosed character]. She is always ready to put a smile on her friends’ faces, but she can be serious when she needs to.

 

Now on to the story…

Part 1

Daphne looked up through the trees as she walked; spots of light came through and touched her face every now and then. She kept walking, trying to forget everything unpleasant, letting the golden sunshine wash all of her problems away. She spotted a log that she could sit down on and began to walk over to it.

“Hello.” Daphne stopped dead. She turned in a circle, looking all around her. Someone was there. “Up here!” She looked up and gasped – there was a person in the giant tree above her. He moved through the branches with incredible dexterity. Daphne just stared.

“Um – hi?” She stuttered. “Who are you?”

“I’m nobody. Who are you?”

“I’m – I’m Daphne.”

“Daphne…” He muttered. He peered down at her through the branches.

“What?” She was becoming a bit more confident.

“Nothing.” The boy looked around through the trees.

“You seem very secretive, nobody.” Daphne remarked, starting to become stubborn.

“My name’s Ajax.” He sighed.

“Well, what are you doing in the tree, Ajax?”

“I’ll – I’ll get down.” He clambered over a few branches, then dropped suddenly in front of her. “So,” he continued. “What brings you here today?”

“I’m just taking a walk.”

“Did you know this is private property?”

“No, I’ve walked here my whole life.”

“Interesting.” Ajax ran his fingers through his shaggy hair. His bare chest was heaving as he caught his breath from the jump. “I’d better go. I have other things to do.”

“But maybe we could talk again soon? We could be friends.”

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

“Well, I’ll come back tomorrow. I like walking here anyways.” Daphne took one last look at him, turned around, and started walking the other direction. She looked back after a minute and Ajax was still watching her. Not that that was a bad thing, it was just kind of weird. She began to run and within a few minutes she had gotten all the way up to her room.

 

             “Daph, why did you tell him you’d come back? He could be some hobo for all you know. And besides, how do you know you can trust him?”

             “Danae, you should have seen his face. He just seemed so lonely!” Daphne looked at her friends’ faces, staring back at her on her computer screen. They a bit suspicious. She didn’t get why, though. Had they seen Ajax themselves, they would have done the same.

             “It’s just a matter of safety, really. I mean, you don’t just go meet in the woods with a guy that you’ve never met before. He was in a tree? By himself? Yeah, that’s suspicious,” reasoned Iantha. She pondered her friend’s situation as she slowly twirled her hair. “I don’t think you should go.”

“But he’s so lonely!” Protested Daphne. She sighed and looked down at her keyboard. “Would it make you two happy if I just got his number and left?” Danae and Iantha slowly nodded, thinking of anything and everything that could possibly go wrong.

“Please, Daph, please be careful!” Danae pleaded.

“Don’t worry,” Daphne assured her. “I will.”

 

How did y’all like it? What did you think? Should I post another part?

Thanks for making me a part of Authors’ Press!