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cl0ckw0rkf0xSo, about twelve hours before Nano starts, and I'm more excited than any other year, because I expect I'll make it this time, with the extra time off work and all. And I have a more detailed outline than I've ever had before.
I was talking to the MIL about it, and explaining the rules, and the 50K by november 30th, and she says, oh, but you want quality as much as quantity, don't you? And I explain, no, not really at all. The key to winning nano is allowing yourself to write utter, complete shit.
So in celebration of writing utter and complete shit, I give you my first *ever* writing project. No, this isn't Swansong. That wasn't my first. This is before swansong - I stumbled over it a couple weeks ago, wondering why the filename was all in caps and didn't include the whole title of the story, and realized, ah, I know why - because windows didn't register case or allow spaces in filenames when I wrote this! I was about 12, and a hopeless romantic, and though that a noblewoman falling in love with a pirate would be an original story idea. (I can hear you snickering, it's ok.)
Yeah, there was more to it on paper, this was typed out while I was still learning to type, so this is a couple of evenings tedious work (at 1500 words) and seemed like a lot of material at the time. I haven't been able to bring myself to read it all the way through, just skimmed little bits because my brain balks at the badness of it. I have resisted the knee-jerk reaction to fix the horrible, horrible spelling mistakes. And lack of quotation marks in the first half.
Freedom of the Sea
Megan was restless. Something was going to happen soon, her intuition told her so. She got up early to look out her window at the rising sun over the ocean. If there was one thing that caught and held her heart, it was the sea. She sat and brushed her long brown hair as the shining disk edged it's way into the sky, and thought how wonderful it would be to be one of those gulls up in the air, free to come and go as they pleased.
Unlike her, in her boring life in this little Italian shore town near Taranto, in the year of our Lord, 1723, with a father who barely let her out of the house. . . with permission. But then, that was how every girl's father was in this place.
Then there was Peter, the man everyone expected her to marry. He was nice, offered her a secure future. He pleased her; brought her flowers, jewelry, all the usual courtship offerings. He was quite comely too, and her closest friend, Lee-Anne, crooned over her good fortune. Her father was waiting for her to turn eighteen, then they would be married. It would get her out of this house, giver her a change of scenery. It would be nice, and Megan looked forward to it as she went downstairs to breakfast.
As she sat down to eat, her father told her gruffly, I don't want you down at the docks today, Megan.
She pretended she didn't hear.
Megan! He prompted irritatedly, a tone Megan thought he used far too often for it to be effective.
But why, Father? Megan asked, sure she could talk him out of it if she knew the reason.
Marcia has a lot of work to do, she could use someone to help out at home. He told her.
Megan knew this was not the real reason, but she argued anyway.
Why don't you hire another maid? It's not as if we don't have enough money. Megan argued. Her father was quite wealthy.
And who are you to be telling me what to do? Her father returned, his tone making it clear that this point was not going to be argued today.
Megan kept quiet for the remainder of breakfast, But she knew without a doubt that there was something at the port that her father didn't want her near. She wanted very much to know.
She helped Marcia through the morning. Marcia was about her age, and had brown eyes and curly black hair. Megan liked her, told her almost everything. She wouldn't tell her anything that Marcia would feel guilty not telling her father, though. Marcia didn't wnat to be her accomplice.
After lunch, Megan sneaked out of the villa, and down to the port, being careful not to be seen by certain people, as her father was bound to find out.
She was in an alley when she heard someone coming. As an alley was not the most becoming place for a young lady to be found lurking, she backed out of the alley quickly.
The alley opened on the extreme right of the docks. Megans heel struck the wood of the dock as she walked backwards out of the alley and, startled, she turned around and found herself anly a few feet from a young man her age, with blonde hair and blue eyes. He had a strong build of a seaman, and the tanned face of one working long hours in the sun; and the countenance that said he loved every minute of it. Not even Peter was half as handsome as he was.
Xavier stood on the dock, supervising the unloading of cargo from his ship. His ship, the Sea Tango, was a tramp ship, and he and his crew made their livings taking cargo to destinations that few ships bothered to make the trip to.
The man Xavier was doing business with at th moment was, to say the least, unpopular. Commonly thought of as a pirate, James Brown was a retired privateer, having been recruited by royalty to serve the throne. And though he wasn't the most honest fellow Xavier had ever met, Xavier was being well paid. And it wasn't like any tramp ship had a good reputaion to protect.
The Sea Tango was, as Xavier liked to think, the most seaworthy ship in the mediterraenean sea. She was equiped with three life boats and a cargo bay big enough to hold anything anyone would want to ship. The ship was designed by a master shipbuilder, and could out sail any ship in the port. A statue of Pegasus was mounted on the prow, to say that this ship didn't sail, it flew. The Sea Tango was undoubtedly the finest ship anywhere.
The least of Xavier's concerns was the young lady creeping down the alley nearby, but being still quite young; only nineteen, in fact; he was curious.
He could hardly see her in the dark alley and wondered who she was hiding from, but she came closer and he could see that she was looking for something. Presumably, she was curious about his employer, but was afraid to be seen so curious, or perhaps afraid of Brown himself.
Suddenly something frightened her, and she backed quickly out of the alley, coming towards him and watching behind her as she went. She reached the dock and turned around, and Xavier was looking straight into her hazel eyes.
Xavier nodded courteously to her, saying Good day to you.
The girl looked at him stunned for a moment, then dashed off into the crowd.
Pleased to meet you too. a miffed Xavier said to himself.
Megan managed to sneak back to the manor without being seen. She hadn't seen as much as she had wanted to, but she had seen enough to decide to make plans to go back the next day for a better look. It was captain James Brown that her father didn't want her near. The man was known to be untrustworthy, and rumors told of young girls dissapearing with him when he left port.
She continiued to tell herself that it was Brown that she was going to investigate as she headed for the docks early the next morning. Her father was under the impression that Brown had set sail the previous evening. But in the back of her mind, she knew it was the young blonde haired, blue eyed captain that she was going to see. Her commitment to Peter made her try not to think of him that way.
Megan came to the docks by the street nearest where Brown's cargo was still being unloaded and reloaded onto another ship. Brown's crew frightened her and unconciously she moved toward her right, toward the dock where Xavier was standing.
She's back, Xavier thought to himself as he watched the young ladydrift slowly towards him. He decided to try again at "hello" and see if he could get as far as an introduction this time.
"Good morning." he said as she got near enough.
She blushed visibly as she turned around to see who it was.
"Oh. . . Good. . . Good morning." She said at last.
"Xavier Natoye, captaian of the Sea Tango, at yur service." Xavier introdueced himself with a low bow. "And what's such a lovely lady doing at the docks this fine morning?"
Carol was flattered and was about to reply, when someone caught her hand from behind and pulled her away, saying, "Now who's this sea dog, fouling my lady's presence?"
"Peter, you have deplorable timing, why don't you mind someone's business besides mine for a change; like perhaps, your own?" Carol said, rather annoyed. "And if you must know, he's the captain of the Sea Tango, and he was offering me to show me around his ship." she added that last pointedly in Xavier's direction.
Peter replied, "If you want to see a ship, they're all the same. Lets go see that one over there, since it's close."
"I've seen spanish galleons before. They're different. Isn't it?" She asked Xavier.
"From a spanish galleon, quite. It's the one with the Pegasus on the bow." Xavier pointed.
"If you've seen ships before, why do you need to see another one?" Peter asked in an exasperated tone.
"Oh, why do I bather. Maybe you'll understand this. I like ships the same way you like fencing. You don't know the difference between a Galleon and this one; I don't know the differnce between a rapier and the sword you carry at your side right now." Carol explained.
"Thatis a rapier at my side, at the moment. . . "
Xavier had left shortly after Peter arived. More because he didn't want to get in the middle of a squabble between lovers, but also because
*end of what I had finished typing out*
I was talking to the MIL about it, and explaining the rules, and the 50K by november 30th, and she says, oh, but you want quality as much as quantity, don't you? And I explain, no, not really at all. The key to winning nano is allowing yourself to write utter, complete shit.
So in celebration of writing utter and complete shit, I give you my first *ever* writing project. No, this isn't Swansong. That wasn't my first. This is before swansong - I stumbled over it a couple weeks ago, wondering why the filename was all in caps and didn't include the whole title of the story, and realized, ah, I know why - because windows didn't register case or allow spaces in filenames when I wrote this! I was about 12, and a hopeless romantic, and though that a noblewoman falling in love with a pirate would be an original story idea. (I can hear you snickering, it's ok.)
Yeah, there was more to it on paper, this was typed out while I was still learning to type, so this is a couple of evenings tedious work (at 1500 words) and seemed like a lot of material at the time. I haven't been able to bring myself to read it all the way through, just skimmed little bits because my brain balks at the badness of it. I have resisted the knee-jerk reaction to fix the horrible, horrible spelling mistakes. And lack of quotation marks in the first half.
Freedom of the Sea
Megan was restless. Something was going to happen soon, her intuition told her so. She got up early to look out her window at the rising sun over the ocean. If there was one thing that caught and held her heart, it was the sea. She sat and brushed her long brown hair as the shining disk edged it's way into the sky, and thought how wonderful it would be to be one of those gulls up in the air, free to come and go as they pleased.
Unlike her, in her boring life in this little Italian shore town near Taranto, in the year of our Lord, 1723, with a father who barely let her out of the house. . . with permission. But then, that was how every girl's father was in this place.
Then there was Peter, the man everyone expected her to marry. He was nice, offered her a secure future. He pleased her; brought her flowers, jewelry, all the usual courtship offerings. He was quite comely too, and her closest friend, Lee-Anne, crooned over her good fortune. Her father was waiting for her to turn eighteen, then they would be married. It would get her out of this house, giver her a change of scenery. It would be nice, and Megan looked forward to it as she went downstairs to breakfast.
As she sat down to eat, her father told her gruffly, I don't want you down at the docks today, Megan.
She pretended she didn't hear.
Megan! He prompted irritatedly, a tone Megan thought he used far too often for it to be effective.
But why, Father? Megan asked, sure she could talk him out of it if she knew the reason.
Marcia has a lot of work to do, she could use someone to help out at home. He told her.
Megan knew this was not the real reason, but she argued anyway.
Why don't you hire another maid? It's not as if we don't have enough money. Megan argued. Her father was quite wealthy.
And who are you to be telling me what to do? Her father returned, his tone making it clear that this point was not going to be argued today.
Megan kept quiet for the remainder of breakfast, But she knew without a doubt that there was something at the port that her father didn't want her near. She wanted very much to know.
She helped Marcia through the morning. Marcia was about her age, and had brown eyes and curly black hair. Megan liked her, told her almost everything. She wouldn't tell her anything that Marcia would feel guilty not telling her father, though. Marcia didn't wnat to be her accomplice.
After lunch, Megan sneaked out of the villa, and down to the port, being careful not to be seen by certain people, as her father was bound to find out.
She was in an alley when she heard someone coming. As an alley was not the most becoming place for a young lady to be found lurking, she backed out of the alley quickly.
The alley opened on the extreme right of the docks. Megans heel struck the wood of the dock as she walked backwards out of the alley and, startled, she turned around and found herself anly a few feet from a young man her age, with blonde hair and blue eyes. He had a strong build of a seaman, and the tanned face of one working long hours in the sun; and the countenance that said he loved every minute of it. Not even Peter was half as handsome as he was.
Xavier stood on the dock, supervising the unloading of cargo from his ship. His ship, the Sea Tango, was a tramp ship, and he and his crew made their livings taking cargo to destinations that few ships bothered to make the trip to.
The man Xavier was doing business with at th moment was, to say the least, unpopular. Commonly thought of as a pirate, James Brown was a retired privateer, having been recruited by royalty to serve the throne. And though he wasn't the most honest fellow Xavier had ever met, Xavier was being well paid. And it wasn't like any tramp ship had a good reputaion to protect.
The Sea Tango was, as Xavier liked to think, the most seaworthy ship in the mediterraenean sea. She was equiped with three life boats and a cargo bay big enough to hold anything anyone would want to ship. The ship was designed by a master shipbuilder, and could out sail any ship in the port. A statue of Pegasus was mounted on the prow, to say that this ship didn't sail, it flew. The Sea Tango was undoubtedly the finest ship anywhere.
The least of Xavier's concerns was the young lady creeping down the alley nearby, but being still quite young; only nineteen, in fact; he was curious.
He could hardly see her in the dark alley and wondered who she was hiding from, but she came closer and he could see that she was looking for something. Presumably, she was curious about his employer, but was afraid to be seen so curious, or perhaps afraid of Brown himself.
Suddenly something frightened her, and she backed quickly out of the alley, coming towards him and watching behind her as she went. She reached the dock and turned around, and Xavier was looking straight into her hazel eyes.
Xavier nodded courteously to her, saying Good day to you.
The girl looked at him stunned for a moment, then dashed off into the crowd.
Pleased to meet you too. a miffed Xavier said to himself.
Megan managed to sneak back to the manor without being seen. She hadn't seen as much as she had wanted to, but she had seen enough to decide to make plans to go back the next day for a better look. It was captain James Brown that her father didn't want her near. The man was known to be untrustworthy, and rumors told of young girls dissapearing with him when he left port.
She continiued to tell herself that it was Brown that she was going to investigate as she headed for the docks early the next morning. Her father was under the impression that Brown had set sail the previous evening. But in the back of her mind, she knew it was the young blonde haired, blue eyed captain that she was going to see. Her commitment to Peter made her try not to think of him that way.
Megan came to the docks by the street nearest where Brown's cargo was still being unloaded and reloaded onto another ship. Brown's crew frightened her and unconciously she moved toward her right, toward the dock where Xavier was standing.
She's back, Xavier thought to himself as he watched the young ladydrift slowly towards him. He decided to try again at "hello" and see if he could get as far as an introduction this time.
"Good morning." he said as she got near enough.
She blushed visibly as she turned around to see who it was.
"Oh. . . Good. . . Good morning." She said at last.
"Xavier Natoye, captaian of the Sea Tango, at yur service." Xavier introdueced himself with a low bow. "And what's such a lovely lady doing at the docks this fine morning?"
Carol was flattered and was about to reply, when someone caught her hand from behind and pulled her away, saying, "Now who's this sea dog, fouling my lady's presence?"
"Peter, you have deplorable timing, why don't you mind someone's business besides mine for a change; like perhaps, your own?" Carol said, rather annoyed. "And if you must know, he's the captain of the Sea Tango, and he was offering me to show me around his ship." she added that last pointedly in Xavier's direction.
Peter replied, "If you want to see a ship, they're all the same. Lets go see that one over there, since it's close."
"I've seen spanish galleons before. They're different. Isn't it?" She asked Xavier.
"From a spanish galleon, quite. It's the one with the Pegasus on the bow." Xavier pointed.
"If you've seen ships before, why do you need to see another one?" Peter asked in an exasperated tone.
"Oh, why do I bather. Maybe you'll understand this. I like ships the same way you like fencing. You don't know the difference between a Galleon and this one; I don't know the differnce between a rapier and the sword you carry at your side right now." Carol explained.
"Thatis a rapier at my side, at the moment. . . "
Xavier had left shortly after Peter arived. More because he didn't want to get in the middle of a squabble between lovers, but also because
*end of what I had finished typing out*
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Date: 2009-11-01 12:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-01 01:27 am (UTC)