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Wednesday, 26 November 2014

Author at Work

Hello Friends,

My lovely and loyal followers might be wondering where I have been the last couple of weeks. Well, first I had a bad back and couldn't sit up at the computer. But mostly I haven't been crafting much with my hands. My brain has been at work though, fashioning Book Two of my Tales of Ellmoria fantasy series.

November is National Novel Writing Month and the challenge at NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words of a novel in the 30 days of November. Last year I wrote 36,000 words of Book One: The Bee Singer's Daughter (working title only). I dove in without a plan and I am still wading through the resulting mess.

This year I used October to work out a fairly solid outline for Book Two. It is slow going, but I am happy with the quality of the writing and I really like working with a 'map'. The outline also frees me to come up with ideas for Book Three, since I'm not stressing about where to go next.

Here is my (working) cover page and a short excerpt from Book Two: Son of Abeilhe.
A short ceremony was held at the well in the center of New Moon village, where Niamh and Rafael announced the vocations of the one-year couples and their families presented them with gifts to get them started. Then they proclaimed a final blessing over the new couples and their future offspring. The long day of fasting, waiting, feasting and celebrating was over. Randon would be a man and perhaps even a father the next time Auberon saw his brother.

They said their goodbyes, with many hugs, kisses and tears from the women. Then, exhausted but happy, Auberon climbed into the empty wagon bed and bunched some sacks under his head for a pillow. The jostling movements of the cart soon lulled him into a beautiful dream of a New Moon celebration just two years away. He already knew the girl he hoped to be facing. But what was going to happen to his best friend Waynan? Poor Waynan; not even his parents believed in him.

As long as anyone could remember, every year an equal number of girls to boys were born. Each child was born with a unique mark somewhere upon its skin. The marks indicated the person’s ordained vocation and spouse. Only the prophets (also spouses) could interpret the signs after a day of fasting and prayer during the first gleaming of the New Moon. It was forbidden for anyone to reveal a person’s birthmark except to the prophets on the day of the New Moon in their sixteenth year.

In the year of Auberon’s birth seven boys were born in Abeilhe, but only six girls. In a land where things like sickness did not exist, everyone wondered how the gender ratio would be evened out. Parents of the boys worried that their sons would meet with some kind of accident before their sixteenth year. But all of Abeilhe’s children were hearty and agile. All but one – Waynan.

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I hope you have enjoyed my wordy post today. I should be back soon with crafty and artsy things to share with you.

Hugs & smiles,
Teresa

5 comments:

Karon said...

Love that you chose to use your unicorn! And here you go again giving us the teasers! Fabulous! Have a great rest of the week.

Dr Sonia S V said...

WOW the cover page is mesmerizing!!! All the best
Cheers
Dr Sonia
Cards Crafts Kids Projects

Penny said...

Oh, your unicorn is a perfect cover page! :^)
And your excerpt makes this book sound as intriguing as your first! Way to go, Girl! :^)
Hugs, Penny

Crafting With Jack said...

Really sounds my type of story! Hope your back is okay now xx

NanaConnie said...

It's going to be fantastic, Teresa! The unicorn is a perfect symbol for this fantasy series. :-D