Weekend Writing Warriors: "No longer on God's green earth "

 Weekend Writing Warriors: Week 2

Welcome to another #8sunday post.  This week returning to my WIP, ATNS, and making the selection for today's 8 sentences using the random scrolling method, I've landed very early in the story.  Our heroine, Marissa, is still unsure of her whereabouts, but has come to terms with the very real likelihood that she's been abducted.  She came to the aid of an injured man, (Cuylrh) unlike any she's ever seen, and they've been under attack by four-legged predators--also unlike anything she's ever seen. Time has passed, with no way to judge it other than being hungry, thirsty and so tired. And she's been dealing with her own fear-- and with their defense. In this scene, finally in a calm moment, she's considering the man beside her.


"He must be French… from the sound of his voice.

Funny how the mind meanders in the downtime of even the most bizarre situations.  She changed her mind; he must be German--identifying himself as Cuylrh dae Medoch, the last syllable pronounced like he was clearing his throat. Definitely a German, with the most striking gold eyes she could ever have imagined. 

Then again… why on God’s green earth would she ever have imagined a cinnamon-skinned, giant of a man, with gold eyes?  Oh yeah, and add that he spoke some French dialect of German.

An unsettling thought gnawed at her in spite of her reluctance to acknowledge it; maybe she wasn’t even on God’s green earth."


That's it.  What jumps out at you, good or bad. I'd love to hear it.

Visit the other "great eight" posters by clicking  HERE.

Wordless Wednesday 2/6/13

Wordless Wednesday: be inspired . . .

Weekend Writing Warriors Feb 3, 2013

                                                                   

Weekend writing warriors, #8sunday on Twitter, welcome to my first post under the new banner.

The rules are simple. Sign up at Weekend Writing Warriors .  A new linky list will be posted each week, and remains open to new signups until 11:59 p.m. each Saturday evening.   Then Post 8 sentences of your writing, making sure to link back to the www.wewriwa.com site.  Your 8 sentences should be posted by 9:00 a.m. EST on Sunday.   Then visit other writers on the list, and leave comments.  This works best on reciprocity-- when someone leaves a comment, try to do the same for them in return. And have fun :-)

Returning to my WIP, ATNS: 

Last week, on the final sixsunday post, we left off with the heroine, Rissa, now in custody of Daekartha, the high King of Rialt. She's been forcibly separated from his grandson, and is considered by reason of her skin and eye color, and origins from an unknown world called, "Earth", an enemy of the Rialtan Kingdom.  But Daekartha is neither reckless nor impatient, understanding that there is great value in subduing the enemy, then observing. This all takes place during the grand celebration of the Giver (god), and she has gone from forced attendance at a holy house (church) to a dinner and gathering following that service. Daekartha is parading her, making an example to all who would toy with him--including his grandson.

This is a blessing before a meal (much like making the sign of the cross) of which she's familiar because the old Guard, Abraxum, taught her.

Rissa's POV

"The man from the holy house—dressed in royal blue robes with white sashes, stood and mumbled, his multiple chins jiggling through more words that Rissa bet were full of hypocrisy.  Following the lead of those around her, she bowed her head. Another blessing?  She raised her head when the room went silent except for the rustle of motion.  Like everyone in attendance, she placed her clenched fist over her heart, then kissed and opened it as she raised it to the ceiling, peering through outstretched fingers.  Abraxum's act had been much purer as he’d reached toward the visible heavens.  The lump forming in her throat kept pace with hot tears of anger swelling in her eyes while the truth sunk in--heaven wasn't visible from here. In fact, it was probably unreachable from here, too, because she truly was trapped in hell."

That's it.  Thoughts, opinions, critiques, all much appreciated.  Please find other 8sunday participants by clicking  HERE  And thank you so much for visiting. :-)

What Makes The Boy Attractive?

February and writers. The month of love.  And here we are, all about hearts, roses, red, pink and white, and keen on love.  I'm there. I like a little romance in my stories.  I'd go so far to say that I'm not much into a story that doesn't include at least some romance.  Love...it does, cliche as it sounds, make the world go round.

So, as a writer, and always looking to deepen the well of experience and information from which I draw,  I find myself making observations about romance.  What makes people love each other, what makes a couple stay together, what makes them fall apart?  Fascinating.  The most fascinating to me--what are the laws of attraction that work on two people in the beginning?  The body language, the fine nuances and subtle gestures. I mean, what does someone do before a word is even spoken, that turns a head?   Seems there are a zillion different things for a zillion different romantics.

So, I watch, like today when we took Nattie, our five year old granddaughter, to the mall for her soft pretzel.  And, you can't really come right out and ask people, you know. None of this information comes easily. Well, most of the time it doesn't come easily, except today, after we got home from the mall.

Spurred by a little bird who told me, I asked  Nattie, "Do you have a boyfriend at preschool?"

She grinned and then shyly drew back while she said, "Yes. Carson."  Her blues eyes sparkled with devilment and magic.  

Ahhh...even little humans--when smitten behave like silly souls, while contemplating attraction.

I chuckled while my inner voice asked, "Five??? Five years old??"

I asked her, "What do you and a boyfriend do at preschool?"

As if I'd asked the silliest question ever, she replied, "Play. We play, Grammie."

"Oh. Well, that's a good thing to do. Do that as long as you can."

She continued working on glittering Valentines for her aunt, a whole bag full of them, and then she said in a voice that made me realize she was sharing a serious piece of information, "Julie and I were talking today, and you know what? Carson snaps."

"Carson does what?"

"He snaps. None of the other boys do it, but he does." Her expression had gone from sparkly-eyed magic to googley-eyed gushing.

 "Snaps," My fingers flews through the air while I snapped them, "Like this? He snaps his fingers?"

"Yes. He snaps."

It was a revelation to me. lol. The laws of attraction had spoken and the ability to "snap"  was now added to my well of possibilities.  Pretty interesting observation.  Snapping sent their hearts all aflutter.

Duke Ellington tells it best :-)

Yeah...I can see it.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

To visit other Wordless Wednesday Participants, click Here.

Final Six Sentence Sunday: sniff sniff

Thank you, admins. What a wonderful opportunity you've given to so many.  I've met so many fantastic people through SSS. My gratitude is immeasurable.

For the final post of SSS, I'll stay with the WIP I started my posts with. ATNS

The worst has happened. Rissa, while apart from Cuylrh, has been taken into custody by the High King, Daekartha (Cuylrh's grandfather).  She's been forced to make a choice that will keep her and Cuylrh separated--indefinitely, and the High King ordered her sterilized so that she will never produce an unwanted or unworthy heir to his Empire.

Cuylrh has just become aware that Rissa is in Daekartha's custody. They are in a holy house (church) celebrating the Feast of  the Giver (their God).  Part of Rissa's agreement to the High King is sworn on Jia's life. (the first ever female King's guard)  Daekartha realized Rissa's greatest weakness is that she cares for other people, and manipulated her using that knowledge.

Rissa's POV:

"Just like home, just like Earth.  The holy men talk a good game while they spend precious tithes, gilding walls and altars where starving beggars pray to a God who turns a deaf ear. Why believe, why believe any of it-- that the Giver above loves all? 

She fought her compulsion  to scream in fury at the miseries dealt to the paupers, dealt to anyone but those whom chance or corruption had gifted with wealth and status.  But the thought of two people whom she loved dearly, contained her internal hell-fire of smoldering rage.  Their safety-- Jia’s very life, depended upon Rissa to bite her tongue and just bear the hurt, the insult, and the dealings of self-righteous men who judged her on a random chance of creation—the color of her skin and  her eyes."

That's it. Left hanging in a bad place.  If you'd like to read more next week, please check out the post immediately following this one.  It's HERE

It sure has been fun.  Thanks, everyone.

6SS-What's next? 8sunday Weekend Writing Warriors

January 27, 2013 marks the end of an era, the Six Sentence Sunday era--of little note to most of the parade of life traipsing by.  But among that parade, SSS had its few, its loyal, and now at its end, its very grateful participants.  Fortunate, I count myself  among them.

And something else that this date denotes is the changing of a guard, the figurative lighting of the torch by new keepers of the flame.

Six Sentence Sunday was such a beautifully simple idea.  You show up at their site, read the rules, sign their list (each week) and then go back to your blog and post your six sentences on Sunday.  Then you visited other people who had signed the list and done the same, leaving words of constructive criticism, encouragement, inspiration.

Writers helping other writers.  It's a beautiful thing.   <------ My favorite Twitter post.  And that is exactly  the spirit that this "Sentence Sunday" posting embodies.

Writing can be an incredibly solitary pursuit. I'd venture this:  It must be a solitary pursuit, at least for stretches of time, sometimes lengthy ones.  And coaxing writers out of their virtual caves once a week to say hello to each other is such a beautiful and beneficial thing.

And it can be a reality check.  Let someone else lay their eyes on a few sentences of your work, and you might gain precious insight.

With that all now said, and looking forward, I am happy to share our news news with other writers in that parade of life, and with anyone who wants to give it a try, join in on the fun, feel the camaraderie.

In essence, what Six Sunday was, will continue.

Here I note that the owner and admins of Six Sentence Sunday in no way endorse wewriwa (or any other site), nor is their logo for sale or available for use by others.

Marcia Kuma of Lettergo , Dana Renelt of Idiots and Earthquakes and yours truly, are continuing the Sunday postings, and invite others to join us by signing the linky-list at Weekend Writing Warriors .  That is www.wewriwa.com

The rules are much the same as our much enjoyed Six Sentence Sunday, with the exception that we have upped the sentence limit to eight sentences per post.

We are planning a giveaway for our first Sunday posting on Feb 3, 2013.  It is a random drawing based on participation. That's all you have to do to qualify--sign up and post your eight sentences to be included in the drawing.

And we'd love it if you followed us on  Facebook Weekend Writing Warriors  and Twitter Weekend Writing Warriors Hashtags #wewriwa and #8sunday 

With Weekend Writing Warriors, we've striven to do something different--a complete departure from the Six Sunday name is most easily notable.  Yet we hope to keep some aspects the same, the most important of which is:  the kindred spirit among the writers who frequent the site and postings.  

And we want all of the SixSunday admins to know how grateful we are for all their time and effort, and what a good experience it's been for us.  And please know that our gratitude is immeasurable for having been given the opportunity to meet so many authors and writers.  One of our goals is to keep that opportunity alive for others.

Thank you ladies, from the bottoms of our hearts. And best wishes to all of you on your writing careers! 

Admins