Extract and new word count

Ok, so I've updated the ticker thing again (it was a choice once more between homework and writing, and I chose writing!) and I thought I'd post an extract. This is a part that I've just written, and it's from near the end of the novel, featuring the main character Mary-Ann, and her boyfriend, Devon.

And it was then, in that precise second, with the rain crashing down over her, the door in front of her, and her heart pounding harder than it ever had before, that she realised that she didn’t care: what he’d done, what he might do – it didn’t affect her, it didn’t bother her. She loved him. She could live with anything he’d said, anything people said about him – with her past, she was hardly an angel herself – and she could live happily. All she knew, even more so with every beat of her heart, every pulse of blood travelling at break-neck speed through her veins, was that she could not live without him. This was it – what people told of, what films portrayed, what the masses could only dream of: true, unrequited, unconditional…love. Yes, she’d said she loved him before, and at the time she thought she’d meant it, but it was now that she realised she couldn’t have meant it: how can you mean something if you don’t even fully understand it? And she hadn’t then – but she did now.

Her young age, lack of experience, these were not the reasons for the intensity of this feeling, and she knew it. This was not just lust. It had been lust, yes – that first day, when she had sat next to him, and her thoughts had been dominated by his looks: that was lust. When she’d first kissed him, it was lust-fuelled, but already it was turning into something more. And now…there was lust there, of course there was, physical attraction certainly figured in love. But this crashing, crushing wave of emotion, where she knew that that there was no way she could cope if she wasn’t with him, didn’t have his voice to look forward to, or his arms to comfort her – didn’t have his calming, soothing words when things went wrong, or his dark humour that brightened up her days – why, then it would all be pointless. Getting away with everything she’d gotten away with, putting up with the Kingsleys, spending all this time with Devon, all pointless if, after falling in love with him, she ended up breaking up with him…

“DEVON!” It was not the only sound that rattled through Wiltshire: her fist, raining down upon the door, accompanied it. “DEVON!” she screamed once more, her brain screaming it too, not able to think about what would happen if he didn’t answer…he had to, she needed him to. She hadn’t realised it before, but somewhere along the line she’d become totally dependent on him: his life and hers, she wasn’t sure they could be separate, that she could distinguish them any more. She needed him like she needed air to breath – and she wasn’t giving up without a fight. Whatever faced them in the future, she was fighting for it. And then the door wrenched open.

And here's the updated word count!

Why, oh why?

Why is it that when faced with doing homework and writing a novel, I always, always, seem to choose the novel option? I reckon it's the same for most teens who are trying to write a book, but I have to say, it's down-right difficult: I have an essay to do tonight, but insead I'm writing another chapter. Well, no, I was writing another chapter, but then I thought 'I really shouldn't be doing this', so I stopped writing the chapter, and instead...wrote on this blog. Yes, teen authors do not make the best students, I have found!




I thought this ticker was quite cool, so I'll be posting it to chart my progress. As you can see, it's goin well! I've said I'm aiming for 90,000, because I reckon that's what it'll end up at: 90,000 just won't cut it! I have reached the 85,000 mark, and so am hoping to be finished on ym first draft soon! My aim is June 1st, so I will let you know how I get on with that.

I've found a great site called Absolute Write - any budding authors should definitley check it out!

Right, I'm off to do some homework - oh, hell, why lie: I'm going to finish chapter thrity-two. =]

Unknown Genre

Okay, so this blog is going to be dedicated to the novel I'm currently working on, titled 'Family Portrait'. It's currently at around 80,000 words (which is about 265 A5 pages) and is hopefully on its way to completion. I plan to write a sequel as soon as I'm finished writing and editing this one because, even if it never gets published, I love writing it!

A little background to the story, why I'm writing it and why there's going to be a sequel: firstly, the whole story stemmed from a roleplay site I was on. Whilst the names, storylines and characteristics have changed, the idea of the Kingsley family (who are the main family of the story) grew from my roleplaying days - a great way, in my opinion, for a book to start. Think about it: you get to play the characters you end up writing about, and so you know everything about them, and how they would react to any situation. You've also created a backstory for them. Perfect! I'm writing it because I love writing; I started it a couple of years ago, but have written the bulk of it this year: at the beginning of this year (when I made it my New Years' Resolution to finish it - the first New Years' Resolution I've EVER been on track to keeping!) the novel was around 20,000 words. I'm pretty pleased with fitting 60k in around work, school and homework! And the reason for the sequel? I have too many ideas! I planned out how the novel would go, and soon realised it would be an epic, not a novel, if I decided to cram it all into one book. Hence, there will now be more than one. Although I have no idea for the next one's title. Yet.

I'm going to do a whole blog post on the premise of the book, and the blurb for it, so I won't here, I'll just give you the tag line: "Are the Kingsleys ready for Mary-Ann Mendora? More importantly, is she ready for them?" I haven't a clue yet what genre it would be classed as, other than Young Adult (YA). Still working on how to class it...

So, I'm writing for the hell of it, but I am planning on trying to get it published once I'm done - afterall, after all that work, I might as well give it a go! I'm not going to spend too long on here now because I want to get back to the novel - but this blog is really a form of procrastination for me. I procrastinate a lot. Or think of it as a cure for writers' block!

Oh, and who am I? I'm Becky, and I'm 17 - but I want this blog to be all about the book, so for my actual life (what I have of one after going to school, work, doing essays/revision and writing a novel!) if you're at all interested, check out my other blog.