As promised, I’ve added a Words section to the site and posted the first page of Sewing Oats, the novel I wrote last year as part of National Novel Writing Month. It’s only enough for us to meet Thomas, the first of the three main characterers (or “MCs” as those of us hip to the lingo say), but that’s by design. Each update will be fun-sized for your easy digestion. Little known fact: I decided very early on that this novel would start with the words “The mule died on the seventh day.” I don’t know why, but it seemed very important.
Enjoy, and come back for Page 2 on Wednesday. Then Page 3 on Friday, and Page 4 next Monday. I think you see the pattern.
As soon as I finish my short story for the second round of the PC exercise, I’ll start reading Sewing Oats.
You mentioned the first line being important – I’ve done that myself. A sentence once appeared in my head as I was falling asleep one night and I had to sit up and write it down. The sentence was, “it was while on the bus that she realized her toes were painted the same color as the curtains in her childhood bedroom.” Suddenly I wanted to know why this was significant, who “she” was, and why she was on a bus and where she was going. I ended up writing a short story about it, one that I still consider pretty good today.
Cool, Caryn, I look forward to hearing any feedback you may have. I’d also be willing to swap feedback if you have a comparable project (or list of stories) that you’d like input on.
Much of writing Sewing Oats was figuring out how to get the characters into certain situations or scenes that I knew I wanted to include from the start. There’s an upcoming scene where the two MCs are discuss what’s behind a mountain in the distance. This scene was the very first thing I thought of when I started brainstorming for this project, and it’s still one of my favorites.