This past month I've been participating in Camp NaNoWriMo, with my own word goal and a small group of people to share the experience with. My character was Robyn Tolliver, as mentioned in an earlier post. I worked on a list of 200 prompts to help out my word count and while I didn't get through them all I'd like to share with you, dear reader, what I have done, and continue until I finish them. They won't all be 'cannon' but some of them are interesting 'what-ifs' and 'what on Earth where you thinking besides getting as many words on the page as possible?'. Some of these were like pulling teeth, I forced myself to power through them so I could move on to ones that were more fun. Enjoy! As ever, Author Commentary is in italics.
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10. Years:
It had been many years since Robyn had last thought of her cave
experience but as she stroked the pyrite necklace she always wore, a
gift from that time, she was amazed that she had not died that day. She
knew nothing about the cave systems, how dangerous they were, and how
easy it was to get permanently lost in their labyrinth. She was
incredibly lucky that Henry had been able to find her.
The necklace is a gift from Henry, a chunk of pyrite from the cave he found her in. The caves are almost a character unto themselves in this story and featured prominently in my thoughts as I wrote, so much so that I titled this body of work The Shadow in the Cave.
19. White:
White was Robyn’s least favorite color. She couldn’t stand a white
piece of paper, it had to be covered in doodles or drawings or
assignments or ideas or lyrics or music ASAP.
Who knew?
Who knew?
23. Lovers: “You know what we used to be, don’t you?” Stephanie smiled coldly. If Jericho wasn’t going to give her attentions anymore she was going to see to it that neither did his new little flame. Never mind the tenuous friendship the young women shared as fellow performers, there was always a little bit of diva competition anyways and quite frankly, no matter how ‘cool’ or disinterested Stephanie acted, she really did care about Jericho and their permanent break up hurt her.
28. Children:
She always figured it was completely natural, practically hardwired in
her as an older sibling, for her to mentor and care for those who were
younger than her. It was more than a matter of choice, it was a matter
of willing duty and responsibility to be an older sister and defender to
everyone who lacked one.
Robyn's philosophy here is my own. There is a great amount of pressure and responsibility on an older sibling (at least to me it feels like there is, maybe I'm too conscientious) but if you accept it and embrace it the duty can become a joy.
89. Work: Only
one of her jobs would be considered work, being a barista. The rest of
her means of employment were really a matter of being paid for
something she liked to do. Robyn wasn’t a huge fan of coffee (to be
honest most of the time she thought the stuff tasted foul), the caffeine
made her jittery, and serving to people who were only half awake and in
a hurry wasn’t exactly fun, but the pay was reasonable and she got
health benefits. Working as a cashier/stock girl at the bookstore had
been a lot of fun and widened her reading horizons. Being the front
desk clerk at her aunt’s Inn was fun too, even though it didn’t pay
well, she enjoyed interacting with the different kinds of people that
came through the town. Working summers at the children’s theatre gave
her a hint at what her future might be like, teaching little sproutlings
to dance and sing and emote on stage. It was a lot of hard work
(especially with some of the parents involved) but it was a fulfilling
work, seeing the final product. And she was sure Henry had something to
do with the Peacock Lounge’s revamp and reopening with a list of
musical performers, including herself. While it wasn’t acting per se,
which was her forte she felt, she loved singing and being on stage
regardless.
Expanded on the recommendation of a fellow writer lass, this originally ended after the second sentence.
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