I hadn’t intended to do the #5amwritersclub this morning on Twitter. It’s my day to sleep in a little, and I planned to make use of it. Then I ended up waking up around 6:00 and crawled out of bed at 6:30, so it sort of happened anyway. I can’t complain, this book is moving along nicely so far, and I don’t want to interrupt its flow.

Project: The Seeking

Each Seeking, the magic that protects the city of Carra must be renewed, which means the children of the High Family must go into hiding. Whether it be through disguise or bribe, through trusted friends or perfect hiding places, every child of the Priest family must avoid capture for the full day.

When things go wrong with the renewal, it’s up to seventeen-year-old Dahlia, the middle child of the Priest family, and her girlfriend, Bisa, to escape Carra and find the magical beings responsible for the protection. They must learn who would require such a cruel game to be played every year and if the protection of the Gray People is really worth such a deadly cost. What they will discover is far worse.

THE SEEKING is a YA dark fantasy novel

Current Word Count: 37,696

Progress:
An action scene inspired by one of my favorite horror stories. I won’t say what though. 😉

Next Up:
Safety is one thing, but being captured is another.

Commentary:
It’s interesting how the feeling of a building or of a room or just about anything can be changed with just context. A building isolated out in the snow can be seen as a wonderful safety from the cold of the night. If it’s a romance flick, you know that cozy building is probably going to be how our two love birds will meet. But when you realize you’re watching a horror flick, you expect that house to be the hunting ground for some killer. Everything about it changes. Suddenly the shadows are darker, the candles look a little too cozy, and that fireplace is too big, something bad is going to happen with it. The relief you felt dissipates into the need to escape.

Horror plays on these feelings often, luring you into a feeling of relief for the characters, and then turning those feelings upside-down. Of course usually you know when you’re going to watch a horror film, so you know that the cozy house must have something wrong with it. You’re waiting to see what is wrong with the serene premise. In real life, you don’t get that luxury. You get no warning of what to expect. That cozy house in the snowy woods could be a Romance or a Horror, you just don’t know. Even though I’ve labeled this book as a YA Horror novel, I try to go against expectations at times. I try to capture that feeling of the unknown, of whether to trust things or not, because let’s face it – that’s what’s truly scary.

Sometimes people let you down. Sometimes they disappoint you in the worst way possible. This is kind of part of life, but at the same time it’s something that can have enormous consequences. Dahlia is having to come to terms with what someone did, and she’s not handling it very well. She wrongly assumes that everyone can stand up to her standards. She also assumes everyone prepares as well as she does, and that everyone understands the consequences too. They don’t.

Project: The Seeking

Each Seeking, the magic that protects the city of Carra must be renewed, which means the children of the High Family must go into hiding. Whether it be through disguise or bribe, through trusted friends or perfect hiding places, every child of the Priest family must avoid capture for the full day.

When things go wrong with the renewal, it’s up to seventeen-year-old Dahlia, the middle child of the Priest family, and her girlfriend, Bisa, to escape Carra and find the magical beings responsible for the protection. They must learn who would require such a cruel game to be played every year and if the protection of the Gray People is really worth such a deadly cost. What they will discover is far worse.

THE SEEKING is a YA dark fantasy novel

Current Word Count: 36,607

Progress:
A nasty fight, many tears are shed, and then a very dangerous distraction.

Next Up:
Perhaps the place isn’t as safe as they thought.

Commentary:
Some mistakes you can’t make up or undo. Some mistakes take more than just an apology to make right. Sometimes somebody screws up so bad that everybody has to deal with the fallout, and it’s never a pretty sight. It’s downright terrifying. That’s pretty much where Dahlia is now, dealing with the fallout. Sure, you can be angry and scream and yell, but that doesn’t fix it. That doesn’t solve it. You’ve got to sit down and figure out a plan, even if you want to strangle the person you have to work with. When it gets bad enough, even enemies have to become friends to survive.

Man, it’s tough getting up at 5AM every morning to knock out some writing, but it’s so rewarding! I’m happy to see the progress this book is making, and I’m regularly hitting the 1k-1.5k marks each day. Keep going, little book, don’t let me down! <3

Poor Dahlia just came off a heck of a long adrenaline run. It’s strange how in action movies, you’ll see a character keep an adrenaline high for almost the entire film. It’s quite enjoyable, don’t get me wrong, but it just isn’t very realistic. You have to come down at some point. Your body just can’t exist in that state for a prolonged period of time (at least it isn’t healthy to do it). So what is it that pulls Dahlia back to reality? That pulls her out of that kick-all-the-ass mode? Well, love of course.

I try to emphasize the fact that people who are traumatized need love and affection to be able to survive it. And let me tell you, there’s a hell of a lot of things to be traumatized about in this book. I spent a while this morning describing a gruesome murder scene. (You know, normal writer things.) I also think showing the see-sawing of emotions that Dahlia is going through lets the reader experience just how world-shattering this all is. If I can make them experience it the way she does, they’ll understand why she’s a little untrusting, a little stand-offish, a little damaged.

Project: The Seeking

Each Seeking, the magic that protects the city of Carra must be renewed, which means the children of the High Family must go into hiding. Whether it be through disguise or bribe, through trusted friends or perfect hiding places, every child of the Priest family must avoid capture for the full day.

When things go wrong with the renewal, it’s up to seventeen-year-old Dahlia, the middle child of the Priest family, and her girlfriend, Bisa, to escape Carra and find the magical beings responsible for the protection. They must learn who would require such a cruel game to be played every year and if the protection of the Gray People is really worth such a deadly cost. What they will discover is far worse.

THE SEEKING is a YA dark fantasy novel

Current Word Count: 35,105

Progress:
Survival takes a lot out of a person, and now it’s time to come down. At least for a little while of course. This is not really a time to fully relax.

Next Up:
Safety is great, while it lasts. These folks need to make plans and fast. More importantly they need to figure out what the move is for all of this.

Commentary:
Outrage and blame is going to explode here coming up. Dahlia is going to have to come to terms with the fact that mistakes can be made and be forgiven, no matter how grudgingly. She struggles with that though. She holds herself up to high standards and expects everyone else to do the same, but that’s simply unrealistic as she’ll find out.

I’ve about reached the halfway point of this book which is lining up very well with the wordcount so far. I’m anxious because there’s a lot of gaps to fill in as I go, but I’m super happy with how this is coming along. Oh and the #5amwritersclub gives me so much life and motivation. It’s rough to keep up with, but so worth it to get the wordcount flowing regularly for this book!