Writing Update: Camp NaNoWriMo #2

Vital Stats

Project: The Dragon Thief

Word Count: 83,000

Status: Finished!

Writer Status: A Little Batty

That’s right, The Dragon Thief is officially finished. I am so relieved about that. Considering the woeful amount of prep I did for this month, I think it turned out rather well. By which I mean there is some semblance of a plot and it’s not just a steaming pile of words on the page. I’ve rewritten this book several ways before, but this time I finally think the plot makes sense. I even know who the villain is, which is a bonus! /We are not talking about the two major subplots I never worked in. Not going there…/

In honour of the fact that the book is finished, I wanted to share some excerpts from my favourite scenes. I hope you enjoy them! Also, fair warning, a couple of them are a little long, but I wanted to include them anyway because I'm rather fond of them.

Xavier’s mask was slipping, and Maya watched a variety of thoughts and emotions flit past quickly, til he finally settled on a firmly disgruntled, slightly beaten expression. “Fine,” he said with a huff. “But if you put one toe wrong-“
 “You’ll throw me back in prison so fast I won’t know which end is my butt. I get it. I would say trust me, but I figure you’re not going to do that no matter what I say. So I’ll just try and reassure you the best I can that this is the only way we’re going to manage this. So, to Flayme then.” She gave Xavier a pleading look. “Do we really have to take the portal though?”
 Xavier’s only response was to roll his eyes and walk faster, forcing Maya to half run to keep up with him. Which was so not fair, and he definitely had to be doing it on purpose. Just because she was almost technically a midget. It was the best size for a thief. Just not for keeping up with massive guards who had more muscle than mind.

That's pretty much the way their whole relationship goes.

Zanth met her on the roof, his huge wings rustling a little as they folded. Maya silently rubbed his head, hit by a sudden stab of grief as she realised that this might be the last time they would ever spent together again. She’d been through all this before, all the heartache of trying to accept the last time for everything she knew and loved. The last night ride under the stars. The last time she would see Zanth, call him ‘buddy’, and go on crazy adventures. The last time she would feel that rush of adrenaline rushing through her limbs as she climbed a wall with nothing but her bare hands.
 It had been hard last time. But she did it. She accepted that it was over. But then they offered her a chance of freedom. A chance to have all this, to have her life back for good. And then, just like that, they took it away from her and left her with nothing by heartbreak all over again. Now she had to do it all again, find the willpower to give it all up for the second time. And Maya wasn’t sure she was strong enough this time.

I don't do really emotional scenes very well, but this one didn't turn out too badly.

And now for a fun excerpt to finish off with.

Maya glanced up at the carvings [on the outside of the tower]. “Xavier,” she said, “you wanna do something fun?”
 Xavier gave her a considering look. “Depends.”
 “A race?”
 “What kind of race?”
 “You up the stairs, me up the side.”
 He didn’t immediately say no, which Maya took to be a good sign. Then he broke out in an honest to goodness grin. “Why not? But no cheating. The dragon stays where he is.”
 “You got it.”
 They lined up. Ready. Set. Go. Xavier took off through the doorway, and Maya grabbed onto the carving and started moving. At first she couldn’t find her rhythm, couldn’t locate the foot and hand holds fast enough to keep the momentum going. And she was painfully aware of the eyes of the guards that followed her up the outside of the tower.
 And then everything just clicked and she was moving with more grace, her movements fluid, swinging from one perch to another like she was flying instead of climbing. Without her gloves, her hands slipped on the carving sometimes, tearing the skin, but she pushed through that. It seemed all too quickly that she reached the top. Just as she pulled herself up the outside of the railing, Xavier reached the top of the stairs.
 Maya leaned on the wrong side of the rail, arms and legs shaking from the effort. Man it had been forever since she had climbed a wall like that. Still, she grinned at Xavier. “Good race.”
 “Who won?” Xavier offered her a hand and helped her climb over the railing.
 Maya shrugged. “Who cares really? You can have the win if you like. I just wanted to climb this tower.

So, where to now in writing? Letting The Dragon Thief rest for a while, and finishing the editing of Snow like I was supposed to do over a month ago. Needless to say I’m dragging my feet over that one for no reason at all. I’ve run out of first draft to write so there’s really no excuse. Although I did just borrow a huge stack of books from the library so…

How’s your Camp NaNoWriMo going? Or, if you’re not doing that this month, what are you working on at the moment? Anyone else procrastinate editing for no good reason?