August 22, 2014

When I was seven my brother threw me in the pool down the road from our house; I couldn't swim. I don't remember much from that day, don't remember why he threw me in or who got me out, but I remember the sinking feeling. The thickness surrounding me, pulling me further under, weighing me under. I had felt more helpless under the water than I ever had, and for a seven year old who already felt helpless a majority of the time that terrified me. I remember being so afraid that I didn't thrash or kick or try to save myself, I just let the overbearing pressure take me under. I never liked swimming after that, even after I learned, because I never wanted to feel that weight on me again.

      Standing here though, in my backyard with my arms around this shaking girl I swear love, I feel the heaviness creeping back. 

*

     I've gotten a good chunk of my first chapter written at this point. The excerpt above is actually the opening of my novel. The first chapter is from Greyson's point of view, who I'm slowly becoming attached to as a character. I've never really written much from the perspective of a boy, and I think that while I struggle at some points, I'm doing okay with it at this point. I'm really trying my hardest to tie in my writing style I have developed in my poetry to my writing as a novelist. It's going well so far I think.
     At this point in the book I'm really just introducing the characters, who have finally been named. Campbell Tate is one half of my main characters, and she hasn't been developed greatly yet. I think that will come when I get into the second chapter and can write from her point of view. Greyson (Grey) Miller is the quirky teenage boy that Campbell intrigues. So far, you really get a look into his thoughts on school, and his friends, and Campbell, but being as it's the first chapter I haven't developed him much either.
     I've been very disorganized lately as to where I write this book, flipping back and forth between writing14f and word and even in my journal, that while I have a lot of the first chapter completed, I really need to put it all in one single space. That's what I'll be working on this weekend, and also trying to finish up the first chapter so I can get past the second chapter.
     In my experience writing things more than just a few stanzas long, it always takes me longer to crank out the first few chapters, but when I really get going I can write quickly. I'm hoping that by the third or fourth chapter I hit my stride and can really get invested in this plot.
     That's really all I can say about my novel so far, and I hope to get more done faster than I have this last week.
--Abbey Nichole

20% Project

     To start this blog off, I'm going to explain what I have chosen as my twenty percent project. For this assignment I really wanted to venture out of what I normally write (read: poetry), and try something a little out of my comfort zone. I'm going to be writing a novel, or at least attempting to. I haven't really decided on a title, but most of the time those come to me during the writing process. The plot is going to center around a long distance relationship over the course of a year. The chapters will be alternating perspectives of the main characters, and I will hopefully get at least one chapter written a week. If I write a chapter a week I will hopefully have about half of the novel written by the end of this nine weeks.
     This past week I have really organized my thoughts and how I want this book to play out. As I said, the book will go through a year of their relationship, and will look into the hardships that normal relationships face, as well as new ones that come up due to their distance. In this post I don't really want to go into specifics of the plot outline because I really want to explain it as a write it, so there will be more in depth explanations in later post, so bear with me for the time being.
      In other news, Maggie, my older sister currently in school for psychology, will be reading and commenting on my posts. She is about to be twenty one and she lives in Boston at this point in time. Both my sisters and I are very close, and she is one of the few people in my house who has read anything I've written, so it was an easy decision to ask her if she'd mind doing this for me.
Honestly I'm not sure what else I should put in this first blog.
--Abbey Nichole