Teaser Tuesday: what’s in a name?

Today’s teaser is brought to you by Dr. Wicked and his amazing Write-or-Die. Okay, really Dr. Wicked has no sponsorship claim over this post. BUT. I am writing it in the new desktop edition of Write-or-Die, giving the program a nice little test before working it silly during NaNoWriMo. Extra kudos go to Dr. Wicked for creating a writing program that actually works with Linux. Yay for geek-lovers!

Today’s snippet comes from the first novel I finished (not counting my shining attempt at The Blob). As of yet it remains untitled, so I just lovingly call it Glass until something better comes along.

I stood with my back to the club, leaning against the brick wall. The sounds of the alley greeted me, but I was not listening to them. Rain fell, tracing streams down my bare arms. It ran through my hair, fell off the ends of the dark tendrils, and pooled on the ground around my left foot. My right foot rested on the wall behind me, ready to give leverage if needed.

The cold brick chilled my skin where my bare shoulder rested against the wall. I leaned my head back, closed my eyes, and let the rain wash over my face.

And there I waited. Waited for anything. The slightest change in energy, a different charge to the atmosphere–anything to tell me it was time to go to work.

My name is Becca Cole, and I have been working the same dead end job for the past hundred and fifty-two years. Every day the same thing: hide in the shadows, attune myself to the energy of the people around me, and wait. Bored.

Every. Single. Day.

A gust of wind breezed through the alley, bringing with it the pungent smells of a nearby carnival. Turning away from the breeze, I focused on the more pleasant scent of rain. The wet, dusty aroma of the alley filled my being, clouding my mind and transporting me to a much simpler time.

Funny story about Glass: if you look at my “writing” page, you will notice it is not listed there. That’s not because I am not proud of the story; I am. The core plot is (in my opinion at least) wonderful. Simple, but wonderful. The reason it is not listed is because Glass was a cannibalization of Incubus.

Once upon a time, I thought Incubus would not hold its own as a plot, so I made it the back-story to Glass. Fast forward a few months. With Glass finished, I looked back at Incubus and realized: holy guacamole! This is a pretty compelling story in its own right. I had just burned out on it the first time around. I have since realized that this happens with just about every novel. There comes a point when the writing is more work than fun. With Incubus I took that to mean the story wasn’t working, and I quit writing it (for a period of time).

I have since learned to push through, do the work, and finish the book. I recognize that coming across a slump does not mean the book is not worth writing. Writing a novel is hard work, and stopping when it gets tough will only leave you with a bunch of false-starts. I am happy to report that, since the Incubus debacle, I have finished every novel I have started.

However, I am happy that I had to learn the “push through ’til the end” lesson the hard way. Had I not quit on Incubus, I probably never would have dreamed up Glass. Now, I have not one, but two novels. Once I get through all the back-story edits and rewrites Glass will require now that Incubus demands its story back, of course. When it has a back-story all of its very own, Glass will be added to the writing page.

Now, everyone head over to wish Jamie Harrington congratulations on landing an agent. SQUEE for Jamie!

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