View the Naperville wordcount graph!

Please include me, thanks! I am working on a fantasy novel for teens. :)

I would love to be included in this graph. It's my third year and I am at 37,705.

Hi! My name's Joy. I write mainly fantasy books. My story is about a girl who finds that her brother is in trouble with a group of people out of their world. While on a mission to rescue him, she faces many obstacles.
Here's a little snippet of my story:
“Mhmm, oh yes, mmmm…” were just a few of the nondescript noises she made as she made her way down the panel. Finally, she touched a button, and the panel slid away. A metal ring slid around my torso, locking me in place.
I immediately started to struggle. You see, metal rings that lock you into place don’t usually mean anything good. My back broke into a sweat. I didn’t know what to do. It was kind of mortifying, being stuck there with a little old lady.
“We’re going to switch bodies, Delancey. But don’t worry, I won’t sabotage you, I promise.”
Don’t worry? DON’T WORRY? Was she kidding me? We were going to switch bodies and she was saying don’t worry? Sure. While she got my young, fit body, I was going to get her wrinkly one and I wasn’t going to worry.

Yeah, like I said, add me. Thanks.

Hi, I'm John, just grinding away on my word count. The book is political satire + science fiction. I have a handful of scheduled days when I have to be away, so I type like hell on all the rest to make up. The days away are when I'm in the field, researching my material, robbing banks. This is such a rich experience for me.

Some of your emails are quite motivating, thank you. Best of luck to all.

You can add me.

genre: supernatural mystery, comedy
brief synopsis: a girl scheduled to pass into the afterlife never arrives, her soul is missing from the living world and the afterlife. A group searches for her, including two investigators from the aferlife, the girl's twin sister, and her mother, who previously worked as a medium.

stephsco

Hey! Please include me! Thanks!

Genre: mainstream fiction

Synopsis: College basketball is a money making jugernaut. March Madness, the NCAA tournament makes billions of dollars for a lot of people. The Networks profit, the Universities profit, the NCAA profits, the sponsors like Beer companies, pizza delivery, and male enhancement drugs all profit. Everyone profits except the people who actually matter, the players. What would happen if the player on a basketball team in the final four of the NCAA College Basketball tournament just decided not to play? Would that display of solidarity mean anything to the hypocrits that want to keep college athletics amatuer?

Snippet:
“You guys are a Fort,” Coach Said, “Close the gates, circle the wagons, set up a perimeter, just don’t let them near the hoop. If they want to drive the basket they are going to have to squeeze in between you, and you are going to make sure they don’t like that,” the implication of a hard foul was clear.
The thing about a player’s outside shot, is that its streaky. Even the best outside shooters need to get into a rhythm. Manual was cold when the game started. Most of their first shots were bouncing off the rim or backboard, and we were so densely grouped around the basket, we weren’t allowing them a second shot. After the first five minutes we had a ten to six lead.
Of course the problem with outside shooters is that they can get hot just as easily as they can get cold. If you give a good shooter several open looks, he will eventually work through his slump, and get to that point were he can’t miss. Six minutes into the game, that is exactly what happened to Manual’s big three, they all got hot.

Please add me, Tim.
-Chastrea

me too

Genre: Supernatural & Horror / Contemporary Fantasy
Synopsis: I can't do that yet! D:

count me in!!

Please include eyewrite in the wordcount graph.
Thanks
Now I will go back to writing.

Happy to be included. All of you are motivating me in my first year.

My novel is one year in the life of a young girl battling an eating disorder. It's told from the perspective of both the daughter and her mom. Here's an excerpt:

“To tell you the truth,” Natalie said, avoiding Jane’s intense gaze, “all of these people have real problems; one girl was raped, one has a father that beats her, one was abandoned by her mother, one is gay and gets harassed on a daily basis. I don’t have anything like that. My family is together, even if they are screwed up. They love me and, except for me doing this to myself, nothing really bad has ever happened to me.” Natalie stared at her shoes. “I feel completely stupid, like I’m wasting everyone’s time if I start talking about my puny little problems.” Careful. Keep talking like this and she’ll never let you go down to half days. “Honestly, I think I’ve come a long way and if you okay half days for me, I promise to try to be a little more open.”

Jane leaned back in her chair. “Natalie, you’re twenty-two. You can do anything you want to do. I wish you would think about it but, whether or not I think it’s a good idea, it’s your choice.”

Natalie searched her pants pocket for a piece of gum. She unwrapped it, threw the paper into the wastebasket near the desk, and popped the peppermint rectangle into her mouth. “I’ll start half days on Monday,” she said.

Genre: Fantasy
Synopsis: Intrepid reporter discovers the hollow Earth
Snippet: Bea looked up at Paul and shrugged.
"Well, I’ll be over here," read Paul’s email, "writing this sweet story dropping mind bombs on those silly people who’ve believed all these years that the Earth is a solid spheroid of miles-thick layers of the densest materials in the universe internally super-heated after billions of years of planetary accretion surrounded by a viscous liquid core and topped off by layers of a crust shaped by millions of years of resulting tectonic activity."
Bea had had hope for today. She had assumed that her editor, after reading her story on the ruckus at last night’s council meeting, would have requested a follow-up on the plight of the crimson-crested greater prairie chicken, the endangered species further threatened with extinction by the development of five luxury duplexes, designed for seniors at a million-dollar price point, backing up onto a nearby wooded park, dubbed The Woods Along Old Plank Road, which would, of course, no longer be woods once it was luxury duplexes. While it was often that she wrote about people complaining about new housing developments, or restaurants featuring girls in short shorts, or by-passes, or what have you, coming to their backyards, it was not often she got to write about chickens.
But that was not to be.
She looked back at the email from her boss about the fence.
"We’ll, I’ll be over here," she wrote back to Paul, "dying from boredom."

By All means please add me to our count!

TITLE: Aedron's peril
GENRE: Fantasy
SYNOPSIS:

The Kingdom of Aedron has experienced an uneasy peace for almost 100 years, but now the Necromancers have arisen once more in the wastes of Taladith and acquired some new and unholy allies.

Aedron's Peril has never been so great.

I'd like to join the graph.

Genre: YA (realistic-turned fantasy)
Synopsis: Mae's best friend ran away and committed suicide and she thinks she is losing her mind. Flashbacks may be normal, but these other occurrences are not. They seem coincidental enough: she wishes the electricity would go out and it does, she hopes a door is unlocked and it is. But as the coincidences pile up and she can no longer block out voices in her head, Mae soon meets two siblings with similar experiences. Where will they go and what will they do to find out what it means and who they are?

Snippet: I can’t control this part of me . . . I destroy things. But it’s not me—not physically. I think maybe I’m possessed sometimes. I’ll just be walking down Coaver Lane with all the old houses and think, “I could break a window.” And when I look away there’s a crashing noise. On the ground are shards of glass scattered in the weeds. Still, it’s not always destructive. If I see some garbage on a restroom floor it might occur to me to pick it up with my paper towel after I have washed my hands. Once I go to get it, however, it’s gone—even if no one else is in the room at the time. I wasn’t always this way. It started at the beginning of summer, under circumstances I would care to forget.

Please add me to the graph.
To make it interesting...
Please include:

* Genre - Fantasy

* Synopsis - Tara inherits her grandmother Grace’s house after having cared for her for several years before her death. Grace was a gifted witch, who provided sanctuary for numerous creatures both magical and mundane. Her house and the grounds around it are a nurturing refuge. Grace's daughter (and Tara's aunt) Joyce is displeased about the will and fights get the house for herself. When the story is finished, we will see who prevails!

* Snippet -

Joyce, her jaw clenched, turned to Tara, “You shut your brat up or I will!”

Tara felt the blood drain from her face. Her heart pounding, she faced her aunt. “Get. Out.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Get out. No one talks to me that way, not even you. Not about my daughter.”

Gene, looking at a complete loss, stepped toward them. Joyce’s eyes narrowed as she looked Tara over. She gave a short laugh. “Fine. We’ll leave. But when we figure out what you’ve done, and we get this place back, I will really enjoy throwing both of you out on your chunky asses. And you won’t get a cent from us!”

So saying, she threw the will in Tara’s direction and stormed out the door. Papers separated, fluttered, and dropped to the floor.

Gene set his drink down and grabbed Joyce's purse, following her. At the door, he glanced back at Tara and Brianna, his face a mixture of embarrassment and confusion. Then he left, closing the door carefully.

The house was suddenly silent. Tara couldn’t even hear the sound of birds or insects from the open windows. She looked at the fan of disordered pages from the will, then at Brianna, whose eyes were wide. Neither spoke. Finally, tentatively, Brianna said, “Mom?”

“Yes, honey?”

“Is my ass really chunky?”

I'm in

Genre:

LitFic

Synopsis:

39 year old MIchelle never wanted to have kids so finding out she is pregnant after an already very eventful summer, only further changes her whole life. She names her daughter Cassidy and tries to be the mother every mother dreams she can be, until reality sets in

Snippet:

I didn't notice the wolf creeping up along the side of the cabin. In the past few months, I had noticed a significant decrease in my peripheral vision, chalking it up to age; I was a little over a year from forty and thus far, my body had held up fairly well but all things must change, and rarely for the better.

When Zöe's arms shot into the air to punctuate a point in her story in which she and Duke and Amber defeated the Sullivan triplets at a game of freeze tag, I caught a blur of grey just inside my peripheral range and turned my head.

I immediately stood and grabbed Zöe's arm, pulling her upward and out of her chair. She screeched at the sudden pain but then saw what I had seen.

The wolf stood twenty feet from us. Staring at us, licking his lips at Zöe.

"Get behind me now." I quickly got in between chairs so we didn't have one behind us and she leaped to obey. My eyes never left the cold, yellow eyes of the wolf. " Zöe, just look down and follow my feet. I'm going to walk backwards and I want you to walk with me."

"How will we get to the cabin?" she asked. Her voice held less fear than I expected but then again, she had always been braver than most of the boys in her age group. Maybe it was a by-product of her and Sarah being the only two each other had. Whatever it was, I sent up a prayer of thanks that she was remaining calm.

"We can't, Sweetie. He's between us and the cabin. I'm going to walk you backwards to my tent. It's right back there, about ten steps."

"Then what?" Always the pragmatic little girl.

"The door's unzipped. I want you to get in there and zip it up."

"What about you?" I heard the first tinge of fear in these words.

"I need you to do as I say, Zöe."

I heard her breathing tremble, thought she might be about to cry. "I'm stepping back now."

She followed each foot back, taking her own carefully measured step back. When I heard her heel hit the tarp underneath the tent, I stopped. "Climb in and zip it up. Everything's going to be okay." I stood stock still, blocking her, as she obeyed.

"Okay." Her voice had shrunk with fear. She was encased and blind to what would happen out here; I hadn't unzipped any of the openings this morning because it was still rather chilly when I awoke.

I gave brief consideration to joining her in the tent but there was no guarantee that the nylon-polyester walls would hold back a hungry wolf and even if they did, I could hear the campground teeming with children and families. I needed to stop the wolf here.

I stepped toward him.

He stepped toward me.

My eyes sharpened into a tight focus with the adrenaline rushing through me. I didn't notice Natalie pull open the sliding door and luckily, neither did the wolf.

He leaped.

Count me in. It was major motivator in 2009!

Genre: Adventure/Fantasy
Synopsis: An evil king rules the people of Vasha with fear, but on a hidden mountain the true Queen is being trained to take back her crown. Caro will use spies and subterfuge to defeat the man who murdered her family and avoid innocent bloodshed. Along the way she loses lifelong friends and gains a lover and ally.
Snippet: I watched as children were killed for stealing food, food that they needed to avoid starving to death. I would gladly give my life to free the people of this kingdom. I know how good they can be and am appalled when I hear what is happening to them. I am not scared of death, I faced it often on the streets, but I am afraid of what will happen to the people that follow me. What you and Dolph are suggesting is leading a rebel force that is made up of civilians against the highly trained and experienced forces that the King commands. Not only that, but once Phuge realizes that there is a legitimate heir to the throne he will use the innocent people of the country against me. I would rather die than have them punished because of me. I am not a coward, but I will not blindly lead people to their death! You may be able to do that, but I am not that callus or narrow-sighted.”

Genre: Scifi

Synopsis: Dalvin, the black sheep of the royal family, is trying to take back his planet from the empire that killed is family.

Snippet:
“You’re interviewing me? On tv? I don’t really think that’s a good idea.”
Asla did two more sit ups and then sat up. “It’s a great idea and how else do you espect to get everyone behind you in just a few days without utilizing the media?”
“Well…” I thought for a moment but couldn’t come up with anything.
“Exactly. So tomorrow you’re going to have you’re big come back and everything is just going to go right and the sun will be out and everything will be perfect again, okay?”

Can I be included?

Genre: Sci-Fi

Synopsis: A girl named Dakota lives in a world where she is controlled by a blue chip. The land is run by a dictator who tries to set off a friendly persona, but really is evil. He took over the land from a part of the U.S, and begins to set his own laws including the chips, to keep the citizens under control. Yet her chip stops working one day, in a freak incident. After this she begins to question the whole word she lives in, and begins to think outside of the box. One day everything changes forever. The old U.S wants the land back so they begin bombing everything relating the government. Dakota and her best friend escape this, and meet a band of boys on motorcycles and they join them, as they fight against the blue chips, and each and every day she has to hide that she is a blue chip. One day she meets someone on the battlefield,and that someone changes Dakota's life forever, as she struggles with falling in love. (sorry for it not being briefer as some's are)

Snippet: I'll edit in one later.

Tim,

I'm back.

I'm writing sci fi.

Here's a brief synopsis.

Dave

Wilbur Stanton is the only survivor of a mysterious illness that kills his coworkers and those in a 1/4 mile radius of his office. Wil then finds himself fighting for survival in the midst of a government conspiracy and an alien / supernatural being who drains the life force from people. In his struggle Wil must determine whom he can trust and is forced to decide between his personal safety and the survival of the human race.

I tried really hard Not to participate this year, but apparently I don't get to make that choice. :) So I have some catching up to do.

My genre is YA Science Fiction and I'm going to try working on a sequel to my NaNo novel from last year, Stone Song. This year's title (at the moment anyway) is "Into the Flame". In this story, Beryl's orderly life feels upsidedown and her family is drifting after her brother becomes a rock (no, really). Her world is still dying in spite of said brother defeating Fractilis and she sets off in search of the cause. She finds and joins herself to the Flame, a being that came from the same fallen star that infected Fractalis and made him a monster in the first place. However, the entity is not as beneficent as she is led to believe. She must find a way to stop it before she is consumed and all is lost .

Please add me, Tim. Thanks!

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Synopsis: A female pharmacist in 1896 returns to her home town of Chicago after her father's funeral to discover his patients suffering from a mysterious illness.
Snippet: On my profile page, thanks.

meredith

Hi! Please add me.
TItle: Untitled 5
Genre: Suspense
Synopsis: MC inadvertantly developed part of something (not yet determined - probably vaccine) to be used in a mass genocide. MC expressed her angst to the program directors and now they want her dead.

Sarah looked around nervously as she crossed the street. She was on her way home from work as a quiet, low-key file clerk at a small law firm. A younger woman, just reaching 30, her gray hair would belie the stress she felt every day. Instead, she dyed her hair a dull brown, to go with her monochromatic wardrobe and unnoticeable looks. Her hair was worn down for work, up for traveling, and often under a wig or hat. She had her blah persona for work but in perpetual fear of being easily recognized she changed her habits often. Crazy often, some would think, if they really knew all the work it took to keep up this lifestyle of virtual anonymity and constant change. Better than spies on TV, she could change her look in minutes and kept an oversized bag with her at all times for constant costume changes. However, this way she felt safe. This way she reduced the chances of someone really knowing whom she was and why she needed to hide. An heiress with a genius IQ that played mousy, shy, aloof and slightly slow as if she had studied all her life.

Genre: science fiction (time travel)

Synopsis: The fifth in the series I began in 2006, this novel will hopefully tie up some dangling plot threads and provide some brand new complications for Ruthie and her time-traveling crew. Don't ask me how yet.

Snippet: “Where am I? Who are you? Am I your... grandmother?”
The woman chuckled softly. She was a young woman, probably in her twenties, and she had an odd accent that Ruthie couldn’t identify. “Not really, no. We all call you grandmother, out of respect, but technically you’re not my grandmother. To be precise, you’re my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother.”

Hi, could you add me please? My genre is historical fiction, set in the midwest during the 1940s.

Thanks!

I would love to!

Shanna

May I please be added as well? Thank you so very much! -bows-
Title: Tales of Persona
Genre: Fantasy
Fanfiction Crossover of Persona 3 and Tales of the Abyss

Summary: When Misao and Shinjiro end up in a new world due to an accident in Tartarus, the duo are forced to adapt to this brave new world that they have ended up in. And maybe save some people along the way

Snippet:

“I sense Death!” Fuuka bleated, a panicked tone ringing in her voice. “Run!”

Shinjiro and Misao needed no more warning. The brunet grabbed Misao’s hand and started sprinting, with Misao hurrying to keep up, practically getting dragged along. Death was bad. Nobody in their group wanted to meet the Reaper, not after what had happened last time. The halls in Tartarus blurred as the two ran in their desperate flight, stumbling and sliding and running as fast as their legs could take them.

Behind them, the roar of the Reaper echoed throughout the hallways, chains clanking and clinking as the deadly Shadow pursued the duo. Relentlessly, endlessly, it pursued its prey, those who dared to remain for too long on one floor of Tartarus, regardless of the intent of those within.

Once, S.E.E.S. had decided to fight the abomination. Once, S.E.E.S. had almost been wiped out. The group had never tried to fight that Shadow again, for they knew when they were outmatched. So even though Shinjiro and Misao were two of the strongest members of S.E.E.S. they still ran

untitled fantasy

a girl whose sister dies and comes back to life

Avi watched her sister open and read the letter. She had seen everything. The dragon, the canvas bag, heard the shattering of glass. So now she knew. Her sister had magic too.

Please add me? Thanks!

Thriller/Tech
Mason loses memory after quantum computer in chip. Seeks old life. Old girlfriend.

-

“They wanted to keep this as low profile as possible.” The voice was dark and musky, with resonance. Speaking into his cell in one hand, the man chewed a gum.
“Is that why they weren't going to just pick hi-“
“Yes. Hey, this line is tapped. Shhh.” He allowed the gum to hang between his upper and lower front teeth.
“So Benjamin ... He’s a goner?”
“Nah. We’re just not looking for him anymore. Say, why don’t we just cut it. The money is spent. You got paid. Nobody needs no news that they can’t handle. Especially news that they don’t even understand.” Benjamin Cromwell sighed, and spat his gum out onto the ground. “It’s none of your business now. Don’t worry about it. It’s old news. Nobody cares about old news, and let’s keep it that way. It’s my project.”
“It’s Mason, isn’t it.”
“Yep. Mason. He was quite a character.” Benjamin, with one hand holding the cell phone, reached down and grabbed the piece of gum his just spat. He looked at it with one eye. Reminiscing, he though hard about Mason. And he couldn’t bring himself to not care. Mason. Mason. Damn it. Mason was just a name. The expression on Cromwell’s face said otherwise. Mason. A drop of tear formed in the corner of his eye. Age lines around Benjamin’s eye suddenly easened. Only if the world knew.
“He was. What hap - Wait, we can’t talk about it here right?”
“N-No we can’t over this phone. I would, but I signed a contract, and the government probably doesn’t want more trouble. Hey. Come to the usual place. Five?” Benjamin tossed his gum into the trash.

Fiction
A Doctor Who fan fiction about Donna's daughter Barbara Jane.

The smell of salt water wafted up to that Captain’s open nose as he pulled the ropes on the sails trying not to sink his ship. The crew all around him were scurrying around panicking screaming “I DON’T WANT TO DIE CAPTIAN! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?” But the captain stayed to his work, determined not to crash into the rocks. There a huge storm that had taken hold of the ship, and there was no sign of release. The screams continued, and the captain did his best to stay focused, but found that he could not help but stop for a moment to recollect his crew. “MEN, LISTEN HERE, WE MUST-“
“Barbara Jane Noble, put that book down and help me in the kitchen”
Barbara Jane, BJ as her Great Gran dad would call her, was an avid reader. Where ever she went she had her new novel, always holding her attention. She loved books like Winnie the Pooh loved honey. Her obsession with books came from her father who would read to her every night before going to bed. It was all she thought about and when people told her to put her book down, she throws a fit.

Genre: Futuristic Adventure
Synopsis: A man gets a gets a misdelivered package. Murder and mystery ensue
Snippet:
“Jesus, this place is a mess. What did they do, put your apartment into a shredder?”
“It looks like it and I kind of feel like it too.”
I supplied Joe with a beer and a large garbage bag, and he started to pack away the bits that were obviously trash while I described my exciting twenty-four hours. By the end, Joe was gaping at me. He said, “You realize that this all has to be related, right? There’s no way Pedro’s is being asked about where something is and then your apartment is trashed like this. Just can’t happen. No way. Somebody has you and Pedro linked somehow, and they think that you or he knew where this thing was. Any ideas what they might have been looking for?”
“I hardly knew Pedro, though, why would anyone think we shared secret stashes?”

genre: postmodern
synop: something perhaps inspired by Tron and All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, although that is under reconsideration at this (very late) moment
snipp: "inside knowledge consists of things that 'insiders' know, but that outsiders generally don't"

* Fantasy
* A girl and her friends try to find and free Magic to save themselves, Magic, and everyone who uses it.
* “So…let me just get this straight.” Cassie said after a moment as set her mug down and leaned forward to look at him. “You want me, a sixteen year old girl who hasn’t even finished her schooling, to go with you, a practical-stranger, looking for something that might have Magic in it, because it’s weakening, but you have no idea where this something might be? And you chose me because I’ve been having weird dreams that might be connected to this, but also might just be me having weird dreams? And you think all this is true because some woman with freaky hands told you it was?”

“Yes,” he answered simply. Cassie didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

I'm in.

Genre: Chick-lit. Or possibly Chiclets.
Synopsis: Down on her luck, 50-ish Grocery store checker in Los Angeles meets an intriguing stranger in the checkstand. The stranger helps her develop a special talent for 'reading' people, gain sense of self, and perhaps even find love.

Excerpt:
Glenda swayed slightly in the checkstand, eyes glazed over, imagining herself walking a narrow street on a sunny afternoon in Paris. Three hours into her seven hour shift, traffic through the store was slow. She much preferred the busy times when it was impossible to think or daydream. Lately they had dimmed store lights in the L.A. region to save money, and it gave the place a tomb-like quality. After nearly 30 years as a checker, Glenda had seen it all. Managers who womanized, bullied, and betrayed their employees. Unions that became weaker and weaker as corporate stripped away benefits and protections. For all the customer interaction checking out five hundred people a day, being a grocery store checker in Marina del Rey was a pretty lonely business.

Please add me to the graph.

Thank you,
Sheeva

Could you please add me to the graph?

bookgrrl

What a cool idea. Add me as well! :)

Genre: Fantasy

Synopsis: A young warrior in a remote tribe of the Yucan discovers a ruin where ancient bloodthirsty gods were forgotten. A horrible curse threatens to consume him and destroy his people.

Snippet:

The ancient earth shook and an explosion of fire bloomed like a flower, lovely and deadly from the East. A plume of fire, a blinding white Sun Bird, plummeted into the depths of sea. Then the first petals of the Death Flower unfurled with orange and blood red.

Waves, the size of mountains, rose foaming and roaring from the sea. Forests smashed to splinters as the ocean consumed them, then the rest of the land was devoured in a cloak of fire that traveled faster than the swiftest eagle. The stones of the earth broke open and the long range of mountains, ancient and eternal, shook and cracked, crumbling and falling into the western sea.

As the sea boiled and bloated dead fish bobbed upon the surface, in the depth of the ocean, where the Sun Bird fell, a black stone that was at the heart of the fiery plume broke open. From the unfurling smoke and fire that erupted from the stone a Dark God was born.

I'm in!! * wordrebel *

Mainstream Fiction

A mother on the edge and a daughter simply done with the way her life has turned out have a life altering chance encounter with a cop at a crossroads of his own life.

SNIPPET:

He glanced at his watch. “Uh, no. Shouldn’t be too long. The incident-” he cut himself off and darted his eyes toward the young woman. She stared blankly back waiting for the information his stutter indicated. “Um, your mother’s, um.” He smiled and gave up trying to cushion the words. “Yes. Soon. They should be here soon. I told them there was still a pulse but the injuries were bad.” He winced as he said this but the girl’s face remained frozen, seemingly because of irritation instead of the worry he was expecting to see. Again he went back to his half smile. No response. He attempted eye contact. Again, no response from the pretty girl. He wasn’t proud that he was rating her looks and smile and body at a time like this, but he didn’t stop. “My name is Raymond. Ray. Rocello. You can call me Ray.” He widened his smile to the width of his thin face, giving him the slight appearance of the Scarecrow from Oz. The only difference was that Ray possessed none of the Scarecrow’s charm. The girl was deeply involved with her iPod as she leaned against her mother’s car. She heard him, but instead of answering, only nodded. She felt no urge to respond or give information about herself. Instead she inserted one earbud and then the other into her multi-pierced ears and pressed play. Ray could make out the muffled strains of The Ramones beating from the device.

Please add me! (And I’m lovin’ all the snippets!)

Genre: Science Fiction

Synopsis:
(Title: Constants) A lonely engineer’s obsession with numbers leads him to discover an ancient civilization of extraterrestrial origins.
I’m thinking 'Matrix' meets 'Da Vinci Code'. We’ll see how that goes :)

Snippet:
As she searched she started to love this new world, with its flash of daylight into night, that to her seemed to spin much too quickly, stirring the oceans and the clouds above into a frenzy of weather. She adored the moon that drew the sea into its gravitational embrace. The fierce heat of its sun upon the oceans invited her to spread her wings upon the warm sand, dared her to stare into its light as it bade the day farewell. For the first time she understood what it was like to want to live forever, but she had no one with whom to share that wish.
She was too far from home.

Oh yes, please! Add me. You know it's the only thing that keeps me on track!

Title: Fish in Flight
Genre: good question
Synopsis: Maxine and Edwin are getting into trouble. Again.
Snippet:
“Max, you have know for quite some time that the shop has been struggling. I feel like we’ve been having his conversation over and over for a long time. You keep telling me that you can’t find a job. I keep telling you that you can. I think you don’t want to find another job. I don’t know if you feel like you can’t handle the responsibility, or if you’re not ready for it, or maybe you feel like you don’t deserve a second chance. Maybe I should have you talking to a therapist instead of coming here every week.”

I was shocked. “Are you suggesting that you think I’m crazy?” I finally croaked.

“No, no, you see, that’s what I mean. It’s like you deliberately misunderstand everything I try to say to you. What I mean is, I think that there is something deep down inside of you that is blocking you from trying to go out and find a job and move on with your life.”

“I might as well go and talk to a therapist if you’re going to keep on talking to me that way,” I snapped.

He looked at me for a long minute and then unexpectedly changed tack. “How are things between you and Ed?” he asked evenly.

“None of your business, as far as I can tell,” I said tightly, trying to control myself.

“Yes, I suppose that is true. Maybe he can take care of the both of you on his pay check.”

I jumped up and slammed my hands on his desk. “That’s all I’m gonna sit here and listen to!” I stalked towards the door and he made no effort to try to stop me from leaving.

“See you next week, same time,” was all he said as I slammed the door behind me.

Genre: Sci-fi?

Brief synopsis: Following an explosion at a super-secret laboratory, a disease of unknown origin begins to ravage the US and quickly spreads to the rest of the world. Governments and societies collapse, plunging the world back into the dark ages. Ruled by a select group of the Immune, society fragments and the global economy grinds to a halt as the focus turns to simply surviving. A decade later, and a cure has finally been found. But when the doctor who created the cure goes missing and his research disappears with him, those closest to him begin to doubt that the cure being marketed by the top Immune is the real cure at all.

Snippet:

Day two and behind. Tomorrow I will catch up. The APL write in was a blast!

Dream Higher 2010

Write on....

Genre: YA Fantasy

Synopsis: Lorin is a vampire working for the International Paranormal Organization as an agent. At 17 years old, his biggest worry is his impending venomoid operation, where his fangs and venom sack will be removed to prevent him from changing humans. But then he meets Lex, a dashing young zombie who eats people, regenerates fast, and makes him feel, well, normal. Having feelings for someone who could crunch your skull is hard enough, but then another zombie decides Lorin looks like a tasty snack...and zombies are very territorial.

Snippet:

"He hadn’t hurt me. He’d done nothing that suggested killing me was on his mind. He’d protected me from the dragon, handed me my taser, and respectfully left when I got uncomfortable with his presence. Did I deserve to judge him like that? Was I doing the exact same thing people did to me? Great, now I was a hypocrite for feeling suspicious of him. Maybe that’s how humans felt. They couldn’t look past my actions because my species always glared in their face. Caution was better than making a mistake that’d end in death.

I was not human. I was a vampire. They had a good reason to fear me. Everything about me was superior to them—my senses, my speed, my strength. The only reason they had to trust me was an ethical one. But Lex… Why shouldn’t I give him a chance? Maybe he was strong, but I was strong too. Yes, he was a paranormal hunter, but so was I. I didn’t need to be afraid. I was a predator as well; fear was for prey.

I’d never met anything that could outrun me, and I doubted he would change that. Besides… I wanted to see him. I wanted to see him so, so bad.

He wanted to see me. That part was more important. I meant something to him. We were strangers but something about me intrigued him, just as something about him intrigued me. If I left him alone at that cavern entrance, would he give up on me? Was I willing to sit by and let what could possibly be my first true friendship slip out of my fingers? Never. Not when the hole inside me yearned to be filled, and something—though I didn’t know what—promised he might fill it."

Include me, please. :)

Genre: fantasy.

Synopsis: Two teenagers discover an alternate universe and stumble into a war.

Snippet:

The gold light spread, completely surrounding them. Rebecca was frozen, unable to move or even breathe. She stared at the boy, panic evident in his eyes. The chanting was definitely real; it was getting louder. It seemed to be in some sort of foreign language, but one unlike anything she had ever heard before. It was – melodic in a way. Peaceful. She could feel herself surrendering to its beat. It was beautiful.

QUACK. And then everything went black.

I'd love to be added! Thanks!

Genre: Fantasy (YA)
Short Synopsis: Constellations we watch are actually watching us.

Snippet:

I tugged at the tape in the middle of the package and the sparkling blue paper fell away. In my hands was an encyclopedia-style book with a midnight blue cover. The front was emblazoned with a map of stars, and the title in gold letters was simply “Astronomy for Beginners”.

“Thanks,” I told him, “I love to read, and this looks cool.” I was being polite. Truth was, I loved to read fiction novels, not textbooks. Chances are, this reference book would sit on my shelf untouched unless I needed it for a science project.

“Happy birthday,” he said, turning to leave with his mom.

Ooo! Add me!

Genre: Mainstream

Synopsis: A writerly twentysomething returns to her parents' house to help her mother care for her ailing father and is forced to reconcile an abusive past with a convalescent present.

Snippet: ...Eventually, the lantern's light sputtered and fizzled out and darkness filled the room.. Moonlight poured in through the bare window and pooled at the foot of my sleeping bag, illuminating the figures of My Little Ponies jumping over rainbows and nuzzling each other. I pulled the bag up to my chin, hooked Boo bear under my arm and waited for sleep. I listened to the sounds of my parents talking and moving around; I heard the clinking of glasses, the padding of feet. Eventually, their door opened and closed. Then it opened again, and I heard footsteps approaching.

political essays on a variety of topics

Genre: Romance/Adventure (I think...)

Synopsis: There's a village of people who, once they come of age, can see the colors of other people's souls in aura form. This village of people, legend says, was blessed by a goddess and are to use this tool to find their soul mate. Abigail James starts her journey and finds that, away from home for the first time, the world has a lot more than she'd thought.

Excerpt:

She was the second of the four children in her family and understood very well what was expected of her. She sat, nervous, in a chair upon the stone town square while one of the Elders told the long-known legend over again.

[That's all you're getting; I'm embarrassed to share my writing normally, and during NaNo it's so much worse than usual...]

Tim - please add me in. Thanks.

Genre: Mystery/Fantasy

Really brief Synopsis: Changes: It's kind of a mystery/fantasy with two main characters switching lives and involved in much intrigue (I hope).

Snippet: I have not started yet... tonight!

Title: Lockdown
Genre: I dunno
Synopsis: A woman spends a year in a residential treatment facility for anorexia nervosa.
Snippet:

Mary was a therapist. Christine's parents said Mary was locally and nationally renowned, a doctor of psychology, and had even been featured on Dr. Phil. Scowling at Mary's dark, bouncy, curly hair, Christine recalled the episode; it was a special on eating disorders. Dr. Phil, along with guests Dr. Mary Belvidere and Dr. Renee Carter, consulted with families of women with Anorexia Nervosa. Shock! Horror! See skeletons come to life, be amazed at the Living Dead Girl, existing only on coffee and cigarettes! Hurry folks, before she makes her final disappearing act!

I'm sure after I fall super far behind I'll regret this, but please add me!

EDIT: Oh, I missed the stuff we were supposed to include.

Fade Out

Genre: Young Adult
Synopsis: Madison has a reasonably normal life. Good grades, a best friend who means everything to her, parents that she gets along with as well as she can. When she meets Alex, though, she gets trapped in a world of emotional abuse that eventually causes her to be on the verge of losing everything. Too bad she's scared to leave.

“You would have gotten halfway there before chickening out and turning around. Then you would have lied about it and done it again next week.”
“Why do you think that? Whatever happened to us trusting each other?”
He smacked the wheel in frustration and she jumped. “Don’t turn this around on me, Madison. I’m trying to help you.”
“I don’t think I need to go. I told you that before.”
“And you’re wrong.”
“I’m not!” The girl in the restaurant leaned across the table to kiss her boyfriend, and Madison forced her eyes away. “I know what’s best for myself.”
He pulled her over and kissed her temple, making her flinch. He murmured an apology in her ear and wrapped his arms across her stomach. “Not anymore, Maddie.”
She stiffened in his arms and said, “Just… drive. Please.”
Disappointed, he pulled away and put his seatbelt back on. As he turned the ignition, he wearily told her, “I just want you to be happy again, Maddie.”
The music came back on, drowning out her quiet response. “Me too, Jesse.”

genre: sci-fi humor

plot: an alien race that has been quietly helping along the human race for years returns to Earth after a 1000-year absence, and not all are happy with what they find. As plans move forward to turn back the clock on the human race, only one crazed astrophysicist can stop them as she tries to rescue her adopted daughter.

snippet: 16th of March, 2010
She's gone! They took her and I don't know what they did with her, but she's gone! What am I going to do? Wait, get a hold of yourself, Molly. Is this what Carl Sagan would do if his cousin was stolen? Would he mope about the house, sleeplessly lamenting the silence? I think not. First things first: I will take my special pills to get to sleep, then I will examine the tracks outside. Then it will be time to plan. Those tentacled bastards won't know what hit them.

Hi,

I've started my first mystery --

Woman inherits decaying lakeside resort and an undisclosed sum of money -- if she can manage to fix it up and get paying guests in 10 months. She's got a group that wants to rent the resort, but they want to use the old dance pavilion. Can she repair it in time? Someone -- or some thing doesn't want her messing around with the building and will kill to stop her.

She had planned on being halfway to California by now. Not on vacation, but in search of a job. Her post-divorce savings were nearly gone, and she sure as hell couldn’t afford to stay in this Podunk town and fix up a ruined resort.

“The estate will pay you a nominal salary. You’ll have Miss Erickson’s own house to live in, and after five years – if you are still here – you get the rest of the bequest.”

“Nominal salary. Minimum wage, I suppose?” But it sounded better than sleeping in her car while she looked for a job.

“About that,” he agreed. “But you won’t have to pay rent or utilities.”
Emma shrugged. ¬“I guess I have no choice then, do I?” ¬She signed the papers that the lawyer held out to her and accepted a ring dripping with heavy old keys.

“Good luck then,” he said, holding out his hand for her to shake. “You’ll need it.”

She squinted at him with suspicion. “Why do you say that?”

He stepped into his shiny black Lexus and rolled down the window.
“The place is said to be haunted,” he said with a wink.

Emma hurled a handful of gravel after the departing car.

Please add me to the list.

Genre: no clue

Brief synopsis:
His father executed on specious charges of treason, his family rendered penniless and contemptible, young Torvald vows to get even with King Bård Blåskjegg and his descendents. Biding his time until he is of age, he meets up with Halgeir, himself a peasant and outcast of society, and the two become fast friends. Little did either dream that their common destiny lay in Torvald’s oath of vengeance against the hated King Bård.

Snippet:
After half an eternity, Bård heard a rap on the door. “Come in, yes, come in!” A shrunken, ancient man shuffled in as the king grabbed his arm and shut the door behind him. “Magnus, you’ve got to cast the runes again! The queen is in labor even as we speak. Mayhap the runes give a different cast this time around, with my heir about to enter the world!”

Magnus blinked; his watery eyes seemed to be looking not at the king, but through him. Bård shuddered at the penetrating gaze, fearful lest the diviner might somehow uncover a hidden blackness in his heart. He sensed in the old man’s silence an implicit indictment of him, not only as king, but as a human being. “Nay, you misunderstand me! I fear not only for my own safety, but for that of the child!” Bård ran his hand through his hair, half muttered to himself. “Why do the norns hate me so? Why do they conspire against me? The woes of kingship and country are almost too much to bear!”

“My liege lord. I will cast yet again. But remember, your future, and that of your soon to be born heir, lies in the path you choose to take, not in how the runes fall.”

Impatient, Bård gave a dismissive wave of his hand. “Yes, yes. Let me heard a final time what the runes have to say. May the gods look favorably upon kith and kin.”

“Indeed, your majesty.” The diviner removed a rune sack and white cloth from the folds of his robe. Magnus shuffled over to the king’s desk and removed all items from it before taking his cloth and spreading it out on the surface. The king hovered over him as he took great pains to place the cloth in the exact center of the desk, and several times Magnus had to gesture the king to stand aside. “Your majesty, I must needs have space and freedom to obtain the best casting.”

“Yes, of course. Forgive my anxiety.”

“No harm done. I just request your cooperation. Now, my liege lord, sit you down there and maintain quiet whilst I cast, I beg you.”

The king nodded and complied. The diviner cleared his throat, then closed his eyes in meditation, swaying slightly from time to time as he did so. At length, Magnus reached inside the bag and cast the runes, one by one.

“From much travail
“Comes Odin’s favorite
“Son of dawn and dusk
“Bringing joy and sorrow
“Riches and poverty
“Abundance and lack
“Power and weakness
“Wisdom and foolishness
“Eternal light and everlasting darkness.”

Please add me!

genre:
Fantasy (Sort of)

synopsis:
Set in an alternate Present day, the story centers around the trials and conflicts of Vampires, Hunters, and Werewolves.

snippet:

Vincent swallowed convulsively. So she knew then? No, it wasn’t possible. Humans didn’t believe in his kind. He decided to try to salvage the situation. “Vampire, me? I think you’ve been reading too many horror stories.”
He saw her questioning glance wander to his eyes. “These? Surely you’ve seen colored contacts before?” Her face showed that she was unmoved. “All right, fine, you win” Vincent said. “I am a vampire.”

Building The Beach: A young teen Justin visits his Godfather Delbert in Maine during the summer of 1975 to help him build an oceanside beach, clearing trees and building a pier. Veronica, a local girl with her own hard story, pulls Justin away from the beach-building task, leading to dire consequences for Delbert.

Lit Fic

cooldoctor1, using MS Word and Dragon Naturally Speaking.

At the very far end of the beach, on a high rock outcropping, Justin noticed a girl with blond hair. She was sitting and looking toward the ocean, arms crossed around her knees. She was far away and he squinted to be able to see her fully. He began walking toward her. The sand shifted under his feet making the walking slow, deliberate; he made his way toward the more solid, wet sand by the water. He jogged along a crescent of the beach toward the girl. In the distance she looked at him, then away again. He could see now that she had a pale blue dress.

As he got closer, the shoreline turned to rock, and he'd wished that he'd worn his shoes. With bare feet, he began to climb the rocks toward the girl. As he approached the precipice, the girl was gone. He made his way to the top of the promontory, and looking over the edge he could see her scurrying down the far side. The girl was his age roughly, and it was the first young person he'd seen all summer.

"Wait!," Justin shouted over the salt air gust. The girl continued to scramble down the rocks on the far side.

The girl finally did stop and turn around toward Justin. She put her hands on her hips and waited, looking at him like an old friend. He deftly hopped down the rocks on the far side of the promontory toward the girl and finally came face to face. She had gray-green eyes, a cleft in her chin, and hair that was as course as sawgrass. Now that he was closer, he could see her blue dress was soiled and torn at the hem. Her tanned legs had cuts like etched earth.

----Steve

* Untitled Fantasy novel

* Umm, still working on a plot. Something to do with a powerful Lich returning

* From the prologue, which takes place 300 years before the main story:
The call went out to the Southern Clans, but it was already too late. Even when the King of the Dwarves appealed to both the Elven and Human Kings for assistance, it was too late in coming. The Clan strongholds fell and the Orcs and their allies swarmed throughout the tunnels and across the mountains. Like rampaging buffalo they charged south, conquering and burning everything in their path. As they left the mountains and entered the central plains of the continent of Astrelian, a more powerful group of monsters joined the battle. Ghouls, wights, zombies and skeletons were soon more numerous than the Orcs and Goblins. Powerful magics were now also being used on the battlegrounds, and the combined armies of Dwarves, Elves and Men were being constantly pushed back.

Genre: Mainstream
Brief: Events in & Around a brew pub
Excerpt: The dark liquid was topped by a thin layer of ivory-colored foam. Leaning over the
glass, Gary inhaled the comforting blend of brewers yeast, chocolate, coffee,
and love.

Genre: Mainstream
Brief: Events in & Around a brew pub
Excerpt: The dark liquid was topped by a thin layer of ivory-colored foam. Leaning over the
glass, Gary inhaled the comforting blend of brewers yeast, chocolate, coffee,
and love.

Include me please!

+ Mainstream Fiction

+ Just a small-town girl, living in a lonely world, she took the midnight train going anywhere... No, seriously, late-'90s girl runs away from home to be a famous singer. Drama ensues.

+The sun was just starting to rise when she left, and she hadn’t turned on any of the lights on her way out, but that had been an annoying reminder of the way she could walk through that house blindly. She was born nearby and had never lived anywhere else. For twenty-one years she was happy to let her parents pay for the best of everything, and she had never felt any motivation to pursue any kind of career. And anyway, she’d never been good enough at anything that could lead to an appropriate career.

Yes, please add me. I need all the motivation I can get!

• Literary Fiction
• Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy grows up to rule the universe.

Genre: Young Adult

Synopsis: Untitled1: A girl is kidnapped by a young man, who is a serial killer. Told from 2 POVs- hers and her kidnapper.
Untitled2: Uses a character I cut from last year's novel. HIs name is Jake, and after being severely abused by his father for several years, fights back and kills his father. He's in a secure psychiatric facility.
Silence: Character, who doesn't currently have a name, has a crappy family life. Parents fight constantly, yell at him for the smallest things, and his sister's on who-knows-what. Doesn't spend much time at home or around people as a result.
Untitled 3: Heather gets dragged to a party one night and meets Aaron. Aaron, though he appears nice, is into drugs and Heather ends up dragged in also.

Snippet: (This is from Untitled 2) Real world's out as an option right now, so I'm stuck here. I look out the window. All you can see out of the windows here is the sky. They're too high up to see anything else. Can't hear anything either, with the thick plexiglass and chickenwire. All for my safety, and society's. Keep me from killing myself or others.
I wouldn't kill anyone else. I really wouldn't. Why would I? I would never have the same reason I did for the person I did kill. Unless I ended up in a really bad foster home. By the time I'm out of here, I'd be too old for that anyways. A foster home, that is. Not killing people. Is there an age when you outgrow killing people?
What morbid thoughts I’m having. I turn my mind back to the food. I sit back down on the bunk and set the tray on my lap.

Genre: Mainstream/YA?
Brief Synopsis: A girl goes completely crazy after a boy is killed in front of her at school. After her parents die two years later, her brother hunts to find a psychologist to help her and the psychologist and the girl have to get to the bottom of her problems, which may include dreams that predict the future.
A Snippit: “I need help,” Ryan started. The man raised an eyebrow. “Wait, no, not me. I need someone to help my sister. She’s ill and no one’s been able to help her. Yet. Someone recommended you.”

* Genre: Fantasy/Historical Fantasy (sort of)
* Brief Synopsis: Demons. Humans. Culture clash (yay!)
* Snippet:
"You remember Kenos?" Tebillon was asking.
"The hermit? Of course I remember him. He still gives me headaches." Razgar replied, frowning. Kenos was not high on his list of people to trust. He was the only demon in the Morodian forest who refused to live in Morode proper, instead creating a kind of permanent campsite on the forest floor, near the edge. Imagine living on the ground like that, Razgar thought. The man has no sense of personal security whatsoever.

Me please!

ty!

* mainstream
* a really brief synopsis of your novel - woman working. Man working. Work. All POV chars.
* a snippet of what you've written -
Chuck added a blank sticky note under the 'done' column on the wall of the meeting room. In two weeks, this room would be the center of Pronet's first iteration using the new methodology and he'd be on his way to having the company pay for his MBA. It had taken five years to pay off his undergraduate loans, but this time he was going to school without taking on a huge dept. This time he was playing it smart.

• genre: fantasy
• synopsis:
  Alaina, orphaned at the age of nine, is a troubled teenager with a remarkable artistic talent. While playing hooky at a nearby fair, she is mysteriously transported into a land where magic is governed by art. She must survive many challenges she encounters there, including one with deadly consequences: she appears to be the double of a recently murdered princess who was heir to the regional throne of the kingdom of Chicago.

• snippet:
  He stood there in the near darkness, breathing heavily. A single candle's flame afforded him only momentary glimpses of the terrible vision painting that leaned rakishly against the wall. Better that he bring the flame closer and destroy the thing. Better that it never have existed. What twisted mind had painted it?

  Cory knew. As tears slowly slid down his cheeks, he brought the candle close to the still wet surface of the painting. How could it ask this of him? He loved her!

  But the vision painting never lied. It had never shown itself to be wrong before.

  "Elena," he whispered.

  Someone knocked upon his door, a quiet double knock. Then: "Cory? Are you awake?"

  Feeling relieved and guilty and ashamed, Cory stepped back from the vision painting, seeing its terrible message hanging there before him even as he brought the light away, out of the secret closet and into his bedroom proper. His soft leather boots made little noise has he hurried over the old hardwood floors to his door.

  Another two knocks. "Cory? It is your cousin Elena."

  Cory drew open the heavy door

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