As a bonus prompt, which can be completed at any point in November but MUST be in your NaNo project. (Doesn't have to stay after you edit, just can't be written into a side short story, etc.)

The requirement is only that it somehow incorporates a squid. This can be something like mentioning calamari or a painting or a real live squid!

Post your excerpts here and you will be awarded with cookies at the TGIO. ;D

Challenge accepted! Especially if we can mention calamari. My female lead is a professional chef...and this could be a good conversational starter, because I'm pretty sure my male main character would refuse to eat it.

Look, now I have a whole new scene plotted out. Thanks, Squid! I'll post it once I have it written.

This plane wasn't going anywhere tonight, and the smarter passengers knew it.

She needed to call her husband, and her kids, to let them know she wouldn't be home tonight. Maybe she'd buy a sacrificial teddy bear or a pink squid for Lupe. She usually didn't buy things at the airport, but she'd promised to take the kids to the zoo. If she promised Lupe a stuffed animal, she wouldn't complain when she called at bedtime.

(And yes, I'd take out one of the 'promised' when I edit, but maybe keep in the teddy bear and pink squid.)

Two prompt challenges in one sentence! Way to go!

I don't believe you. I never got my cookie LAST year, when I wrote an epic battle scene pitting my main characters against a giant man-eating squid that they weren't allowed to kill because it was an endangered species, and they only survived because they distracted it with shiny stuff, which led to one of my favorite lines of the whole book: "He just wasn't a shiny kind of guy." ALL THAT, and I didn't get a cookie! Not even one little crumb!

...That said, I totally accept the challenge. Again. But I'm NOT writing any epic squid battle scenes this year! ...Although, hmm, maybe a squid-relatedprankof epic proportions... Hmm... What pranks might be pulled with a squid...

Darn you, Squiddish! You and your squiddy dare! It's just too TEMPTING! I CAN'T RESIST!!! ...And besides, like I said, last year it led to one of my favorite lines of the whole story...

:c yeah by the end of NaNo last year I was like nonexistent but I REALLY WILL BE AT THE TGIO THIS YEAR FOR REALS.

Well now I feel like I really need to prove myself with this meal. Ive got a long-term contract on the line. I wish I would have known before tonight, or I would have done some more grocery shopping. I could have made veal or calamari. I can even make a pretty good consomm.

[...]

I have absolutely no idea what those things are, butthey sound super fancy. Way too fancy for me, I would probably hate them. Especially the calamari; isnt that fish?Jackson said, with a goofy exaggerated look on his face and his hands held up to further illustrate his confusion.

Its squid, the chef corrected.

Oh God, no." He wrinkled his nose in disgust, like a petulant child."Cant you cater my parties with spaghetti and hot dogs instead?

Gemma held a hand over her heart and staggered backwards. You wound me, sir! You would diminish me to a common fry cook! The only worse thing you could ask for would be cupcakes.

Jacksons eyes grew wide and his eyebrows shot up, his whole face turning into a caricature of a clown. You can make cupcakes?

Get out of my kitchen, right now. You are hereby banned, she said, trying to look angry, but failing miserably.

I like this writing prompt. Maybe it will help when I'm running out of steam for my daily word count. The twelve year old main character really likes science. Maybe her class report will have to be on.... you guessed it.

Please note, I really don't edit anything during this month. Here it is my first ever squid reference:

Just then Charlie came banging in by the side door, Jeff on his heels. The swung open the basement door and tromped loudly down the wooden stairs.

Ill go see what they are up to, Dad said.

I headed for the basement stairs also. I pretended to be investigating what all the commotion was. Charlie had led Jeff over to the cabinets that held Dads biology specimens. I guess the school let him take them home when he quit teaching. They had been example of animals he had collected and preserved in formaldehyde.Theyd been his collection since he worked on his college degree. I thought Dad would have a stroke when he saw Charlie shaking one of the bottles in front of Jeffs face.

See, Charlie said,the squid has a pointy head.

He noisily put the bottle back in the cabinet. He then grabbed another bottle and shook it so the round head of the octopus could be seen.

I think Dad would have yelled at him but he was controlling his temper. Im sure he didnt want Charlie to drop the bottle.

Charlie looked up and saw us standing there with our mouths open.

Tell him Dad, tell him squids and octopuses are different animals, Charlie demanded.

Thats squid and octopi and yes they are two different species. Now, carefully put the bottle back. Ive told you repeatedly that you may look at the specimens, but not to touch them, Dad said.

Even if they are two different animal, Jeff said, that aint a real squid, squids is really giant, as big a submarine.

Some squid are very small, like that one and please dont say aint. Dad said. Lets go upstairs.

Okay, Jeff mumbled.

I'm hoping to eventually write in an appearance of a live squid, but just in case that gets relegated to book 2 (you never know how these fantasy things are going to go), a back-up squid:

"There weren't many of the distinguished Orrin-Jin who settled in Dyanis, which made him a particularly valuable ally, if Ilaqu could convince him. Unfortunately, he had adopted some of the pomposity and tiresome formality of his new home, and took most of an hour just to welcome them, to show them around the guild (as if they needed to see all three main halls, the trophy room with a squid mounted across an entire wall, and the wine cellar), and to offer hospitality before finally taking them to a small meeting room, where they could discuss the matter at hand."

I like this one.

Me and Jack are connected on a spiritual level.

Ahahah. I love it. That father is like boy you best leave my stuff alone.

You always have time fr giant trophy squids!

He thinks it's giant, but that's only because he hasn't met the dream god's squid-attendants yet!

(The dream god is a dragon that lives in the ocean, so of course it has squid-attendants.)

The fisherman leaned one elbow on the counter and looked Kokkoroh up and down, Not a fly fisher? Well, what kind of fishing do you do?

Harpooning. Wed get a bunch of us in one boat and go fishing for squid.

For a moment, the shopkeeper stared at Kokkoroh with a blank face, blinking rapidly, before breaking out into hearty laughter, Thats not fishing! Son, thats monster fishing! This here, this is a civilized sport! We use rods and reels and different lures to catch fish, not spears! Haha, thanks, son, I needed that laugh.

Well, youre welcome? Kokkoroh wasnt sure what to do next, So, do I get the job?Im willing to learn.

The fisherman wiped his eye, No, sorry, I dont have the time to train you. Why dont you go find your hobby, and get a job there?

I like cookies!

You should be hungry after that sleep. She said and set the tray on the table. Sit. Checked your favorites. Youve got sauted calamari and mushrooms in a garlic butter sauce. Ten ounce filet mignon, medium rare, with fresh onion rings. Backed potatoes with genuine Wisconsin cheddar cheese, green beans. And for desert apple pie a la mode. Thats the one under the stasis cover to keep it hot and cold till you start eating.

I'm glad you decided to go with this idea after all! I think it adds a really cool touch to the scenery.

Having done the calimari thing last year, here is a different take this year (and the squid will play a later role...):

Chase breathed deeply. Something was very different. He opened his mouth and felt water within it. And yet he was breathing somehow, though the "air" felt somewhat thick and heavy. Still, he was breathing and very clearly underwater.

"Am I dead?" Chase heard his voice reverberate a little. It sounded louder to his ears than he expected it would.

"You do not look like you're dead," someone said.

Chase turned slowly. He was very close to what appeared to be a giant squid, its long, thick tentacles moving sensuously about it, each one in a constant, fluid motion that was hypnotic to watch. Each of the squid's eyes was almost as big as Chase's head. The eyes were a beautiful blue-purple in hue.

Chase flapped his arms and kicked off the ground, swimming backwards and upwards until he bumped his head against the rough ceiling of the cavern.

"Do not be alarmed," the squid said. "You are safe enough for the moment. Safe. Enough."

Oh man, I am so glad I got this in here. It was awesome to write.

"Calm down," Erin said. She had a handful of tentacles tucked under one arm and was pulling on something - Raye shuddered again - stuck to Raye's neck. "I'll have this in a second."

"Not fast enough!" Raye grabbed onto the bench she'd fallen off of, figuring that the least she could do was not punch Erin in the face accidentally, but the thing was still holding on for dear life.

And then it was gone. Raye lay on her back, panting, afraid to look over and see what kind of monstrosity she'd been attacked by.

"It's dead now," Erin said calmly.

Well, if it was dead... Raye sat up, rubbing at the spots on her wrists and neck where the thing had been clinging on. They didn't feel slimy any more, and nothing seemed to be swelling, which was a good sign. Hah, she'd defeated it after all. Well, they had defeated it. Whatever it was. Sprawled in the bottom of the boat was an amorphous thing that didn't look like any fish Raye had ever seen before. It had legs, for one thing. Lots of them, and two extra long ones with little flippers on the end. One of them was resting awfully close to her foot. She kicked it away, gently at first, and then with a little more force when it didn't move.

"It looks a lot smaller like that," she said.

To her surprise, Erin agreed. "I think it's because the tentacles aren't moving around so much." The other woman rubbed a red stripe on the side of her face. "They add a lot of effective volume."

Raye nudged it again with the toe of her boot - the unlaced one, in case she had to lose it quickly - just to make sure it was really dead. "I caught a sea monster?" she said, testing out the idea.

"A small one, at least."

A horrifying thought arrived at the forefront of her mind. "A small one, or a baby one?" Her wide eyes met Erin's in mirrored expressions of wonder. They both looked back down at the dead thing in the bottom of the boat.

"I think that should be the end of your fishing experiments," Erin suggested.

Raye enthusiastically agreed.

Squids have actually commandeered a rather important part in my book (and a lot of words) but here is a nice squidful bit for you:

Hey, she called over her shoulder. Hello? Someone come look at this!

Dasairnaral was the first to come. The glow was separating now into maybe a dozen distinct spots of light. Moonsquid, Dasairnaral told her. A lucky sight.

Isada did not feel lucky. The lights coalesced, then split again, distancing themselves ever further. Then, one broke the surface, rising up at the end of a long tentacle. It reached up, and up, and finally wrapped itself around the railing as Isada threw herself back. Another tentacle, also glowing brightly at the end, joined it, moving just as deliberately.

Moving away to the side and peering cautiously back over, Isada saw that a great head of some kind had breached the water, and was looking out at them with huge, perfectly round eyes.

So this is a squid, she muttered to herself. It was much, much larger than she'd expected.

It's so small, Dasairnaral noted. It must be very young.

Horrified, Isada asked How big do they get?

Oh, they never stop growing, and they can live a very long time. The ones that usually gather around Ourugathis are longer than this ship, just in the body, and their tentacles twice that long. Isada could feel herself going white, but Dasairnaral's attention had turned back to the water. There, like that one.

Isada looked to where she was pointing. She would have thought the shape a whalelegends and paintings of the ship-like fish had reached even to Arakinden. But of course the elf was right; there, trailing it by an absurd distance, was a cluster of bright lights.

The enormous squid bobbed up out of the water, looking somehow lazily at them with one eye like the moon. Then, as if there was no sense at all to the universe, it rotated, turning upside-down and splaying its tentacles out around it to drape back into the ocean, around a beaked mouth full of teeth.

Isada wanted, very badly, to go home. And that was before it began to speak.

Who comes upon the surface to see the great god within the waters?

Sure that nothing could entice /her/ to answer, Isada looked for Ilaqu, spotted him standing by the railing on the other side of the small squid, which had now pulled itself up to the side of the boat, so that it could look over the railing, or perhaps so that it could climb right in with them.

I am Ilaqu, he replied, voice firm, and she thought perhaps the abundance of alcohol was a benefit. Koramman of the Ordas.

How nice, the squid intoned. But I was not speaking to you.

Quick setup: My POV character is Santa Claus and this is Christmas night.

I emerged from the chimney in a very beautiful family room. It was probably the nicest one I've seen so far tonight and I have seen a shit ton of family rooms.

Sitting under the Christmas tree was a little toy elf with a red ribbon tied off around his neck into a bow.

"Oliver was here," I muttered to myself.

I picked up the annoyingly happy, stuffed elf and tossed him back into the never ending toy bag. Good bye, Oliver.

I reached in my bag and pulled out a stuffed animal squid. "Strange kid," I said as I placed the stuffed animal under the tree.

HAHAHA!!! I actually did it! AND IT DOESN"T SOUND COMPLETELY FORCED!

"Are these terrestrial constellations or not?" Rhiannon asked lazily. Nari furrowed his eyebrows, trying to figure out what the word "terrestrial" meant. "I don't think so. Why?" He asked. Rhiannon shrugged. "Is it just me, or does that thing right there look like a squid?" She asked. Nari stared at the place in the sky were she seemed to be pointing.

A group of stars clustered together in a shape that could be somewhat reminiscent of an octopus or squid-like creature, but if Rhiannon hadn't pointed it out, he never would have noticed it. "Are you hungry for calamari or something?" He asked. Rhiannon shrugged. "I haven't had it in a while, and I was just thinking about it. So sue me."

Cookie? ^.^

I know youre hiding me. And I know why.

He holds up his finger again to stop me until heends hiscall. Thenhis brow softens and he becomes almost warm. I just wantthem to check you over andfix you up.

You could have done that in Chicago.

No. I want you examined by one of thoseSuperconducting Quantum Interference Devices, a SQUID. It gives us the best MRIs. And while they are at it,theyll check your nogginfor neural damage.

<more to follow>

"Hey, where is Frannie?" I ask as I join Meghan in the lounge.

"He is not feeling well today," Meghan says.

"Oh? Too hung over?"

"No, he ordered calamari in a bar. He is out sick for the rest of the week."