Word Count: 1,909
Daily Reward: An afternoon nap and an episode of Once Upon a Time.
Illustration by Bronzemistral (2004)
Verdict:
Wee bit tired today, kinda burned out after a week at work. Still, it’s my day off so I’ve completely my word count by 3:40 pm. My total word count now stands at around 7,264 words. More dialogue. More of Kataryna being somewhat adorably geeky (she’s so enthusiastic about being gifted with a dead roach!). Not sure when to reveal more of Daniel’s back story and his relationship with Jamilyn. Is it more effective to point it out early on or draw it out until her crush has fully seeded itself?
Also, I’m going to run out of fan art of Kataryna and Daniel soon – at least of Kataryna in her pre-Reborne form (not really a spoiler for anyone who has been reading this blog regularly) and Daniel not wearing a loincloth. I’m not sure why everyone seems to draw him wearing a loincloth. I think they were aiming for the Native American vibe (it’s fairly popular amongst wolf furries). Of course, I do have a few NSFW pictures, and some of the two of them together, but the former isn’t appropriate and the latter isn’t appropriate YET. I do want to put up a picture of Fluffy (or just a random tarantula) but don’t want to trigger anyone with arachnophobia. If any of you are artists and wish to provide me with further artwork, I’d be very grateful!
Scrivener: Not entirely sold on Scrivener. If I want to change a character’s name or the spelling of a word (ie: flutterby to fyreflit), I don’t seem to be able to do it across the entire document, but only with individual chapters. This could be a bit tiresome should I try and change Jamilyn’s name in the future.
Extract:
(Context: Kataryna, being stubborn, refused the offer of a bed and chose to sleep on the hard ground. After a night of fitful restlessness, she is awoken…)
…But it wasn’t the dawn that had awoken her, not even the stiffness in her back, her thighs, her entire body. It was the sound of the gate clicking shut. The sound of something scraping across the dirt. She rolled to her knees, ignoring the painful cramps that came with it. “Who’s there?” she whispered into the darkness.
She gasped as she saw it creeping towards her — the gaping mandibles, the bulbous black eyes.
A scrittling. How had it opened the gate?
Fingers scrabbled out, frantic for any sort of potential weapon, but there was nothing except her pack. She clutched it to her chest. Perhaps she could fling it at the monster? Then, just as suddenly, the giant insect lurched forward and crumpled to the ground, limbs limp and bending at weird, unnatural, angles. Dead.
“Dinna fret. It’s just me.” Daniel’s deep voice, complete reassurance that almost sent her melting to the ground in relief. “I dinna mean to scare ye.” He loomed over the fallen scrittling and that was when Kataryna realised that it was one of those slain the evening before. “I brought you a present.” His laugh was a delicious low rumble. “Not quite flowers,” he said. “But I think more to ye taste somehow.”
Random things I googled today:
- Why insects cannot become supersized: it is because (as I suspected) that their respiratory system is only really successful on a small scale. What I DID discover, however, is it is also based on the tracheal system in their legs – basically to get oxygen to the end of each limb, the trachea need to be a certain width and this cannot increase proportional to size. Or something along those lines. Read about it yourself if you’re actually interested: http://www.aps.anl.gov/Science/Highlights/2007/20070808.htm
- I found a page of Scottish slang and jargon: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary_of_Scottish_slang_and_jargon