A ROW80 update first.
1. Fallen from Grace: write 1 chapter a week (moving week excluded) — I haven’t finished the chapter yet, but I am making progress. This novel is weird in that I have some really long chapters and some really short chapters. It was planned that way and was the same way in the previous novel in the series, but it still means that I can’t really sit down and write a whole chapter in one sitting. I thought I would have time and energy to write on Sunday, but I didn’t. I had 4 services to preach at in one day, and it was just plain exhausting. Monday I was still recuperating from that. Hopefully Wednesday and Thursday I’ll get some good writing time in.
2. Promo: Answer three interview questions a day until done — finished
3. Promo: Write out a guest post a week until done — finished
4. Lovely, Dark, and Deep short story needs to be written/plotted 2k a day due Aug 31st — I still haven’t started this. I’m going to get to get on it sooner rather than later. It’s 20k words! eep!!
5. Paranormal Romance short story 2k/day due Aug 9th — We’re still plowing through this. Our plan is to finish it this week. We have writing time set aside for today and tomorrow, and if we don’t finish it together, we’ll just have to write separately (which isn’t as fun, but it needs to be done for beta reading). At this point, we’re still only at just about 2,000 words.
Onto WIPpet.
If you don’t know what WIPpet is, I’m going to explain it. A WIPpet is a snippet of your WIP (Work In Progress). You post this snippet on your blog, then you link it up to all the others, and you check out some other awesome writers. We have all kinds of genres going here, so check them all out! Oh! Did I mention your snippet has to be related to the date somehow? Hmmm…I didn’t forget that. Feel free to get crazy with your math or keep it simple.
This was a crazy hard choice to make this week. You’re getting 3 paragraphs from my 11th chapter in Fallen from Grace. It’s not a fun chapter at all. My math is simple 3 for the 3 in 30. Grace was called out to a park for a stabbing…She’s just gotten to the scene and the sea of people parted easily.
Grace let out a breath and checked the man’s body. There was a knife protruding from his side just below his ribs, blood seeping out onto the light colored cement below. She didn’t dare move the instrument for fear he would completely bleed out.
She checked his pulse and then opened his eyes; he was definitely unconscious. Morgan arrived out of breath with Johnson followed closely behind. She glanced up at the other officers and pointed down the man on the ground. Grace got up, being replaced by Johnson, and went to the child crying and the other man by the drinking fountains. Her feet dragged. There was nothing good about this situation at all, nothing good could come of it.
The man by the fountains stepped out, his chest puffing up as he shuffled the boy behind him. Grace knew in that instant the child was his. It was a classic protective move, and something had happened. Her stomach knotted and twisted as she took another step forward, everything moving in slow motion as she walked closer to who she suspected was the victim and the offender.
Thanks for joining today!
Adrian J. Smith 
Ergh. I’m feeling a bit like Grace, and I don’t think I like where this is going.
Congrats on keeping up with the ROW80 goals. :) I managed…er…none since Sunday.
I haven’t managed any since Sunday except the 1000 words yesterday. To the end if the week rush!
Most people aren’t going to like where it’s going, but I do have a point to make with it.
Yikes! Yeah, this doesn’t look good at all. I hope the kid’s ok.
Yeah. Not good. You’ll be one if the first to find out though!
WIPpet. WIPpet good! Sounds like you’re busy and rockin’ it.
Thanks! I’m always busy!!
Great excerpt Adrian. You draw us as the readers into the scene so skillfully. I’m feeling sympathy for Grace here, something like this is never good and to be the one who has to deal with it can’t be easy.
It’s not easy and she knows it. I was literally bawling my eyes out when I wrote this entire chapter.
Ah that’s nice. It’s great that you got into it so much. That makes it even better I think, when we invest our emotions into what we’re writing. :)
It does. But it made my day suck lol and it’s a long chapter that I need to do some serious revising on. I hope it’s all worth it
I’m sure it will be in the end!
You drop us off at a point where I think most of wish the story really COULD just end right there. It can be a bit scary to involve seriously emotional scenes. But life is seriously emotional sometimes, and it can help the reader deeply connect. Great excerpt.
Thanks! They better connect with what I went through to write this chapter
Lol, make an author’s note ;)
Lol I don’t think it works that way
Gripping excerpt! I was surprised the man on the pavement wasn’t already dead? Blood staining the pavement? Eeegh. Stabbings are never good… Great job on your ROW80 goal progress. :)
The stab wound is in his side. And it’s only one. He’d just been stabbed too so not dead =P
Oh, wasn’t saying it wasn’t believable! More like, I think I would keel over and die if I were stabbed in any other place than, like, my foot. lol
Lol well he was beaten to the point of unconscious first but you don’t find that out until later. =P
Congrats on your progress on your goals! That’s a lot of wordage you’re intending to get done in the next few weeks.
Quite a scene in your wippet snippet! Great portrayal of the dad, and lots of dread.
Thanks!! I think I can do it though. My main goal is just to finish this novel. I don’t care so much about the short
This scene looks like its going somewhere intense. You captured the emotion and conveyed the sense of unease really well. :)
Probably one of the most intense chapters I’ve ever written
O no, it’s so hard to read these kind of scenes when kids involved. :( Nice job though, I hope everyone turns out ok. Minus the guy with the knife.
It’s hard to read and write these scenes
What’s the usual length of your longer chapters? For some reason mine always seem to stop at 1600 words…I don’t know, haha
In this series my long chapters are 6,000-8,000 words usually around 6500. My short chapters are 2,000-3,000 and usually around 2300. It’s written more episodic than my other novels. My other novels have chapter lengths between 2,000-4,000
ooh. my chapters are puny then. I just tend to make my scenes very to-the-point, haha
Mine tend to grow the more I write, meaning the longer I’m in this crazy writing world the longer my scenes get for the most part
Oooh! I totally get the dad in this scene. Ready to defend. Ready to deal with having defended. That IS a miserable situation. :-( I hope the dad gets off easy.
Ummm…
Or maybe not?
You can PM me on fb if you want me to tell you
This scene definitely draws on the anxiety. This must be the scene you told me about.
It is. =(