Tag: <span>story</span>

Anna (Secret Diary Of A Serial Killer)

This month I’m taking part in the A-Z Challenge! Which means I’ll be writing 26 posts (on set days through the month) each one corresponding to a letter of the alphabet. Today is day 1, which means letter A.

My theme for the month is: Secret Diary Of A Serial Killer. Each post will be a new chapter in the story – I’m really excited to finally get this novel idea out of my head and into words. I hope you enjoy it! 🙂

 

Anna

Branches scratched at her face, their inky blackness stealing the moonlight as she tried to move silently through the woods.

Her breath came in plumes, if she could have seen it.

She was so quiet. She had to be. Moving like liquid as she crawled through open spaces before pressing against each tree. Making her way towards the road, she hoped. Her feet were bare, the leaves and moss cushioned her steps but the chill night air was starting to kill the sensation in her toes.

Keep moving. Keep on moving.

She had to get away. She knew nothing else but that one truth. The woods couldn’t last forever, there had to be salvation somewhere. She couldn’t let herself think of the alternative.

The moon was hiding too, now. Furtively peering between the clouds, giving no help to her plight.

She moved slowly and carefully, so as not to make a sound. Not to draw attention to herself.

Then more crawling. Chest pressed to the ground, the thin vest giving no protection from the damp earth. Finally reaching the next tree she turned and sat with her back pressed to the bark, the rough wood slicing at her bare arms and shoulders. She was scared, more scared than she had ever been.

Why was she free? Why had she been able to escape? She knew it was a trap of some kind but couldn’t pass up her only chance of escaping.

Clamping a hand to her mouth she squeezed her eyes shut. Stifling a scream that had been building up with her terror. How could this be the end of her life? Why her? Why choose her? She shook her head gently. This couldn’t be happening. She reached around to touch her hair. Blonde now. She didn’t like it, and didn’t understand why she had been forced to dye it, to cut it.

For a minute she let herself cry. Knees pulled up to her chest smothering the sounds, trying to be invisible as her body shook with each sob. Then, she stopped. Done with crying. Done with feeling sorry for herself. She wiped her tears away with the back of one mud streaked hand and quietly pushed to her feet, crouching to peer around the tree.

No one in sight. Cautiously she crawled forward, inching towards the next tree.

Behind her a branch snapped underfoot.

Was it just an animal? She had no time to think. Without looking back, she bolted from her hiding place, charging through the brush in desperation to get to a road she hoped was there.

I love it when they run.

Next Chapter: Body


A to Z Challenge

I recently saw people talking about an “April A to Z Challenge” on Twitter, and it sounds like a really fun thing to take part in! The basic idea is that you write something – be it a short story, poem, blog post, chapter, whatever you want – each weekday during April (and a weekend at the end, to make enough days), corresponding to each letter of the alphabet. Then you go on a sort of Blog Party every day to share your work and check out others taking part in the challenge. 🙂

Everyone chooses their own theme for the posts they’re going to make during April. I’ve had a story in mind for a few years – well, the original idea was a collection of short stories which all add up into one large story, but now I’m leaning more towards it being one novel split into chapters. But that might change. Panster woo! 😉  And this challenge sounds like a perfect opportunity to get it out of my head and onto paper, with each chapter/short story fitting each letter of the alphabet.

So my theme reveal (and novel title) for the A to Z Challenge is…

Secret Diary Of A Serial Killer

It feels so good to actually get that title out into the world! And I’m really excited to be writing something that’s so different from what I usually write. For those new to my blog (Hi! Welcome 🙂 ) I usually write urban fantasy, but for this story I’ll be delving into the world of crime writing. Maybe some fantasy will pop up in there, as I’m a pantser that’s always a possibility, but right now I doubt it.

Are you thinking of taking part in the A to Z Challenge? What theme have you chosen?


A New Day

A year and a half ago I entered a competition called The Shattered Sky. It was run by an artist and it was to “write 1-2 pages of text that is based on the piece of artwork in progress”.  This is the image we were all shown to write our text about:

shatteredSkyUnfinished

The prizes were too good for me to pass up entering, so I wrote a short story titled A New Day, and I won! 🙂  The piece of art wasn’t updated or finished until sometime after the competition. Below is my winning entry, A New Day, and the finished artwork.
 

A New Day.

A cool breeze rolled over the mountain side, playing with strands of my hair and pulling them across my face. It had been a long night. Sitting up, I brushed the tendrils behind one ear and looked out through the darkness. Waiting.

My skin was goose bumped and I pulled my knees to my chest in a failed attempt to keep warm. The chill of the night air clung desperately to my skin, hungry for what little heat my body had left.

Taking a deep breath I could smell the frost in the air and absentmindedly rubbed my arms. Not long now, I told myself.

As a faint glow started to tease at the edge of the horizon I stopped, transfixed by what was about to happen. This was it. This was the moment I’d been waiting for. Leaning forwards, captivated by what was to come, I let myself be drawn in.

The first light broke free, like a crack through the sky. I fell to my hands and knees, never taking my eyes off the horizon, and carefully crawled towards the glow. I could feel the anticipation building and let out a slow, shaky breath.

Shadows elongated and distorted as light began to spread across the land. I realised that I was holding my breath and let it out in a rush, watching as the sun’s rays chased away the darkness that had ruled only moments before.

It was beautiful.

I smiled as the light touched my face and closed my eyes for a moment, the new day warming my skin with gentle caresses.

Leaning back on my hands I looked out over the mountain tops, seeing the sunlight take over the sky, shattering the darkness. It was miraculous, this moment. My moment. I watched as colours spread out from the horizon – gold, orange, lilac – turning airplane trails into strands of gold, stitching together the morning sky.

Pushing to my feet I took a step forwards and reached out. The sunlight danced over my skin, filling me with warmth that made me remember I was alive.

Alive. What a strange feeling it was.

Giddy with happiness I spun around. Laughter built up inside me and I let the sound bubble up and out, echoing around the mountains. They sounded as happy as I was.

As I stopped I saw the sun was almost whole. Out from the horizon, free from the darkness.

Standing on tip toes I stretched my arms up, reaching for the sky. I never wanted this moment to end.

The wind caught my hair again, playfully whipping and twirling it behind me, bringing with it the scent of a new day. Lowering my arms I closed my eyes once more and lifted my face to the sky, welcoming the morning light and the freedom it brought.

Because that’s what I was now. Free.

 

shatteredSkyFinished
Artwork by Angel Illustrations


Story A Day vs WiP

So, the Story A Day challenge worked really well for what I set out to do!  Day one refreshed my mind.  At day two my brain was switched back on in writing mode and I had a flood of ideas for my WiP that have made me so excited to work on it again.  Day three I was still working through the ideas in my head for my WiP while I wrote Death By… (which is possibly my favourite story of them all).  Then at day four I made the mistake of forcing myself to write a Story A Day instead of actually working on my WiP, which is what I really wanted to do.

I temporarily forgot how the Story A Day challenge was a tool for me, to get my brain back in writing gear, and instead I forced myself to work on a challenge story instead of the project that I was doing this all for!

Which means, for now, no more Story A Day stories because I’m really eager to get back to my WiP!  The ideas I’ve had basically mean I’m changing the whole world-building for the novel.  This is no small task and I’m wondering if it hasn’t sunk in yet just how much work I have ahead of me because instead of feeling nervous, I’m really excited by it 🙂  Which is why I know I need to work on that instead of the challenge for a while.  My brain is back in writing gear, my enthusiasm is soaring and the fun is absolutely back in writing for me!

I will be writing some more Story A Day stories, I enjoyed doing them and still have a couple of ideas that I want to get out at some point.  But for the time being, they won’t be every day because I really need, and want (woo!), to work on my WiP.  And that’s the most important thing, to get the novel written 🙂

Wish me luck!

 


Day Four Story: Made From Magic

I do confess that I don’t like the title of this story and it may get changed later, but I’m really tired so for now it can stay as it is.  As with the others, this short story hasn’t been edited – I just finished writing it a minute ago – so please forgive any errors 🙂

Enjoy! …hopefully 😉

 

Made From Magic.

There’s always a guy with an eye patch.

“Do you guys buy them in bulk?” I asked.

The guy who was guarding me ignored my question and continued looking ahead. He stood with his back facing the door, arms folded behind him. He was stocky, about 5’9” – short for a werewolf but I doubt anyone ever told him that. That must have been one hell of an injury to take the eye of a were.

Suddenly he stepped aside. A moment later the door opened and a thinner, more classically handsome man, walked through. He was greying at the temples and had equally grey eyes. The door closed behind him and the werewolf resumed his place in front of it. But this guy was no wolf.

He circled around me. I kept him in sight for as far as my head would turn. They’d bound my hands behind the chair and my head was restrained with a strap.

Eventually he came into view again. I had a sudden image of him making faces behind my back and I burst out laughing at the absurdity of it.

He frowned at me. “You have a strange sense of humour. For someone in your predicament I’d have thought you to be more…” He paused. One hand circling as if winding something up in order to find the right word.

“Can we move this along?” I said, bored of his time wasting.

His mouth snapped shut and his gaze hardened. “Very well. I’ve never known someone in such a hurry for torture.”

At a flick of his wrist the floor in front of me vanished. The spell was one I didn’t know. One that only he, or those he deemed worthy enough to tell, would be able to use. And one that I’d been waiting for him to cast.

I whispered a few words under my breath and the werewolf sprung forward. His eye widened in horror as he realised his fate. As he fell into the hole at my feet I finished the words of the second spell I had on my lips and my sorcerer captor stood as still as stone, his hand half way through a flourish. A spell that I’ve no doubt would have hurt like hell.

I worked my hands out of the rope I’d loosened hours before, and undid the strap at my head and the one at my feet.

“Now,” I said. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

I reduced the intensity of the spell enough so that he could talk.

“We bound your hands!” He cried out. “You can’t cast!”

“Yeah,” I said. “I don’t work like that.”

I flexed my wrists, they were stiff after being bound for so long.

“You’re an abomination!” He shouted.

“Perhaps.”

He was probably right. I didn’t come from a magic user family. I came from a spell gone wrong; I was made from magic, not born into it. The same rules that they had to live by, didn’t always apply to me.

“But that’s why you wanted me here, right?” I asked, taking a step around the hole towards him.

His eyes followed me and he clenched his jaw. He didn’t need to answer, I knew it was why they’d brought me here. It was what I’d been counting on.

“The thing is,” I said, flexing my arms above my head. “I wanted me here too.”

“Why?”

He tried to watch as I walked behind him, mimicking his movements from earlier. I stopped at his back and said a spell that pushed him forward towards the hole.

“Because I don’t like you,” I said.

It wasn’t the whole truth but I’ve seen too many Bond movies to stand around talking about my reasons for killing the guy before I do it. As he vanished over the edge, his scream echoed around the room.

Well, that was the easy part. Now to get out of here.