Thursday, December 20, 2012

Some Thoughts, and an Excerpt from TVOG

I haven't been avoiding this blog on purpose.  But when life has you by the neck, it's usually best to get out of the noose before browsing the internet.

That being said, I have almost zero to say; no updates, no pithy posts concerning writing, (alas) no extraordinarily eloquent exhortations.  Right now we're renovating the house in preparation for our move, and that pushes out pretty much everything else—including writing and blogging.

That doesn't include reading, thankfully.  A fellow missionary kid loaned me a omnibus of The Chronicles of Narnia a while ago, and I finished devouring it yesterday.  Ah!  Such goodness!

Aside from those random notes, I figured I'd give you something to chew on over Christmas break.  (More likely than not, this is the last time you'll hear from me in a while!)

*drumroll*

An excerpt from the Voice of God!

This scene takes place at the highest point of Myrkvar, at a building called the Seat of God.  Edon, the main character, is coming before the High Presbytery of Myrk for the first time.  (The Presbytery pretty much governs everyone in Myrk and rules from the Seat of God.)

And again, this is woefully unedited and rather choppy.  The description is a bit much and needs to be refined. ^_^  Thoughts on the whole would be appreciated!

--

A massive arch without doors guarded the front entrance, and into it were carved many symbols that Edon didn't recognize.  The tall walls of the hall fanned out from both sides, pocketed with designs and reliefs, so many of which that Edon didn't see half of them before they had reached the arch. 

On either side of the arch—which was wide enough for three men to pass without touching each other—stood two men. They wore simple white tunics and trousers, and wore a white cap on their heads. They both held smooth, bone-white staffs.

 “Welcome,” one said. “Sentinel Iorkus?”

The Sentinel knelt and touched his forehead to the stone floor before the arch. “I come in the name of God.”

The man inclined his head slightly, and enunciated his words carefully. “Welcome in the most holy Name of God. The Presbytery expects thee, and thy companions.”

“Thank ye.”

The man bowed and gestured inside. Sentinel Iorkus rose and unwound his shoes, motioning for the rest to do likewise. Edon pulled off the straps holding his shoe in place and kicked them off, following Iorkus, who walked reverently beneath the arch.

Edon found himself in what felt like an ancient temple built by supernatural hands. Massive, serrated columns of stone held up the straight curve of the ceiling, which didn't quite come to a point; three quarters of the way, the roof cut off and twilight shone through, a path of silver leading to the end of the hall.

The large stones of the floor were in a checkerboard pattern, alternating a glowing white and an obsidian black, and the pillars likewise alternated between black and white.

When Edon reached the end of this trail of silver, the hall billowed out into a perfect circle with no roof at all. The floor was completely white, with a solitary black star in the center, edged with gold. Around this massive circle there were walls painted with frescoes of the ages; battles and famines and centuries of peace. Some paintings were chipped in age, and some glowed as if they had been painted the day before. Directly in front of Edon, held up on a pedestal of white stone, was a larger-than-life replica of the Sacred Sword, plated in gold and beaten until it gleamed. Beneath it there was an empty throne of white stone draped in purple. The arms of the throne were carved as two roaring lions, and the pedestal holding the Sacred Sword composed the back.

On either side of the throne, smaller seats of a similar make curved symmetrically around the silver-lit circle of the hall. Counting the throne, there were forty-nine seats, seven sevens: twenty-four on either side of the great throne. Upon those seats sat forty-eight men robed in white.

And the eyes of every single man were fixed upon the newcomers.

--

Yeah, sometimes I go to town on the descriptions, at the cost of writing quality.  But hopefully the image of the silver-lit Seat of God is now as vivid in your mind as it was in mine.

What about you?  Have any awe-inspiring locations in your writings?

Sunday, December 16, 2012

A Long-Overdue Post

All right, I'm an awful blogger.

I'll be the first to admit it.

I mean, I left you guys out in the cold for almost a month. 

But I swear, I have good reasons.  Life is crazy, particularly when it is in Africa.  Before you roll your eyes at this rote excuse, let me expand.

Not only was I swamped with NaNoWriMo, but we lost our internet for two weeks, are preparing to renovate a house that looks like this, have been hosting a good friend from America for a month, AND I've been repeatedly beaten up by pre-calculus, and everyone but me came down with typhoid.  

My younger sister didn't stop there, however, and got a case of 3+ malaria, which is extremely severe.  Her fever shot up to 105.7 and we had to take her to the hospital.  

Liberian hospitals are a nightmare :P at one point they refused to discharge her even though she was back in good health.

And THAT'S the condensed version of the last 30 days.  It was, unfortunately, a lot worse than this sounds.

But now that my excuses are finished, let's get down to business!  First things first, wrapping up loose ends.  

I finished NaNoWriMo a day early! ^_^


I was overshadowed by my extraordinarily word-count-happy sister, however, who wrote 100,000 words (two novels) in the month of November.  Can you all give her a chorus of YOU'RE COMPLETELY INSANE for me?


Thanks.

The Voice of God still isn't finished, however.  Because my life went even crazier shortly after NaNoWriMo, it's still unfinished and at about 56,000 words.  If I can find the time to write two more chapters, however, the book will be finished.

That being said, I've been hit by 6+ new story ideas in the past month, and I doubt any of them will see the light of day for quite a while.  I still have quite a few things on my plate, though.  Will Vullerman and Tornado C are priorities after the Voice of God is finished, although I plan to take Tornado C at a leisurely pace.

If it sounds hectic, it is.  Hopefully things will settle down soon.

Tomorrow starts my early Christmas break, which is largely due to the fact that I'll be helping with renovations.  We're supposed to move into a new place by the New Year, and it needs a lot of work.  (Prayer would be coveted!)

What about you all?  Finish NaNoWriMo?  If not, never fear!  You've written more than you might have if you hadn't done NaNoWriMo.

All you non-NaNoers, what are you writing now?  Ready for Christmas break?

Fill me in.  I haven't been around for awhile!