NaNoWriMo (Sneaky Peak)

This year is my first attempt at NaNoWriMo and so far it has been a pleasurable experience. I had not thought to post extracts of my progress, and be warned they are as is with no editing/rewrites etc., mainly I think because the idea for the story had come about from some flash fiction (it was to be posted in 12 parts but I decided to stop at part 10 when I chose it to use as a basis for Nano - part 1 is still avaible on the blog).

My progress has been steady and I have been lucky enough to find some writers to word monger with in the evenings and at weekends and I think it would have been much harder without them. I am currently backed into a corner with the story and unsure which way to go next and have been struggling this week. I am hoping that once I get through this momentary writers freeze I will be merrily on my way.

I considered writing a summary but as the story is still unfinished I will leave you with four extracts taken from page 2, 18, 27 & 36. Any feedback would be appreciated.

The main characters are Clare and Rob. Clare is a retired actress, local celebrity and the biological mother of Rob. Rob has just become a police detective on the day that Clare turns up in the police station, he does not know at this point that she is his biological mother.

The first extract is taken from near the beginning of the story and from the most important scene. From this point; the story of Clare is told retrospectively from what has happened building up to this scene and the story of Rob is told moving on from this point as he solves the case.

Extract 1
She kept turning almost frantically, her eyes clamouring to find a familiar face, and then she saw him, eyes ablaze with confusion and panic as he walked slowly towards her, his arms outstretched a flash of concern across his face. She fixed her eyes on his and for a moment she thought she saw recognition in them. He touched her arm and the warmth from his hand sent a signal along her nerve endings, she knew she could end the show now, it was curtain time, and she let all the energy that had been tensed up in her body go free, as she exhaled she relaxed every muscle, her fingers released the bloodied machete to the ground, her knees gave way and she fell into his arms.

Since Extract 1, a body has been found & another murder has taken place, Meg is the receptionist at the police station, a close friend of Clare and love interest of Rob. Kent was an old school friend of Rob and was the second victim. Jeff is the bar tender.

Extract 2
“What?! What is it Meg? Why are you looking at me like that?” he said through gritted teeth. “I know Rob, I know you knew her… you knew Clare…she said she knew you…she told me things only a friend of yours would know…why are you lying about it? And why were you the last person to see Kent?” “WHAT?!” he exclaimed. Composing himself he said “I did not know that woman, not at all. If she says she knew me then she must be some bloody kind of psycho. As for Kent, I wasn’t the only person who saw him last night, Jeff was there too and all the people in the bar, Christ Meg, I saw you going into The Raven last night…are you sure you didn’t do it?” He knew he had gone a bit far with his outburst but he was not going to be accused of something he didn’t do. He needed to get to the bottom of this and fast because even his closest friends seemed to doubt his innocence. “I’m sorry Rob.” Meg sounded truly repentant. “She knew a lot about you, I’m surprised is all. I’m sure that you will solve the case and put everyone’s mind at rest” then she got up and left.

This next extract is taken from the end of a scene where Clare's old agent and friend Graham has turned up at her house as the employer of a journalist who is writing her biography. Emi is the name of her ex-husband who committed suicide and is the biological father of Rob.

Extract 3
She welcomed him in a warm embrace and went off to the kitchen to find him a chair. She could hardly believe it was Graham. He had been distant with her when she chose to move back to St Helens from Los Angeles and gradually they had lost contact when her contract had ended.  She was like a teenager again, rushing around to find him a chair and then hurrying back to the kitchen, she had over the years often wondered if things would have been different between them if she had never met Emi. She remembered a time when they had just moved to Los Angeles and she had begun to notice a friction between Graham and Emi. She had asked Emi about it and he had said that he didn’t like Graham, that he didn’t think his motives towards her were honourable and that he was like a predator just waiting, ready to pounce if Emi should ever be out of the picture. She smiled to herself as she remembered how she had laughed at Emi and the mere suggestion, flung her arms around his neck and kissed him on those soft pillowy lips of his. As she reminisced in the kitchen she felt a lump form in her throat and gulped it back. It seemed to her that all she did these days was long for those people who she could never have in her life again.

In the next extract we are back with Rob, he has recently discovered (whilst interrupting a robbery) that he has been followed by a homeless man called Douglas. He meets with him informally to find out why.

Extract 4
Douglas chose a table in the corner and Rob ordered 2 teas and a full English, he was starving. As he stood counting out his change to pay with the café owner said “Your turn this week is it?” “Sorry?” Rob replied. “Douglas, he usually comes in with that actress, then last week 3 different men and now this week you, what is it some kind of care in the community scheme?” Rob looked over at Douglas and then handed the money to the café owner. “Something like that, eh!” he responded.
As he reached the table he pulled his notepad from his back pocket and sat down, pen poised to write down anything of any value. Douglas looked at him and said “What is it you want to know?” “Not much, just who were the three men you met in here last week and what was your relationship with Clare Carlisle?” “You mean your mother” Douglas replied. Was there anyone left in St Helens who didn’t know?

These extracts make the story seem very straightforward but that is quite misleading. This really is just a scratch of the surface.

I shall post a summary on the 1st December which is scarily only a week away!

Thanks for stopping by! :)