And without further ado, the SFP for chapter 13, in which Bria is now striking out on her own and Ivor becomes a tyrant…oh, how exciting! (Eventually I should start drawing little pictures that go along with these snippets.)

The laden basket weighed down Bria’s arms. She wished she’d have taken up Ilear on her offer to send Res and Revi. They were young and thin, but surely they were able-bodied enough to handle the load, at least partway. But it was too late and bellyaching would get her nowhere. She could only hope her meager provisions would be enough to sustain them a while longer, at least until Ilear was able to afford her own provisions.

It’s clear from that opener I was in a writing funk, but as I worked through the chapter, I slowly came out of it and sure enough, I’m proud of what I have so far. Although I didn’t intend it to be, it’s turned into a mini character study revealing who these two characters are at their core, and it turns out Bria is much stronger than I thought and Ivor much weaker.

Anyhoo, I blame thank Ana for turning me back on to this nifty timesuck. Basically, it’s a visual representation of your writing and I’ve been plugging in various stories and tweaking the output for the better part of an hour. Boatloads of awesomesauce.

(The image above is from the first 12 chapters of Night Princesses. I sure do mention Ivor, Caydn, and eyes a lot.)

At least it’s related to my current WIP. (Sigane is one of the characters in Night Princesses.)

Anyhoo, enough rambling, more SFP. Again, this will be a few more than the first paragraph because the first few paragraphs are short-ish.

By torchlight, Caydn packed his satchel, making sure he’d have enough food and water for an entire day away from the castle.

“I’d like to come with you,” Danisse said, startling him. He turned around and sighed. “I’m sorry,” she continued. “It seems I still have the bad habit of frightening you.”

“We should get a bell to place around your neck.”

She smiled. It warmed him whenever she smiled a genuine smile, which always seemed fleeting on her dark lips.

Actually, I am excited about this chapter because we get to know a little bit more about Danisse, one of the MC’s, and what Caydn, the other MC, truly thinks of her. This should be revealing.

I was able to finish not only chapter 9, but also chapter 10. Now I’m working on chapter 11, which will be sponsoring today’s SFP. Actually, it will be the first three paragraphs since the first two are pretty sparse, being dialogue and all.

“Where have you been?” Ivor asked as soon as Bria walked through the front door.

She looked away from him and readjusted her shawl. “I was at home.”

Ivor’s nostrils flared. What tenuous hold he had on his temper was lost; he slammed his fist into the table. “That’s not your home. This–” he gestured around the room “–is your home. You are not to go back there again. What do I have to do to make you understand, Bria? Should I have one of the sentries burn it down?” He wavered on the final sentence, afraid she might say yes, afraid that he might actually have to burn it down, the last place he’d seen his son laughing. But, if it came to that, at least he still had his memories. Bria should have been content that she had those as well.

I’m about halfway through chapter 11, but oddly enough, I’m going to set it aside for a moment and start working on chapter 12. (I can do that because the chapters alternate between two different storylines. Sort of.)

Chapter 9’s SFP:

Ivor gave not a second thought to what he’d done as he walked back to his new home. When he arrived, it was dark. Bria had extinguished all the torches. He thought about relighting them until he saw her lying in the bed. He walked through the front room to the bedroom and watched her for a few moments. In sleep she reminded him of Caydn when he was just a young boy. His shirt was curled up under her head, dampened by her wet hair.

Now that I’ve re-read that paragraph, I realize it will make absolutely no sense if you have not yet read the previous eight chapters, or even the one prior. Plus it loses a bit of its mysterious allure. Sorry.

(Eventually I’ll illustrate something to serve as visual aid for the SFPs. Eventually.)

My sister woke me up this morning because I was supposed to read her the next chapter in the story. Luckily she’d just gotten off work and felt tired so she gave me an extension ‘til she woke.

I’d much rather have gone back to sleep, but no amount of bodily readjustment could get me back there.  So…I got up, pulled out the notebook (did I neglect to mention that I’m writing this behemoth longhand?) and wrote the next chapter.

Random Uninteresting Fact: the chapter I wrote today had the exact number of words as the previous chapter. And I wasn’t even trying.

When I finished, Multiple Idea Syndrome struck me down momentarily. After I came ‘round, my story’s ending had completely changed, my characters suddenly had layers, and I was a little bit more in love with my project.

Oh, and somehow it decided it needed a companion. For now I’ll let Book 2 take care of itself.