Category: Writing

It’s time to SHARE what you’re working on!

Alright, so in the interest of doing something different and keep my blog from getting stale, I thought it couldn’t hurt to throw a 500 word excerpt from my latest Work-in-Progress or WIP.

The rules are pretty simple, if you want to play along.

Just share up to 500 words in the comments from something you’ve been working on.

This particular scene came about while I was writing a short story for submission to an anthology. I actually mentioned it on my Facebook page. I hate killing off characters, I really do. So much so, I either put it off, or wind up being upset for days afterwards. I don’t think there’s ever been a time where I haven’t cried when killing of a character. Funeral’s suck, by the way. In almost thirty six years on this earth, I’ve been to far too many of them. I can count thirteen off the top of my head.

In this scene which will probably feature somewhere in my Eldritch, Scarlett has just found out that her older brother, Atticus has died in a car accident and she’s chosen, to everybody’s shock, to carry on with the trip to Cornwall. Instead of staying behind and dealing with her grief. (Zooey is fey and telepathic)

Scarlett sat outside on the stairs of the deck, listening to the same song over and over on her phone. It was off, what would now become, her brother’s last ever album.

As she listened, tears glistened, but she refused to let them fall.

“You’d think she would have broken by now,” Zooey said.

“And why’s that?” Ash mused. “Red’s stronger than she looks.”

“Strong on the outside maybe,” Zooey agreed. “But I don’t know about on the inside. She’s sitting out there listening to the same song on repeat.”

“And you know that how?” Ash asked before it dawned on him. “Never mind. I forgot who I was speaking too.”

And with that he stood up and headed outside to join Scarlett. When he sat down next to her on the steps, she turned and looked at him, taking one of the earbuds out.

“Are you okay?”

Scarlett lent her head on his shoulder and Ash wrapped and arm around her.

“I am now,” she said. “You can tell Zooey; she doesn’t have to worry. I’m fine… really.”

“She said that you were listening to the same song on repeat,” he said. “Scarlett, that’s not… fine.”

“It’s a bonus track,” Scarlett said. “Acoustic. I just wanted to hear his voice without all the backing vocals distorting it.”

A lone tear zig zagged down her cheek to her chin. “I’m not going to break, Ash.” She shook her head. “I can’t afford to.”

“You don’t have to be here. It’s not as if we can’t handle the dragons without you.”

“No,” Scarlett said softly. “I’m not going home so that I can sit around and do nothing. I’ll go crazy.”

“Scarlett,” Ash chided as Scarlett stood up.

“I’m staying. End of story,” she said. “Tell Zooey she can keep her nose out of my business from now on. I don’t need a baby sitter, Ash. I’m fine. In the event that that changes, you’ll be the first to know, but until then…”

Ash sighed. “Until then, you’re just going to continue to do exactly what you’re doing and ignore your pain.”

“I’m not in pain.”

“No?” Ash asked standing up. “There’s a room full of people in there who say otherwise. They’re not stupid or blind. They see you. And he was your brother, for crying out loud. Regardless of your relationship with him, he was your brother and you loved him. You can’t just shut yourself off to everything you’re feeling and pretend it’s all okay, when it’s not.”

“Yeah, well…” Scarlett paused. “Atticus is dead. And if pretending that he’s not is going to get me through the next six days until the funeral, then so be it. I don’t want to break Ash, I really don’t.” She smiled through her tears. “But by all means, bring me back to reality, because God knows the real world hasn’t dumped on me enough already.”

 So, what are you waiting for? Bring out your WIP for WIP Wednesday!