Young Writers Society

@Snoink
<.< Yeah... Warren (the character from the snippet) is a really good guy, and a good father (unlike the fathers in Generation E and Generation J) - but he does break some of his promises.



Daily Word Count: 200
Total Word Count: 816

Today's Notes: Today was a research day! Instead of writing very much today I watched the movie "Harlan County War" about the Coal Mining Wars in Harlan County as a little light research for James' story. Good movie for sure! I think I may incorporate James' brother-in-law as perhaps being one of the "scabs" who broke the strike in his story - not sure. And although I think "in real life" his house fire was not arson, may consider making that something the mine-owners did, because it appears that it was a real thing the mine-companies would do as far as destroying company homes and evicting people to try to pressure them to break their strike. Need to probably write more notes on my learnings from the movie later - but it was a good watch to get me more excited about writing. Something I need to consider... I think it would be interesting to reach out to my great-grand-uncle to see if I can get a little first hand knowledge about some of this stuff. Stay tuned.

Daily Word Count: 444 (so far)
Total Word Count: 1260 (so far)

Today's Notes: Yeah, I don't know if this is really advisable, but right now I am flip flopping about who I am writing quite a bit and not writing chronologically in anyway - I think this is probably okay because maybe I can get sort of a vibe for who each of the characters is a bit more as I get into it. Today I wrote about James from Generation M - I'll include a snippet where I make a very direct link back to Adam's story, and not sure I'm going to be quite so direct in the final product, but I think it's kind of interesting if the stories can reference back to each other in a few places - especially because most people are familiar with the story of Adam and Eve, it is conceivable that they would be thinking of their story at some point.

An emerging theme I see in these generations is that of stigma and reputation - how different aspects of life can remove us from society and family. Cain dealt with stigma (and the "mark") after being the first murderer, Sarah/Rebecca dealt with stigma - being an elderly spiritual woman who was considered a leader in her community, and later being accused of witchcraft (factors of discrimination against age and gender at play), Hardy dealt with stigma because of his family being a chaotic mess and dealing with the stigma of some of his actions/reputation, in Generation M - coal-miners (during the early 1900s especially) certainly had to deal with a negative social-stigma, and then in Generation L - illness carries a certain stigma too. Each were shunned or discounted from society in different ways.

Today's Snippet:

It was ironic in some ways that for all the hours James spent imagining mine walls collapsing and cart derailments, that for most of them the coal would end up killing them from the inside-out. They wouldn't die in hours, or days, but over years as the coal dust worked its way into their bodies and reacted to the lung-tissue, giving them that heavy aching deep-chest cough that wouldn't shake, wouldn't filter out until they died. There was something to what Father Alton said in church about Adam being born of dust and how it would always be that way.

James remembered the first year that his Gama Joleen had brought him to "Ashy Wednesday" service and how he had recoiled as the priest pressed ashes over his already dirty forehead, "Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust" he had said, so matter-of-factly, like he had peered into James' soul and already knew it was coal dust-coated like the rest of him.

And James had wept the rest of the service, scrubbing his forehead raw as soon as he was out the doors. He knew he was dust to dust all the way through. But oh he longed to be something more.

Research Question -

I need to probably finalize a little bit the time periods of Generation L (tuberculosis -generation) and Generation M (coal-wars generation) because I am realizing that I think they could overlap - and I think I would prefer they didn't too much. Maybe need to create a "family tree" for my characters I don't know.

Daily Word Count: 651
Total Word Count: 1911

Today's Notes: Working on more of what I imagine might be the opening scenes with Generation A and Adam & Eve. I am pretty far behind if I'd want to reach 50,000 words, but maybe I'll get into a more productive groove as we get going into the month. Actually really like a lot of what I'm writing!

Today something I wrote which was pretty cool was Adam re-remembering when a sheep he was raising had adopted a baby goat - he remembers it in context of worrying about Eve's upcoming labor, but I think it has awesome foreshadowing to Cain being the "goat" of the family and also thinking about the Bible verse about God separating the goats and lambs and letting them live among each other until the day of judgment - I think the whole scene has some pretty interesting symbolism there too!

Today's Snippet:

Eve would laugh sometimes at him when he started making his list of the unknowns, “Will the little one know how to speak all at once? Will they look like us or need to grow into their skins and fur like the rabbit or the dove? How long will he nurse? Will we have to teach him how to hunt, or will he teach us new skills?" He sighed "There is so much we do not know!”

“You worry too much, Adam. The sun rises every day doesn’t it? All your plants grow every season, don't they? And you hardly see the male birds or father deer making such a screech as you. This little one will be how God intends him to be, no more, no less. And here he will be born of our flesh! Your curly hair, my nimble hands, your dirty finger nails and sun-burnt shoulders, my quick heels, and he’ll be all his own. Grown from these bodies! You know him already in how you know me, and how I know you. He will be good. All God creates is good. Stop your worrying and check the fire again, you silly nervous man.” Eve stopped her weaving, then hefted the last stray palms over her shoulder to carry them into their sleeping space where they had been collecting supplies for the baby's arrival.

Adam’s admiration for her courage was fortified every day, but he knew her well enough to know in those busy weaving fingers, and the half-smile that creased at the edges, that she was nervous too.

Daily Word Count: 1592
Total Word Count: 3,503

Today's Notes: Dealing with some life things at the moment, so just was not able to write, hoping to still keep making progress though! Wrote just a little bit on each person's section.

Daily Word Count: 728
Total Word Count: 4231

Today's Note: Getting back on track a little! Yesterday I had to drive for 2 hours so got to spend some *brainstorming time* too. Today wrote about Adam and Rebecca.

Today's Snippet:

Rebecca woke to the sound of the chickadees chirping and cooing outside, evidently beginning their respective worship several hours before her own would begin. She smiled as she turned to see Francis, her husband, still heavy in slumber with his mouth shuttering in snores; absolutely content. She said a quick prayer, thanking God for their waking and their rest, then carefully folded back her corner of the outer quilt that covered them. She slid out of the sheets, wincing as her bare feet touched the wood plank floor, painfully cold on her still warm feet.

“Early winter, means twice the firewood, because even the cricket won't mind if the hearth is lit” she thought to herself as she struck a match and lit their bedside lamp, before kneeling on creaking knees to tend to the fireplace. So routine this was for her morning, she lit the first lamp more for Francis's sake than her own, knowing her hands would navigate easily the wood, the tinder, the matches even as her eyes strained to adjust to the waking-hour light.

^^ Little note about this quote - I'm trying to put lots of references to fires, ash, and the sun in this story - both in positive senses (warmth / light) and in negative senses (housefires). If my sister, the English teacher, was analyzing my story with a class of Literature Students I would hope someone would point out "dang - this story uses fire a lot.. maybe it's a symbol?!?!" lol.

It's fun thinking of little parallels between the different character's stories.

Daily Word Count: 212
Total Word Count: 4443

Today's Note: Working more on Rebecca's story.

Oh goodness gracious I have not updated for half a month @_@'



TOTAL WORD COUNT: 5625 words


I did NOT make as much progress on this as I think I expected, and yet I am super proud of myself for making like... any progress!! especially given that I really have not written prose in forever and especially have never attempted anything reminiscent to writing a novel. So this was a fun different exercise of writing for me.

I have a lot more planned than written and am excited for what I do have planned - so I will probably continue to write a little here and there at this very slow pace going forward... maybe like 10 nanos from now I will have a more respectable portion finished? Something that certainly slowed me down was research - I've read quite a few articles and watched a couple documentaries on the Salem Witch Trials & Coal Mining; so that was progress even if it did not contribute to my word count!

You did great this NaNo, alliyah! Its totally ok to write at your own pace - even if it takes ten nanos to complete a project! But hey, there are camp nanos in the year to help move things along! Also, I love how committed you are with all the research - it certainly helps with worldbuilding!

I'm pretty impressed for your first NaNo! It's a super overwhelming month, and I've loved some of the snippets you've shared so I hope you'll keep updating us on this project

Yay, congrats on making your way back into prose! Best of luck with your project - I'm sure it'll be really interesting regardless of how long it takes to complete