#FridaySnippets

Friday Snippet #8

Monica La Porta, , , 6 Comments

Without realizing it, I skipped a week. Days, like mismatched socks, tend to go missing lately. Can’t even remember what I was busy doing last week. Not writing, for sure. I did take my Wacom tablet out for a leisure stroll and I did produce something nice though. The fruit of my labor will be revealed in due time. For now, enjoy my humble snippet.

A quiet moment for Dalia and Aragon, the two main characters in Notturno.

Dalia looked at him and wondered at the enigma he represented; she touched him, but he didn’t react to her fingers tracing the lines of his arm. She followed the long sinews defining his dark skin and then stopped at the hollow space where the muscles on his neck met the shoulders. His breathing caught for the briefest moment, his eyes fluttered under his closed eyelids, but he didn’t move. She raised her hand and put it on her lap, the urge of lying down with him calling to her. Aragon was the strongest man she had ever seen, but at the moment he was defenseless and she felt the irrational desire to protect him. The thought made her laugh.

On clue, a snort from the corner made her turn. “Where are you, Mo?” The animal snorted a second time, emerging from the darkness. “Come here, baby.” Mo obeyed and walked toward them. “Sit, Mo.” Dalia smiled when Mo bent her trunk-like legs to sit by her master. “Good girl, stay here and protect us if you like.” Mo emitted a sound Dalia didn’t try to decipher.

“Are we all friends now?” Aragon opened one eye and took Dalia’s flying hand. She had been surprised by him not being as asleep as she had thought and almost poked his eyes in response. “I’m glad.”

“Didn’t you need to rest?” She blushed.

Friday Snippet #8

Friday Snippet #7

Monica La Porta, , 4 Comments

And, esteemed ladies and jellyfishes*, we have lucky number seven today. I took the whole week as a mental vacation and stood by it. Not a single rational thought was produced in the last seven days. If you ask me, it was a difficult task to accomplish, but I am truly that good.

Another snippet from TCOM.

Four or five more bursts of applauses and another elder, a slightly less exalted copy of the first, took her spot to tell the first story of the night.

Marie liked to hear a good tale like anybody else and her eyes and focus zeroed in on the newcomer.

“Darlene is one of the best storytellers, you’ll see.” Cina elbowed Marie. “I’m sure you’ve never heard anybody so good.”

Cina wasn’t exaggerating; Darlene had a gift. The whole time the elder spoke, not a single breath was heard. Darlene’s voice was pleasant enough, but the quality of the narration was what kept everybody glued to the story she was slowly unraveling.

“What a complicated plot, and with so many characters—” Marie shook her head in awe, unable to shush her inner thoughts. “She sure has a great imagination.”

“It is said she’s friend with one of the guards…”

“Oh, do you mean…?” Marie lowered her voice to a whisper.

“I mean what you’re thinking. Darlene has special permission to watch TV with her pure breed friend.”

“I’d give anything to watch a TV show again.” Marie’d had a glimpse of a television show once at the Institute and sighed at the memory.

*loosely stolen from Eddie Izzard, one of the funniest men on earth.

Friday Snippet #7

Friday Snippet #6

Monica La Porta, , , 2 Comments

Pax in the Land of Women is coming out this weekend. Just saying…

Just a subtle way to let you know I haven’t written a great deal, in case it wasn’t clear. But, I worked a bit on TCOM and this is a snippet from today’s effort.

Marie shivered.

“Oh, no. Marie, you’re going to be fine. You’re just fifteen.” The redhead smiled at her. “The Captain has never picked a girl who was younger than eighteen. I think there must be some kind of rule.”

“And you’re so slim. Donors are never thin. So maybe, you’ll never be chosen.” Cina took Marie’s hand in hers to give her some comfort. “Look at Verena, she’s the perfect donor.”

“And I’ve just turned eighteen. Lucky me.” Verena nervously laughed.

“Maybe you’re going to be lucky this time.” It was Marie’s turn to console the girl.

“Chances I can escape it forever are slim. I’ll be eligible for seven long years and with my physique it’s almost a given I’ll be a donor sooner or later.”

“But I heard it’s not as terrible as it was for our grandmothers. Now, you won’t come in contact with the sementals at all.” Marie blushed red as soon as she said the word semental.

“Still…”

Friday Snippet #6

Friday Snippet #4

Monica La Porta, , , 6 Comments

In the last two or three days, I haven’t written a lot. Probably, I needed a break, but it doesn’t feel right. My e-social life on the other hand has thrived and I had time to read the remarkable words of some fellow authors. And that is all good and well.

Today snippet is from TCOM again. Verena has just showed Marie her new living quarters at Redfarm.

Marie shrugged at the recent memories. Idra had saved her from the ire of an elder more than once. “When I’ll be an elder, I’ll never be like them.” A promise she had worded every time Idra had rescued her. Idra. What are you doing now? Dinner time at the Institute had already come and gone. Are you singing by the fire with Joanna and Marcia? They had sung every time one of their friends had left the Institute to learn a profession somewhere else. Are you singing for me? Do you miss me already? Marie had been so excited to leave the Institute, she hadn’t realized she was indeed leaving it for good.

“I never thought bathrooms could get people so emotional.” Verena laughed.

Marie got a glimpse of herself in the mirror and saw her eyes were liquid and a tear was hanging to her eyelashes. “The separate stalls undid me.”

Friday Snippet #4

Friday Snippet #3

Monica La Porta, , , 9 Comments

Seven days have passed already. I’ve slept little or nothing, as my mind was busy thinking what I wanted to add in the final editing of Pax. Now that everything is done, I feel at the same time ecstatic and drained, but in a good way.

This week snippet is actually a surprise from my newest wip, one  I’ve only started last week. Here is one of the first paragraphs from the T.C.O.M.

“I can’t get away from here faster enough.” She had said that so many times, the other girls had started repeating the words to her as a joke. I really can’t get away from here soon enough. She walked to the end of the room and looked at herself in the long mirror precariously hang to the wall. A pale blond, big blue eyed, freckled-skinned girl looked back at her. “Why you so gloom?” She went back to her bunk bed and jumped on, shoeless feet dangling down toward Idra’s bed. Idra hated when she did that. “Move away those dirty feet from my face.” Marie did that on purpose, she liked when Idra got all mad at her; her dark eyes staring up, her mouth pouting. It was worth the trouble, because Idra couldn’t stay mad long. He laugh was what had attracted Marie to her. Now, someone else was going to sleep over Idra’s bed. This is what I want, a chance to better my life.

Friday Snippet #3

Friday Snippet #2

Monica La Porta, , , , , 6 Comments

It’s Friday again. Time flies when you’re having fun writing two different projects and editing the last four chapters of the novel you want to publish shortly. On related news, thanks to my extraordinaire editor, Pax in the Land of Women is almost ready to see the proofreader. Oh, incommensurable joy.

This Friday snippet is from my fantasy wip, Notturno, again. Dalia is in big trouble. It’s sundown and Aragon being a diurnal has fallen into a comatose sleep. She’s just being kidnapped by a man and a woman. She can only hear their voices as she’s carried like a sack of potatoes on the man’s shoulders…

She hoped it was a bizarre dream and she would wake any moment now. The man carrying her walked at a brisk pace, climbing and stepping down at ease, as if she didn’t add any weight to his body. From what she could feel, the man wasn’t as large as Aragon, but, within the confined space of what it must have been a jute sack, she couldn’t be sure of anything.

“Who knows how much he would’ve fetched for this one?”

“She’s not much, is she? Diurnal women are normally bigger.”

“Did we get a child?”

Again with the child. I’m no child.

“No, she must be young, but she’s definitely adult enough…” The man seemed to be thinking of his next words carefully. “When I was picking her up, I—”

“You what?”

Yes, you what, idiot?

“I didn’t do it on purpose! What are you thinking that I’d check her out?” The man’s voice had that distinct quality associated with being worried and embarrassed at the same time.

“You better not.”

“Of course not! Who do you think I am? An uncivilized diurnal? Anyway, she’s a scrawny little thing. I don’t think the Venerables were going to pay much for her.”

Friday Snippet #2

Friday Snippets!

Monica La Porta, , , , , 6 Comments

Today I learned of something called Friday Snippets, thanks to Clare who tweeted about it. The idea is to post every Friday a sample of your work in progress to share your writing with the rest of the blogosphere and the twitterverse. Loved the idea and, although is already Friday night, it’s still Friday here in my neck of the woods. I also had quite the productive day. I wrote my daily quota of 2k and I finished and also sent a guest blog post, so I can be excused for my tardiness.

Without further ado, here is my Friday Snippet from my brand new project, a fantasy tale. Working title is Notturno. The two characters are Dalia and Aragon. She lives in the darkness and he thrives under the sun.

“Kirby is my dog’s name.”

“Well, he likes my food.” And, as on clue, Kirby left her lap to jump on Aragon’s.

“I see…”

“He likes me.” Aragon smiled at Kirby. “Isn’t it true that you like me very much, Kirby?”

“He likes you all right; you gave him food and shelter.”

A different kind of smile made his eyes shine. “Does it mean you like me as well?”

“What—”

“I gave you shelter and I did offer you food.” His right eyebrow shot high, his lips curving up slightly.

“I don’t know you!” Dalia should have felt more shocked and added some of the lacking shock to the tone. “How dare you. I’m betrothed.” Funny how that detail came up, when she would constantly rebuke Martin for saying so.

“Don’t get too worked up, I’m married.”

“You are?” Her mouth hanged open.

“Yes.”

She scooped away from him, treacherous disappointment creeping through her feelings. “I must go back.”

Friday Snippets!