Halfway through the month of November and I am far from halfway through the words needed to win at NaNoWriMo. Still it does not seem that far out of reach. If I make some significant headway today, there is still hope. I am happy with the story. The characters are surprising me. Here is the excerpt I posted to the NaNoWriMo website. I know there are errors. These can be fixed later. The intent now is to write and surpass the 50,000 words I have been challenged to write.
Oh What Fools We Be
Dark and moldy, the air was almost too heavy to breathe. Every time she opened her mouth to scream, something foul and sticky, she couldn’t see, tried to force its way down her throat. Zoe Lemolyn couldn’t remember how long she’d been here. At first she tried to count the minutes, but that had been so long ago. Long enough that she’d stopped using her stage; name Zoe Iona, when she thought of herself. Lemolyn, her family name hadn’t been part of her history for most of her adult life. The family she could no longer remember had long been dead in her mind. Once she had hoped, but now she was forced to accept what fate dictated. I’m just lucky, she realized. At least that’s what she had to keep telling herself. Still she clung to the family and the name that held meaning for her.
Chains rattled. Metal groaned. Somewhere deep in the bowels of what had to be a ship, pleas for food and water stretched long agonizing fingers that dug into her heart. No words, just sensations stung with each imploring request. Zoe’s stomach growled when one of those pleas turned to gratitude. Too quick, it revolved to disgust when overpowering flavors of mold and rot dug into starving taste buds.
“Zoe? Pst, Zoe are you awake?” A childlike voice twisted over the grate of metal on metal.
“Wh…What?” Zoe should know the voice. But try as she could there was no face to join with the words.
“Come on Zoe. Answer me, please.” The childish whine broke through Zoe’s self absorption.
“Amby?” Now she remembered. The child was chained in the bunk over her. “What do you want?”
“I don’t feel so good. Why did they stick me?”