Tag: joleth bay

Letters from Camp

Neon BrightLeave a comment

I did it! I’m done! It was hard to find the time and motivation for writing sometimes during the latter half of the month, but I’m so glad I pushed through. I got a bunch more story done for my larger project, and next time I’ll be able to take it even farther! Thanks to everyone who followed along for this little project and supported the excerpt posts!

Word Count: 15,017 / 15,000

Excerpt:

“The both of you were in the battle, too, right? Will you be needing any assistance?”

Joleth shook her head rapidly when Vina glanced to her, and became altogether more flustered than she’d been in the whole conversation with the guards.

“Oh, come on now, Joleth,” Elias said, and there was plenty of smirk in his voice. Eral could tell without looking that the damn halfgod had noticed Joleth’s reaction just as much as he had. “You fought hard. Let Vina make sure you won’t go away from the battle hurting. If you two are going to give me trouble for griping on the road, don’t think I won’t return the favor!”

“Once I’ve finished up here I will perform a spell to revive any weariness,” Vina said gently. “It’s the least I can do; you saved a lot of people today. I heard the guards talking about that weapon the attackers brought. It’s nothing to take lightly!”

Joleth was almost completely invisible for a few seconds before she faded back into view. “Oh. Of course. Okay. Sure. Yeah.”

Letters from Camp

Neon BrightLeave a comment

I finished up a fun scene today! I wanted to give the characters a chance to be badasses for a bit. Naturally, that has some fallout. Joleth isn’t quite sure how to momfriend, but she tries.

Word Count: 13,679 / 15,000

Excerpt:

“Seriously? You’re gonna let them take off so they can ambush us again some other time?” Eral complained from his perch on Elias’ shoulder.

Elias almost shrugged, but decided to go easy on the little guy after the brief but intense fight. “I don’t really need to kill anyone to make a point here,” he said. “They learned a bit. Besides, they aren’t thralls; they could still turn around.”

Joleth scoffed. “Whatever they do, we have a mess to deal with now,” she said bitterly, waving a hand at the destruction on the street and the fallen assassins she’d had to dispatch herself. Then, she grabbed roughly at the front of Elias’ shirt and stalked towards one of the first responders. “And you need some bandages because you went and got stabbed like an idiot.”

Letters from Camp

Neon BrightLeave a comment

The quest continues! I’ve had a hard time focusing on anything for the last several days, but I actually did more than par for today! The dorks wanted to get some stuff done, apparently.

Word Count: 8,510 / 15,000

Excerpt:

Joleth edged forward, staring unabashedly at the mermaid. “Are you the one who dragged Elias into the lake a few days back?”

The mermaid’s smile softened somewhat, though she still had a certain aura of danger about her. “A case of mistaken identity,” she lamented. “We soon discovered we have similar goals, which was the reason for this meeting now. The one in which you’re both being very amusingly short with me.”

Elias leapt at the joke like his life depended on it, and Eral knew it was coming. “Oh, Eral’s short with everyone,” he explained. “But you’re right. My manners and all. Lorelei, this is Eral Mageslayer and Joleth Bay. Friends, this is Lorelei.”

Lorelei lifted a hand out of the water and waved. “Mageslayer, hmm? If we’re all lucky you’ll put the name to use.”

Eral narrowed his eyes. Even with the light compliment, he remained wary of that knowing look. “That’s me,” he replied. “Mr. Lucky.”

Letters from Camp (Late post)

Neon BrightLeave a comment

(This is from a few days ago – I forgot to crosspost it then!)

This week has been a bit crazy at work, but I’m still finding time here and there to work on this project. It’s a lot of fun to just kind of have my characters banter with each other. Who knows if these conversations will make it into the final version? Not me! But they’re great ways to develop the relationships anyway.

Word Count: 6,057 / 15,000

Excerpt:

Joleth sighed and grumbled. “I still can’t believe you met the river queen.”

Elias snickered. “When we meet up with her, I can always put in a good word for ya. You’re a member of the elite guard, you’re a real catch.”

Joleth scoffed. “I think you’ve taught me well enough to be cautious about water women.”

Elias smirked. “I’ve dealt with way worse critics, Joleth. You’ll have to do better than that.”

Joleth snickered. “I really won’t.”

Letters from Camp

Neon BrightLeave a comment

I didn’t write yesterday, and I was too busy to make the excerpt post from late Thursday night that I wanted to do. So, before I even do my writing for today, I’ll do a quick excerpt now because some stuff is happening and I’m too excited for it. 🙂

( P.S. Elias is genderfluid, for those who might be confused about the swapped pronouns )

Word Count: 2,824 / 15,000

Excerpt:

The growing unrest probably explained why she dropped her guard one night when she was supposed to take the second watch. The waves of the lake rushed as background noise, a cool breeze rustling over their shoddy camp. Joleth slept in the sparse shadow of a huge piece of driftwood, and Eral had, as always, claimed a tuft of grass for himself.

Elias lay on her back on a slight embankment, surrounded by soft grass while the shore churned away not even fifteen feet away from her boots.

Until, of course, something lurched up from the shore and grabbed her ankles.

Letters from Camp

Neon BrightLeave a comment

The time has come once again for Camp NaNoWriMo! This year I’ve decided to do some more work on Imperfect Storm, a fun tale mostly focused on Elias Dawn, Eral the Arbor Pixie, and Joleth Bay as they go on an epic (and ridiculous) quest. Today, however, I focused on their villain for once. She wanted some attention.

Word Count: 675 / 15,000

Excerpt:

[Guinivere] had quickly guiled herself into a position of some clout in the region. As a respected mage and a well-traveled member of the so-called monsterkind, she offered knowledge and connections to the right people, and the more people she met, the more connections she could make. Politics were a bit boring, but she had more patience for them than her latest best friend.

He wouldn’t be very welcome among the delicate work being done in many of the workshops of Gen. Disaster followed him wherever he went.

So it was Guinivere allowing herself to be praised and showered with gratitude for her aid in various ventures, whether it was money (exceedingly easy for her to talk out of rich men), magic, or insight. After some of the things she’d dealt with on the way to her goals, this wasn’t the worst. Though people outside the workshops had an image of the engineers as antisocial and spiteful people, they treated their own with quite a lot of respect.

Guinivere, they spoiled, all because she asked.

Letters from Camp

Neon BrightLeave a comment

So close to my goal. Oh my lord I am so pumped to have actually come this far! I wasn’t sure I would make it with camp this time, what with all my other writing commitments. The story has been so much fun, too, and today I wrote an exchange that I love way too much not to share.

Word Count: 18142 / 20000

Excerpt:

“A mermaid walking around on the land, casting spells? There must be something about that,” Joleth added.

Elias sighed distractedly as he thought. “She hops,” he said.

Eral frowned. “Wait. She hops?”

Elias nodded. “Well, yeah. You saw her tail. Not very good for a two-step.”

Eral huffed. “Well, yeah,” he echoed in irritation. “I saw it. But she had legs before your mom wiped the spell away!”

“Illusions,” Elias said. “And it’s a shame they aren’t real. They look nice.”

Joleth made a noise somewhere between a thoughtful hum and a grunt of agreement. “You have some kind of history with her, don’t you?”

Elias flashed a grin that was entirely too unashamed, all things considered.

Letters from Camp

Neon BrightLeave a comment

I’ve made a lot of progress and I’m so close to reaching my goal for camp! I’ve been having way too much fun playing around with other fae concepts for Eral to be completely Exasperated about.

Word Count:  17342 / 20000

Excerpt:

“Yeah, well, I don’t know what I’m looking for here, so until I find it, I should probably just keep an eye out, right?” Elias said back, lifting Eral to eye level while he paused. Joleth glanced over from her own curious browsing of the books.

Eral shrugged. “Wandering aimlessly in fairy-controlled territory, even just a free library? Honestly, Elias, didn’t anyone tell you fairy tales growing up? That’s a good way to lose a century without even noticing it.”

Letters from Camp

Neon BrightLeave a comment

Time for another letter from camp! I decided to skip a scene to get moving on the plot I have planned out. It worked well, as I ended up doing a little extra today because I kicked my motivation into gear.

Word Count: 8384 / 20000

Excerpt:

“I know sailing!” Eral chimed in. All eyes (except Joleth’s, as he was perched on her head and any movement might send him tumbling) turned to him and his wings buzzed pointedly. “I spent months on a boat at one point.”

“And I’m sure you helped tie all the riggings yourself,” Joleth muttered. Eral kicked her to shut her up.

Letters from Camp

Neon BrightLeave a comment

Missed a few days for excerpts, but writing actually happened on those days. I was just too frazzled to post about them! As it is, I had a lot of fun with that sequence and even if I change some things about it, I’m proud of my newish character XD  Joleth took some big steps in this scene.

Word Count: 6862 / 20000

Excerpt:

The oracle’s guard stepped into the sparring circle to congratulate their newest member on her successful induction. Some clapped her on the back, though the contact was brief, and even that seemed to go forgiven in the wake of Joleth’s happiness and relief.

She belonged. No one among that crowd of elite fighters had doubted her ability to join their ranks, and she’d proven it by calling her weapon to her hand as easily as waving a fly away.