Category: My writing

short stories I have written.

The Prologue and title release for my next novel :)

On By Enette VenterIn My writing, The High Queen of Esnium2 Comments

I don’t really feel like doing much in the way of introductions for this next piece of writing. All you need to know is it’s the prologue of my next novel trilogy.
The first book will be called the “High Queen of Esnium.”
It’s high fantasy and I hope you like it!

High Queen of Esnium – Prologue.

“If you don’t make it to tomorrow’s dinner I will stab you with a fork,” Aster’s mother threatened her. The woman’s face was bright with laughter despite the threat and the tip of her nose was bright pink from the cold air.
Aster wondered what all the court members would say of their beloved High Queen if they saw her like that – dressed in flight pants and with her light hair pulled into a tight braid and not a single pearl on her. At that moment, the High Queen looked less like her normally noble and delicate self but more like… well Aster.
“There’s no need to threaten her,” Aster’s dad said stretching his one wing into his wife’s direction. “You only need to tell her that young Nick will be there and she’ll be there two hours early.”
Aster’s face was pink, and it wasn’t simply because of the cold mountain air. She pulled her wings in close to her as she turned her back on both of her parents and walked over to the edge of the cliff.
The mountains where empty this time of year, when instead of soft green grass it was covered in stone hard ice. The sun was just starting to come up, and painted the sky bright greens and blues – the brightness of the colours contrasting with the white earth.
“I’m not going to the party,” Aster said, her voice sullen despite the smile she was hiding from them. “Regardless of who is coming.”
“Yes, you are coming,” Aster’s mother said again. “I invited King Tatsuo and his son. They are both attending. I want you to try and make friends with the boy.”
“He’s just kid,” Aster moaned.
“You’re acting like a kid right now,” Aster’s mother said. “Please Aster, after the incident this summer; it’s as if the whole alliance with them has been on edge. Tomorrow is to help smooth things over.”
Aster’s dad was quiet but Aster could picture him frowning. Her mother had a knack for knowing when things were about to go wrong, so her words seemed more like a warning then simply a request for help.
Aster turned to her parents again. They were the two most regal people she knew, and that meant quite something. Her father had great big purple wings, that marked him as High King but she had the feeling that even without the wings no one would be able to mistake him for anything less than noble. He stood tall and strong, his one arm around his wife’s waist as he looked down at her with a slight frown.
The high Queen herself was looking right at Aster.
“Come on, please?” she asked sweetly.
Aster knew that if she disagreed one more time, all the nice asking would vanish and her mother would still have her stuffed in a dress in time for the party. She still didn’t want to go – the whole ball would be thrown in honour of her – the heir to the throne – and honestly she couldn’t help but feel like it was wrong. The title wasn’t meant for her.
Aster pulled in a deep breath at the sight of her mother’s face and knew that she had lost.
“Fine, I’ll go,” Aster said.
The queen started to grin and pulled out of her husband’s embrace as she walked out to Aster, her arms outstretched.
“It’s going to be so much fun, you’ll see. I have the perfect dress planned out for you” The queen put her hands on Aster’s shoulders.
Aster regretted her decision on the spot but caught her dad smiling at her. Their eyes met for a moment before he nodded his thanks.
Perhaps if she did this, she might at least be useful as an heir.
Her mum’s hands went stiff on Aster’s shoulders. Aster frowned at her and looked up to see her mum staring just past her into the open air.
“What is it?” Aster asked starting to turn around.
“We need to get out of here,” Aster’s mum said pushing Aster away from the edge. Aster’s dad caught on immediately and reached out for the two of them. He was too late.
A great big arrow whizzed past Aster’s head, missing her and her mother by a hair’s breath. Aster was facing just the right direction to see it thump into her dad’s chest.
Her breath caught but she opened her mouth to scream anyway. Her dad – her king – stumbled back a step. Then fell.
Aster’s mother pushed her backwards now, straight towards the edge of the cliff. The ground gave way beneath Aster’s feet and finally the scream broke free of her lungs.
Aster screamed even as she flung open her wings. She screamed as she finally caught a glimpse of the giants standing on a nearby peak. She screamed as her mother spread her own multicoloured wings to slow their fall.
Their fall broke into a stumbling glide and they fell away from the attacking giants, as well as where they had left her dad.
Another arrow was fired and went straight through the queen’s left wing.
The High Queen screamed in pain, and they fell the last bit.
Aster struck her head and stars filled her vision. She ignored it and scrambled out from beneath her mother. She managed to push herself onto her haunches before the world started to tilt. She balanced her footing even as she grabbed her mum by the arms.
“Come on mum,” Aster said pulling. “We need to get out of here.”
Her mum looked up at Aster, her eyes glazed slightly over, the traces of magic was clear in the queen’s face. Aster had only seen this happen to her mum once before and her heart sank.
“We’re not going to make it,” The queen said with certainty. Aster shook her head.
“Yes we are,” she said. “We’re going home now.”
She pulled on her mother’s arms one more time and managed to pull her mother into a sitting position. The whole world shifted at the movement. Aster stumbled and had to let go of her mum to steady herself.
She saw him then. A giant dressed in a fur coat stood not ten steps away from them, crossbow in hand.
“I already saw one of my children die,” The queen whispered.
Aster’s turned to her mum to warn her about the giant. It wasn’t necessary.
Her mother grabbed at Aster, her grip strong as she started to whisper.
“Mum, no,” Aster started but before she knew it darkness enveloped her. Cold stone closed around her and she opened her mouth to scream but the cold filled her mouth too. She tried to look for her mum, but the High queen was gone.
So was everything else.

There it is!
The Prologue of a story not yet completely planned out. Over the next few weeks, as I write the rough draft I will be giving you character stories, plot plans, world building secrets and of course pieces of writing like this one.
Do you have any questions so far? Please don’t be afraid to comment!

Pink update

On By Enette VenterIn Pink2 Comments

novel-updates

I finished Pink about two weeks ago (sorry for not telling you sooner) and so now I get to start focusing on other things.
How Pink went.
First of all, my novel ‘Pink’ is standing on a decent 60 000 words and I actually like how its plot turned out. It was genuinely weird to write because I’ve never written a romance before but I decided that I have to give it a go and I don’t think I did too badly.

What I’m planning to do from here off on is not quite planned out yet because I’m still waiting for some factors about next year to come in, so I can know exactly how much time I’ll have to dedicate to my writing life.
What I do know though, is that I’ll be either editing it myself, or get someone to edit it for me, so I can put up more chapters onto WattPad. I want to share this story with you and anyone else who wants to read it because I feel like it’s a good place for me to start this journey of mine until I really have a plan for how I’m going to get published.

 
You see next year is looking a little hectic.
I have some hard school subjects some of which I’ve never had before and I’m probably rewriting my math from 2016 because I don’t feel like I did good enough in the exam this year so I’m choosing to redo it if I don’t get like 75%
There’s some fun things added to the schedule though! I now have two adorable cousins to tutor in the afternoons which are double the one that had in 2016. I’m actually looking forward to that, even though they keep me at the house a lot and really busy. (That means no going out or writing in the afternoons)
Because my workload is doubling, the money my aunt is paying me is also almost doubling which is actually really cool because if I save all of it I might (note the words might) be able to buy myself a new laptop at the end of the year. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for over a year now because the one I’m currently using has battery issues which means I can only use it while plugged in and it over heats easily.

 

I have other things on the schedule such as band practices, musical instruments to master, tutors to see about school subjects and a couple of other things.
It’s not really that I have a lot to do but a lot of the things I do need to do, takes either a lot of time and concentration or it causes a lot of stress.
Since I know I’m bad at handling stressed I’m a little scared of 2017

 

I’m scared because I can’t trust myself to remain calm in times of stress and in 2016 it was exactly stress that caused me to struggle with writer’s block for the first part of the year.
It’s because I put the things I stress about before writing that I stopped blogging properly last year and I honestly don’t know if I’ll be able to work past it in 2017.

 

I want to write.
I want to write in 2017 and in the years after that. I want to write books and I want to give writing courses, but I can’t just ignore everything else to do that.
So I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to revaluate my methods of working and reprioritize what I need to focus on.
I need to decide where I’m going with my studies, because I know the aim is to go to university but that’s not good enough anymore, I need to know what I want to do with my education and what exactly it is I want to go study when I’m done with high school.
This post has degraded into a ramble but I don’t mind because it means it was really productive for me, in a way to help me refocus myself and I actually feel the beginning of a plan start to form in my head.
So I’m going to call the end of this post, and then once I have more details on my plan I’ll share it.

btw: I’m writing the writing lessons for 2017 in advance and I’m nearly done with February. I’ll be telling you more about that soon as well so keep an eye out for my next posts.

My novel update

On By Enette VenterIn NaNoWriMo, Pink5 Comments

nanowrimo_2016_webbanner_winner

NaNoWriMo update

Pink update.

 

As of yesterday, the 28th of November, I am officially done with NaNoWriMo 2016!

That’s right! I’m done with the 50K words that I said I’ll put into my novel Pink during November… this means that Pink will be completely done in a couple of days.
(I’m aiming for between 55K and 60K total words in the end)
So now that I’m done giving you the news I can honestly say that this has been one hell of month.

I started this month in a bit of a tight knot – which is my way of saying that I was emotionally exhausted and busy with exams.
Truth be told when NaNoWriMo started this month I was scared to write.
You see I tried writing Pink earlier this year and it didn’t work so I scratched it and decided to give it a retry. When November hit I was suddenly afraid that it will fall flat again and that I would end up with absolutely nothing (writing wise) to show for this year.

My friend messaged me that day so we could do word sprints and suddenly despite the fear I found myself writing.

Imagine being underwater for too long. Your lungs start to burn and your heart is racing in your chest, because you know you’re drowning. Then suddenly you are dragged back to the surface and you take that first deep breath of fresh air. You are breathing again. Slowly you let yourself relax. You’re not drowning anymore.

I’m over dramatising this a bit but that’s how it felt to be writing again.

I wrote 7000 words on that first day.
Say it with me now!
Seven. Thousand. Words.

(I think that’s insane for someone who considered herself in a slump)

After writing it I messaged my boyfriend and told him that I love writing.
I told him that it reminded me why I wanted to be a writer.

 
The month has passed since then and there have been a lot of ups and downs.
I’ve deleted a bunch of words. I nearly gave up twice. I posted the first chapters on wattpad. I wrote a lot of updates. I got ahead of the word count. I fell behind on my word count. I did a lot, you see?

Now it’s all behind me. I’m free of NaNoWriMo!

With that said, I realize that I’m not free from Pink though… there is still a lot I need to do for this book and finishing it is at the top of that list.

 

So that’s what I’m going to do right now... and I’ll keep you updated until I’m completely done with it.
Then afterwards I’ll probably keep you updated on my next novel and the one after that, because that’s what writers do… we write.

 
If you’re a writer and your NaNo novel isn’t done yet then go sit down and write. Even if you aren’t done when November ends, just keep writing.
Just keep writing because that’s what you do.

Tell me how it’s going with your novel. Are you done yet? Are you done with NaNoWriMo like me?
All comments welcome!

My novel Pink, out there to be read

On By Enette VenterIn Pink2 Comments

Writers all over the world will tell you that there is a certain kind of button that is truly horrifying to press. It’s the publish button.

What do you need to press when you just wrote your first blog post? The publish button.
What do you need to press when you write your first social media post? The publish button.
What do you need to press to share your stories with the world? The publish button.

Every time this button has to be pressed a writer can’t help but stop for a moment to think: do I really want to press that button?

Sometimes the fear wins and the blog post, social media post, or story is left as a draft for a while longer.
Then you get those moments…those turning points in life… when the writer presses publish – and suddenly something within the writer changes. They’ve done it, now they just have to wait.

Those who have been paying attention to my NaNoWriMo updates would know that last night I pressed publish on a site called wattPad. You might have heard of it, or you might not have but the point about wattPad is that it gives writers the chance to share their writing with a large platform of readers.

 
Now you (and anyone else on the internet) get to go read the first parts of my novel ‘Pink’.
Honestly, I’m scared of people reading it. Or perhaps I’m more scared that people won’t read it. I haven’t fully decided yet.

 
I had to press publish though, for the simple reason of my writing can’t grow in isolation. It needs to be read. How else am I supposed to create a career from it?

So without anything else to say, let me share with you my novel Pink.

 

Pink 

(^the heading is a link^)

pink
Peggy and Benjamin see each other every day. You see, she regularly drinks coffee at the shop where he waiters.
They are an unlikely couple though, with him and his captain America style clashing with her and her bright pink hair – not to mention half a dozen earrings
They are separated by more than just the social norm however, because while he is a normal young man she is something a bit more supernatural.

With danger and pain filling their lives Peggy and Benjamin loves each other despite knowing that it could not last.
If they can be good for each other is the next question.
Perhaps it would be better if Peggy simply disappeared out of Benjamin’s life forever, after all she’s a banshee and banshees are nothing but monsters.

This is a story filled with uncertainty and personal growth.
At the same time it’s formed a large part in my now life and I’ve certainly enjoyed writing it.

 
I hope you go and read it and if you do I hope you actually like it.
Don’t be afraid to comment or anything, you’re always welcome  🙂

NaNoWriMo day 21/22 – another step forward

On By Enette VenterIn NaNoWriMo, Pink4 Comments

I actually published the first parts of my work in progress ‘Pink’ on WattPad tonight.
Just a cover, description and the first four chapters.

It was a pretty hard thing to do, because so far I’ve always kept my writing to myself. This is my fourth novel and yet it will be the first that anyone will ever read.

I was hesitant to put it out there, after all it’s far from my best work, but as I sat down and thought about it, it all came down to taking a step forward.
I can’t expect my writing to grow better in isolation – and so with the lyrics of ‘let it go’ from the movie ‘Frozen’ repeating themselves in my head I pressed publish. Now it’s out there, just waiting for someone to read it.

The funny thing is that I don’t know if anyone will even read it. I have a lot of people lined up and telling me that I should let them know when they can read something of mine… but this might not be the best start up novel.
My favourite genre to write in is Fantasy and it’s what I’m best at. Yet here I am posting a paranormal romance novel that takes place in a modern society.
Why?
I’m not certain… am I allowed to blame my sister’s influence? Probably not.

So here I am, writing this post in literarily the middle of the night (12 pm as I read it) and telling you that I’ve taken another step in this journey to become a writer. I just hope it’s in the right direction.

(I’ll give another link and descriptions to the novel, tomorrow when I’m a little more awake.)

 

Word count: 35001
Motivation: high but tired

NaNoWriMo day 11- soppy late nights and injuries

On By Enette VenterIn NaNoWriMo, PinkLeave a comment

Here’s the gist, last night the power went out and I decided to read (Miss Peregrine’s Home for peculiar children) and when the power came back on it was already past midnight but I was so excited for the direction my novel was going in that I decided to write despite the early hour.
I wrote until about 2am and had by that time finished another’s day’s word count.
I’m as tired as a log now, of course because I still had to wake up today but I don’t regret it at all!
Some of what I wrote is a little sappy because I was tired and it was some of my more romantic scenes that I had to write. Reading over it isn’t exactly a pleasant experience but it still works with my story so I’m keeping all of it 
I have to do some math now though because I started with 18300 words yesterday and I’m currently at 23725… That means I wrote… 5425 words yesterday of which 1634 was done between 12pm and 2 am.
That’s my second highest word count for a single day this year coming in second only to the first day when I wrote around 7000 words.

The best part is that what I wrote is actually really significant to my story and to me and was really fun to write as I got to do some research on wheelchairs (sorry about the spoiler) and medical conundrums.

 

Has there been any injuries in your novel so far? How did you go about writing it realistically?

For me I just based a lot of it on my own hospital and recovery from operation experience but I would like to know what you do.

Any comments and questions welcome!

NaNoWriMo day 10- exciting new developments!

On By Enette VenterIn NaNoWriMo, Pink2 Comments

I’m so excited! The love interest in my story is finally getting his chance to shine.
Without spoiling too much: Benjamin (love interest) was seriously injured in an accident during my inciting incident and had been pretty depressed because of it but after snapping at Peggy (main character) he realized that he was letting the injury defeat him so now he’s decided that he wasn’t going to let it. This means that I now get to write about how stubborn and happy he is and then about every other reason that Peggy has fallen for him.
I get to use it to add some dynamics to their relationship and I get to finally make use of some side characters that has been playing only small roles so far.

 
I’m excited and hope to tell you some more about it later (perhaps I’ll share a drawing of him as well)

My word count for the record is around 18300 which is a little ahead of the NaNoWriMo goals and means I’m writing a decent 2000 words a day.

 

Now the question is how is it going with your story? Is your characters determined or hesitant regarding the troubles they’re facing.
All questions and comments welcome!