Tuesday, January 13, 2015

2014 Novel Series #14: Mists of Time Book 1: Discovery

This was the first book I wrote during this year's National Novel Writing Month. I didn't set out to start and finish the series and was four chapters short of doing it in November. I know, I'm nuts.

Mists of Time is a trilogy focusing on Blair who, when xe turns 18, discovers xe is a super-hero of sorts who will eventually have to learn to control xer magic so xe can save the world. If you've been paying any sort of attention to the pronouns I've been using you'll notice I'm not using a specific pronoun for Blair. Why? Blair is bi-gender. Sometimes Blair will feel female and dress/act accordingly and sometimes Blair will feel male so will dress/act accordingly. Blair is physically male.

Is this a main focus in the series? Kind of. Blair is from a small city near the bible belt where anything LGBTQ is not looked kindly upon. The series is a coming of age type with a bit of magic and saving the world themes thrown in. Blair knows who xe is as a person but grows more into "both" halves of who xe is: male and female. Xe also has to deal with the fact xer parents hate Blair's bi-gender identification, the fact xe thinks xe's going insane, and a whole slew of other problems which if I got into would reveal too much.

There are crazy monsters who become Blair's friends and of course there's death, destruction, and mayhem. Mwahaha. ONWARDS!

Genre: Urban fantasy

Word Count: 91,846 which is the longest piece of fiction I've written since Zombies. Kind of short for urban fantasy...I think.

Prompt: People fighting beasts in an alternate dimension only special people can see. Oh and they can control time. Oh and the main's androgynous. Oh and...this is taken straight from my original notes. Ha. Where it came from? I think it was a dream but I can't remember.

Main Characters: Blair, Dyns, Tenkondin, and Tim. Guess which two are from earth? ;)

Minor Characters of note: Katie, Natalie, Dr. Clay Orrell, Ron, Jason, Rob, and Hanrel.

Summation: So Blair turns 18 and starts thinking xe's going crazy because xe's seeing shadows no one else can. Blair learns the shadow person is actually xer tutor from the Mists who is trying to bring xer into the Mists so xe can learn how to save the world.

High Points: Tim and Tenkondin. Not together.

Low Points: Blair's parents, and this one scene where Blair is confused about xer gender which is a huge thing as xe's never been confused before. Xe's always known when xe wakes up or goes to bed what gender xe is.

The World: Ours, mainly, but with maaaggggiiiiiicccccc. ;)

Memorable Lines:

"Daddy, is the checker (Blair) a boy or a girl?"
Blair felt his smile twitch but kept it in place. The little boy had meant to be quiet but kids didn't understand the concept of whispering. At least the dad looked embarrassed. The mother looked horrified. The younger kid looked as curious as his older brother.
"Buddy, that's not nice to ask." the father said.
"But I can't tell." The kid said.
"I'm a boy." Blair broke in.
...
"If you're really a boy why's your hair so long?" the little boy asked.
"Because I like it." Blair returned.
The little boy frowned but Blair kept doing his job. The little boy looked up to his father who was giving him a look and shaking his head.
"Are you gunna donate it?" the little boy questioned.
"Yeah, eventually." Blair said.
It was a lie but Blair didn't want to keep answering questions about why he looked the way he did. At least he didn't feel feminine today and wear make-up. That would have been crap.
(Later in the day, at the bank to a guy who cut in line):
"Listen lady, I've got things to do,"
"First: we all do. Second: I'm not a lady."

"Natalie destroyed one of my shirts." Blair said.
Mom sighed and Blair turned to see her holding her reading glasses in one hand. Blair turned to face their dresser and put the last of mom's clothes on her side of the dresser.
"She doesn't have the money to repay you." Mom said.
"You could take half of her allowance this week and give it to me." Blair said (Note: Blair doesn't get an allowance and has been made to work since 14. Natalie, who's 16 doesn't have to work and gets an allowance)
"That wouldn't be fair."
"Why not? She took something of mine without asking, destroyed it, and now she's not going to be repaying me for it? On what world is that fair?"
Mom sighed again and Blair turned to face her.
"It was one of your girl's shirts wasn't it?" Mom asked.
Blair kept back the eye roll and ran a hand through his hair. He hadn't even brushed it again and it was tangled as all hell, he could feel it. He still had to return the laundry basket and clean his room (because of Natalie) before he could worry about his hair.
"It was. Listen, I know you don't like me dressing in girly clothes sometimes but it's not fair she gets to use and destroy my stuff without asking when I can't even borrow her toothpaste without her hissy-fitting." Blair said.
"No, it's not fair but your father isn't going to want to replace something from that half of your closet." Mom said.
Blair knew it all ready but hearing it made it worse. Blair shook his head and grabbed the laundry basket from off the floor.
"I don't like replacing it either."
...
"I mean it, brat. Stop taking my stuff or I'm going to start taking yours." Blair said.
"Then I'll go to mom and dad and they'll ground you." Natalie told him.
Blair snorted and shook his head. Natalie's forehead crinkled while she tried to figure out what was wrong with her sentence.
"Oh yeah, I'm so scared of being grounded. I don't have a life outside of working and cleaning up after the rest of you. What's dad going to do? Tell me I can't go out until 9PM anymore? I don't do that anyway. You can't threaten me but there are lots of things I can do to make your life miserable. So again: stop taking my shit."

"I'm not changing. This is who I am, okay?" Blair said.
"No, it's not okay. You're a boy and you should act like one." Dad said.
Blair bit her lip to keep from crying and blinked away tears. Today she wasn't a boy. She was a girl in mind and looks. Maybe in a few hours, a day, or a week she'd feel like a boy again but not right now.

"I found this site where transgender people like you," Natalie said.
"I'm not transgender." Blair interrupted.

"But you dress like a girl." Natalie said.
"I know but I don't want to be a girl, not permanently. I'm male-female bi-gender. It means some days when I wake up I feel like a girl on the inside. I want to wear skirts and make up and talk about cute boys while shopping for clothes. Other days when I wake up I want to sit around and scratch myself all day. I mean, I know there are guys out there who feel like guys and like cross-dressing but I'm not just a cross dresser. I am a girl when I feel like one. I'm not a guy and it's weird to know I still have guy parts when I'm like this. That doesn't mean I want to get surgery and take hormones to be a girl all the time because even if I change my body to be a girl I'd still feel like a guy sometimes and be a guy."

"I do love you, you know. I only push so hard because I want you to understand you can't keep playing dress-up." Dad said.
"I'm not playing dress-up and I'm done being your slave." Blair said.

"Keep the keys." Mom said.
"Why?" Blair asked. (She's moving out)
"Because you're still our son.
"Well right now I'm your other daughter and until you can accept that I don't want the keys." Blair said.
...
"If you walk out that door Friday then don't expect to be able to walk back in until you've grown out of this phase." Father said.
...
"Then don't expect me to ever walk through that door again after I leave Friday."

"Are you comfortable in your body?"
"Mostly. I don't like having to shave my face and chest when I feel like a woman, like today, but I'm okay with my penis. I can hide it with underwear and I can give myself a fake chest with a special bra. That's enough. Besides, if I had a sex change then I'd feel uncomfortable with my breasts when I felt like a guy. There is no perfect body for me."

"Seriously, what the fuck did you do?" Blair asked.
"I stopped time. God, I thought I was the last one on earth..." (hehe)

"How's Dylan?" Blair asked (Katie, his BFF about her BF)
"I'm surprised boy you asked. You are a boy today, right?" Katie replied.
"Yep. I'm a boy dating a boy today. The fun thing is sometimes I'm a girl dating a boy."
"It is a fun thing and don't you forget it," Katie said.
"I mean it, Blair. It is a fun thing and you should be who you want to be when you want to be."

Dyns when Blair asks if he can stop time to save someone: "If someone is supposed to die, we have to let them die no matter how much we care about that person."
"What happens if I do it anyway?" Blair asked.
Dyns scowled.
"For every second of time you stop on earth you lose a bit of your magic. Eventually, you'll run out and you won't be able to protect yourself as well in the Mists. It'll take you longer to get back and forth and you'll struggle with creating beasts and weapons. Think of your magic like a jar filled with sand. Every time you use your magic outside of the Mists the jar tips and you lose a few grains of sand. Eventually the jar is empty and you have nothing. Then you die. So would it be worth your life to save the lives of others without them knowing?"

"Hi, you've reached Katie's Taxidermy. You snuff 'em, we stuff 'em. Leave a message." (no she doesn't own a taxidermy business...;) )

"Stop molesting my student." Dyns said.
"But she's so cute!" Tenkondin said with a smile.
...
"You're frightening her." Dyns said.
Tenkondin pouted then turned back to Blair with a grin. Blair wanted to run but one of Tenkondin's tentacles was rubbing against her ankle.
"Okay, let's start over. Hey baby, what's your sign?" Tenkondin asked.
"Stop." Blair said.
Dyns chuckled but Tenkondin sagged. He perked up a moment later and Blair yelped when one of his tentacles did some kind of acrobatic trick and went down the back of her skirt.
"Seriously, stop it!"
"Sorry, sorry, I really like round things and your ass, it's so, damn." Tenkondin said.
...
"Aw. Just a little rubbing. You know, I can vibrate. Imagine all the fun you can have with dozens of vibrating tentacles wrapped all over you." Tenkondin said.
...
"Don't look so shocked, baby. I can speak every language. My specialty is the language of love." (Tenkondin's a perverted tentacle monster who with a touch, can learn whatever language you know.)

"So cold!" Jason (Tim's dad) protested.
"You say the same thing every year but whine when we don't come." Ron (Tim's other dad) said.
Jason grinned.
"You know I love seeing big balls." (They're watching the ball drop in NYC)
"That's why we're married." Ron said.

"If life is easy then it's not worth living."

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