The Fury...? [February] on Labyrinth Gardens

Elly Eriksson

September 14, 2009 10:40 AM

The Fury...? [February] by Elly Eriksson

The Creative Writing club had basically been a disaster. Nevertheless, Elly had told Echo that she was going to hold Fury again, and so she would. She'd put posters up around the school advertising the event: write a novel of 50,000 words in just one month. It was a challenge, and hopefully some students at Sonora were still up for a challenge. Saul and Irene would obviously come - Saul had written for Novelling Fury evey year Elly had been at Sonora - and hopefully some more returning authors. A good deal of first years might be interested, too.

Elly had brought down a blanket from her own dormitory, and was replying on Saul to bring a couple from his room, too (and she only felt a little guilty about that, because they were bound to be Matt's belongings, but surely he'd be used to it by now). She laid the purple fleece out on the floor in the gardens, and also put out some blank notebooks and a handful of biros in case people hadn't thought to bring their own writing materials.

To encourage budding authors and their imaginations, Elly had followed Echo's example and persuaded the prairie elves to bestow upon her a large amount of sweet and savoury snacks, including cupcakes and, of course, pepperoni. Nervously, Elly nibbled on the edge of a cucumber sandwich while she waited for people to arrive.

Once a small number had gathered, Elly pushed herself to make the introduction. As outgoing as she was, she hadn't had much practise at talking to groups of people, and the sensation still made her a little nervous. Overcoming her reluctance with a big smile, Elly called out, "Hey everyone! Thanks for coming. So, for those of you who are new to this deal, Novelling Fury is about writing a whole book - that's fifty thousand words - in one month. We start today and finish in four weeks time. The book can be about anything you like: aliens, dragons, you name it. You can have fifty characters or just one. The challenge is to finish the book before Spring." Elly took a breath before continuing. "I'd recommend you write about two-thousand words a day. It's a lot, but it doesn't have to be perfect - that's the beauty of it."

With a glance over her shoulder to think of anything she'd forgotten, Elly added, "There's food and drink here so you can help yourselves to that, and I've brought some writing materials in case anyone didn't bring their own." What else? "Oh! And there's this handy word-counting charm you can do, too - you can ask me or Saul about that. I think that's about it. Happy Novellig, everyone!"

0 Elly Eriksson The Fury...? [February] 92 Elly Eriksson 1 5

Saul Pierce

September 14, 2009 11:33 AM

Here and Furying! by Saul Pierce

Saul arrived on February 1st for the usual kick-off meeting of Novelling Fury! Only this time, for the first time since its inception, it was the girl EE, not the boy EE who was running things. He checked out the spread of food and nodded in approval even before he spotted the pepperoni (his nose had detected it first). He grinned over at Elly and juggled his, Simon's, and Matt's blankets (borrowed without permission, but surely Simon and Matt wouldn't mind...) to give her a thumbs up sign. "Everything looks good!" he called to her before starting to set out the three blankets he'd brought along.

He'd just finished setting out the royal blue one with a black top hat with a rabbit sticking out of it and the words 'Simon the Magnificent!' written in large white letters and underneath that, 'Golden Dice Casino - Las Vegas, Nevada' when Elly began the explanation of what the club was all about. He waved and called out "That's me!" when she volunteered him to help with the word count charm, though he considered it unlikely anyone didn't know who he was by this point. Even the first years had seen him teach in Charms and Transfiguration. Anyone older than that couldn't have missed his Head Boy campaign posters last year.

As Elly finished her talk, Saul joined her carrying a few pages of parchment and his own enchanted quill that would do most of his actual writing for him. Saul was really more of a story teller than an author. He dictated. Which worked better in his room than out here in the club, but he rarely got much done the first day. This meeting, as far as he was concerned, was for finding out what everybody else was planning and to help foster ideas.

"So what're you gonna write?" he asked. "I'm thinking of doing something with ghosts." It was probably not a coincidence that this idea occurred to him two months after the California Pierces got their own first family ghost. But he wasn't really of thinking of doing a story about a normal magical ghost. He was probably going to go the muggle route. "Like a spooky ghost story or something. Maybe some zombies."

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Elly

September 27, 2009 9:19 AM

Furying! also. Sort of. by Elly

Glad the start of the meeting was over, Elly was pleased to relax on a blanket as Saul joined her. She supposed she should set a good example by scribbling down bits and pieces, even if they were just basic plot ideas. She started doodling in a notepad with a biro as Saul explained about the ghost-maybe-zombie story idea he had. "Sounds good," Elly nodded. "I had a dream about zombies last night," she added, only just remembering the event. She'd no idea what had brought that on - the dream has also involved pizza and a tv vampire slayer. Very odd.

"Well, I was thinking of maybe someone going on a backpacking tour round the world, and making up stuff about the people they meet and the countries they visit." Elly chewed the end of her biro thoughtfully. She'd been pondering actually doing something similar herself. Not the Muggle way though - that was slow and expensive. Maybe by portkey, floo and apparition - or side-along if she didn't manage to get her license before she went. Elly would have to take a friend with her. Yes, seeing the world would be awesome, but she wouldn't want to see it on her own. She was a people-person; she'd need someone to share it with. "It sounds cool, don't you think? Travelling all over - not just America," she added, because she knew Saul's family did a lot of travelling, anyway.

Elly's focus on her novel was weakening. She'd not written anything but doodles, and was trying to convince herself that talking about travels was practically doing research for her book. "So where would you go?" she asked Saul, "if you could go anywhere?"

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Saul

September 27, 2009 5:21 PM

Anywhere by Saul

"Huh," Saul said thoughtfully, as he considered Elly's question. He'd missed more than half of the family's road trip last time they'd done it due to being at Sonora, but it hadn't been the first time they'd done that. He'd been around eight or nine for the trip previous to that one, and could remember most of it. The one from when he was three was way more vague and he remembered it more by the stories his relatives told of it than from his personal experience.

But between those three trips, he'd set foot in every state and seen most of the American landmarks people were supposed to see before they died. They had all, however, been primarily in the US with only a few very minor deviations into Mexico or Canada, and Elly was asking about anywhere. They'd done Mexico a few times in addition as well, since the Hernandezes had family down there, so he knocked that off his list as well.

All in all, he figured he had North America pretty well covered. "Well, I'd probably leave the continent," he offered as an initial thought on the matter. "Haven't done that yet." Of course, his forays into Mexico had introduced him to the idea that not everywhere spoke English, which would make travel a little harder. "England maybe? Australia? Somewhere most people understand English. I'm bad at Spanish and worse at everything else. Dude, I totally have to visit you sometime over on your side of the pond."

Then an old idea popped into his head, having been largely forgotten for the last seven years, but it suddenly became important again. "Oh, and I've always wanted to do the Oregon Trail on horseback. Maybe have a real covered wagon, too. But that's not really about going to a place. It's more about the trip itself."

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Elly

October 04, 2009 11:51 AM

Everywhere by Elly

Elly blinked a couple of times at Saul's statement that he'd never left the continent. It sounded surprising at first, but then she considered that she probably would have stayed in Europe if she didn't get a place at Sonora. As it was, she spent most of her time abroad htese days. Or did she? That was becoming increasingly difficult to figure out. "Dude, I totally have to visit you sometime over on your side of the pond," Saul said.

Scrunching up her face into a comic frown, Elly said, "I'm not sure I'm on the other side of the pond anymore." She didn't sound certain, and that's because she wasn't. Aside from visiting her grandmother at midterm, Elly hadn't been to England since summer of fourth year. "I totally don't even live anywhere." That had been pretty much the banks' response, too - she'd had to close her account at Gringott's in London because they said she didn't live in that country anymore. So her money was all converted to Muggle and in some Muggle American bank, now, with her father's business address linked to it. She really was Miss Homeless. It wasn't much of an issue, though - she could stay with her mother is Austria or her Grandma in England whenever she liked. Elly had been thinking she'd get her own place as soon as she finished Sonora, anyway - she could pick and choose her country of residence, to an extent. "But I'll give you a guided tour anytime."

Saul mentioned the Oregon Trail, and Elly finally wrote down something on her notes page. "Yeah, that would be cool," she agreed. It wasn't something she'd ever dreamed of exactly, but she could appreciated it sounded a fun experience. "I'd like to see more of the world though - like the pyramids in Egypt, or temples in Japan or - I dunno - go to Greenland or something?" Elly sucked the end of her biro. "There must be some English-speaking people around there somewhere," she laughed.

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