Echo Elms
May 09, 2007 3:07 PM
Novelling Fury! Informational Meeting by Echo Elms
Midterms were over, and classes were back in full swing and with February in just a few days, it was definitely high time for an information meeting about Novelling Fury!. He'd tried to rally up some interest by posting fliars in the common rooms (or, at least, there were fliars in Pecari and Aladren), and spreading around his flying fliars again in Cascade Hall. His spellwork on that was better this year.All the posters and fliars said to meet here today for more information and Echo was once again hoping for a big turnout. Last year hadn't been too impressive, but he thought maybe the successful Charms Club was a sign that this year firsties wanted to be involved in stuff... stuff like novelling.
"Okay, guys" he said glancing at the time, "it's about that time. How many of you have written a 50,000 word novel before?" Not very many people. Well, duh. "That's what we're going to do here. 50,000 words in 30 days. That's like 2,000 words a day. We start on February 1st, and end on March 2nd. But don't get let it scare you. It's so much fun. Like, really, crazy fun."
"That's because you're insane," Brett Hodges called out, helpfully.
"Yeah, well," Echo grinned, "It helps. Anyway, so the point is not to like write the best novel in the world. In fact, it actually works best if no one ever reads what you write because then you're not worried about if it's good or not. And good is not what you'll be going for. Your concern main concern is your word count. Length. Quantity. So you can be verbose and use like 10 words where two will do the job. You can write complete nonsense. Drivel. It's all good, just so long as you hit 50,000 by the end."
"Okay, so, that's the main jist of what Novelling Fury! is all about. Just... writing. And it can be anything. Fiction, humor, nonfiction, screenwriting, you know, anything. Last year we had four participants: Zack Dill, Caedence Redoak, Saul Pierce and me. It'd be really awesome if we got more people this year. Does anyone have any questions?"
--
When the questions were over, Echo finished it off, "To kick off Novelling Fury! we're going to have a big writing sit-in, right here, all day on February 1st. I have these brochure things with more detailed information about the Fury, too. See you on the First!"
Subthreads: Okay, you got me. by Elly Eriksson with Saul, Echo Elms, Elly
Well, you seem hyper active... by Hikaru Kasuragi with Echo Elms & Brett Hodges
It <i>sounds</i> like fun by Hyana Kamiya with Zack Dill, Hyana
A drama queen and her cousin walk into a meeting... by Gwen and Amber Carey with Oliver Abbott, Oliver, Careys
looks like the crazy people are here... I'm not though by Stephen Baxter with Mia
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Echo Elms
Novelling Fury! Informational Meeting
93
Echo Elms
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5
Gwen and Amber Carey
May 13, 2007 12:11 AM
A drama queen and her cousin walk into a meeting... by Gwen and Amber Carey
"Uh, Gwen?" Amber whispered, not wanting to make more of a point out of her cousin than her cousin did just by being, well, Gwen Carey, "Do you think you're a little old to be, um, here?"Gwen looked down at her, wide-eyed, amused, and looking a little bit too innocent for Amber to fall for it. "Not at all, Amy Dahlin'," she said, not keeping her voice down. "I'm not fifteen until April, and that doesn't make me the oldest folks here."
Amber looked around critically. "All I see is first and second years."
Gwen laughed out loud, then, earning herself a few glances. She smiled at the onlookers; Amber turned red and tried her best to pretend that she didn't mind having cousins who had a thing for drama and public demonstrations. "So I'm one of the first years again, then? I wouldn't mind, really." Gwen looked momentarily bitter, and Amber was momentarily afraid that she was about to go into one of her notorious "moods". It only lasted a few seconds, though, before she smiled and shook Amber's shoulder a little. "No, I know what you mean. I'm just being stupid with you. Zack Dill's here, too. He's older than I am."
"Isn't he supposed to be nuts or something?"
"Yes, dahlin', but so am I." Amber found herself laughing along with Gwen reluctantly; the older girl's distracted, high-flung gaiety was almost as infectious as it was sure to be temporary. "We might get a third year, too - Anne's sure to send one of the Laynes as her proxy, because it's not her way to do what I tell her. I told Connor that I'm expecting him, but I'm not sure if he's completely gotten over his moral interlude yet."
"Only you could say that like it was a bad thing," Amber muttered, feeling like she was the elder for a moment.
"Hush, dahlin'," Gwen said. "I think that boy wants to talk or something."
"He's running it."
"Well, that explains it, then, doesn't it?"
Amber just shook her head and tuned in to listen to Echo. At least Gwen was in a good mood instead of...not. Happy, she just wore on people's nerves after a little while. It wasn't so easy to deal with when she was in a bad mood of some kind. Strangely, she couldn't remember Gwen flat-out crashing since term had started again; she'd only been at Sonora for two years, but she couldn't recall Gwen making it almost a month without hitting some little rough patch before it was over. She was moodiness personified.
There weren't too many questions afterward, and the meeting turned into a chatfest soon enough. This was, to Amber, the best part of a meeting: the coming down, when everyone sort of relaxed. Well, everyone except Gwen, anyway; she seemed, if anything, more hyper than she had been to begin with. "I declare," she said, apparently having a lot of fun with the whole 'southern belle' routine, "this is going to be fun." A faint frown flickered over her face, and she almost seemed to come off her high for a moment. "I hope I can get it all done around Quidditch practices. We might make it to the Championships this year, you know."
"Well, at least we don't have social lives to worry about," Amber cracked. Gwen laughed, too, but there was something a little strained about it, and she shot Amber a nervous look in the seconds before they were interrupted by someone else who'd come to the meeting. Her smile came back, and with it the over-strung, over-enthusiastic high spirits of her last turn.
"Hey," she said, too quickly for her to have any idea if she was addressing someone she even knew. "Nice meeting, don't you think? I'm already trying to work out what I'm going to talk about - er, write about. Come up with much yet?" Maybe Gwen really was crazy. Or maybe she was just living in some strange Scarlett O'Hara dream. Or she was just trying to freak someone out. Heck, maybe she'd made some kind of New Year's Resolution to be friendly and it was the only way she knew. Amber doubted the accuracy of that one in a big way, but anything was possible, right?
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Gwen and Amber Carey
A drama queen and her cousin walk into a meeting...
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Gwen and Amber Carey
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5
Oliver Abbott
May 14, 2007 3:26 PM
To get to the other side? by Oliver Abbott
Oliver had heard about this novel writing club in the Cascade Hall; there had been a flier about it. With the lack of any other creative clubs at Sonora (there were very few clubs at all, really), he had decided to come along to the first meeting just to see what it was all about.There were a fair few students who’d come along, and some that Oliver recognised. That was a welcome surprise, because he had been starting to feel even more out of place than he had on his first day there, and that was really saying something. Seeing people he had spoken to before helped – it made him feel more secure somehow.
Doing his best to ignore his social insecurities for the moment, Oliver tried his best to blend in. It didn’t work too well seeing as he was the only one there wearing long sleeves, not to mention a floppy green sunhat, but the desert sun was shining in earnest again. It wasn’t worth it for Oliver to not cover himself up in the sun.
The meeting was brief – it was a second year (judging by they had shared some classes) basically telling the others what it was all about. It sounded like a fun challenge, and it wasn’t like Oliver had much else to do to distract him from writing. Okay so he was friends with Talitha now, but he spent a lot of his time in the Crotalus commons avoiding Lutece, and the two girls shared a room, so Oliver wasn’t quite sure yet how that was going to pan out.
When the questions had finished, Oliver was about to head off again. He passed Amber, one of the girls he had worked with in Defence class at the beginning of the year, and said, “Hey,” to her. He stopped though when the girl Amber was standing with said ‘hey’ back again. Did she think he’d been saying ‘hey’ to her? That was a bit embarrassing, and Oliver felt his cheeks start to warm. But then she kept on talking. Oliver was confused. He blinked a couple of times and nervously readjusted his glasses before trying to answer.
“Uh, I’m not sure if I’ll write anything,” he said, glancing between Amber and the older girl, who he now thought he recognised. She was in Crotalus too, yeah, on the team. Gwen, that was it, he just hadn't recognised her without her Quidditch stuff. Oh, well maybe she had meant to talk to him after all. They hadn’t said much, if anything, to each other in the past, but there was a first time for everything. “I just came along to see what it was about,” he added, shrugging. “You?”
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Oliver Abbott
To get to the other side?
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Oliver Abbott
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5
Gwen and Amber
May 14, 2007 10:11 PM
That works. by Gwen and Amber
It was the hat that Gwen remembered. First years drifted in and out of her notice depending on whether or not they were right in front of her, but the hat stood out. He wore it to Quidditch practice, if she wasn't mistaken. He was a Chaser reserve...Oscar? No, not Oscar. Oliver. That was it. Oliver Abbott. He was a reserve Chaser. A blank look came over her face for a moment, then vanished as she smiled again. Being surprised was all right, but letting it become obvious that she was surprised wasn't."Oh, no," she said, regulating her tone a little. It seemed prudent to keep reports of her bouts of flightiness removed from Lily's notice. Gwen liked the older girl, but it was a liking tinged with a kind of fear. Not that she would ever, in a million years, let on about it. "I came on a whim, and those don't take much planning." She laughed, normally. The temptation to make some comment about leading a boring life that gave her no ideas was strong, but she wasn't sure that she would be able to say it with a straight face. It looked like a fine time to change the subject.
Taking a tiny step closer to the second year, Gwen put an arm around Amber in a sisterly fashion she knew perfectly well would get her hexed if attempted with her own little sister. Not that she even wanted to, she reminded herself immediately; she was still mad at Morgaine. "Amy dahlin', this is Oliver," she introduced, not quite properly. "One of the boys on my Quidditch team. Oliver, meet my cousin, Amber."
"We've met," Amber said. Ah. Well, that might explain why Oliver, who worked primarily with Helena and Geoffrey and Chrissy, had spoken to her, as he hadn't. "Me and him and Helena Layne had to go on a candy hunt for DADA." Yes, it did explain things nicely. Gwen had never gotten why Anne liked Helena so much. Amber smiled at Oliver, pushing her hair back behind her ears. "Been doing okay, Oliver?"
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Gwen and Amber
That works.
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Gwen and Amber
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Oliver
May 17, 2007 3:39 PM
Good good. by Oliver
Gwen was an interesting person, Oliver thought. He knew some stuff about her, mostly from whispers and rumours, so he couldn’t be sure if it was true or not. He knew that she shared a room with Jordanna, but he didn’t think they got on all that well – if at all. He also knew she was a beater, so there was no way she was partial to this WAIL thing, which apparently said a lot about a person. Then again, Lutece didn’t agree with it either, and she’s absolutely insane.Gwen introduced Oliver to Amber then, and Oliver shuffled his feet and adjusted his glasses, hoping that Amber would say something about them having already met. Thankfully, she did. “We’ve met,” she said. Then Amber smiled, which was nice, because Oliver hadn’t been sure whether or not he’d made a good impression during the lesson; he hadn’t spoken to either of the girls since and maybe thought that his presence hadn’t been appreciated. Of course, it might just be politeness that encouraged Amber’s smile. But then she asked if he’d been doing okay.
“Yeah, I guess,” Oliver replied, looking at his feet before remembering that was rude and looking back to the Carey girls. “Lessons are alright, and stuff.” He knew he was being inarticulate but he couldn’t help it. He didn’t really know either Gwen or Amber, and he was still very shy with strangers, especially girls – he just didn’t know what to say to them. “I thought I’d do this novelling thing just for something to do,” he added, shrugging. “What about you? Are you going to write a novel?”
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Oliver
Good good.
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Oliver
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Careys
May 24, 2007 1:35 PM
Yep yep. by Careys
Seeing one of her own Housemates seemed to have calmed Gwen down a little bit. Amber was grateful for it; she'd thought Oliver and Helena thought she was stupid back when they had worked together, and it was bad enough to be the stupid one without being the stupid one from a nuthouse. Gwen insisted that she only pretended to be crazy, and did so, for the most part, because it amused her, but Amber had trouble believing that was especially healthy, either. There was something unnatural-seeming about it."That's good," she said to Oliver's brief account. "I'm not sure if I'm going to go through with it or not. I might, if I can think of anything to write it about." No babbling. It didn't matter if she got an idea, and it wouldn't matter if things got awkward. She was not going to start babbling. It was her New Years' Resolution. "What about you, Gwen?" Why, she wondered, was it always her luck to end up in scenarios involving multiple Crotali? They made her nervous, somehow.
"No idea," her cousin said promptly. Amber blinked. That was a turn. A minute earlier, Amber would have thought she meant to go straight back to her dorm and begun to come up with ideas. Now, it all seemed to be of no moment. "It's a busy season, you know. I might start something and forget to finish it." She seemed to notice that her arm was around Amber's shoulders for the first time, and removed it. "That can happen sometimes, you know?" She didn't wait for anyone to answer her. "So," she said to Oliver. "Do you think that we've got half a shot at the Championship this year?"
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Careys
Yep yep.
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Careys
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Oliver
May 29, 2007 5:58 PM
Uh-huh by Oliver
Oliver nodded along politely as he listened to Amber and Gwen talk about their novel writing prospects. He was a little surprised by Gwen’s sudden question about the Quidditch championship and, not really having an answer prepared, he fumbled his reply.“Well, I… I mean, I’m not sure,” he said, pushing his glasses up his nose, realising they were uncomfortable and putting them back where they were again. His knowledge of the Sonora teams was limited. All he knew was that Crotalus had won in their game against Aladren, despite all the WAIL stuff happening around them. That indicated that they weren’t a bad team, but Oliver couldn’t really add to that. “I think we’ve got as good a chance as any,” he said diplomatically. “I don’t think Teppenpaw will win,” he said, and then remembered Amber was in that House. “Sorry,” he added hurriedly, “but they made a mess of the last game.” Oliver was getting uncomfortable and he wasn’t really sure what he was talking about anyway. “I don’t know,” he said, wrapping it up. “I guess we’ll see.” He hoped that was an acceptable answer and that Gwen wouldn’t tell Jen that he’d been unsure about them winning or anything. He really wanted to be on the team proper, and he hoped he hadn’t just messed up his chances.
“So, er,” Oliver said, feeling the situation couldn’t have got more awkward if he’d tried. “I’m going back inside now,” he said, glad that he had a solid excuse to leave – getting out of the sun was always a priority for him. “I’ll see you around, Amber,” he smiled. “See you later, Gwen,” he said, waving offhandedly as he walked away.
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Oliver
Uh-huh
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Oliver
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5