Hello and welcome to WIPpet Wednesday, a blog hop wherein writers share an excerpt from their current WIP that somehow relates to the date. To join in, simply click the blue linky up there to the right.
Greetings! It’s been a few weeks since I’ve had the time to sit down for a WIPpet Wednesday post. Writing continues to go well. In my last WW post three weeks ago, I said “I can’t believe I’m about to hit 50k!” Well, I passed 65k this morning. There is an event coming up quite soon that a lot of things throughout the story have been building up to, and it becomes a catalyst for some really serious conflict between characters. So obviously I’m looking forward to getting to that.
One major decision I’ve made about this story is to make it more obviously YA rather than that YA/NA/adult cusp. I was reading some discussions about how lately there have been things marketed as YA because publishers know that YA has such a vast adult readership, and the actual young adult readers are left feeling a bit bereft. And it’s funny, as soon as I started thinking what changes I would make to accommodate this, my brain was like, “Yeah, this is actually the way this story should go.” So I’m glad I made that decision.
For the WIPpet this week, I have 13(ish) lines because I added 8 and 5. This is Ria’s first performance in the Casyl & Co. Circus. Due to her psychic ability, she’s able to tell what props her audience volunteer has hidden in his pocket. He’s got a juggling ball in one and a knitted toy chicken in the other.
“Something’s missing here,” I said, frowning as I reached him. “No self-respecting clown would only juggle with two balls in front of an audience.” I stopped and looked pointedly from the balls in my hand to Lucas. “Do you know where the third one might be?”
Lucas stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out the third one. The audience gasped and laughed and applauded. I waited a moment and then turned back to Lucas again.
“Now, as for the second item. I’d say that ended up in our props chest after a child left it here one day. Would you agree?”
“Could be.”
“Perhaps a little boy from a farming family. His grandmother knitted it to teach him that the chickens out the back are friendly, even though they might try to peck him when he comes too close.”
The audience started murmuring, already realising that I was right again. I wondered exactly what they were saying. Were they impressed by the magic? Did they think Lucas was a plant? We had discussed in rehearsals how to handle those accusations, but I hoped I wouldn’t have to deal with it on my first performance.
Do you ever have those moments when you’re so focused on what you’re writing currently that you forget what you wrote 30k ago and are pleasantly surprised by it? I had that a lot while going through finding something to share tonight. Also a few moments of “oh yeah, I should probably bring that up again”, such as with the hecklers. Honestly, I can’t wait until this is finished and then I’ve put it aside for a while and then I get to read it again! 😀 My aim is to be ready to start a second draft when we get home from our trip to America in mid-August. I think I’m on track for that at the moment.
Talk to you all soon!
Emily Wrayburn 
Great job on the writing! Glad to hear it’s going well.
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Sounds like things are going well!
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Congratulations on the milestone! And interesting to see the YA or not decision. I think it’s great that you’ve put so much thought into it. 😊
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Isn’t it wonderful to look back on what you read and go… oh, this is good? It makes you feel so good. Then you read something else and… oh, back to Earth.
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