Excerpt from "The Shoemaker's Son" by Gayle Ramage

So, being that today is the last day before NaNoWriMo officially starts, I thought it would be appropriate to post an excerpt from a fellow author's book!

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Excerpt: Darcy, from the future, unsuccessfully tries to explain time-travel to Brogan, a man from the 19th century.


‘Damn you, woman,’ he snapped, throwing the remnants of his pie back on to the plate. She looked taken aback but he didn’t much care. ‘You speak in riddles, disappear for years at a time, when I do see you, you never seem to age, and you never tell me the truth!’

The other patrons of the shop all watched the outburst with mild interest.

‘Whoa, keep your hair on,’ she said. ‘All right, I’ll tell you everything but don’t blame me if it sounds like nonsense to you.’

‘Aye, well, that’ll be my decision. So, go on. Explain yourself. Are you a witch?’

She erupted into a bout of laughter. ‘A witch? I thought we were friends.’ He didn’t join in, just remained stony-faced, waiting patiently. Noting his expression, she cleared her throat. ‘I’m from the future.’

‘What does that mean?’ he said, after a beat.

She sighed audibly, and then muttered to herself. ‘It’s going to be fun trying to explain time-travel to you. Right,’ she went on, a bit louder. ‘Okay. In five years time it will be?’

‘1832.’

‘Correct. So, if I said that I am from 1832 but have travelled back to 1827 then I would be seen as someone from the future. See?’

‘No.’

Her tongue darted out and ran across her bottom lip, then she shifted in her seat. ‘This is impossible. All right, I was born in 1955. In the future.’

‘Stop teasing me, woman. How can you be born in a year that’s not happened yet. Nineteen fifty-five, you say? Over one hundred years from now?’ He laughed at her.

‘Brogan.’ Her voice was strained. ‘I’m finding it very hard not to bang my head against this table. Look, I was born in 1955. Fact. Just because you don’t understand something, doesn’t make it a lie.’

‘It doesn’t make sense, though,’ Brogan protested. He couldn’t account for her ageless appearance but the thought that she was insane crept into his mind.

‘Last attempt. Put it this way, if you found yourself in the year 1618, for instance, then to people living in 1618, you would be someone from the future.’

‘But I wasn’t even born in 1618. Neither were my parents, nor were -’

She waved a hand, dismissively. ‘Yeah, yeah. I get the picture. I don’t need your family history, and I really don’t need the hassle of trying to explain all this to you. I’ll leave enough money so you can get a couple of more pies. You look in desperate need of fattening up.’

‘You’re not leaving are you?’ He shouldn’t have been surprised. This, after all, was what she did. Appear then disappear, like a conjurer’s trick.

‘I’m a busy woman, Brogan.’

"The Shoemaker's Son" is available on Amazon here.
(If you're viewing in the United Kingdom, the Amazon.uk link is here.)
Check out Gayle's website, and be sure to follow her on Twitter!

Writing Prompt #8

Think falls more under brainstorming than an actual prompt, but hey, it's something.
I've found that when I write essays, it actually does help to write an outline, although that's a far cry from a story/book.
So, what I did the other day was just write out what will happen in my story blow by blow. Something like this, just to give you an idea: "Lucy goes to the coffee shop. She sees a kid getting kidnapped. She runs after the car using her superspeed and peels the top off the car and saves the kid."
(This is not the plot to my book by the way, it's just what popped into my noggin first.)

Writing Prompt #7

Think of a story and / or movie that - as far as you're concerned - ended horribly, and you know you can do better. Rewrite the ending to better suit your whims. Trust me, this is really fun!

Happy Writing!

Writing Prompts #5 & #6

So, I was at school most of the day, and when I got home, my internet was out. Sorry.
Anyhow, here's two prompts:
1) Take a rather well-known story and write a parody. It will force you to closely examine the original, while opening up vague areas that you can clarify . . . humorously.
2) Create a character based on somebody you know. Place them in an awkward situation and let it play out. Oh yes, and involve a unicorn.

Writing Prompt #4

Most stories use combined dialogue and narrative.
Stretch your brain muscles and write a story that is either all dialogue or all narrative.
Now, don't think that just because you're using narrative that people are silent the entire time, or just because you're using dialogue nothing can happen.
Be creative!

Happy Writing!

Writing Prompt #3

Find one of those awesome pictures with the goggies or the kittehs with the funny captions. Take the caption, and frame a story around it.
This should be fun . . .

Happy Writing!

Writing Prompt #2

NaNoWriMo is quickly approaching, so I thought I'd try to post a prompt every day to get us warmed up.

Pick a country that you've never been to, and create a character from that country (past, present, or future - your choice). Try to grasp the accent of your character, and write down what they say as they say it. Meaning, if your character is from Scotland, and they say "I don't know what you're talking about", they'd say it like this: "Ah dunno what oor takin' aboot". Obviously, spelling is not important here, just the feel of the dialect. (Youtube can be a great resource for this, by the way!)

Hint: I've found that it helps with writing the words if you actually say them out loud with the accent. Just letting the words roll around in your mouth really helps with recording them accurately.

Happy Writing!

Writing Prompt #1

Take a song (I use soundtracks, myself) and forget about the original context of the song. Listen to it enough to formulate a plot with at least 2 characters. Write at least 1 page of what you see in your mind's eye. Whatever you do, don't throw it away! More often than not, you'll look back at it and see another - better - story forming.

Happy Writing!