#WIPpet Wednesday – July 10, 2019

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.

Bit of a heads-up for regular WIPpeteers. Next week I will be around to reset the linky, but after that I will be travelling for  three weeks. I may remember to delete the previous week’s links or I may not. Regardless, the linky will remain open and you can add subsequent links. Just don’t be surprised if there are a couple of weeks’ worth there for a little while. Not sure if I’ll end up posting a WIPpet next week or not, so I wanted to bring this up now.

On the writing front, I have finished the first draft of Operation: Sugarplum! Six years this has been swirling in my head, hoping for completion, and when given the right prompt, it poured out of me in two weeks. It needs some tweaks, then I’m going to let people read it while I’m on holiday.

I also had some thoughts on Facing the Music today. I was madly texting myself on my lunch break so I don’t forget. They’ll require some pretty dramatic changes to how the story looks at the moment if I want to implement them, but I think they would be really good and make the story stronger. I’m almost tempted to just write an outline for the ending as such and then come back to it after our trip, rather than trying to finish a first draft when I’m going to come back and make a lot of changes. There is a lot that will stay the same, but I think there will be more conflict and tension in the relationships between characters if I make some of these changes. I was also thinking last month that I’m going to change Ria’s magical ability slightly, and widen the scope of what she can do. It will work better for the story that way, too.

For this week’s WIPpet, I have 10 sentences from Operation: Sugarplum. Clara asks about Max’s username when he logs in on his work computer.

“Nutcracker? What’s that about?”

A small smile appeared on Max’s face. “Family trip back to Germany for Christmas when I was four. Since there were bowls of chestnuts all along the table, I figured they were for eating. But no one told me I couldn’t eat them straight from the bowl. Mum swears I nearly broke my jaw, but I think she’s exaggerating. Though I did break a tooth. Ever since then, she’s called me ‘little nutcracker’. I use it for this kind of thing so that my work’s not immediately identifiable. You know, if my laptop got stolen or something.”

Those of you familiar with the original Nutcracker story might remember it was the Nutcracker’s jaw that got broken by Marie/Clara’s (the name depends on whether you’re reading the book or watching the ballet) brother, Fritz. This is one of the little Easter eggs I snuck in.

P. S. If you’re keen to see what I’ve been reading, check out my WWW Wednesday post on my other blog.