Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, where writers share 8-10 sentences from their WIP for from a current writing project, published or unpublished, then visit other participants and offer opinions, critiques, support.
This week, I’ve continued working on a submission for Cantina Publishing’s Silk & Steel: An Adventure Anthology of Queer Ladies. It’s been giving me some trouble, mostly because it requires actual… action scenes. Ew.
In this story, my two ladies participate in a sport wherein contestants in teams of two have to distract a dragon long enough for one of them to steal its egg. In this scene, Ada and Jules Havisham, twins and Helena and Tori’s main competitors, have shown up to be their usual irritating selves.
“Sounds like everybody’s assuming you two have it in the bag this year,” Jules said, tone sceptical.
“It’s a shame to be disappointed before the competition even starts,” Tori shot back. “But I’m sure you’ll give it a good go.”
Jules smirked.
“We’ll see,” he said. He turned to his sister. “Come on. Nothing to see here.” They drifted back out of the green room, leaving Tori and Helena alone again for the moment.
I was for a while referring to the Havishams as the Malfoys in my head, and Tori and Helena as the Grangers (definitely Grangers, not Potters 🙃). This story has been giving me some trouble this week. I am just not good at writing action scenes, so the actual bit where they fight the dragon and steal the egg… looks amazing in my head. Hate it on paper. Gah. I know I’ve just got to push through it and write something… but sometimes that’s easier said than done.
I was hoping to have the first draft of this done by Jan 15, but we’ll see whether that happens or not. Submissions close February 22, so I want to give myself time to polish it up and have some other people read through it. But at the end of the day, I can only do what I can do.
See you all next week!
Emily Wrayburn 
I already hate the twins. But I love the snippet. 🙂
LikeLike
This sounds like a dangerous game — worthy even of the inspiration for your two families.
LikeLike
So much is going on. I’ll be watching out to see what happens next.
LikeLike
Clearly an important competition and a little posturing going on here, smack talk as it were! Good luck with your action scenes!
LikeLike
It’s ON! Love the clash-Smug v Determined. I’m firmly Team D! Choreograph your action scenes by describing just the movements first, then go back in and add the visuals and emotions. Keep it tight then expands as needed. Good luck!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you for this tip! I’ve changed tack a little with this story now (more about that in next Sunday’s post) but I will definitely bear that in mind for action scenes.
LikeLike
Oh, aren’t they just soooo sure of themselves?? 🙂
LikeLike