Friday, January 28, 2011

Page 99 Blogfest

So, I found out about this blogfest last minute but it sounded like a great idea. Who knew it would be so difficult just to find page 99.  Turns out the copy I had of my novel, Standing Ground, was in a program called Pages, which my old Mac had and the new one doesn't. I had it online too in chapters on Writing.com so I spent the time copying each chapter over into a regular word document until I reached page 99 and it's the end of a chapter. How convenient.

(If looking for No Fear Blogfest, that post is coming after this one.)



A collaborative blogfest, here is a link to one of the blogs and the list of entrants to go check out: 99th page blogfest reminder.  The rules are pretty simple. Post the 99th page of a novel draft. Readers should consider a few things when considering the entry:
"1. Would you turn to page 100?
2. Why or why not?
3. Based on what you read, how likely would you buy the book?"

Like my friend who I discovered the blogfest from (Loralie) I won't explain the gist of the novel. Just check out my page and we'll see. Though at least consider the fact that it's a first draft. It will look better after edits, I promise. ;-)


End of Chapter 17 in Standing Ground (Page 99)
First Draft



After a moment of thought, he struggled to come up with his next question. "I'm going to assume you won't tell me why you wanted to break in here." The stares back gave him the answer so he went a different direction. "Do you know anything about missing SS members? Do you think it's a coincidence or that something else is going on?"

"We have nothing to do with that." Ty gave an answer at last. He didn't sound pleased and spoke slow, as if weighing his words and making decisions with each one. "However, I don't think it is a coincidence."

Before Noah could ask another question, Ty kept speaking after he gave the others a wave to keep them from speaking. "This isn't some connected movement. We don't know the other groups that are called renegades, as SS is calling us. It's not an underground system that is working together to lash out. Different groups have different goals and methods. There is no organization and no leader."

Even though he wasn't quite sure he understood, Noah nodded. It did kind of make sense to him though he was surprised that Ty would even share that much information with him. He couldn't help but wonder about the different movements. They all couldn't be wrong, like K had suggested, could they? He didn't know and stuffed the intrigue away for now.

He spent the next half hour asking questions and received very little responses. None of the information he achieved was relevant to the situation but neither were most of his questions. He couldn't explain it but he didn't feel right trying to get to the bottom of their movement. They didn't seem to be of a real threat at this point and it was obvious they had nothing to do with the real problem that SS was worried about. After finishing with the questions he thanked them and stood up, ready to leave.

"Could you maybe do us a favor?" Michael asked, standing after Kelvin had moved off his lap.

Noah waited.

Michael seemed almost shy as he made the request. "Could you talk them into letting us share cells? I mean, we won't be able to escape and this would be easier to deal with if we had someone to talk to instead of the walls. It hurts being kept away from him..." He stopped speaking after referencing Kelvin.

"I'll try." Noah felt bad and made a conscious decision to help them a little. If they were going to be stuck here for the foreseeable future they should have contact with each other. Keeping them separate seemed a bit much at this point.

"Thanks." Michael gave him a cute smile.

Noah walked out and went to deal with the rooming issue. He soon was able to leave, relieved to be out of there after over 3 hours. It was much longer than he'd intended but he didn't regret any of it. He had a lot to think about for the next few days as he returned to studying Dominic's dreams. He was determined that they were overlooking something and he wanted to find out what.

21 comments:

Kristie Cook said...

Intriguing and would definitely convince me to read more!

I didn't know about this blog fest, but I had thought about doing a Page 99 blog fest myself. Someone beat me to it. Unfortunately, I've messed with my WIP so much, I don't have a page 99 right now. :-P

Loralie Hall said...

Very cool. This is a great page because it's got some exposition without being too talky. It gives us a glimps of character personalities even though we've never met them. And it hints at some bigger mystery that I'd definitely keep reading to learn more about ^_^

Holly Hill said...

Very interesting. I'd keep reading! Good job :)

Alex Mullarky said...

This is really fascinating! Especially that mention of studying his dreams. Very, very well written for a first draft.

Raquel Byrnes said...

Ooh, the whole dream thing draws me in every time. I'd turn the page, sure. Great job.
Edge of Your Seat Romance

Alicia Gregoire said...

I'm very interested. I'd flip back to read from the beginning of the scene to be more grounded and would read on a bit more!

Thanks for participating!

Kelly Lyman said...

I'm intrigued, especially with the whole dream thing. Your writing also flows really well. Nice job. I'd keep reading.

Wendy Tyler Ryan said...

Definitely in the middle of things here. I'd want to go back to the beginning.

Caroline said...

It took me a minute to realize we were working with Noah's POV, but that's probably just because we're joining this scene in progress.

What would make me turn the page to read more are the characters Michael and Kelvin. They interested me. I want to see their relationship and want to see if they're up to something, asking not to be alone.

Francine Howarth said...

Hi,

Good pace to this and intriguing plot. I'd have to flip back to page one and take it from there: job done! Hooked. ;)

best
F

Dawn Embers said...

Wow. Glad this is so well received.

Kristie - Thanks. I hadn't worked on this novel since April so it's interesting to see. I didn't know about the blogfest till this morning.

Loralie - You are too kind but I'm glad you like it. And one day you'll get to read the whole novel.

Holly - :-) Why, thank you.

Alex - I have my moments when writing that turn out. Glad you seem to think this is one. Thank you for commenting on my entry.

Raquel - Dream seems to intrigue people. It has turned out well in the novel overall and it's reassuring to know that still is the case on page 99.

Dawn Embers said...

Alicia - Being grounded does help when reading page 99, lol. But I'm glad the story sounds interesting.

Kelly - Thank you. This novel went really well for me compared to most.

Wendy - Indeed, it's in the middle of a few things. :-)

Caroline - Understandable. Michael and Kelvin are only in two small sections of the novel. This part and earlier when they use Noah's boyfriend as a hostage to get Noah to help them. They will be more involved in book 2.

F - Yay! :-D Thanks.

Marquita Hockaday said...

There is some great dialogue and character interaction in this page. I would need to go back to the beginning to determine if I would read on b/c I was a lil' confused with the POV and the number of characters mentioned on this one page. I guess if I read all of it I would know who each character was/is and that would clear things up.

Thanks for participating!

Erinn said...

I had to read it a few times but each time I read it, I wanted more. I would read the next page and the pages before it. Very cool

Thanks for joining in on the fun.

Marie Rearden said...

Hmmm, not sure what exactly is going on here. Is Kelvin a child, baby? Who/what is K? SS? I want to read 1-98. :)

Keep writing!

Marie, http://marierearden.blogspot.com

erica and christy said...

You're brave to put up a first draft! The concept of finding things out from prisoners through their dreams is instriguing (at least that's what I think is going on!).
erica

HowLynnTime said...

I like your characters and wow so that's what a first draft is supposed to look like? Let's just say your's is less elliptical than mine for starters...lol. Nice job!

Dawn Embers said...

Marquita - Very true. I found that confusing in all the entries. When reading a random spot in the middle there are often going to be lots of names but no background as to who they are.

Erinn - Glad you enjoyed it.

Marie - Those are good questions but I'll only answer one. Kelvin is Michael's boyfriend, so not a child. They just didn't have enough chairs in the room.

Erica & Christy - I don't know about brave, I just don't have anything edited to share when it comes to any blogfest. Just got lucky the page was a decent one.

HowLynnTime - Thanks. :-) This novel went really well but I promise, not all my first drafts look like that. My epic fantasy nano draft is a mess and only half done. lol

Perri said...

This is an interesting topic. I am not clear what's happening, but would probably flip forward to figure it out.

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

oooh, SS and dream analysis? The story seems to have an interesting premise/details so far. I would keep reading.

Dawn Embers said...

Perri - That's good to know. I wouldn't know what was going on either if this was the first thing I read. ;-)

mowrite - Thanks.

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