The fifteen minute novel writing experiment is a attempt to write a complete (and very rough) draft of a novel by writing for fifteen minutes each day. I have taken a timed writing from one of the daily prompts done in 2021, cleaned it up a little and used it as my jumping off point into a story. Each day I will take the last line of the story written the day before and use it as my sentence starter and write for fifteen minutes, growing the story as the year progresses.
Thursday, January 6th: Day 4: She did her chores and made certain the younger children were tended to as was her duty.
She did her chores and made certain the younger children were tended to as was her duty. Usually she had them fed and tucked into bed before her parents arrived home. On that night she was stirring the stew that would serve as her parent’s dinner while the children finished eating. She was adjusting the heavy pots position by the fire to ensure the food stayed warm but did not scorch and burn to the bottom of the pot when her father arrived home.
With his appearance in the doorway, Anya was startled and knocked the bot. It threatened to overturn, but she caught it just in time, burning three of her fingers but managing to keep it from toppling.
“You are home early father,” Anya said. He nodded once to her and then surveyed the other children.
“Stasia,” he said calling the older of her younger sisters. “You are in charge until I return. Look after the children. Anya, you will come with me.”
Anya nodded, but he had already turned and walked back to the door. She followed him outside into the growing darkness. Her burned fingers throbbed with pain. She tried to ignore it. “Where are we going, father,” Anya asked.
“The village square,” he told her. “Visitors from the great house are looking for those to serve the great lord. They will pay a handsome fee to the families of those chosen fifty cros per person.” Anya nodded. To a great house, such a sum was nothing, but she knew that each of her brother’s apprenticeships cost twenty five cros. If she could secure a place as one of the servants the men from the great house chose, then two of her three remaining brothers would be provided for.
Her father stopped and looked at her. “It is a good place for you,” he told her, his voice not unkind. “Even as a servant there will be opportunities for you in the great house and in the city of Frastian that you do not have here. The money is good, but it is not a bad bargain.”
Anya nodded. She could see he believed what he said, but fear gripped her at being thrust into the unknown, out of the only life she ever knew. Her heart beat in time to her burnt fingers and she nearly stumbled on the rough cobblestones as she tried to keep up with her father’s longer strides.
‘You don’t know if you’ll even be chosen,’ Anya told herself.
They reached the village square and Anya realized almost any family with children of suitable age to be taken and trained for service in the great house was being brought forward. There weren’t many children in the acceptable age range, but all of them were present. Anya thought it lowered her chances of being chosen.
Ten til Midnight 