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.
Day 14: It took a while but gradually Anya fell asleep.
It took a while but gradually Anya fell asleep. The next morning she again woke at first light and began walking once more. Her thoughts became less active as she walked, simply putting one foot ahead of the other. There was no new information to be gained from her thoughts. No more planning she could do. Anya knew she would have to wait until she reached her destination to make a decision about anything.
Three days passed with the road still running arrow straight to the North. There was no variation to its orientation. The trees began to grow larger and thicker. Anya felt as though they were clustering closer to the road. In some places the trees arched over the road creating a green canopy overhead. At first these canopies were short things a small cluster of trees reaching out over the road and interlacing with those on the other side.
By the end of her fourth day of walking, the small clusters were closer together. After the fifth day it was a long hall of green that left her dappled in cool shadow with the sun light peeking through at odd moments when the wind shifted the overhead leaves.
On the morning of her sixth day of walking, Anya woke to a normal pre-dawn light under the dappled canopy. She began her day of walking, but the light didn’t get any stronger. In the distance, Anya heard the rumbling of thunder.
The rain arrived about mid-day. Anya could do nothing but keep walking. The canopy overhead deflected most of the rain, for which she was grateful and Anya found herself only being splattered by an occasional drop. The light was minimal but rather than stop, Anya kept walking.
The light faded, but Anya couldn’t tell if night had arrived or if the storm clouds merely blocked the light. She walked for a while in near darkness keeping to the center of the road where she thought there would be less likelihood of debris, and wondered if she should stop for the night. Just as she was contemplating settling in for the night Anya spotted a light coming from ahead. It was too dark to judge distance but she reasoned a light meant people. Confident that the road would remain straight, Anya decided to keep walking. The light remained burning through the night and Anya kept walking. The storm abated sometime in the night and Anya thought the moon was peeking out as there seemed to be more light.
By moonlight she walked.
As dawn approached, the gray light seeming silver and bright after the storm of the day before, the light in front of her faded away. By now Anya could see the outline of a large building. It was made of gray stone and larger than any building Anya had seen in the past. It dwarfed even the Tyrin Council Hall. It was still a way in the distance but she reasoned that she could reach it well before the light faded.
The building, whatever it was for, would be impossible to miss as the road ran straight to the building as though it was the road’s only destination. As she walked Anya wondered what such a large building housed.
Ten til Midnight 