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 28: “What did you mean when you said I have the look of someone who will be chosen,” Anya asked before the younger woman could argue the point.
“What did you mean when you said I have the look of someone who will be chosen,” Anya asked before the younger woman could argue the point.
“Many who come here are simply desperate,” the woman told her. “They come because they have no other option.”
“And you think I have other options?” Anya asked.
“No,” she was told. “But you aren’t desperate. You have confidence in who you are, you just don’t know where you are going. Many need help finding out who they are before they can find out where they are going. You seem to know who you are.”
“I thought I did anyway,” Anya said, more to herself than the other woman.
“I’m still sure that you will be called,” the woman told her. She leaned over to correct the stitching of the younger woman and Anya bent her attention to following the complicated pattern she set herself with her lace. Her fingers moved in a confident rhythm rotating the silk strands on their bobbins around the pins pricked into pattern and pillow. Once she had the rhythm dictated by the pattern, she only had to replicate. As they worked through the morning, the three inch wide strip of lace she was making slowly grew. The silk, though more expensive than she was accustomed to using, was easier for her to work with somehow and Anya relaxed into the work.
As the midday approached, the three set their work to the side and went back to the kitchen to receive a ration of bread, cheese and fruit. It was far more and of much better quality than her jailers allowed her and only slightly higher than she would have gotten at home. As she ate, she wondered what was going on back home. She wondered if they thought of her or if they forgot about her now that she was supposedly working in one of the great houses.
‘They won’t forget forever,’ Anya thought. She knew that sooner or later the cros that the family was paid to send her to work in the great house would be forgotten as it went to pay for apprenticeships for two of her younger brothers. ‘They’ll want to provide for the youngest as well,’ she thought. Sooner or later, the family would send word to request she send part of her pay home. ‘I wonder what will happen if they find I never made it.’
Anya finished her lunch and as she took her empty platter back to be rinsed and reused, Anya wondered if Lord Mathis would come up with a story for her family or simply ignore the request. It was out of her control, so she decided another question was in order.
“You said there was a laundry?” she asked.
“Oh yes. I can show you and we can drop off your travel clothes to be cleaned,” The older woman said. “I completely forgot.”
While the younger woman went back to their sitting area to resume her stitching, the older woman went with Anya back to her room to retrieve her clothing and then they both went towards the laundry. The older woman pointed out markings etched into the walls to help Anya find her way through the labyrinth of corridors. Anya did her best to try and memorize the turns.
Ten til Midnight 