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 36: Anya left the door open so she could see her way to the lamp.
Anya left the door open so she could see her way to the lamp. She placed the book on her bed and used the fire strike to light the lamp. When it was burning merrily, Anya went to the door, shut and latched it. As darkness fell, there were few moving about the building and Anya could feel everyone settling in for the night. She knew she too ought to go to bed, but the early night and deep sleep of the night before meant that she wasn’t yet tired.
Curiosity niggled at her and Anya decided to quickly dress for bed. She washed with the little water remaining in her pitcher and reminded herself to have one of the others show her where the well was located so she could refill it. Once wearing the night gown she was provided, Anya moved to the bed, taking the lamp with her. She balanced the lamp on the window sill and crawled beneath the blankets letting them cover her legs. Now that it had been pointed out to her that Rulash was in a more northerly clime, she could feel the slight chill in the air that wouldn’t have been there if she was back in Tyrin. She tucked the blankets around herself and opened the book.
Anya sighed with relief when she realized the words were written in the language she knew how to read. She didn’t have a chance to check and indeed the thought had not even occurred to her until she was on her way back. She turned to the first page and saw a map. Over the top of it was written The Festian Empire. It had many cities and as Anya looked over the map she was pleased to see that the Haverdown was one of the cities listed.
Anya turned the page and found a second map. This map had the same image of the Festian Empire but super imposed over it were the outlines of the kingdoms she recognized including Dovish. The Festian Empire had once covered what was no several empires. While Tyrin was too small to be marked on the map, she moved her finger away from the nearest major city until she thought she was in the right place.
She remembered climbing over the ruins when she was small. People always said they were the ruins of a city, but no one seemed to know what city it was.
‘According to this map it was the city of Ced.’ Anya nodded. ‘At least I learned that much.’
Anya moved from the maps to the text. It had been a while since she last had the leisure time to read. Like most of the girls in Tyrin, she attended only a half day when she was smaller. The other half of the day was spent either making lace or in joining the family in their hunt for sea and lake creatures that could either be eaten by them or sold to others. Once she passed the required courses she was released from school and reading became only an occasional thing. She was always good with numbers and letters and kept her practice up by helping her younger siblings as they learned but sitting down with a book was a rare experience.
At first the words came slowly and Anya had to think about each one.
Ten til Midnight 