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 46: That hadn’t stopped her older sisters from trying it.
That hadn’t stopped her older sisters from trying it. Anya smiled as she watched her two sisters share the cup that had been left out under the full moon. They placed it outside just before bed the night before and snuck it into the house the next morning, giggling as they hid iy among their few extra garments. Then that night they shared the cup. There had been no real revelations but Anya remembered Kissa claiming she met the man who would be her husband the very next day.
Anya remembered trying to argue with her sister that since it was a small village she had known Jeran since they moved her. Kissa informed her that she hadn’t thought of him as a potential husband until then, so it was still the moonlight magic at work. Anya was informed by both of her older sisters that she just wasn’t old enough to understand those sorts of things.
Anya still thought her noticing of Jeran as husband material was mostly due to Jeran’s asking their father if he could pay court rather than the moon touched water, but as Kissa was happy, Anya kept her mouth shut.
Anya flipped the pages. There were many rituals in the book and they covered nearly every aspect of daily life. Most had some reference to the moon. Planting, harvesting, and sailing she understood a little about as the moon might denote the time of month and thus be optimal time for planting or harvesting.
‘And the moon controls the tides,’ Anya added. As Tyrin had a small port, tides were considered necessary to learn about. Anya’s studies hadn’t been specific enough to let her know the details since no one expected her to become a sailor let alone a ship’s captain, but she knew the basics of tide flow as did anyone who lived near the sea.
‘But I never thought of the moon as a goddess before,’ Anya thought. Her eyes were getting heavy. She thought about changing into her night dress and sleeping. Those around her had certainly drifted off some time ago if the quiet beyond her door was anything to go by. But with the book being dropped off specifically for her, Anya wasn’t sure that was a good idea.
‘Spending tonight in my clothes won’t hurt me,’ she decided. She was too tired to read any more so she put the book to the side and blew out the lamp. She curled up fully dressed, confident that she could find her shoes if she needed a quick escape. She tried to think about the moon and why the star would give her a book of ancient rituals for an Empire long since turned to dust. However her late night the night before, early morning and long day were catching up with her. Anya curled up into a tight ball and soon sleep claimed her, pushing all thoughts of ancient empires and pursuing noblemen away for the morning. Anya slept deeply and dreamlessly for the rest of the night, waking only when dawn made the curtains glow with the first light.
Ten til Midnight 