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 49: The older woman smiled and shook her head.
The older woman smiled and shook her head. “Nothing that traumatic,” she assured me. “They merely found their place and left. Sometimes people return others do not. Sometimes they don’t return until years later.”
“Oh, I see,” Anya said.
“Groups form and reform,” the woman continued as though guessing Anya was wondering about their little group. “No one has come from my town in quite some time. And Grenton too has fewer arriving this year than most.”
The woman looked sad.
I had to come with a caravan heading to the area and I was the only one coming her,” The younger woman added looking up from her sewing.
“Is there a reason?” Anya asked.
“Less need,” the older woman said. “If there are opportunities elsewhere then the Star’s assistance is not needed to find them. They don’t come because the towns are prosperous.”
Anya nodded, but something seemed off with her explanation. She settled back to work as she walked through the conversation. Prosperity for a village was often a double edged sword. When their village became more prosperous due to increased trade, the laundry was built because people could now afford to have others do some of the work they preferred not to do themselves. There was a source of pride in having someone else perform menial tasks.
The women of the town now had increased opportunities to earn a wage, however many of them took the jobs because their husbands lost custom due to the new trade. Her mother took work in the laundry for that reason. Her father had once been more prosperous, but his trade decreased as new imports brought from far away replaced many of the items he made. He was reduced to repairing and creating for the less prosperous who could not afford the imports.
‘And with the village’s general prosperity larger dowries were expected and my sisters had to work longer at the laundry. Part of that was because they helped pay the apprentice fees for the boys, but those fees went up as well,’ Anya thought. While her family made ends meet, there were many who no longer could. Increased prosperity for many often decreased prosperity for others. She knew there were several in her village who, if they had known of the Star and the House of the Star to aid them in getting a better position would have made the journey from Tyrin in the hopes that it was true.
‘But perhaps it is different here,’ Anya thought. She didn’t want to upset either of her companions with contradictions. ‘Besides I know what I wanted to know, which is why their group was only a duo and there was no one else with them.’
The day continued with no further interruptions and talk remained on the day’s work and mostly centered upon the younger woman’s improvement. As she worked Anya thought about the library.
Ten til Midnight 