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 138: ‘Or was waking up from a long slumber,’ she decided.
‘Or was waking up from a long slumber,’ she decided. The orb responded more quickly each time she used it. The warmth felt the same, but it now almost felt like it was purring, like a cat that now felt loved. Anya smiled. She felt an odd affection for the orb and wondered if it was because it was the nearest thing to a companion she had at the moment. While her familial duties and obligations meant that most of her friends were her actual family members, she was used to spending all of her time surrounded by several f them as they worked and played. It was an odd feeling to be so alone.
She paused for a moment and tried to decide if she was lonely. She realized she missed the others, but with the information she now had, her feelings for them were more complicated than they had been before. She was uncertain what to think about them. She didn’t know if they were sad to see her gone, worried about her not showing up at the manor house with the others taken from town or if they simply forgot she existed.
‘I just wish I knew,’ she thought as she placed her hands on the orb. She closed her eyes as the warmth sunk into her hands. The rest of her shivered a little in reaction as though the warmth was a reminder of how cold the rest of the room was. Behind her closed eyes, Anya saw the lay out of the House of the Star. Then it went blurry and somehow she was looking at the town of Tyrin.
Anya opened her eyes in surprise. The vision of Tyrin remained even as her now open eyes saw the stone room around her. Anya closed her eyes and saw Tyrin again. Anya found she could navigate the town just as well as she could the House of the Star. She could see the streets and buildings, she could go into the buildings and listened to the people.
‘Maybe as it woke up it’s range increased,’ Anya thought. She wasn’t sure if the strength would weaken over use but decided that she should hurry in case it did. She directed her thoughts to her older sister’s house. She slipped into the house with no one being aware.
There was a hired girl helping her sister get the breakfast on the table and in the cradle by the fireside slept a small baby. As Anya watched her sister’s husband came into the room. Her sister looked up expectantly. He smiled as he settled into his place at the table. The hired girl set a plate before him and laid out another for her sister who sat down with him. The girl then took her own plate and settled down at the end of the table. She was far enough away to feel separate and allow the couple the illusion of privacy.
Anya smiled. Her sister married well. They were able to hire in help, but they didn’t have separate servant’s facilities. “Sis you see him?” her sister asked.
“I did,” her husband replied. “And he wasn’t surprised to see me. As he’s already had another visitor with the same complaint.”
Ten til Midnight 