The fifteen minute novel writing experiment is an 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 226: ‘I wonder who she would get to serve as an advisor,” Anya thought.
‘I wonder who she would get to serve as an advisor,” Anya thought. It was a strange and not quite pleasant thought to think of Bendeasa talking about her with someone else. She didn’t think the moon would cause her harm, but she didn’t like the feeling of exposure it gave her.
‘It’s like the boy and his grandfather knowing I was there,’ Anya thought. It was a sense of exposure. The thought didn’t last a sleep reclaimed her. For the rest of the night Anya sunk into a dreamless and restful sleep.
When she woke, Anya felt refreshed. She stretched and wondered if it was because at least one thing had been decided. It felt so long since there had been any decision made in her life. She was just stranded in limbo, existing, learning, waiting. The wait seemed longer as she wasn’t entirely certain what she was in fact waiting for.
‘But today there is a plan,’ Anya thought. Today there was an action, even if it was to begin transferring everything she needed to the other side of the mountain complex. Anya stretched and moved to her wash stand. As she washed her face and rinsed her body with a wet cloth, Anya shifted things about in her mind. She knew she would not be able to move everything in one go. It would take many trips and a lot of time.
‘Just transferring the books I’ve collected will take several days,’ Anya realized. As she dried herself Anya decided that she would start by transferring the nonessentials, finally bringing over her store of food and bedding once everything else had been transferred. With the plan in mind, Anya bundled her hair up on top of her head and covered it with a kerchief.
It felt strange to start her day without a trip to the orb, but Anya decided that seeing anything with the orb could be distracting. Once everything was moved she would ask Deran about moving the orb and see where that led her. There was however plenty to move before then. Anya began. She took her first bundle and began the long and winding passage over to the inner sanctum of the mountain. The first part of the passage was tense as Anya had to make certain she was not heard by anyone on the other side of the passage.
Once into the uninhabited spaces, Anya had to monitor her steps less closely and managed a greater speed. As she made her trips Anya realized that once settled she would no longer need to be so silent. She could speak out loud without the fear of being over heard. She could sing to herself as she worked. She could work on projects that might make a little noise instead of creeping from the bed to her table to her reading chair.
‘And if everything is in the same small area then I won’t have to worry about banking and stoking the fire so many times a day.’ Anya smiled. That alone would be a relief. She had not realized how many times a day that task was required. At home there was always someone in the house, especially in the winter and so the fire was always maintained. It was banked at night when they all went to bed and stoked in the morning, but kept fed throughout the day.
Here she was worried about starting a fire when there was no one there to mind it. ‘And it will be less chilly if it is allowed to continuously heat instead of spending so much time banked.’
Ten til Midnight 