The Fifteen Minute Novel is an attempt to take a single prompt and use the last sentence written each day as a start for the next day. This year I had several prompts circling around a similar story, so I have combined them. However, the story starts the same way each day, with the last line from the day before and a timer set for fifteen minutes. The hope is to end up with a complete, if very rough draft by the end of the year. Some stories are better than others, but I always learn a whole lot about my own writing when I do this so for me it is not only a nice way to work out a story, but it is a tool for helping my writing get better. And so, we continue this story for 2024 with…
Day 123: ‘Maybe I can take a little time before bed each night to play with it.’
‘Maybe I can take a little time before bed each night to play with it.’ Sophie thought as she headed home. She flashed on her conversation with Linda. While Sophie wasn’t planning her own line of clothing, the thought of expanding, even if only for herself wasn’t a bad one. ‘I could expand ff of sleep sets,’ she told herself as she pulled into her parking lot.
It was an interesting idea and as Sophie left the car and her work-elf behind, she thought about creating an array of clothing with a cohesive thought behind it. ‘I don’t have to tell anyone it was from one of my emotional sets of drawings at all. And if Janine doesn’t want to include them on her site, then I can just keep them for myself.’
Sophie realized it may give her closet an over stuffed feel, but it would be worth it to see more of her creations come to life. ‘Still have to work on the regular projects though.’ Sophie did a quick change and then made herself something simple for dinner. She pulled out her drawings to flip through while she ate. This time she wasn’t just choosing drawing she liked, but ones that sort of formed a cohesive collection.
As some of the emotions that her drawings were based on were similar, she was able to group sections of them. Many of the drawings both she and Janine liked fell into one category and Sophie decided it was the best place to start. As she finished her dinner, she washed her dishes, dried her hands and put the extra drawings away. She left the drawings she chose out where she could see them as she worked and then retrieved the sleep set she needed to work on.
As she worked, Sophie periodically glanced at the drawings, her mind already starting to make adjustments to some of the details, taking them out of fanciful sketches and into clothing that could actually be produced in the real world. By the time she set he sewing to the side for the night, she had several ideas and before she became too tired to focus, Sophie sketched them out in her sketchpad.
As the week flowed on, Sophie fell into a pattern. Work in the office was steady and quiet. The days there were full, but at the end of the workday, forgettable. She went home and on the drive mentally switched gears. She gave the bulk of her time to the commissioned pieces of sleepwear, but each night she spent time working on what she was thinking of as her collection. She never saidf the word out loud, lest anyone hear and think she ha pretentions.
‘After all designers have collections,’ she told herself. Still the term stuck in her mind as she worked. By the time Saturday rolled around, She had decided on certain types of materials, but had yet to reach the stage where she wanted to actually set out a pattern or take scissors to material.
Instead she took herself to the fabric emporium. While she stocked up on a few basic necessities, Sophie let her mind wander and her thoughts drift over the still slightly nebulous pieces she wa designing. She knew their basic shape and how she wanted the material to flow and drape, but she had yet to arrive at any details. She knew what material she wanted.
Ten til Midnight 