Excerpts from Healing

This part I sweated over. It took me three days to write it, due to writer's block and a huge case of perfectionism.

"For as long as anyone could remember, all of the citadels in the south of Sarea always had a council. Tales told of the first councils, when the earth was very young and Dun Zarum had been frail and new. In those days the dangers were many, and dragons and marauding armies were the real rulers of Sarea. A meeting consisting of the prominent figures in the citadel was organized during those perilous years. Ever since then the practice was continued until it became a timeless tradition, part of the roots of Dun Zarum.

A council was a serious matter, only called together in times of trouble. Always the king was present, as well as his chief lords, high priest, chief healer, and all the knights.

Ehra could very well understand why the council had been called. The Stillbreath. It couldn't go on; otherwise, Dun Zarum would be no more. Already the once-mighty citadel had been transformed into a place of dying. Any longer and it would be too much for the city--it would become like the ones that had gone before and had been great int heir time, and then had been conquered. Perhaps soon Dun Zarum would become a memory."

Now one of my favorite parts. I love descriptions. And I love making vegetation up. =) Notice night flowers (also called moon flowers) and Bloodpetal flowers (a type of deadly poison).

"Twigs crunched underneath Ehra's feet as she started down the path towards the Blood Altar. Trodden only a couple times a year, the small trail was overgrown with grasses and was hard to follow at night. Pale, shimmering patches of night flowers, their delicate, translucent petals turned toward the sky, were scattered in the clearings. Because she had not taken a torch before she set off, the priestess's only light was the cold moon.

The path ended, and Ehra entered a large clearing. There, tall and grim and shadowy in the night, silently rose the Blood Altar. Fashioned in the olden days when the world was young, the stone, table-like structure still bore the carvings of black magic on its sides. The altar was so old that no one knew for sure who had made it, but all the surrounding cities used it as a center for their most important ceremonies. Deadly Bloodpetal flowers had sprung up all around it, and a bone pathway led to the mounting stairs.

Leaves and small branches had been blown onto the face of the Altar, and Ehra mounted the steps to brush them off. Her fingers uncovered the burgundy stains of blood on the stone, remains of the centuries of human sacrifice. As she climbed on to kick away a particularly large branch, a shadow caught her eye."

Please do not copy my book. It is mine and mine alone, and I will not be happy if you violate my rights.

Healing: My Epic Book

It all started out with my best friend, me, a cold December night, and a humidifier. It's first home was a notebook, practically torn apart by use. It was the first book that I ever finished. It was 80 pages long all typed up.

It was the first draft of my first ever real book, which I called Dun Zarum. That time, it was about a fourteen year old surf who is told by a traveling peddler that she's one of five children chosen to overthrow a tyrant king.

As my writing style matured, I began drastically editing my book. Over time, as I started to read better books (think 'The Boxcar Children' compared to 'Lord of the Rings') I saw that even the plot of the book was amateur.

Basically, the only thing that stopped me from throwing Dun Zarum in the trash was the characters. My six main characters--Ehra, Maki, Karo, Aera, Leela, and Gnomi--were more than half of my close friends. To delete them would be horrible. So then I started an extensive draft. It was better, but not great.

It was about that time when I set Dun Zarum aside and began to work on some other books. Unfortunately, those books struggled and ended after about the fifth chapter (at the longest). It was just after I quit my biggest idea yet that I began to feel homesick. I missed Ehra and Maki and the world they lived it.

I now call that book my 'home book'. Even though I work on other books that I love, I always return back to Dun Zarum.

Of course, now it's hardly recognizable. Ehra (her full name is Ehrathiwel Eladeen) is now a nineteen year old aristocrat of a kingdom that is struck by a fatal disease. Maki is now Maethar Eisling, a quiet knight. Now the main plot of the book is finding something to cure the Stillbreath, the Black Plague-like illness that is ravaging the kingdom. But the characters still survive and are the same friends from Dun Zarum.

I still have my beaten up first draft of Dun Zarum, which currently has the working name of Healing. Every so often, I flip through it and laugh over the cliche events and cheesy lines. Then I turn on my laptop and read Healing and see how much my characters and my writing has progressed.

I don't know if Healing will ever get published. When I finish, I might just squirrel it away somewhere for my eyes alone. I might read it to my kids. Or I could show it to the world, if it's worth it. But for me, Healing is the book where I feel like I'm home.

HEALING'S STATUS:

Began: December 16, 2008
Draft #: 6
Word Count: 10,064
Main Character: Ehrathiwel Eladeen
Villain: Unrevealed (meaning, I don't even know)
Deadline: Uh...December 2012

Coming up next: an excerpt of Healing!

Please do not copy my book and my book ideas. I will be very angry if you do.