Over the past week, I have added almost 20k words. This brings total word count for Valiance over 50k. Still, I have a long way to go in just ten days.
Think I can make it to 90k words?
Like last week, I added more ideas, proofed early chapters, shifted chapter structure, created a timeline of events, and so much more. One of the more fun things I did relates to research on Biblical references to evil and how that comes into play on this planet across the galaxy. Also, in my notes, I have clearly defined the two aspects of evil affecting my main character, and just created a deadline for her putting more tension and pressure on her to find a solution.
I’m having so much fun, you guys!
As of today, Valiance is 32 chapters deep with rough points for so many more! (and I am not done writing for the day… so… lol)
One of my favorite scenes to write this past week:
Upon reaching the clinic, I found the alarms going off. Mark and Veronika were standing in the hall while Julia and Nancy were rushing through the hall toward patient rooms.
“What is going on?” I asked raising my voice to be heard over the noise.
Then I realized Mark and Veronika were staring into Dr. Moran’s room with very clear shock on their faces. Eyes wide. Mouths gaping. They simply stared. As I reached them, I realized why.
The door to Dr. Moran’s room was wide open. And he was trying to leave. But he couldn’t. He pressed against the open space and met resistance. Invisible. Intangible. Yet, he could not get even a finger past the inner frame of the door.
He tried. Again. And again. As if waking from a trance, he looked up and saw me. I saw recognition flicker in his eyes.
Then he threw himself at the door.
Even knowing he could not get through, I cringed, preparing to be thrown to the floor under his weight.
Bent over, I realized the barrier was holding. I was not on the floor, but he was.
Mark murmured, “What’s holding him in there?”
Veronika shook her head in dismay as we watched Dr. Moran get to his feet and wipe blood from his chin. He glanced at them, but then he refocused on me.
And he lunged again.
This time, his face hit the barrier and smacked loudly. The bone in his cheek crumpled before our eyes. His eye bulged in its socket. He slid to the floor, leaning against nothing.
He reached up and pounded the nothing that separated him from us. He looked at me, the area around his eye already blackening, the cheek already swollen to twice its normal size.
“You cannot hold me.”
Valiance: Chapter Twenty-nine ( unedited draft) by C. Borden • All Rights Reserved
I know. It is rather intense.
Early on, I knew this book would be more dark than I normally tend to write. I am finding that in depicting evil, there are aspects of my story-telling that will never be suitable for young readers. I won’t sugarcoat evil in this book anymore than I have in some of my other writing. I mean, I will not go so far as Martin with his Game of Thrones series, but I will depict evil as it is, with no hesitation and no apology. And I will not make any excuses for why evil is evil. So, while there is no sex, no heavy swearing, there are elements of evil, and the effects of evil, that may trigger sensitive readers. (I will NOT put a trigger warning on my book – that is absurd, IMO. But, Valiance is definitely not a YA book.)
Are you curious what Valiance might look like? Or maybe how I envision some of the characters? You can get a peek here on this Pinterest board:
As I said earlier, I have had some fun researching Scripture on the aspects of evil. Of course, we all know the serpent from the Garden of Eden. And so I dug in from there. As I searched out references to evil, Satan, and so on, I came across this verse, which ignited ideas. Those ideas sent me into more research online, in the Word, and in translations of original meanings and context. Some of the research also pointed to matching lore from other cultures from around the world. Correlations I bet most Christians would rather ignore, I think. ::shrug:: I can’t seem to get enough of learning more about my God and His impact on our world and on humanity. It is intense, but also comforting and so very exciting!
“By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.”
Job 26:13
My goal for this week, minus taking some time off on Thanksgiving Day, is to push as much as I can daily to get to that 90k. This will mean trying to reach approx. 3,500 words a day until the end of the month!
You read that right. I will really have to push. Thankfully, despite my mental exhaustion, and my aching arms (from typing… you try typing all day on a computer or a tablet when you have arthritis and fibro and raynauds… it is insanely taxing, my friends), this story is demanding to be written. So I am doing my best to comply.
Because this is a Christian novel, based on Biblical ideologies, I do ask that if you are a fellow Christian, please lift this book up in your prayers. It may be fiction, but it could open someone’s eyes to the incredible power of our God. Also pray, that I stay in His truth as I write it. Fiction or not, I do not want to misrepresent any Scripture that I might use within it.
Please come back next Monday, when I will fill you in on how much I was able to get done, another snippet, more verses, and whatever else I feel like sharing.
I am still posting my daily word count progress on X. If you want to follow along, I’d love to have you.