I have been working on the Desert Bride story all afternoon. I finally managed to finish the first part and now only have two more parts to go before where I started writing this thing connects with the actual beginning of the story. This is why I try to start at the beginning. So I don't have to go back and write things out of order. Less confusion that way.

I am also having the hardest time remembering that Amenan's country (loosely based on Egypt) is east of the country where Osmond's sister is to wed. That country, BTW, is loosely based on Tunisia (not exactly, I'm mixing and matching my cultures which I'm allowed to do because it's my damn story). For some reason I keep wanting to stick Tunisia off in the Arabic pennisula and keep saying Egypt is west of it. I must have corrected myself about half a dozen times in this story already.

Let's not even talk about the sheer number of plot holes I've had to spackle over. It's not pretty. This is what I get for just writing and not actually working out the plot before hand. I'm hoping that does not come back to bite me in the end. Especially since I only have the vaguest of notions of where this is going.

I'm sad to say I know more of what happens to Nankah after this story finishes than I do about what happens to Osmond and Amenan. Sigh... it's hard to believe she was the character I came up with first.

Now back to work. I'm hoping to keep updating this thing up until I have to eat dinner and go to class.

Class got out early, so I was able to get this finished. It's completely un-betaed, which I've noticed is usually not a good thing. I went back through some of the unrevised parts of this story and good lord, it's a wonder people don't think English is a second language for me. Sorry about that.

( Desert Bride, rated PG-13 for hot and heavy making out )

Poor Osmond. His body knows what it wants, but his culture has told him that he doesn't want that. I feel sorry for him.

For those of you new to the LJ and wondering what story I'm talking about (and I alternate between calling it Desert Bride and Desert Marriage, so that's confusing) here is what I have written for all your viewing glory. Including notes and research.

( Desert Bride )

All right people. How much are you going to bribe me with in order to make me write the next scene where Amenan cashes in that bet?

miome and I went to one of the local farmer's markets today where we cleaned out their bruised tomato stash. This place usually has a box full of fruit that got bruises or is slightly damaged in transit, so they are half off. Seven pounds of tomatoes for $7. Miome then cut these up, added some white wine and bullion, and is letting them cook down in the crockpot right now. Tomorrow we shall have delicious marinara sauce.

Also, I'm working on the Desert Marriage story again. I've added some notes, wrote a bit of what will probably become a side story (which is currently tacked onto the end and will get moved to a separate document as soon as I have enough of it to justify one), and decided that I didn't like how it was starting in the middle of things. So I'm backing up a few scenes and am going to write the build-up to Osmond actually getting kidnapped. Might even back up even more in the story and write Amenan going through the ritual at the temple and talking about the kidnapping. I think that'll set up the whole story better.

Right now it looks like crud because of this, but I'll clean it up when I get what I need to done. Also added a line at the top with the date of when it was last updated since I realize Google Docs doesn't automatically tell people this information.

I think I'm also going to include an email in case people stumble across it and want to contact me.

I desperately want to write Nankah's story. I will remain strong and wait until I've got Osmond and Amenan's done. Or mostly done. Because really, I have the willpower of an eggplant.

Well, publishing something on the web through Google Docs is not as reliable as they would have you believe. I checked the Ghost story this morning to find out it was only something like three paragraphs long. WTF? I seem to have fixed that error by republishing the thing, but I'm not too pleased. At least you can now see all three pages of it as opposed to three paragraphs.

I checked the Desert Marriage story as well because now I'm paranoid. It seems to be fine.

Sigh.

Oh well. Work is at a standstill, so I think I'm going to do some writing today. And since I'm at work and don't have access to my files, I'll probably work on one of those two stories. That is assuming I don't get assigned another project.

EDIT: How the hell did ever instance of the word "necklace" get replaced by the word "lace" in The Desert Marriage story? O_O

I posted links to the two stories I've published using Google Docs in my profile. I only have one scene done of the Ghost Story and a few pages on the Desert Marriage story. I figured sticking the links in the profile would let everyone who wanted to read them do so without me annoying people who want to wait for the finished product. As the warning states, I'll write on these whenever I get the urge and edit them as I go. It's more so people can see the kind of notes and the process I go through when writing. Enjoy!

(feedback is always appreciated, BTW).

Have to stay late on campus tonight. Since I was good this afternoon and worked on my annotated bibliography (almost halfway done with what I must do, and probably a 1/3 done of what I will do), I'm allowing myself to write some more of Desert Marriage. I'm still ambivalent about letting people read that as I write. Then again, I find all the little notes and changes people do as they write interesting. Maybe others do as well.

Since I can write from anywhere and don't actually have to save the file on the computer, I've started messing around with Google Docs. I really like that I can write at work/school and not have to worry about incriminating evidence lying around. There's a couple of issues with Google Docs though. The biggest for me is that there's no page #'s. I usually determine how long a part should be based on how many pages it is. Usually a part is 3-6 pages. I can't do that in Google docs, which means I don't know if I'm writing too much or two little. It is quite honestly driving me nuts.

On the other hand, in Google docs you can share documents before they are done as republish as you make changes. I'm playing around with this feature right now. So if anyone's interested you can see me work on the Kidnapped Bride story can be found here. I'll probably work on this off and on during the week. I'm curious as to when and how it'll update. This ought to be interesting.

Strangely enough, my computer randomly rebooted in the middle of making this entry. WTF? I think that's a sign that I should get off of it and go bake.

This is one of my story ideas that has seriously been with me for over 15 years. When I was about 13, I saw a very large and very gaudy rug in a flea market in NC. It depicted a man in loose robes on a white horse with his arm around a woman in many veils who was in front of him on the horse. Two other men on horses (one black, one brown) and heavily armed rode beside him. In the background was a large, vaguely Middle Eastern tower with an open window and a walled garden.

I was so intrigued by the rug that I came up with a story to explain what was going on. Then man on the white horse was kidnapping the woman in the veils to be his bride. The two men with him were there as escort. Obviously, the woman was in love with him but her father didn't approve. It was all very romantic.

I still love the basic idea and have started quite a few stories with the premise. So far, the fragment is my favorite version. ^^

( The Kidnapped Bride, PG, fragment )