NaNoWriMo 2012, Day Two

Wordcount: daily = 2.847, total = 5,290

Percentage: 10.6% (158% of daily target)

Here are some things to do to procrastinate from writing your NaNo novel:
1. Make kumara bread
2. Bake a chocolate cake for your husband's birthday tomorrow
3. Make meatless patties for a BBQ tonight.

Still, it's not like I'm behind on the word count!

Today, being my day off, I rose a little later and did not write my 1000 before breakfast. I actually had to eat breakfast and have my parents visit before I could begin writing. I did manage to slip a little research into that time, however.

The plot is moving along relatively slowly - I'm concentrating more on character development than plot development, although I have introduced the "bad guy". Mostly though, Tiriki's just hanging out with his three friends and doing kea stuff. They're siblings - Raweke, Totoa and Hiwa. Hiwa's a female with an interest in humans - she is studying the one that is in Arthur's Pass to  study kea. For those of you who have read Aroha's Grand Adventure (maybe one or even two of you), the human female is actually a character in that novel. This one slots in currently slightly ahead of Aroha's, but will hopefully overlap. I am undecided on whether Aroha will appear in this narrative, however. Totoa's slightly paranoid and very interested in cars, whereas Raweke has more of an obsession with the removeable plumage of humans - so far just sunglasses, but he'll likely try for a hat or something later. A little foreshadowing has been slotted in and I think the plot will start to heat up soon.

In terms of where it's going - I'm thinking 25 chapters for this one too - which will make it approximately the same size as Aroha's. Currently partway through chapter three, maybe just finished it. If I continue at one chapter (or more!) a day, I should finish by the 25th, and then can maybe do the cover.

This is the first novel I have written with a real-life support team (not counting the husband). Today I popped along to my first Write-In, in the Tuam Library, where I believe they actually have a copy of each of my books, so I shall have to take a camera next time and find them. Anyhow, there were maybe half a dozen people there, all busy typing away, and I joined the line-up for an hour or so and chatted a bit. It was kinda fun. Our ML is neat - she and I actually grew up in the same small town - although she left about the same time we arrived there - but being that we are roughly the same age and went to the same school, we know all the same people! It was quite funny.

Tiriki glided around to the back of the cafe. A row of wheeled bins stood in a colourful line against the wall. He studied them for a moment. I wonder what's in them?

Large chunks of wood had been placed on the lids of each bin, holding them down.

Do they really think that's going to stop us? Tiriki wondered. How dumb do they think we are? He hopped along the row, pressing his nose against them, trying to scent the contents. It was useless, all he could smell was plastic and snow. And the tops of the bins were lightly iced, making him slip and slide. A disturbance at the back door sent him flapping up onto the brick wall. A young human came out – swathed in a great woolly coat.

These humans certainly do feel the cold, Tiriki reflected. Must be a miserable existence, not having feathers to keep you warm.

The human was struggling under the weight of a large white bucket. He set it to one side, and slid the piece of wood from atop one of the bins, the green one, Tiriki noted. He had to give the lid a good, hard yank to free it from its iced position before swinging the lid open.

Tiriki observed it all in silence. He pondered whether he should go for the white bucket, but he could see from here that it had a lid. It would be a simple matter to pry it off, of course, but at that point the human would have caught on to what he was doing, and prevent it. No – better to watch and wait instead.

The man popped the lid off the white bin with surprising ease, heaving it onto his shoulder and spilling its contents into the big green bin. A cascade of half-eaten muffins, crusts of bread and miscellaneous other food scraps poured out, filling the air with a sharp and slightly rank odour. The human caught sight of Tiriki in his peripheral vision and glanced over at him.

“This ain't for you mate,” he said, dumping the now empty bucket on the ground. Putting the lid back down, he heaved up the chunk of wood and put it back firmly in place. Then, with a final glare at Tiriki, he picked up the empty bucket and sauntered back inside.

Tiriki waited a handful of heartbeats, then glided on down to the green bin. Pressing the flat of his upper mandible against the wood, he pushed it so that it pivoted, hanging half over the edge of the bin. A short, sharp push and it overbalanced, crashing to the ground in a most satisfying manner.

Now, of course, he had to hurry. The Bucketman might have heard the noise and realised what was going on. Hopping onto a neighbouring bin, he hooked his beak under the lid and flipped it over in a deft movement, and slipping inside.

He had not flipped the lid hard enough – and it crashed back down, sealing his exit and plunging him into darkness.

Oh mites, he muttered. Food scraps squished beneath his toes, icky and unpleasant, and the smell was overwhelming, suffocating even. He tried to fly upwards, butting his head against the lid, but only succeeded in raising it a few inches, allowing him a sliver of light before darkness again.

Tiriki sighed, resigned to the embarrassment, and began screeching for help.