Writing Wednesday - My Summer Project!

  (Totally gonna pretend that I didn't miss my Writing Wednesday post last week and casually insert it this Wednesday like it's all chill)

  As those who hang around here might know, I'm currently in the process of a third manuscript titled 'Faithless', which is an AU dystopia thingy dealing with human conditions like love and trust between a husband and wife that have been separated for seven years because of the husband's betrayal. You can read the full synopsis on my About My Writing page.

  I'm planning to finish it this month if possible so I can be free to work on my summer project (kind of, since my summers are always crazy busy).

  So, for today's Writing Wednesday, I would like to introduce y'all to my summer project, tentatively titled: The Snow Dragon.

  Eira is a young girl living in her family's mountain tribe high in the snowy passes. Curious about the world beyond their valley and fascinated with the ancient myth surrounding the high White Mountain and the mysterious Snow Dragon, she sets out on an adventure to find him and receive the fabled three wishes he grants.

  That's my unofficial synopsis. :P Yay for on-the-spot synopsis'!

  It's going to be a novella, so fairly short. I haven't worked out whether or not it will be aimed at children. Mostly because I haven't started writing yet. I have a tendency to veer into darker, more mature themes at times...

  In any case, I've had this idea stewing in my head for awhile and I thought so long as I can get Faithless done and out of the way, this would be a fun one to do this summer (also ironic, because snow and summer).

  Below you can catch a small sample of what I'll hopefully be working on this July/August/September between working at camp and other activities. We'll see how this goes...

  Eira was bored that day. It was a rare thing for her, there always seemed to be something new and exciting to discover and explore in her blissful valley home. But as the quiet of evening fell over the fall landscape, Eira found herself driven away from the village children and their games, weary of the crowds and the noise and the excitement. She’d wandered off a fair ways, knowing her path exactly as she slipped through the dense forest vegetation with hardly a sound. It was an impressive feat considering that autumn had set in and the leaves were changing and falling all around. The soft crunch beneath her bare feet excited her, lifting her disheartened spirit, and she moved a little faster through the woods.

 She emerged from the bushes into the open on the shores of the mountain lake. The warm red and orange hues of the setting sun shimmered on the ice blue surface of the lake, creating a beguiling contrast. An ancient tree stood sentry over the edge of the waters, Eira had often wondered if it was older than the lake and the mountains themselves, it seemed like it could be.

 Skipping over the rocky shores of the lake, she gathered herself to spring into the tree. The lowest branches were nearly a foot above her head, and she had to climb - not unlike a squirrel - to reach them. The rough bark scraped her bare arms and legs as she went, but her tree-climbing experience and talent allowed her to scurry up easily and with minimal effort. From there, it was only a matter of making her way up through the branches to the top. Or at least, as close to the top as she dared. It was a tall tree.

 The fifth highest branch from the very top was Eira’s favorite. It was a good forty feet in the air and made her feel like a bird. She was not afraid of the height, it thrilled her. Many a time she had even began to seriously consider if she might fly were she to jump…

 From here, Eira would watch, joining the tree in its guardianship. Often she watched for animals, sometimes for birds, or for people. Always though she kept the corner of her eye on the big gray mountain to the north. It was there that the Snow Dragon was rumored to keep its home. A creature out of legend that had fascinated her and owned her imagination for years and years. Some of the village elders said they had spotted the beast once or twice through their lifetimes, but the young people had never seen it. Many wondered if it was even still alive, though dragons were supposed to live thousands of years.

 Today Eira decided to watch for colors while she hoped to glimpse the dragon. She attempted to count all the varying shades of red, yellow and orange in the sunset, but lost track at twelve, unable to distinguish them all. Her eyes roved over the landscape, finding the dark green of the pines, the stark white trunks of birch, the ashen gray of the mountainsides, the peaks covered in white snow. There were brighter colors too, the beautiful orange and yellow fallen leaves, dancing in the soft breeze. Brilliant hues of red and purple trembled in the wind across the blue lake waters. The sky was afire with a thousand variations of red merging into blue and then black as night crept on.  The branch her legs were wrapped around was a warm brown hue and the pale underside of her arm contrasted with the pink scrapes left by the rough bark.

 Eira had counted almost one hundred colors when she heard a voice calling her name from below.

 “Eira! Eira! Are you up there?”

 She bent over to peer down to the ground. Her older brother, Ivar, stood below, bellowing up into the tree and disturbing the picturesque scene. Eira sighed heavily before calling back.

 “Yes?”

 “Mother wants you come home, it’s time for supper.” Ivar was only a year and a half older than Eira, but he liked to pretend he was much her superior and lorded his responsibility and supposed maturity over her at every opportunity.

 “Coming then,” Eira answered half-heartedly. She didn’t want to leave yet, the Snow Dragon was still out there…

 Still, she was obedient and made her way down, soon it would grow dark anyway, and the woods were no place for a lonely girl after dark, as much as she wished it wasn’t so.  

  Of course it's a first draft and not very good yet, but I'm hoping it will end up being something interesting and fun.

  Thanks for reading about it guys! Be sure to let me know what you think. Do you have any summer projects? Or projects carrying over into summer? Tell me about them below.