Feb 1, 2011
Day 0 – The Fist Of God
The nuclear missile was fired from space.
First, it floated around the planet in a geosynchronous orbit and then gravity took hold. The thrusters in the missile fired to align it to its target. Once stabilized, the core rockets took hold of speed and the missile ripped through layers of atmosphere. Propelled by rockets, it fell so fast that the sonic booms it created in its path were heard for miles. This was death. Pure, clean and simple. Riding on the chariot of technology, promising oblivion to anything and everything that stood in its path.
The missile's target was a small hut in middle of Amazon rain forest. The man in the hut was oblivious to a certain death that raced his way. The animals sensed that something was wrong but there was nothing they could do to escape their fates. Most of the species that were found only in the forest were doomed. The man in the hut heard the sonic booms when the missile was miles away from the floor of the forest, but he just buried his head deep in his pillow and went back to sleep.
The missile's core was starting to heat up and first stages of reaction were already in place. The sensors in missile's nose locked onto the hut and a last burst of speed sent the missile rocking forth into the forest and it slammed into the hut like a fist of an angry god.
It was a spectacular explosion. The images of the mushroom cloud that rose were captured by the satellite that had fired the missile. Several species of exotic animals were wiped off the surface of the planet forever. The rain forest burned like an image of hell and the fallout made any hope of life impossible for another 100 years or so.
And then, something stirred in the rubble.
---
So, it begins.
Ragnarök
Day 0
Jan 16, 2011
Daddy - Short Story
"We need lots of guns, some swords, two tanks, a Sukhoi jet, a nuclear missile and a pink fuzzy teddy bear."
The weapons master coughed, spat something brown on the floor, cleaned his lips with the back of his hand and said, "The missile would be a problem."
Rozaf looked at his watch, he had to start killing soon.
"Fine," he said, "i'll skip the missile from the order, but i NEED the pink fuzzy teddy bear."
The weapons master said nothing and gave him a thumbs up.
--
Rozaf did a check on the weapons as stood by the side of the Sukhoi. The guns were loaded, the swords were sharp and teddy was fuzzy enough and the right shade of pink he was looking for. The tanks and the soldiers for hire were on their way to the venue, now he had to reach. He got in the jet and took off towards the venue with the teddy bear sitting comfortably in the dashboard of the Skuhoi.
The tanks were a distraction. They were controlled by self replicating nanobots that filled the insides of the tanks. They kept the forces busy while the Sukhoi, flying low, infiltrated the enemy airspace and Rozaf was beyond the point of return. He was near the landing zone, it was time to ditch the jet. He grabbed the teddy and slammed his fist on the button marked EJECT.
--
There was an X marked in the ground and Rozaf saw it from the sky when he pulled the ripcord on his parachute. There was a little girl in a red frock standing near the X. Rozaf wished the parachute would take him down faster but it took its own sweet time. Rozaf hit the ground running and unclipped the parachute without a break in his stride. He scooped the girl in his arms and swung her around in a circle. He hugged her tight, it was the best feeling in the world.
"Did you get me a pink teddy, daddy?" the girl asked.
"Ofcourse sweetheart, how could i forget? Happy birthday!"
---
Right, this one was cute.
Next, a horror story.
The weapons master coughed, spat something brown on the floor, cleaned his lips with the back of his hand and said, "The missile would be a problem."
Rozaf looked at his watch, he had to start killing soon.
"Fine," he said, "i'll skip the missile from the order, but i NEED the pink fuzzy teddy bear."
The weapons master said nothing and gave him a thumbs up.
--
Rozaf did a check on the weapons as stood by the side of the Sukhoi. The guns were loaded, the swords were sharp and teddy was fuzzy enough and the right shade of pink he was looking for. The tanks and the soldiers for hire were on their way to the venue, now he had to reach. He got in the jet and took off towards the venue with the teddy bear sitting comfortably in the dashboard of the Skuhoi.
The tanks were a distraction. They were controlled by self replicating nanobots that filled the insides of the tanks. They kept the forces busy while the Sukhoi, flying low, infiltrated the enemy airspace and Rozaf was beyond the point of return. He was near the landing zone, it was time to ditch the jet. He grabbed the teddy and slammed his fist on the button marked EJECT.
--
There was an X marked in the ground and Rozaf saw it from the sky when he pulled the ripcord on his parachute. There was a little girl in a red frock standing near the X. Rozaf wished the parachute would take him down faster but it took its own sweet time. Rozaf hit the ground running and unclipped the parachute without a break in his stride. He scooped the girl in his arms and swung her around in a circle. He hugged her tight, it was the best feeling in the world.
"Did you get me a pink teddy, daddy?" the girl asked.
"Ofcourse sweetheart, how could i forget? Happy birthday!"
---
Right, this one was cute.
Next, a horror story.
Jan 14, 2011
Well Hello Then...this is the plan
Hello absent readers, considering this is the first post this year, Happy New Year to you.
Now, the plan for this year, 2011. Ever since the creation of this blog, there was no particular focus or a goal, i just wanted to write stories and make people read them by force or by any other means possible. And people have read. Now, after almost 5 years of this blog's existence, i am thinking of giving it a direction. There are going to be a lot of things, related to stories, creativity, challenges, and anything and everything i can lay my hands on.
1) I am going to experiment with different story structures.
2) I am going to release ebook compilation(s) of stories for free
3) I will hold a story competition with cash awards or charity, will figure that out when i reach that bridge.
4) There will definitely be a book that you can own.
5) I want to plan something for people who are doing anything creative, whether you're writing stories, making art, making music, or just doing something awesome. With this blog's reach I want creative people to find an audience. Because the audience is out there, but sometimes, creative people are not able to reach those YAYsayers. Let me be the link here. Why? I don't know, I just feel like doing this.
6) I am going to write occasional posts about the creative process, because there is a lot that goes behind the scenes and anyone who is doing something creative is just awesome in my book.
Right, so that's about it. These are just tentative points, and i do intend to follow them through. Rest, we have the year to see how much of it is done. :)
Take care out there. It's cold where I am, so stay warm where you are. And when you pick fights, take them to the finish!
N
Now, the plan for this year, 2011. Ever since the creation of this blog, there was no particular focus or a goal, i just wanted to write stories and make people read them by force or by any other means possible. And people have read. Now, after almost 5 years of this blog's existence, i am thinking of giving it a direction. There are going to be a lot of things, related to stories, creativity, challenges, and anything and everything i can lay my hands on.
1) I am going to experiment with different story structures.
2) I am going to release ebook compilation(s) of stories for free
3) I will hold a story competition with cash awards or charity, will figure that out when i reach that bridge.
4) There will definitely be a book that you can own.
5) I want to plan something for people who are doing anything creative, whether you're writing stories, making art, making music, or just doing something awesome. With this blog's reach I want creative people to find an audience. Because the audience is out there, but sometimes, creative people are not able to reach those YAYsayers. Let me be the link here. Why? I don't know, I just feel like doing this.
6) I am going to write occasional posts about the creative process, because there is a lot that goes behind the scenes and anyone who is doing something creative is just awesome in my book.
Right, so that's about it. These are just tentative points, and i do intend to follow them through. Rest, we have the year to see how much of it is done. :)
Take care out there. It's cold where I am, so stay warm where you are. And when you pick fights, take them to the finish!
N
Dec 1, 2010
Finished NaNoWriMo
NaNoWriMo was tough. I tried this two time in past 4 years and both times i left it in middle or somewhere even before the mid point but this time, somehow, stumbling and mumbling and tripping and falling my way through I finished it. Phew. Clocked a total of 50021 words. Even if half of it, or even if all of it is crap, i don't really mind. The first draft is always shit. I know this much that I wanted to finish 50k words and with all the shit happening to me in November I still did it.
In the last hours till 0000 hrs when i was writing the last 3000 words, there was a very big temptation to cheat. I gave myself various reasons that I can stick parts of any previous work that I had written and inflate the word count and get the pretty lil pic that you see above. I mean, who'd be there to check me, right? I could have done that and gotten away with it too. But then, i thought, can i really not write 3000 more words? Will i have to wait another year for a November to see if i can finish the 50k. I didn't have the patience to wait till November 2011, so I wrote on. It is important to do what you are doing, with eyes on the goal and all distractions eliminated.
The writing has been tough for me in November because I went home for Diwali once and then for another occasion. That's two weekends wasted, and then I had to go for a dear friend's marriage on the third weekend. These six days I got NIL words done. Which is kinda scary because weekends are the time when any writer can pull up the word count to the max degree. I just got one weekend which was the second and which had a half working Saturday in my office. But at the end of the day, the important thing is that writing got done. How it got done, the circumstances it got done in, whether it was pen or paper or macbook or iphone or the skin of your enemies with their blood and bones for ink, it doesn't matter. What matters is that writing must happen.
And writing happened. This makes me happy.
Thanks to the twitter gang for being pillars of support and jabs in the ass when I was wasting time doing other things than tweeting.
Right, that done, now i want to ask you something.
Do you like horror short stories?
Nov 4, 2010
About NanoWriMo (I'm taking part) + Some Writing Tips
Hey
I am taking part in this year's NaNoWriMo. That's National Novel Writing Month for those living under rocks and in caves. That's ok. The idea here is to write a novel of 50k words in the month of November. Today is 4th day of November, too soon to say anything whether I will complete the novel or not. I really really want to. I hope I keep wanting to complete it.
I won't share what I am writing about for the sole reason that I might jinx it, but rest assured it's all manners of kickassry that we indulge in on this blog. There is blood and exploding helicopters and some sex and more blood. I'll throw in few more exploding helicopters and some satellites too at later stages. I'm using some tips tricks and tools to get me through the writing experience. I'll share some of them here, not all, because well, there IS no all, it's just a tentative list. Anyway:
1. Plan - It's a big project, ambitious too. So, divide the novel into chapters, preferably one chapter a day. Each chapter equal to or more than 1667 words. And you're set towards 50k.
2. Setting - Fix a time for writing daily. Either early in morning or late at night. No phone calls, emails or internet in that time. If you write after proper planning you can easily churn out up to 2k words in 1 hour. That's what I did on one day when I had my work planned out. I knew what I had to write.
3. Rewards - Keep some reward for yourself once you've hit your daily word count. I ate three chocolates the first three days and drank a Mountain Dew today. Tomorrow, it will be something else.
4. Music - Music doesn't work for me, so i keep my headphones off. I do listen to some music before writing to get my blood pumping. I prefer rock, if any other genre works for you, so be it. While writing it's better to keep it silent so that you can listen to your inner voice, then again its personal preference.
5. Announce - Tell a friend that you're writing a novel or inform your online pals on twitter/facebook that you're writing. You might make some new friends in the process and you'll have the accountability factor of delivering the novel before 30 November.
Yeah, we've all read these tips now and before too, but it's always good to have a refresher. So anyway, good luck with writing. I have a good story idea bubbling in my head, i will post it in a day or two.
If you're also writing your novel this November, do share in comments what works for you and I will add it to this post. (My NaNoWriMo Page is here you can connect with me through twitter, my handle there is @69fubar)
Cheers!
N
I am taking part in this year's NaNoWriMo. That's National Novel Writing Month for those living under rocks and in caves. That's ok. The idea here is to write a novel of 50k words in the month of November. Today is 4th day of November, too soon to say anything whether I will complete the novel or not. I really really want to. I hope I keep wanting to complete it.
I won't share what I am writing about for the sole reason that I might jinx it, but rest assured it's all manners of kickassry that we indulge in on this blog. There is blood and exploding helicopters and some sex and more blood. I'll throw in few more exploding helicopters and some satellites too at later stages. I'm using some tips tricks and tools to get me through the writing experience. I'll share some of them here, not all, because well, there IS no all, it's just a tentative list. Anyway:
1. Plan - It's a big project, ambitious too. So, divide the novel into chapters, preferably one chapter a day. Each chapter equal to or more than 1667 words. And you're set towards 50k.
2. Setting - Fix a time for writing daily. Either early in morning or late at night. No phone calls, emails or internet in that time. If you write after proper planning you can easily churn out up to 2k words in 1 hour. That's what I did on one day when I had my work planned out. I knew what I had to write.
3. Rewards - Keep some reward for yourself once you've hit your daily word count. I ate three chocolates the first three days and drank a Mountain Dew today. Tomorrow, it will be something else.
4. Music - Music doesn't work for me, so i keep my headphones off. I do listen to some music before writing to get my blood pumping. I prefer rock, if any other genre works for you, so be it. While writing it's better to keep it silent so that you can listen to your inner voice, then again its personal preference.
5. Announce - Tell a friend that you're writing a novel or inform your online pals on twitter/facebook that you're writing. You might make some new friends in the process and you'll have the accountability factor of delivering the novel before 30 November.
Yeah, we've all read these tips now and before too, but it's always good to have a refresher. So anyway, good luck with writing. I have a good story idea bubbling in my head, i will post it in a day or two.
If you're also writing your novel this November, do share in comments what works for you and I will add it to this post. (My NaNoWriMo Page is here you can connect with me through twitter, my handle there is @69fubar)
Cheers!
N
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