Work-in-progress excerpt - Stolen Futures (Patreon)

Today I am sharing a couple of bits of first draft written today in a No-Prep-NaNo class taught by Mary Robinette Kowal.

This first is for a prompt to write a voice-driven opening.

--

The Painter of the Heart's Palette was older than the city Marigold was born into, older than the language she spoke, and far older than the nation that was sending hundreds of people to kill her and everyone she'd ever known. The Painter was cracked stone and shining copper, its sixty-foot-frame littered with cabling, scaffolding, and a rickety steel ladder that wobbled every time she ascended to the cockpit.

Would this be the time that ladder failed and dumped her to the floor? Today, on the eve of the fight she'd been told would come sooner or later since she was old enough to know what war meant? That the play duels she fought with sticks as a snot-covered child were preparation for this inevitable but unknown day.

The Painter had been here the whole time. Like it was waiting for this day the whole time.

--

The second excerpt is for an action-focused opening. This one was written first but I will probably put it second in the draft that I guess now I should start.

--

Marigold Dust breathed in the musty air of the Painter's cockpit as she extended her will into the ancient machine's body. Connecting with the Archon felt like growing fifty feet in an instant while coming awake from a dream. The Painter of the Heart's Palette greeted her with a voice that reverberated throughout her body and soul,

"Hurry, child. They've already broken past the outlying turrets."

--

And then the third prompt was to continue the scene. So this comes right after the voice driven opening.

Klaxons roared as people scrambled every direction. Technicians running last-second tests on the Archons, soldiers piling into transports and pilots taking to their vehicles. Marigold threw herself up the ladder as Rex's voice cut through the alarms,

"Sync up as fast as you can. This is what you trained for, kids."

Halfway up the ladder, she looked over to Nova, blue hair tinted purple by the alarm lights. She leaped into the cockpit of The Clash of Steel on Steel, winking at Marigold as she disappeared from sight.