interlude

because i need to get this out of my system if not i won't be able to study in peace! -.- And God knows, I need to for this upcoming midsem!


And yes, this is a snippet from the upcoming story - which has not yet even begun phhooeeyy - and it's a different one from which I originally planned. But well you know, it's what's been running through my mind currently so hey! :D


This may or may not make it into the story at all - though I have a feeling it will, with prob a few tweaks - so enjoy!


Btw, pls feel free to flood the comment box with your comments. And I will NOT unleash fury on you so you don't have to be anonymous -.-

Just to give you a bit of a mindset, this takes place somewhere in the beginning (well, I'm thinking somewhere in the beginning anyway lol), sometime just after the four (refer to last post) are asked to take on the assignment of finding who's the murderer and have just begun to work with each other.

And they're still trying to get used to each other ;)




Quent watched, amused, as the completely innocent blue pen rose and fell in a serious of ferocious stabs onto an equally innocent piece of lined paper.

"He is the most insufferable, arrogant, egoistic piece of - piece of - UUGGHHH!"

The much abused pen was now being browbeaten into scrawling tight little scribbles that were maliciously tearing through the now traumatized sheet.

"Careful there," Quent murmured, "I think you're about a milimeter away from discovering what it's like to torture oak wood with the nib of a pen."

Ashleigh glared at him.

"You think this is funny don't you?" she demanded, waving the - probably very much relieved - pen in front of his face threateningly.

"Well," he started, eyeing the pen suspiciously, "That answer depends on whether or not you've ever managed to successfully kill someone with a writing utensil."

"UGHH!!!" She threw the pen at him, nearly taking out his eye before storming off to the other end of the table. "Everything's just one BIG joke to you, isn't it, Quent?"

Quent sighed.

"Ash, you swore to me - vehemently I might add - that you weren't going to let him get on your nerves before we started this assignment. So why are you allowing him to do precisely that right now?"

"Because, Quent, because!"

"Because what?"

"Because he's out to get me that's what!" She slammed a shaking fist onto the table, anger barely repressed. "Because he's trying to undermine me!"

Quent pinched the bridge of his nose, hard and tried to keep his tone light.

"Is this about little Tommy again? Because I thought you were over that."

"No this is not about little Tommy, this is about what happened down at the bank!"

Quent looked confused for a moment and then slowly but surely a grin began to work its way across his face.

"Ah, the bank. I thought he did quite a good job down there, no?"

Ashleigh slowly walked back to his end of the table and stared at him.

"Kara told me about it," Quent explained, waving his hand nonchalantly, "She thought it was - what were her exact words again? - very amusing."

"Amusing." she repeated, the words sounding hollow in her ears, "Kara thought it was amusing."

"Well from what she told me, the clerk's reaction to James switching on his charm was pre-tty much standard to what happens around here when he decides to go all debonaire. And you've got to admit," chuckled Quent, "it can get relatively - entertaining."

Ashleigh's jaw dropped open.

"Yes, entertaining," Quent repeated, rolling the word over again on his tongue, deciding he liked the feel of it, "And after all, you've got to remember, it's Kara's first time watching James and his charm hard at work."

He gave a laugh, almost to himself.

"Hey, remember the first time we witnessed it?" His eyes glazed a little as his memory took him back and far away from the woman that was right in front of him, looking a little dazed, "He was asking - "

"QUENT!" Ashleigh snapped out of it and was looking at him in exasperation, "I don't care whether or not you and Kara think James is amusing or not, what I care about is the way he just totally tossed me out of the conversation! I was the one investigating NOT him! He just - WILL YOU STOP LAUGHING?!"

The idiotic grin that was currently plastered on his face instantly disappeared.

"Look," she sighed, rubbing her temples insistently, "it was just the way he cut me off before I had even finished explaining myself and literally pushed me aside. It was as if he felt his method of questioning was better than mine!"

"Well," Quent began, picking his words carefully, "maybe it wasn't about how good his method was in comparison with yours. Maybe he just thought that your method of query wasn't getting anyone anywhere and simply decided to have a go at it himself."

"After all," he continued thoughtfully, "From what Kara told me, it seemed as if the clerk wasn't about to divulge any valuable information anytime soon when you were talking to her."

"But he could have waited till I finished to try his hand at her! That would be the polite and right thing to do! You don't trip up your colleague; leader or otherwise!"

Quent shrugged.

"Ash, you and I both know James isn't exactly the most tactful person around - unless he's desperately trying to charm the ladies, in which case he is I suppose -" Quent trailed off.

Ashleigh sighed.

"I've got to agree with you on that one a million times over, I admit."

"Besides, you've got to concede the fact that he did ultimately get the information we were after so hey! Drinks all around eh?" he said cheerfully, attempting another smile.

"I guess." She conceded grudgingly, collapsing into a chair.

The door to the conference room opened with a creak and a tall figure stepped through.

"Speaking of the devil," mumbled Ashleigh under her breath, closing her eyes in frustration.

"Morning, Ashleigh. Quent," James called out, closing the door behind him. He strode towards the table. "Theo's got that information you asked for, Ashleigh," he continued, slipping the file out from under his arm and unto the table.

"Thank you," Ashleigh answered curtly, opening her eyes slowly, "Perhaps we should call Kara in?"

James nodded.

"Yeah, I'd go call her if you - "

He paused, eyes falling on the mutilated paper on the table. He raised an eyebrow.

"What's with the paper?"

~ Finito ~

Whoo!! I just spent about 2 hours doing that so yay me! And it helped clear my headache WHOO!! Well together with Panadol. Anyway YES PLEASE COMMENT lol.

Till next time ;)

### Added note 1 day later: Actually, despite everything I think this probably won't make the cut into the final story. It's just a feeling I have. Which is sad, I know, but it just feels a bit - for lack of a better word - woo woo. LOL. It feels like it wouldn't advance the story if I put it in, and it won't help to add to the story's tone and build it's momentum which I need to be high-octane and paced :D Just a little secret, I think this scene'd probably not be a side discussion btwn Ash and Quent, it'd prob come out as a full out conflict btwn James and Ash themselves so ;)

uh...

I've got one major complaint.

Since when did writing backstories for characters become so hard? If you haven't already figured out by now, some of the secrets and past that they hold aren't happy-happy-joy-joy types (whether or not you'd think of it as sad or "hey tough break!" remains to be seen lol) but still it's never been so ... hard to write such things before. Well not the last time I wrote such stuff anyway.

It's like I literally put off completing the backstory of one of the characters the whole of last night because I was literally afraid of what I'd write down... eventhough I KNOW what I write down. It's super idiotic isn't it? It's like I tried and it was suchhh an emotional weighdown that at one point I thought I'd actually cry. Which I never do with my characters. NEVER.

AND I'M NOT EVEN WRITING THE STORY YET!! IMAGINE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DO!!

So I told myself that I'd wait till today to re-try and uhm...

I think I'm going to cry AGAIN.

Do writers actually cry when they write their characters? Coz it'd be comforting to know if I'm not abnormal XD

And then I get paranoid that if I connect with these characters so well, understand their pain so well... that if I don't bring them across beautifully in the stories, readers won't connect with them... and then that's just emotionally crushing as a writer. boo.

Oh-kay. Maybe I should switch characters. But I don't think that'd work...

Major roadblock!!

Maybe I should pick up the pen, scribble to complete in the 30 seconds and beat the tears to my cheeks! Mwahahahaha. -.-

Preview

This is going to sound utterly ridiculous but... I'm going to say it anyway.

After four years of mulling over the suspense and the mystery for this story, after four years of having characters march themselves into my head and act out their conflicts, climaxes and divulge secrets in front of me...

I still don't have a title for said story.

I said it was utterly ridiculous did I not?

I have never ever managed to come up with a title for any of my stories. NEVER EVER EVER. I'd be the first to admit, some of my story titles were a bit -.- (cue The Tale of Two Superheroes: I still cringe) but still... Oh well, there's always a first for everything is there not?

Nonetheless, here... I... go. After four years of not coming up with previews I deserve a big, deep breath and here. I. go.

The country of Ventyn experiences a nightmare of national proportions after the murders of two prominent ministers. Strangers to one another and battling their inner demons, can four young investigators solve the most difficult case of their careers?

You must know that it took like... 4 hours to whack out that synopsis. Okay, so maybe not 4 hours exact because I had Microbio prac (ah the joys of being a meddie) interrupting the process but still, it took quite a while.

I remember a time when it used to be so easy to churn out titles and synopsis just like that. Sigh* Getting back into my writing mojo's going to be a bit harder than expected.

Oh and I'm so glad because that summary's exactly 250 words which is what Fictionpress (where I will be posting this story) wants so yay meeee :D

Since I've got absolutely nothing better to do (yeah right, there's PBL research -.-) I decided to give a bit of a taste of some of my main characters. Because they're busting to get out :) Introducing...

Ashleigh - Lead investigator; not by popular vote but by assignment. She's stubborn, strong-headed and will not tolerate anyone of the team not toeing the line; HER line. Beneath the quintessential tomboy exterior however lies a turbid past known only by...

Quent - And for that reason, he's the only one able to get through to Ashleigh. He too has a secret of his own which has to be dealt with, sooner or later. But in the meantime, the steady head he has on his shoulders makes him the natural peacekeeper between Ashleigh and...

James - Natural breaker of rules. Self-nominated ladies man. Charmer extraodinaire (the only one who seems insusceptible to it would be his leader). But even he will have to take a good look at himself before the case is up and ask himself the tough questions, that given a chance, would be asked by...

Kara - Nominated purely because she did a minor stint in psychology. She has a sunny disposition and a willingness to believe the best of everyone. Her sharp mind and her uncanny ability to hit the nail on the head has her peers begrudgingly giving her permission to, for lack of a better phrase: "screw with their minds".

Ah... I feel so pleased with myself. Lol. But can I say, it was HARDD writing those descriptions. Because I was struggling not to give too much away (cough the relationship dynamics between them cough) and yet give you a bit of a gist of what they're like. But by no means do those sentences define who these characters completely because, if I may say so, they're by far the most complex characters I've ever thought of. Whether or not I can achieve the complexity on paper is an entirely different story all together.

So that means those people who've read my previous stories, don't for one second compare them to my previous characters! :D My previous ones were really... onetrack minded actually :)

Each of them has complex backstories to them (which is why I'm still delaying XD) with each backstory spanning about 1 A4 page (I said it was complex lol). Plus there are other characters which I haven't introduced who have backstories to them as well. They weren't introduced because uhm you know, that'd be like giving away the story really. -.-

WHEW!! I feel so proud that I did this! (clap for me!!! XD) Now I've got sommore hammering out of backstories to do, loopholes to clean up and chapter planning AND I'd finally get going!

If I'm feeling particularly nice, I may also preview some scene from the story as well. Just because it's been playing in my head for the last month and it's been really bugging me to the extent that I'd have to write it... even before I write the prologue of the story perhaps. -.-

STAY TUNED :)

P.S. - If someone could actually whack out a title for the story for me, and I like it, I"D HUG YOU THE NEXT TIME I SEE YOU!!! Alternatively, if you're a guy like Noel who hates hugs, I'd buy you icecream (not Haagen Daaz don't get your hopes up)

Yello

So, this post is merely to say: hello and welcome... I should be studying about the immune system right now but nevertheless, here I am! :)

Just to clear up any misconceptions, this blog is NOT a journal for my everyday thoughts or rants; neither is it of my daily life interesting though it may be ;) Rather, this is a blog for my writings; as clearly illustrated by the blog title and URL.

Let me explain.

When I was a little tyke, I fell in love with words: written words, spoken words; but more so of the latter because like someone so aptly put it: "Written words have a way of entering the secret places of your mind the way spoken words rarely do."

As an extension for the passion I have for language, it would seem remarkably obvious that I'd love writing and reading. And yes, I've been reading ever since I learnt how to at the age of 4; progressing from Enid Blyton (who I think is STILL the best children's author alive) right up to the likes of authors like Terry Prachett (satire at its best) and so on. :) And I've been fortunate to have friends who have both shaped and influenced my reading preferences on the journey as well - you know who you are :D

I only ever started writing when I was fresh into my teens - at the age of thirteen. It begun on a whim and, frankly, as a joke. In fact, my friends and classmates used to feature heavily in the stories I used to write in the early years of my writing. It all sounds very vague and silly now but at that time it was terribly entertaining to twist and shape the personalities of those I loved into the charming characters that inhabited my stories. If I have ever caused any heinious hurt to anyone in my stories back then, I apologize; rest assured I have lost most of my records of them anyway lol. I can't quite decide whether that's a comfort or a loss to this day actually - though I'd probably go with comfort :)

It was only later in my teenagehood (I think I just coined a word there, hurrah) that I started creating characters fresh out of the worlds in my head - the last two short stories I wrote anyway. I started to lose the habit of relying on real people in my real life to inhabit the stories that I told. I progressed from 9 pages of writing (my first story ever written) to over a 100 pages of writing (the longest I've ever had, but not my latest I'm afraid). I'd always been a fan of adventure, mystery and thrill so that never changed - but my stories went from being simplistic in terms of plot to becoming a bit more twisted in certain areas (at least that's what I like to think anyway) so that's all good. Plus, I learnt how to make romance not so straightforward so HEY! That's got to be a plus, surely? ;)

And all the while, I hope I've grown as a writer - just in the way I wrote narratives, the characters; everything.

Then at the age of 18, the years of silence as a writer ensued.

I was always raring at a chance to write but somehow time was a cruel-hearted thing. There never was enough time to do all my top priorities AND write at the same time; so I abandoned writing...

Until now.

It's been close to 4 years since I last wrote anything substantial. I would like to think that in those 4 years my perspective on the world have changed and that it'd show in the characters of my story: no longer so linear and predictable and exchangeable for one another in the past. That it'd also show in the intricacies of my plots and that there (hopefully) won't be any loophole, large or minscule. I would also like to think that my writing style has undergone some huge metamorphosis so that the voice of my story stopped sounding like a teenager struggling to contain raging hormones (weren't we all? :D) and started sounding more adult - well young adult, anyway; I'm not that old :)

I would love to say that I've got SOMETHING to show you people - yes you who've managed to make it through the last few paragraphs so far - as of now, but I regret to say that I don't.

But, if it helps, the plot that's been brewing away for the last 3 years or so is almost ripe for the picking and I think, I'm almost at the point where I can just about finalize everything and stop worrying about teeny loopholes.

So, watch this space! Because even if I don't give you a full chapter or prologue or what-you-may-call-it; I'm going to definitely provide a bit of a teaser/summary/preview thing :D

P.S. - I forgot to mention, to those of you out there who've always encouraged me in writing eventhough I was this brainless twit of an author in my early years; thank you. I hope I can change the way you view me as an author when my first (something, anything!! lol) comes out. To those who have yet to read my stories, I hope you will. And here's to hoping that I'm no longer a brainless twit of an author for your sakes as well :)