NaNoWriMo 2013: Up The Scarlet Staircase

  Hello everyone. *Sheepish* If you haven't noticed, I took a bit of a blogging break the last couple weeks. My life has just been insane, and I needed some time to evaluate and figure out what I'm doing on the blog and whatnot. Anyway, I'm taking part in NaNoWriMo this year, which is insane! But I'm on schedule... actually a little ahead. In case you don't know what NaNo is, here's the long and short: I'm trying to write 50,000 words of a novel in just the month of November. That's why NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month.

 So today... on Day 5 of NaNo, I've decided to share with you a little about the novel I am writing.

Title: Up The Scarlet Staircase
Genre: YA Christian Dystopian
Age Range: 12 and up

My bad Back Cover Copy:

 Max was raised in the facility. It's all he knows. Every since disease wiped out the greater portion of the world's children, things have changed dramatically. Children are kept in special air filtered facilities, supervised by Doctors who look out for their well being, searching for a cure.
Max is almost thirteen, and when he turns that age, he will be sent to an all boys facility, and separated from his only friend Aimee.
 But age is not the only thing Max has to worry about.
A small window in his room's doorway allows him to see out into the hall where a mysterious red staircase climbs. And sometimes he sees children taken up the staircase... and never brought back down again. When one of his worst fears comes true, Max decides to leave the facility to find the family he knows he must have, even if it means walking through poisoned air to get there.
But the Doctors are not so eager to let one of their children leave.

Here's a collage of a few characters: 

Max is my male main character, while Sharron is my female main character. Aimee is Max's friend, and Valen Steward is a leading Scientist/Doctor.

 Here's a few songs on my writing playlist. I'm not a huge fan of some of the songs, but they fit my novel really well. The words, especially. 

Radioactive – Imagine Dragons

The Broken Ones – Dia Frampton

Song of The Caged Bird – Lindsey Sterling

Safe and Sound – Taylor Swift

 And for your reading pleasure... or maybe not so much pleasure... here are a few snippets that I've written thus far. 

 ~

There once was a boy named Jimmy Swift. He was eleven. He was the first to die.   

~

Our removal of children from the home was a necessary step in the protection of our future, and the future of the children. ~ Doctor Valen Steward

~

  The doctor was headed for the staircase. When you think of a staircase you see a flight of steps leading to a specified location. But this staircase was different. It lead to a place that was unknown, and its color was scarlet as blood.

~

 

 “This facility was built for the protection of you all. You live here because you are being protected. You should feel honored, and want to serve the Director with all that you can. He was appointed by an act of science- a disease- to lead us, and with science we will succeed in all things we so wish to accomplish. The Director has plans for all of you. You may become a worker in any facet of the jobs we provide: research assistant, instructor, or perhaps even a gold star scientist yourself. Anything can be accomplished with hard work, and when you are eighteen, you may decide which course you would like to approach.” ~ Professor Maclemore

~

 Aimee stuck her feet down, letting the rubber scrape against the gravel under foot. “Of course it matters. You’re the smartest kid I know Max. I think one day you will be a Scientist- one of the Doctors. Maybe you’ll be in charge of your own facility.”

 Max shook his head. “I don’t want my own facility.”

 Aimee turned to look at him. “Do you hate it here so much?”

 He shrugged, glancing at the children who ran on the track, played in the sand boxes, and swung on ropes. “It is all I have known. How could I hate it?”

 She stood, walking to him. “Why do you talk like you do then?”

 Max shrugged his shoulder, wondering if he should tell Aimee the worries plaguing him. “It’s the staircase, Aimee. It’s strange how that boy… I haven’t seen him since Doctor Ryland took him up it.”

 ~

 

Doctor Ryland pressed a button on her wristband, and a holoboard appeared. She studied it for a moment. “For now we will only need a sample from Aimee.”

 Max felt his muscles tighten. It made him uncomfortable that Aimee was the only one having to have her blood taken. Why shouldn’t they take his? He was scheduled for sooner relocation. Or were they focusing on the girls? 

~

  “This is where we filter the air. It comes in through some of the panels, and is filtered on its way down here, where it is dispersed to the entire facility.”

  Sharron nodded, pretending to listen, though she knew about filtering methods already. She hadn’t seen a dome designed like this one before, though.

 “Sounds complicated,” she said, acting as if she was a greenie with no experience whatsoever.

 He smirked. “It does, but it isn’t too hard to understand. It just requires experience to figure out, like most things here.”

~

 Science is the one thing you can always count on. With science you can accomplish anything. We are seeking to use science to find a cure. We will find a cure. Because science is everything. ~ Doctor Valen Steward

~

“I want you to know that was you saw was nothing. There is nothing devious going on here. We are simply working for the betterment of all of you children, nothing more.  Whatever you saw last night… you should forget. It is for your better interest.” ~ Doctor Ryalnd

~

 In a few moments the men exited along with Doctor Ryland. The door shut behind them.

 Max ran to it, slamming his fists against the metal. “Let me out! Where are you taking her? Please! He climbed on top of his stool, peering into the hall, desperate for any sign of his friend.

 Doctor Ryland had her… was pulling her across the hall… toward the scarlet staircase.

 “No!” he screamed, aware that his voice might not even carry into the hall. “No! Take me instead! Let her go! Aimee! Aimee!” 

~

“My name is Sharron. I lived in a facility too.”

 He looked at her again, and this time there was a glimmer of curiosity in his eyes. “You? But aren’t you one of them?”

 Her heart pounded. She hoped their words hadn’t been picked up by some bugging system installed in the Activity Center. “Not exactly. I’m an assistant.”

 He looked up. “You mean… you’re one of the people they say we can be someday?”

 She smiled at his wording. “Something like that.” 

 ~



 Annnndddd I've probably posted too much already. Have a good evening!

~ a rambling author