The Snippet Tag // Created by MOI

Hello fellow bloggers! As most of you know, I recently participated in NaNoWriMo this year. It was…insane, to say the least. But, unfortunately, I came a few 1,000 words short of my goal. But, I’m still pretty good with my current word count (45,000). And, according to my outline, the actual story is far from over. I made it about halfway through. So…it’s going to be a monstrous novel.

But now that I have most of it written down, I can finish it up and start editing the entire trilogy! Well, I have to finish writing the second book…and the first one needs some seriously sprucing up…But still! That’s exciting for me.

Towards the end of NaNo, I found myself deep in a battle of plot bunnies, trying to fend them off, when I finally decided, ‘I need to do something else with my brain. Just for a little bit.’ And so…

I came up with a tag!!

Since I didn’t share much in the snippets department (*cough*none*cough*), I thought I would create a fun tag that would allow me and other bloggers to share our writing!

Basically, the rules are:

• Include the fancy-shmancy graphic I included somewhere in your post. (Or make your own, just so long as you include a link back to my blog.)
• Answer all the questions, however you want to. Creative interpretation is key here! You can use the book you’re currently working on to answer the questions, or other books you’ve started or have written.
• Tag 2-5 other bloggers.

That’s it! Now, without further ado, I present to you…

THE QUESTIONS!

(Oh, and there’s probably a TON of spelling errors and grammatical mistakes, so, I apologize in advance.)

1. Share your most gripping, fascinating, and hooking first line of a story.

This one’s from Imprint, since it’s the one in the best of shape. Others…not so much, ‘gripping’ or ‘hooking’.

The wizard sat wearily, leaning heavily over his staff, sweat running down his forehead. His hands trembled as they gripped the staff so tightly his knuckles turned white. His eyes were shut in concentration.

The slightest of raps broke through his intense focus, causing him to rise hastily to his feet, leaving him dizzy. He clutched his head, gritting his teeth in pain.

A large mirror rested against the wall of the small Tower room. A man stood on the other side of the glass, his eyes angry and black as coal. His face was a mask of secrecy. “What are you doing?” he hissed from inside the mirror.

Okay, so maybe it’s a bit more than the first line. 😉

2. Share a snippet that literally just crushes your heart into a million feelsy little pieces.

I’m actually having a hard time finding a specific snippet that gets me worked up. Mostly the backstory is what really gets me. Here’s one that crushes my heart in a happy sort of way…If that makes any sense.

Markus felt the impact of the sidewalk before he saw it. Splitting pain bit into him, and when he looked, ink was oozing down his arm. He felt his face and found a small cut across his forehead. Groaning, he wobbly attempted to get to his feet. A hand grasped his dirty palm and pulled him up.

“You saved my life,” Markus said, gasping. He looked up at the figure. And blinked.

It was Drilidric.

“What kind of father would I be if I didn’t save my son from a truck barreling toward him?”

3. Share a snippet that makes you want to shout to the world that you’re SO. HAPPY.

Mostly all snippets with Saymeth and Koki make me happy, so…yeah.

Koki nodded up at Saymeth and they set out down the sidewalk together. They hurried along, and when they came to an alley, they decided to rest a moment.

They sat in silence for a time.

“Now…about that treat?” Saymeth said smiling.

Koki couldn’t bite back a smile. She handed him her bag. He looked inside. “You didn’t get one for yourself?”

Before Koki could reply, Saymeth had pulled a fruit tart from the bag. “You like these, don’t you?”

Koki stared for a moment, then realized. She laughed out loud and accepted the tart.

4. Share a snippet that gives a bit of insight into one of your most favorite characters ever.

Drilidric is definitely belongs in the favorite characters of ever category. Basically because he’s the king of sass. And for that reason, I’m sharing a bit more than ‘a’ snippet. 😀

Zedidiah swept over to a mirror in the corner. He gingerly pressed his hand onto the glass and Paige could see a faint red glow under his palm. A figure appeared in the glass. Drilidric.

“What now?” he huffed, crossing his arms, annoyed.

“Since this will be your last time seeing any of your ‘friends’, I thought to include you in my telling of my plan.”

“Oh,” Drilidric said, staring through the mirror, “How nice of you to include me. I wouldn’t want to miss this for Nore. Let me just go get some popcorn…”

“Silence, idiot,” Zedidiah hissed angrily. “Their lives depend on it.”

 

“What…Why haven’t you been helping me? Helping us?” Markus said, suddenly angry. “We could’ve used your help!”

Drilidric winced. “I’ve been busy protecting you in other ways, okay? I’m sorry if that upsets you.”

“I was in jail.”

“I know. So was I. And you had help getting out. What kind of help do you think I had?” Drilidric made an ‘o’ with his fingers. “Zero.”

 

The man looked up at the wizard, smiling. “If you break this mirror, you’re really trapped in here, Zeddy.”

Those words only made the wizard seethe even more, but he lowered his fist. “I hate you Drilidric.”

“Well I don’t hate you.” The man smiled. “I’m just not necessarily thrilled about your existence.” Then he disappeared like a wisp of smoke, back into the depths of the mirror.

 

The man looked away from the fruit. “He’s trying to Rewrite Fanastasia isn’t he? I knew he’d eventually end up doing it.”

Zyke didn’t say anything. Drilidric was standing in front of him. His commonsensical side told him to be running in fear, yet his challenging side made him stay firmly put.

“He’s trying to Rewrite Paige and Markus too. Yet he’s getting frustrated.” Drilidric smiled at this. “His mirror’s broken too. Can’t be too happy about that. And how funny that Celthic was the very one to do it.” Drilidric cleared his throat and strode up closer to Zyke.

Zyke didn’t move nor breathe.

“Here’s my guess,” Drilidric began. “Zedidiah is upset that his most valuable man is in the Tower. This upsets you too because you feel you’re just as good as Celthic is. Yet Zedidiah just doesn’t see it in you.”

Giving Zyke a sympathetic smile, Drilidric finished. “And that is why you’re sending this innocent girl to the Tower as well, so you can prove yourself to Zedidiah, thus redeeming yourself in his eyes and yours.” Drilidric stared into Zyke’s eyes. “Am I right?”

Zyke didn’t say anything. He couldn’t. This villain had just described his whole blasted life to him.

5. Share a snippet that literally melts you into a puddle of adorable, squishy, OTP mush.

I…kinda have a lot of adorable couples in this series…So, yeah. Here be the couples:

Markus frowned. “Why are you here?”

Paige hid her face in her locker. “Why do you think?” She slammed the door and turned to Markus.

He hung his head, eyes frantically searching the room, landing anywhere but Paige’s eyes.

“I’m sorry.” Without another word, he took her hand and led her down the myriads of kids. Paige blushed, knowing that every kid there was watching them. She heard snickers. She wondered if Markus was popular at school. He doesn’t really seem the type.

Markus ignored them, eyes focused straight forward. Paige didn’t want to make him feel silly, but she couldn’t help but cringe.

“You’re going to math class, right?” Markus said turning to face Paige.

Paige nodded in reply. They stood at the door to class and he let go of her hand.

 

The girl stared up at him, terror present in her eyes. Celthic didn’t know if it was from seeing him, or from whatever she had just gone through to get here. He decided it must have been the latter, because she was looking curiously at him now.

She crawled tentatively toward him, extending a hand toward him. She withdrew it, wincing, as she saw the chains. “Where am I?” she asked. Her voice was quiet.

Celthic groaned. “The Tower. Who are you?”

“Who are you?” she countered. Her eyes roved the circular room. They landed on the broken mirror momentarily, then went back to Celthic.

She cocked her head. “What a minute. I know who you are.” She gasped. “You’re Celthic!”

Celthic stared at her. “You guessed it.” He winced, his head pulsing uncomfortably. “Who are you though?”

“Magali,” she said, hugging her knees. “Though everyone just calls me Maggie. Unless I did something wrong.”

Celthic nodded. “That’s always how it goes, huh?”

 

“Did you leave a friend somewhere?”

Tizini froze. “Why would you ask?” But the memory was already weaving its way through his mind.

Markus. He’d left Markus.

“He’s not a friend,” Tizini said quickly, feeling more uneasy by the moment.

Raezil shrugged. “Okay. I just wanted to say sorry. You seem…unsettled.”

I am unsettled. You’re scary the living daylights out of me. Was she intellectual?

“Are you intellectual?” he blurted.

Raezil stared at him for a moment. “Do you want tea?” she asked, avoiding the question.

“I want to know how in Nore you know how I feel,” Tizini said staring at her. She stared back, eyes just as intense. As if to say, try me.

“Fine.” He said after staring for as long as he could. “I’ll take that tea.”

Raezil smiled slightly, sending imaginary spiders skittering across Tizini’s chest. He would’ve thought the sensation would be unpleasant. But it wasn’t.

6. Share a snippet that gets you beaming with pride and you’re just like yep, I wrote that beauty.

I don’t usually feel like such a genius while writing. In fact, I feel more like I’m just pounding my face into the keys. It’s more in editing that I’m more pleased with my writing. But I remember being particularly proud of this scene when I’d just started writing Imprint.

“What on earth kept you?” Gothel asked, irritated.

“I’m sorry, I…” Paige fought to find the right words. “I was…reading a book.”

Paige hated lying. Not only because it was wrong but because she was so terrible at it.

“What book?” pressed Gothel, directing Paige to one of the chairs by the tiny fireplace.

Paige didn’t know what Gothel planned on doing to her, but she sat down anyway, trying to calm her shaking hands.

“Now where’s that brush…?” Gothel muttered, feeling around behind her. “Tell me about that book.”

She’s just brushing my hair…calm down…Paige sent up a silent call for help. She stopped shaking slightly.

“Oh…” I don’t want to lie anymore… But then she got an idea.

“It’s a new book,” she said slowly, shivering at Gothel’s spindly hands sweeping through her hair. “It… it’s called…”

Stop stuttering, Paige scolded herself. “Well, the…the cover is so old, I can’t read the title,” Paige giggled nervously.

“What’s it about?” asked Gothel, disinterested.

Paige shivered again. “It’s about a…a princess.”

“Really?” asked Gothel, still bored. “And?”

If you’re not interested, don’t bother asking! Paige tried very hard not to roll her eyes. “Well, the princess lives in a…cave. And the cave is guarded by a bear. But she doesn’t like it there, so she…escapes. And then, she happens to meet a prince. Then they fall in love and live happily ever after,” Paige snapped.

Gothel was silent for a moment.

“I don’t know that I approve of that book, Rapunzel. Running away, meeting princes, nonsense,” she said annoyed.

“Oh, well, I just happened to notice it on the shelf. Just thought I’d check it out.” She faked a smile.

I hate lying, I hate lying, I hate lying…

7. Share a snippet of genius, deliciously witty dialogue between your characters.

I love dialogue with a passion. If a book doesn’t have good dialogue, I’m usually bored. Also, it’s the perfect chance to unleash the sarcasm monster inside of me.

 “You!”

Vasi frowned. “Me?”

“Yes you!” Jack seethed. “You tried to hypnotize me!”

Vasi laughed bitterly. “Well done, you’ve figured it out. Though, that happened weeks ago. Do you hold a grudge?”

Jack balled his hands into fists.

“And if I’m correct,” Vasi went on, “You were trying to kill me. I hardly think we’re even.”

“I was only doing as I was told!” Jack hissed.

“Good. Then why are we arguing? You did what you were told; I did what my feelings told me to do. There. Problem solved.”

“If I had my sword I’d slaughter you.”

“You’re mother must be so proud. Now go back to your friends and argue with them. As you can see, being chained is really tiring.”

 

Markus got to his feet, still holding the lamp. “You’re the genie?”

“A genie, mind,” the man said. “There are more of us, ignorant boy.”

Markus winced at the genie’s harshness. “So you were just being stubborn.”

“Did you think I wanted to be let out of my home?” the man sighed, rolling his eyes. “Look, you’re my master now, I grant you wishes, yada yada yada, you probably know the drill.”

“I’m sorry,” Markus said, crossing his arms defensively. “If I had known you were so rude, I would never have let you out.”

“So you really didn’t catch the hint that I didn’t want out? Like I said, ignorant.”

 

“Are you shy? Shame.” Zyke shook his head. “But I do hate getting too attached before I know what’s up.”

“What do you want?” Maggie said, her voice quivering.

“Tell me what you know,” he said smiling.

“About…what?”

Zyke laughed. “Obviously whatever’s going on between you and Paige and Markus.”

Maggie gulped. “There’s nothing going on between me and them. I’ve never even heard of them.”

Zyke rolled his eyes playfully, getting up from the couch. “Right, and I’m not a stranger in your home?”

Maggie didn’t say anything.

“Do we really have to make this difficult?” Zyke sighed. “I don’t like hurting girls.”

 

“So…jail, huh? What’re you in for?”

Saymeth blinked, confused. “What do you want? And how did you get in here?”

“Which answer do you want first?”

Saymeth crossed his arms. “The first one.”

Pyrallis nodded. “I’m here to issue a jail break. Currently, you’re the only Noren that’s been thrown in jail. I figured you probably wanted out of here, you know, since jail isn’t fun?”

Saymeth backed into the wall, arms still crossed. “And the other question?”

“Yeah, you probably don’t want to know the answer to that one.”

Saymeth bit his tongue, staring at the man. “You didn’t…kill anyone…did you…?”

Pyrallis looked appalled. “Me? Purposely kill someone? Never. I snuck in. I was just trying to mess with you.” He smiled.

 

Markus bit his tongue. “Paige. I almost forgot about her.” The words stung like a hornet’s nest in his mouth.

Vasi nodded. “That happens when people are in Nore for a while. They’re forgotten. If they’re there too long, you can lose all memory of them.”

“Well aren’t you just a little ray of sunshine?” Pyrallis stood in the other doorway, crossing his arms. “You really think he wants to hear that?”

“I was just telling him the facts of life. Sorry if they’re a bit disturbing for little rays of sunshine, like you.”

Pyrallis glared and stalked into the kitchen. He opened a few cupboards and found they were empty. “This is supposed to be a kitchen right? So where’s all the food?”

“I misplaced my grocery list,” Vasi said sarcastically. “It’s not like I’ve been dealing with stowaways and wayward Norens. I should’ve had plenty of time to go shopping.”

“Well why haven’t you then?” Pyrallis said looking in the fridge.

Vasi gave a fierce glare and marched to the living room.

Pyrallis grinned at Markus. “I think he hates me.”

“You think?”

“Hey, breakfast is important. As is second breakfast. And brunch.”

8. Share a snippet that makes you feel like an evil genius for thinking up such an malevolent villain (Mwa-ha-ha!)

I have quite a few villains in this series. But I do have my main villain, who is a little…crazy. To prove my point:

Flaming with anger, Zedidiah marched swiftly down the stairs and into his office. He grabbed his staff, and with a cry of fury, he slammed it into the ground. Blood red fog exploded in the room, thickening the air with his wrath.

See if I can’t break your spell, Drilly. See! The fog spread, seeping into crevices and cracks, shaking the Fortress with rage. The scrollcases tumbled over, spewing priceless scrolls across the room. The ground beneath him started to crack. Still, Zedidiah forged on. Sweat beaded on his forehead, his hands shaking with concentration. His spectacles slid from his face and flew carelessly to the ground with a quiet snap.

Gripping his staff tighter, the fog finally flew into an orb, opening wider, gaping. Zedidiah’s body froze, diving into a state of awareness. He saw Fanastasia flashing before his eyes, portals flashing blood red, dragging people into its midst. People screaming, creatures flying and running, helpless to his power.

Finally now they will see me as I am. As their most powerful ruler!

        He stepped forward and into the portal, death looming in his wake.

Yeah…

9. Share a snippet that leaves you breathless, in a cold sweat with action-induced intensity.

So…spiders. That’s all I can say. This scene was…scary, to say the least.

Mrs. Morrison waited, eyes doubtful. Markus examined the black thing. It looked like…A spiders’ leg. He sucked in a frightened breath.

“I…don’t know, Mrs. Morrison.” He stared at the leg in the shadows. It was starting to move. Subconsciously moving back in his chair, Markus looked to Mrs. Morrison. “S-Sorry…”

Mrs. Morrison looked at Markus, then followed his gaze. “What on earth are you looking at?”

Swallowing, Markus turned back to the spider, which was now in full view. It wasn’t a normal spider. It was gigantic. A tarantula, bigger than his head. Fur protruded from the legs, its eyes roving the room.

Leaping out of his desk, Markus hit the wall, breathing hard.

“Markus, what on earth…?” Mrs. Morrison said, her tone exasperated.

“There’s a spider,” Markus said, the words rushing from his mouth. “It’s huge, and it’s moving this way.”

Mrs. Morrison looked incredulous. “Markus, there’s nothing there. Please take your seat.”

Markus gaped at the teacher. “You…you don’t see it?”

Mrs. Morrison gave him a look that quite clearly said ‘no’. She turned back to the board and starting writing something down.

Markus shook his head. He knew he was being ogled by the whole class, but he didn’t care. The spider hissed at him, and crawled lower down the wall.

10. Share a snippet of a most interesting first meeting between your characters.

This is when Paige and Maggie first meet Prince O. He’s kind of…a bit annoying at first. But later on, he’s super great. 🙂

She turned in her seat to see a man standing in the doorway, wet and panting. Rain poured from outside behind him. He stared back at all the people who had startled at the noise. And his eyes caught momentarily with Paige’s. No, not Paige’s. Maggie’s.

Paige glanced back at Maggie, whose face had reddened a rosy pink. The man looked away briefly, then back again. People had turned back to their tables, the commotion starting up again. Paige watched as the man hurried over to the desk. He seemed to argue for a moment, but then he was walking toward their table.

Paige swallowed. “He’s coming toward our table,” she breathed.

Maggie’s eyes widened. “What?!” she whispered, panicked.

“Excuse me,” a voice said, and Paige looked up. It was the man, though he didn’t look half as wet any longer.

“Yes?” Paige said, trying to catch his eye, but he had only eyes for Maggie, who was squirming in her seat.

“I…couldn’t help but notice, you look very much like a girl I once knew.” The man cocked his head. “What’s your name?”

“M—” Maggie paused, glancing at Paige. Panicking, Paige mouthed Martha.

“M-Martha,” she said, stuttering.

The man shook his head. “No, that wasn’t her name. But I must say, you look strikingly familiar.”

Paige managed to catch his eye, though briefly. He looked back at Maggie. “Who is this with you?”

“Oh, that’s my…sister.”

Paige made an incredulous face, shaking her head in disapproval. “My name’s Peony,” Paige said before Maggie could say anymore.

“Well,” the man said smiling. “Since you both introduced yourselves, I ought to too. I am Prince O.”

He’s a prince?!

“Oh, your highness!” Maggie said, awkwardly dipping her head in a sad attempt at a curtsey. “It’s an honor.”

Prince O took Maggie’s hand. “Bah, none of that. Just call me O.” Then he kissed her hand.

Paige suddenly felt like smacking his hand away. She didn’t of course, but she had a fun time imagining.

*collapses at the sheer amount of snippets in this post* Well, that be the tag! Eek, I’m so excited to see who does this tag! 😀 To get the ball rolling, I’m going to tag a few more people than necessary.

I tag… Winter @ Winter’s Falling Fast || Deborah @ The Road of a Writer || C.B. @ The World of the Writer || Madi @ The Book Owl || Jenelle @ Jenelle Schmidt || Elizabeth @ E.E. Rawls || Bernie @ Bernie’s Musings and Doings || and Savannah @ Scattered Scribblings

Please don’t feel pressured to do this tag. I just thought it was fun to share some of my writing with these questions. 🙂

Can you believe I invented a tag? (I can’t…) What are you writers currently working on? And readers, what are you currently reading? Let me know down below! ❤