NaNoWriMo is over for another year
Yippee! I can do something besides mess with my novel. Of course, I wrote 85,014 words (by the validator on the NaNoWriMo site) and the novel is . . . oh, maybe 2/3 done. Sigh. So I continue to plug on. But now I've had time to sit back and look at it a little, and realize that the main character is a bit of a wuss, so I need to ramp up his sections. And there's this stuff that has to happen before the part I've been planning for a long time--the almost end. So I've been brainstorming for that part.
Anyway, while I was working on one section of the novel, I have the main character singing a child's counting song with the female love interest's younger siblings. I just mentioned a title in the text as I wrote it, but a few days later I woke up with most of the chorus in my head, so in bits of time over the next few days I wrote the song.
The Horses of Manon
Old Nisanwar Children's Counting Rhyme
Help Manon find her horses
They're scattered near and far
Help Manon find her horses
She doesn't know where they are.
The first horse is the dapple grey
She was in the meadow beyond
The second horse is the strawberry roan
We found him down by the pond.
Help Manon find her horses
They're scattered near and far
Help Manon find her horses
She doesn't know where they are.
The third horse is the chestnut mare
She strayed to the river side.
The fourth horse is the pinto
She went to the forest to hide.
Help Manon find her horses
They're scattered near and far
Help Manon find her horses
She doesn't know where they are.
The fifth horse is the old blue roan
We found her asleep in the shed
The sixth horse is the sturdy black
In a mudhole up to his head!
Help Manon find her horses
They're scattered near and far
Help Manon find her horses
She doesn't know where they are.
The seventh horse is the skittish dun
She went to the quarry to feed
The eighth horse is the sorrel
Found grazing in the weeds.
Help Manon find her horses
They're scattered near and far
Help Manon find her horses
She doesn't know where they are.
The ninth horse is the handsome bay
Out in the wheat so tall
The tenth horse is as white as snow--
We found her in her stall.
Now Manon's found her horses
And home to the stable they're led.
Now Manon's found her horses,
And you must go to bed!
25 November 2010
Manon is the semi-legendary ancestress of the main character's kin group. Nisanwar is the group of islands my (fantasy) characters--the Anwarine--live on. The song probably isn't all that old--at least not the hundreds of years the characters think it is. (But that's a purely cultural thing that I'm sure no one but I care about. An artifact of my anthropology degree.)
Anyway, while I was working on one section of the novel, I have the main character singing a child's counting song with the female love interest's younger siblings. I just mentioned a title in the text as I wrote it, but a few days later I woke up with most of the chorus in my head, so in bits of time over the next few days I wrote the song.
The Horses of Manon
Old Nisanwar Children's Counting Rhyme
Help Manon find her horses
They're scattered near and far
Help Manon find her horses
She doesn't know where they are.
The first horse is the dapple grey
She was in the meadow beyond
The second horse is the strawberry roan
We found him down by the pond.
Help Manon find her horses
They're scattered near and far
Help Manon find her horses
She doesn't know where they are.
The third horse is the chestnut mare
She strayed to the river side.
The fourth horse is the pinto
She went to the forest to hide.
Help Manon find her horses
They're scattered near and far
Help Manon find her horses
She doesn't know where they are.
The fifth horse is the old blue roan
We found her asleep in the shed
The sixth horse is the sturdy black
In a mudhole up to his head!
Help Manon find her horses
They're scattered near and far
Help Manon find her horses
She doesn't know where they are.
The seventh horse is the skittish dun
She went to the quarry to feed
The eighth horse is the sorrel
Found grazing in the weeds.
Help Manon find her horses
They're scattered near and far
Help Manon find her horses
She doesn't know where they are.
The ninth horse is the handsome bay
Out in the wheat so tall
The tenth horse is as white as snow--
We found her in her stall.
Now Manon's found her horses
And home to the stable they're led.
Now Manon's found her horses,
And you must go to bed!
25 November 2010
Manon is the semi-legendary ancestress of the main character's kin group. Nisanwar is the group of islands my (fantasy) characters--the Anwarine--live on. The song probably isn't all that old--at least not the hundreds of years the characters think it is. (But that's a purely cultural thing that I'm sure no one but I care about. An artifact of my anthropology degree.)