Excerpts from Elk Grovians' National Novel Writing Month Opuses

A one-off achievement, or the start to a brilliant writing career? No one knows where National Novel Writing Month might lead. These aspiring Elk Grove writers agreed to share some of their works-in-progress with us.

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From Elk Grove resident Danielle le Roux's currently untitled novel:

The old building, housing the art and inventions of centuries, was a
maze-like place, full of dark corners and surprising discoveries. It
housed winding stairs that ended nowhere in particular, and sudden
rooms that didn’t seem to have been there before, and it was said that
high in the northwest tower there was a room full of music boxes that
played themselves, forgotten in the dusty darkness.

People rarely explored the Museum of Art and Industry because of the unfortunate tendency of unsuspecting visitors to lose themselves in its many dim
passages and not be found for days. The last time a tourist had dared
to venture in he hadn’t been seen again for nearly a week, and then
his mind was never really the same again.

The Museum of Natural History had been finished in a rush and in a style strangely incongruous to the original white marble of the main edifice, built of
some dark, inelegant stone. It squatted irritably in the foreground of
the lawns as if resentful of its more beautiful companion.

The building contained little more than a few specimens of stuffed
creatures, some fossils, and a great preserved jellyfish, floating in
its own massive vat. The dimly lit interior, smelling mustily of mold
and dust and old fur, had its own eerie charm, but Augusta had hated
the jellyfish since her childhood.  Its purple tentacles floated
obscenely in the discolored liquid and the bloated, corpse-like
vulnerability of the thing made her pity and fear it at the same time.

Of course, the Jellyfish room was where Mrs. Highpin seemed determined
to linger. She even produced a little tape measure from some inner
pocket and began to measure the creature’s tentacles, muttering to
herself the while. She showed absolutely no signs of going to sleep
again.


From Elk Grove resident Heidi Craig's novel, "When She Bargained With God":

"I am much indebted to your kindness and generosity, Elder White,” May
gushed, accepting the unexpected job offer as Mrs. Ellen G. White's
caretaker and companion. Her mouth voiced her thankfulness, but her
heart just was not in the words.  The opportunity that Elder White
presented her with was undeniable, there was no other answer to give
him but yes.  Though she wanted to be grateful, May paled at the
thought of leaving all her dreams behind, and Arthur at the very
center of those dreams.

“Think nothing of it, Miss Lacey.  You are the perfect fit for the
job. No one else would do,” Elder White said as he stood up, abruptly
signaling their conversation was over. May stood as well and sunk
gracefully into a courtesy, just as Mother had taught her to do.  ‘A
curtsey is in grace what an adagio is in music,’ she remembered Mother
often repeating to her and her sisters.

“Until Sunday then, Elder White,” May said mid-plié, her dark green
twill skirts swishing softly, still stunned at the unexpected turn of
events. She had met Elder White only twice, and yet here he was sure
as day that she was the 'perfect fit' for his mother's companion and
caregiver. She was not a nurse, and she was not a talker.  In her
mind, she was anything but the 'perfect fit.'

“Until Sunday, Miss Lacey,” and with a slight nod of his head and a
tip of his brown felt hat in her direction Elder White walked out of
the preceptress's office. May watched him as he walked out of the
building, down the school's front steps and into the waiting carriage.
 As the light-framed gig pulled away carrying Elder White into the
busy street an unsettling feeling washed over her, a feeling that her
whole life path had just been knocked off course and nothing would
ever be as she had planned it would be.

May wanted to trust with all her heart that the Lord knew what He was
doing with her life.  She wished she actually believed what she had
told Elder White about being certain that working with Mrs. White was
where the Lord wanted her to be. She was deeply honored and thrilled
to be given such a once in a lifetime opportunity. But she was
terrified. Living and working in the home of Mrs. Ellen G. White, a
modern day prophet of God...just the thought was overwhelming. Would
the Lord have a special message to give just to her?

From Elk Grove resident and Laguna Creek High School senior Alison
Price's novel, "One of the Seven Sides of the Moon":

Several hours later, after an extreme checkup and much unnecessary
fuss made over her, Adoline sat in her room alone as realization hit
her hard. Her life was turning to hell in one week: betrothed to a
power-hungry man even her murderous mother had tried to avoid and
suddenly no longer the beloved granddaughter to the King but instead
just a tool to a throne, and it was barely even halfway through
Thursday.

Yet all she wanted was a hot bath, a good meal and a hug—
things that she once might have taken advantage of before, yet would
kill for now. Kill….That was one thing she wanted to, and could do.
Maybe a certain fiancé had made it on her list?