The fifteen minute novel writing experiment is a attempt to write a complete (and very rough) draft of a novel by writing for fifteen minutes each day. I have taken a timed writing from one of the daily prompts done in 2021, cleaned it up a little and used it as my jumping off point into a story. Each day I will take the last line of the story written the day before and use it as my sentence starter and write for fifteen minutes, growing the story as the year progresses.
Day 27: “We met up every year after, and when this one was born, she came as well.”
“We met up every year after, and when this one was born, she came as well.” Anya nodded and tried to think of questions that she could ask that wouldn’t give away her ignorance of the basic details. “And do you seek guidance every year from the star?”
The older woman smiled, reminding her more of her older sister Kissa. “When you come here you are always opening yourself up to the guidance of the Star,” she explained. “Sometimes you are chose to receive it, sometimes you are deemed not yet ready.”
“So the Star won’t see everyone?” Anya asked.
“Well, I have received my guidance and am happy with my place. This little chatterbox,” she indicated the younger woman who was concentrating on keeping her stitches small and in a straight line. “Will probably come a few more times before she is deemed ready for guidance.”
“I might get it early.” The younger woman said looking up from her sewing.”
“You might, just as I might be called in if something is to change about my world.” The younger women nodded and bent back over her stitches and the older woman turned back to her. “I suspect that in two weeks, once the Star starts receiving the visitations of the year, you will be called.”
“Do you?” Anya asked. “Why is that?”
“You have that look about you,” she said. The woman shrugged. “I’ve been coming here since I was a young girl. My parents died when I was young and it seemed the place to go so that I could find some guidance in securing a place for myself. I stayed and worked and as I had nowhere else to go between sightings I stayed and worked her, creating items from the storehouse, using the skills that I had to create the things that were needed. I made friends and learned to be confident in my skills. When I was, the Star called me to receive my guidance and I was sent to home that needed a woman of my skills.”
“So the Star arranged your placement?”
“Yes,” the woman told her.
Anya nodded and thought through the words. She had only a few skills at her disposal and was in need of a position so that she could earn her keep. She had no illusions about her rations lasting forever and knew she would need to find work to survive. A position would also give her some security as it would grant her a place. She would not stand out as someone who was an outsider. She would belong somewhere. If the Stars task was to find women places where their skills could be put to use, then Anya felt she arrived at a good place. She wondered if the Star took money from the great houses in the nearby towns to make sure that those with the skills they wanted were sent to them.
‘It would pay for the food and other details those staying here use,’ she thought.
“And the place she found you was a good one?” Anya asked.
“It was,” the woman said. “The Star’s guidance leads us to where we need to be.”
“It sent my mother to my father,” the younger woman claimed. Anya nodded. She found the matrimonial angle a little surprising.
“The Star led your mother to the place where she met your father,” the older woman corrected.
“What did you mean when you said I have the look of someone who will be chosen,” Anya asked before the younger woman could argue the point.
Ten til Midnight 