My Submission: The Horse From the Woods – Grains of Life

The challenge with this story was that it had a 4,000 word limit and had to have an hourglass somewhere in it. This is actually a side story that branches off from my main story, The Horse From the Woods that came out to be 3,996 words, (not including this part of course.) Some new characters are here that haven’t been introduced yet, but oh well.

Reminicing over his life as he stared Death in the face, Sacariss let the excrucuatung pain sweep over his scaled body, releasing the immense amount of pride that had swelled within him. He quietly accepted his fate, knowing that he was coming to his end. He knew that he must rely his trust upon Nadia and the others. He knew that he was no longer going to be there to lead them. He had used all of his strength, but he was unable to defeat Antracius. Sacariss was still the younger brother. He was not as strong as Antracius, just as no one else was. This was the end…this was his end. Antracius had won…

Gryphon, Nadia, and Duchess Illustrations (Including a True Story)

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Alright, I have finally finished coloring my gryphon picture here at 1:55 in the morning and decided to post it along with a sketch of Nadia and Duchess that I drew a while back. These both illustrate my story, The Horse From the Woods, so please read and comment on it if you have not done so already.

For all of you wondering about the “Mr. Stein Incident”…I shall tell you about it.

I am currently taking Art Techniques II with Mr. Stein at Central Campus, 5th hour and we are currently finishing up our gesture drawing, shape people done with oil pastels. When we finish our oil pastel drawings, we are to look for a reference picture so we can draw a picture for our next assignment, and although I am not finished with my oil pastel drawing yet, I already knew what picture I wanted to use for my next assignment. It was on Wednesday, February 5, 2007 that I took my gryphon picture, that I had drawn the night before, up to Mr. Stein and asked him if I could use it for my next assignment.

Gryphon Illustration

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This is a picture that illustrates the gryphon in my story, The Horse From the Woods Chapter 1 Part . I drew this picture about a year ago and will have a redrawn version of it up soon.

REWRITE – The Horse From the Woods: Prologue Part 1/3

I have decided to rewrite my entire Horse From the Woods story from the prologue up! Well, I have rewritten this story many times from 1st grade, including in 4th, 5th, and 8th. I have once again rewritten it this year, as I am in 9th grade and you can see the immense improvements that I have made. I hope that it is better and that I have worked out all of the bugs. Please tell me what you think!

Running through the early morning moistness of the Mathurin Forest that enveloped her quaint home in obscuration, a young girl of ten brushed through the rough branches that tore at her soft-featured face. As she flailed her arms to shield herself from the treacherous twigs, her light, maple- colored hair snagged on the trees’ wooden appendages and her cheeks grew red with frustration. She frantically scanned the thick forest before her with her dark, emerald green eyes as she searched for the source of the strange sound that had impelled her to run through the wood. She quickly passed trees and bushes as the light dew that covered the grass below her feet, soaked into the leather of her boots.

The Horse From the Woods – Rewrite Plans

I have to admit that my main story, The Horse From the Woods isn’t that well-written and thought out. There are some bugs and junk that I have to work out and this is probably arising from the fact that I created this story when I was six. I have decided to rewrite the entire story changing things such as the main character’s, (Natalie’s,) name and working some secret stuff in that I can’t tell you about because they would ruin the whole story. I’ll have to talk to Hannah about the secret stuff because she already knows the ending. This makes me agitated because my favorite character comes up in Chapter 3 and I was almost there! Oh, well.

I would really like my new character’s name to start with an “N” because I always picture characters with a certain letter and that is hers. Some of these are really stupid, but these are the ones I thought of so far are: Niria, Nyri, Nyranie, Niarie, Nyria, Nira, Nyra, Neraina, Nirania, Nilaria, Navia, Nora, Navicia, Neticia, Nyneve, Nalana, Nalenna, Neila, Nerida, Niara, Nikara, Nadia, Nara, and Nylia.

Here are some questions to help you help me make the story better.

1. What do you like about it so far?
2. What don’t you like about it?
3. What do you understand clearly?
4. What don’t you understand?
5. What needs more work?
6. What needs more detail?
7. What bugs did you find in it?
8. What should I rename the main character?

The Horse From the Woods: Chapter 1 Part 4/4

Natalie’s breaths came in gasps as she ran with all of the strength in her past the first trees of the forest. Ignoring the branches that scratched at her face, she continued on with cuts along her cheeks and arms. Blood slowly crept from her small wounds, yet she was determined to find her horse. She must find them, before the dragons did. Unaware of her surroundings as she ran blinded by shear determination, she found herself falling as her foot was caught on an ugly, moss-covered log. She sprawled over the small log before her, and hit her head on a flat stone. Her world began to spin and fade just before it all went black…

The Horse From the Woods: Chapter 1 Part 3/4

Natalie grasped her horse’s neck tightly as she took in the horrific scene around her. Duchess became uneasy and broke free of her owner’s embrace to neigh loudly as she rose onto her back legs. She kicked her strong, front legs wildly as Natalie tried to regain control over her horse. Keeping her distance, she felt the fear within the atmosphere and could sense Duchess was troubled. She could see the deep fear within her sparkling blue eyes. “Duchess, what is it? What is it, girl?” she cried out reaching for the reigns that were whipping around wildly. Duchess quickly turned and bolted down the dirty, cobblestone path out of the destroyed village leaving Natalie to run after the mare. She was unable to keep up with Duchess’s incredible speed as she yelled out in despair with her arms outstretched, “Wait, Duchess! Come back! Where are you going? What is wrong?”

Duchess Illustration

I have drawn a nice picture of the foal from my story, The Horse From the Woods. This is the foal from the prologue, Duchess. Do you think that I describe her enough to get this picture in your mind? If not, please tell me how I could improve.

Click on the image to enlarge it.

The Horse From the Woods: Chapter 1 Part 2/4

With the full moon above them, Natalie and Duchess rode down the long unpaved path, only taking a short time to reach their destination. Duchess quickly galloped the entire trip under the moonlight without slowing in speed, or growing in exhaustion leading Natalie to wonder where she had received this stunning endurance. Duchess’s movement was smooth and balanced, making it easy for her rider to stay on. Natalie grasped onto the reigns of her horse tightly however, in nervousness as she thought of never returning to her past life.

The Horse from the Woods: Chapter 1 Part 1/4

If you have not read my prologue yet, you might want to do that first… I am also cutting each chapter into short 1-3 page long entries to make it more bearable for you to read. Please read and share your thoughts!

4 Years Later

Natalie’s dark green eyes shot open at the pounding of her bedroom door. The unpleasant sound of her uncle’s voice followed the pounding, “Wake up Natalie! It is time for work!” Sitting up and rubbing her eyes drowsily, she yawned and walked to the small circular window of her attic room, staring out to the darkness of early morning. The many stars of Septia’s sky met her drowsy, green eyes as they tinkled and danced in the sky. Another hard day of enduring work was ahead of her…