#WIPpet Wednesay

So what I’ve learned recently, and as I complained on Twitter the other night, the problem with writing a derivative work is that if the original source says two characters had sex in a barn, then that’s what you have to roll with. So, uh, thanks for that, Arthur Miller. I posted that tweet on Thursday, and, well, Abigail and John Proctor are still just hanging out in said barn, being kind of awkward with each other (awkward I can do! Awkward is easy!). Though in my head, I have at least got as far as John removing her bonnet AND stroking her cheek, which I’m sure in Puritan Salem practically amounted to an affair anyway.

During the past week, Afflicted got to the point where I ended up putting it into Scrivener so I can more easily keep track of what I’ve already written. Initially, I had been writing chronologically, but then I wrote a scene that takes place not long before the events of The Crucible, and then the Abigail/Proctor stuff, which is somewhere in the middle. I spent half an hour writing something of an outline for the rest of the story this afternoon, though at the moment it does feature items such as “A scene that shows Proctor’s violent side and how Abigail reacts to it” and things like that that don’t actually help me much because I’ve still got to figure out exactly what takes place in them.

So! Today’s WIPpet. Today is the 25th and 5-2 = 3, so you get three short paragraphs. Those of you familiar with The Crucible may remember that Abigail uses the fact that she saw Mary Warren sewing a poppet and sticking her needle into it when she’d finished as a way to incriminate Elizabeth Proctor in the witch trials. It’s only recounted in the play, but since I’m writing from Abigail’s POV, obviously I need to show it.

Back downstairs, Abigail, Betty and the other girls along with Reverend Parris, Reverend Hale and the judges from the court all crowd around the table. Abigail ensures she is seated on a corner of the table; the plan she has in mind will be more easily enacted with a little space around her.

She waits until everyone is nearly finished dining, her hand on the needle in her pocket. When she thinks it is time, she draws the needle out and after only a moment’s hesitation, drives it into her stomach. Pain shoots through her entire body and she gives a loud cry as she lets herself fall to the floor.

“Abigail?” In seconds, her uncle is playing the part of concerned guardian, just as she expects. He circles the table and crouches next to her. She waits a moment more until she is sure all eyes are upon her, and then slowly pulls the needle out of her skin.

I’m trying to convey in scenes like this that even when she puts herself in situations where she’s in pain (physical or mental) there’s still one half of her brain completely detached that’s just making sure that everything is still following whatever plan she has set out. I mean, the way she acts sometimes, I can kind of see why some people would call her a psychopath.

I was going to get this post finished all early-like, but then I got distracted trying to clean the kitchen and then the Hunger Games was on TV, and now it’s really time I considered going to bed. To join in on WIPpet Wednesday (and please do!) simply post a snippet from your current WIP (geddit? WIPpet) that somehow correlates to the date, and then join us at the linky. I’m going to head off and go read some more of Kate Sparkes‘ novel, Bound, which will be officially released tomorrow, but there are e-book links up on her blog already so y’all should go get it. 😛

 

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