I hope everyone had a good Christmas weekend. We spent Christmas Eve with my side of the family, then we had friends over for a visit. Hubby tackled building a cardboard pirate ship… which was tougher than either of us expected. We should’ve known it was bad news when the instructions included a link to a ‘how to’ video on YouTube. But it was worth it in the end, because Boyo was so in love with it when he saw it on Christmas morning. In fact, he didn’t care or notice that he had other gifts until we started opening them for him, and even then he only paid attention for a few minutes before going right back to that ship.

Crazy kid.

I mentioned last week that I started on a new story. It’s another fanfic, and I only started it so I could get the scenes that were bugging me the most (and by bugging me, I mean wouldn’t leave me alone) down on paper. Here I am two weeks and four chapters later though and there is no sign of stopping. So even though I should be working on my other projects, I’ve decided to let my muse have her way for the moment.

This story is a first for me. It’s written in present tense, which is something I’ve never messed with before. I’ve always done past tense. It’s also a Harry Potter fic – well technically a Fantastic Beasts fic – which is a universe I’ve never written in. I’ve always stuck to Dragonriders of Pern or Star Wars if I get the fanfic itch. So there has been a lot of research going in to this piece – not including what doctors kept in their bags in the 1920s, legilimency, and tasseography (which is tea reading).

Despite it being a first in so many ways, I’m pretty proud of how it’s turning out, so I figured I’d share a snippet of it for WIPpet Wednesday.

WIPpet Wednesday is a blog hop where we share a little bit of whatever project we are working on. What we share is supposed to relate to the date in some way, shape, or fashion, so since today is the 28th of December, you could share 12 words from page 28 of your project, or 10 lines because 2+8=10.

Today I’ll be sharing 4 sentences from the fanfic that has taken over my life (2/8=4). This is from the beginning of the fic. Cressida, the main character, is a fortune teller for a run down circus, and she’s been experiencing dreams about a strange man.

He’s not a particularly tall man – in fact, he’s only a few inches taller than herself – but there’s something in his manner that makes him tower over others as if they’re only house elves. It helps that he is regal, like a prince out of her mother’s book of fairy tales, however there is something incredibly wounded about him too. His gaze has that shell shocked look that she’s seen in so many of the soldiers who fought in the war. But it’s been almost a decade since the last troops came home, and this pain that lingers in the dark recesses of his eyes seems to be far more recent.

To read more WIPpet Wednesday posts, go here.