Mid-Week #3 + Plot Twists + More Novel Help
I’ve found that participating in late night sprints with the Official NaNoWriMo Folks on Twitter has done wonders for my word count. I can almost get my word count for the day done in a single sprint. The only bad thing is that they’re West Coasters so I have to wait until around 11:00pm before I can even participate. And on a night like tonight while I’m listening to my hubby snore, I just desperately want to go to bed myself.
Current word count: 32,593, which puts me slightly ahead of schedule at this point.
Recently I decided that it would be necessary to fully explore how Stan got arrested the first time. Here’s the Reader’s Digest version…
- Stan decides he wants to rob an ATM machine
- He inlists his buddy Quincy to help because Quincy has a truck
- Quincy’s truck dies… they end up “borrowing” Stan’s girlfriend’s (Darla, AKA Angel Bell) Chevy Nova instead.
- Said Chevy Nova’s bumper isn’t particularly well held on as the truck’s
- Stan & Quincy drive away leaving the bumper and the ATM machine behind.
I think you can figure out what happens next when the police happen to find the bumper of the car hanging out at the ATM machine without the rest of its vehicle. Oh, and I forgot to mention that they’ve completely forgotten about potential security cameras built into the ATM machine.
Here’s a little excerpt to whet your appetite:
“It’s now or never,” Stan said, his hand poised on the automatic shifting stick.
“Wait…” Quincy said with a worried look on his face, “What are we gonna do with the ATM machine when it comes out of the wall? I mean, there’s no truck bed to toss it in!”
Stan stared at Quincy. It was true, that was definitely something that they hadn’t thought of. It was a little late for that now, though.
“Uh… I’m sure it will fit in the back seat… You ready?” Stan asked, he was already revving the Chevy Nova’s engine. Adrenaline coursed through his body like it never had before. Stan was definitely an adrenaline junkie, but this was a different kind of rush that he hadn’t experienced before. This wasn’t like when he would participate in fight club or get into at school back in the day. No this was different, his head was spinning a bit and he could hear the rush of his own blood in his ears. No other sounds existed. He even felt like his vision was just a tiny bit crisper.
Stan revved the engine a couple more times and then popped the car into drive. The Chevy Nova lurched forward and Stan and Quincy felt the chains catch taunt. For just a little more than half a second the car seemed to go no where, suspended in time by some odd strange force explainable only by AP Physics. Too bad that neither Stan nor Quincy took AP Physics. If they had they might have been able to predict what was going to happen next. The car lurched forward a bit more and Quincy and Stan heard a horrible noise. They both got excited, the ATM machine was detaching from the wall! Stan let off the gas a bit and then slammed his foot into the floor. More tearing metal sound, metal scraping against metal and then it happened. With a violent ripping motion it happened; the bumper of the Chevy Nova came careening off, bouncing backwards and slamming into the front of the Boone County Credit Union building. The Chevy Nova sped forward for a second before Stan could get his bearings, he slammed down on the break with his free left foot, not even removing his right foot from the gas. He quickly reached down and yanked the emergency break up into place. The Chevy Nova screamed to a halt and the over powering stench of burned up break pads filled the inside of the car. Somewhere between when it was obvious the car was being ripped in half by the torque caused by chaining the car to the ATM machine and when Stan threw up the emergency break to save them from going directly into the buildings in front of them Quincy had curled up into the fetal position in the passenger seat, his arms fully extended and clutching his head as if he were bracing for impact.
Stan had no idea what to do next. The chains dangled from the ATM machine and the wrecked bumper of the Chevy Nova lay on the sidewalk in front of the Boone County Credit Union’s front door. Stan was turned nearly all the way around in the driver’s seat straining to see what had happened. The bumper o the Chevy Nova was torn clear off and was just lying there. Stan panicked and did the only thing that panicked people tend to do; he fled the scene of the crime.
Also, I need a bit more help with my novel if you’d be so obliging. You see, Stan’s got to come up with a good story to tell Darla about why her car is wrecked. So far, I’ve got to thank @ridgeley, @MarvilleousMEg, @natnie, @saurabhg, and @crochetgrl for their fast help on Twitter tonight. Here are their suggestions:
- Backed into something
- Bumped against a concrete wall or something
- Trying to tow something that wouldn’t budge
- A jump rope was tied to it and someone yanked real hard
- Driver tried to tow something but didn’t use the proper hooks
If you’ve got a good one, or a bad one… or any kind of excuse, please post it in the comments. Seriously, everything will be included!! I need all the word count help I can get.
“For just a little more than half a second the car seemed to go no where, suspended in time by some odd strange force explainable only by AP Physics. Too bad that neither Stan nor Quincy took AP Physics.”
This is really funny!
I suppose you could have Stan say that construction messed up her car somehow. LIke, a construction vehicle hit it or dropped something on it?
Weak, I know, but there’s been a lot of construction here lately and it stowed itself away in my brain to be regurgitated here.