Welcome to Snippet Sunday!

Where writers come together to share a few sentences (8-10) of their current project — whether it’s a recently released novel, a WIP (work in progress), or an older manuscript that’s being revived. Intended to hook readers, gather feedback and build an author’s fan base, Snippet Sunday is the FB group that does all three.

Camp NaNoWriMo has ended and I’m proud to say I made my dream goal of 50k words three days early! I added a ton of words and good bits to Darkness Becomes Her and I’m still writing for the 1k-A-Day Challenge. Even though Camp is over, I’m continuing on with my short paranormal story, Rivers of Black for the month of August. I might switch to something new in September.

Picking up right where I left off from last week’s snippet. My main character had been thinking about wanting to take her own life, but her fear of being found had stopped her. Now, she is out wandering the woods, looking for no place in particular that would be her place to sit in peace at last, coming across an old, scarred, and battered oak tree.

A bit of background on this story as well: This story is rather dark and depressing. It deals with a topic some people would be hesitant to read; which is self harm and suicide. I don’t sugarcoat this either, I write it raw on how someone in my character’s state feels. Just be forewarned with that. I hope it doesn’t deter you from reading, but I know others cannot deal reading these kinds of things. (There is nothing dark or bad to this snippet though.)

In order to understand what is happening since it’s a straight continuation of what happened in last week’s snippet, here’s the last sentence you saw of last week:

“I was changing my mind, I wasn’t sure I was going to go through with it anymore, and it was all because of a tree.”

(Some sentences may have been creatively punctuated to fit the ten sentence limit. Or I might be one over. Not sure.)

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Snap!

My confidence broke with that one sound. From above me a larger branch came crashing down through the tree, pulling smaller ones with it and raining leaves. I had but a second to move before the branch clattered to the earth splintering into tiny pieces where I had just been standing; above me the oak continued to sway in the wind, its creaking and cracking louder than before. It sounded like the tree itself was protesting its deterioration.

Black clouds moved in to block out the sun, pitching the forest into more darkness. I stood staring at the broken branch while the last of my confidence slipped away with the weak sunlight.

Who was I kidding? I thought that if a tree could stand up to nature, then I could stand up to life, but when darkness threatened the tree even it couldn’t stand tall. If something as complex as nature couldn’t live through darkness, then I couldn’t either.

I guess I wasn’t changing my mind after all.

Cover made by @_teenagers on Wattpad

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If you want to read the whole story, it is available to read on Wattpad! I love to hear any and all feedback on my work as well. Comments are greatly appreciated, as are the reads.

And if you’re looking for some other great snippets of fellow authors,

hop on over to Facebook and check out Sunday Snippet!