I finished Camp NaNo! (And snippets)

So yeah, basically what the title said. I finished Camp NaNoWriMo on the 19th of April with 51,120 words and a finished first draft. 

This was my first time participating in NaNoWriMo (of any kind) so I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun it was. I loved talking to people in my cabin and having a set goal to write everyday. I also loved having a finished draft by the end of it, because it usually takes me a good three-four months to get that down. 

I usually don't do a whole lot of planning in regards to plot and characters. I usually have a general outline and idea of characters, then I run off and see what happens. This time I used the Snowflake Method (which RM introduced me to (thank you!)) and having a scene-by-scene outline really helped with not taking a wrong turn somewhere between Metropolis and Gotham. 

And now for the part of the post where I shove my writing down your throat. (You're welcome!) In case you missed my Beautiful People post, I was writing about a teenage genius (Jade) who gets trapped in another dimension and has to find her way home. (Skylar is her older sister, and Flynn is the love interest. (Yeah, I actually have a love interest this time around. (In case you're new here, it is basically my goal in life to remove 90% of all love interests from stories because they're usually lame and bore me to tears. So this was quite a new experience for me.))

***

Something warm touched my shoulder. I jerked away, snatching my headphones off my aching ears. "Read the sign."

Skylar spun me around, grabbing my shoulders. "The one that says "keep out, imbeciles?" That one?" 

I blinked. "I don't remember writing that."

She held up a piece of plain paper, the words "keep out, imbeciles" scrawled across it in my handwriting. Well. I shouldn't write signs at four am with fifteen coffees in me. It was true, though, and I couldn't get in trouble for writing the truth, now could I?

***

 An employee turned the corner, his face tight to a clipboard. I clamped my hand over my mouth to stifle my scream and threw myself in the darkest corner I could find, then stood as still as I could. He wandered past, humming a few lines of Snow White's dwarf song. 

"I hoe, I hoe, it's off to work I go!" he muttered under his breath. "Do do do do do do do do do, I hoe!" I rolled my eyes and tried to not move. People saw movement more than they noticed something out of place, and I was very, very out of place, in more ways than one. 

Then, he paused. He was so close that I could have reached out and touched his shoulder. The only thing hiding me was the shadow from the giant shelf towering over me. 

He stood there for another moment, just staring. My chest felt like it was going to burst like balloon that'd been filled too much. Then, he sneezed and continued on his way. 

The strength left my knees, but I forced myself to continue. Crowbar, crowbar, crowbar. I searched the best I could, but I found nothing. Couldn't one of these idiots have left one lying around somewhere? I couldn't keep searching forever, I'd have to just grab the whole crate. That was not something I wanted to do, but I didn't see that I had much of a choice. 

I made my way back to the crate with the lasers, then dragged it off the shelf. It would barely fit in my purse, and there'd be a large, box-shaped lump where there shouldn't be. Well, this could have gone better.

 "Hey!" said a voice, and my heart stopped. "What are you doing?"

It was the lazy employee from before, the one I'd stolen the password off. I opened my mouth to reply, to spit some stupid excuse out for being lost, but then there was a shadow behind him with a weapon raised. A thud, then silence. The employee collapsed to the ground, and Flynn nearly dropped the crowbar trying to catch him. I blinked, slightly unsure of what had just happened. 

"You hit him?" I whispered. 

"No, I just gave him some warm milk and turkey." Flynn dropped the crowbar, then shoved the man underneath the shelving. "We have to hurry."

"I was trying, but you stole my crowbar!"

"We can discuss who did or did not steal the crowbar at a later date, but Mr. Cole thinks I'm checking up on you in the bathroom. Here." He handed me the crowbar. "Hurry it up."

***

I yanked my headphones off. "What?"

"I said, do you want some tea?"

"Oh, yes please." Flynn had gotten me addicted to tea since I've come here. I used to hate it, because what was the point? But it turned out the point was to give your hands something to do instead of aimlessly wringing them. Plus, the stuff he had tasted good. 

I nodded in thanks as he set a cup down beside me, then I turned back to my machine. I was still trying to figure out how to merge my technology with the new stuff here, and I must admit that I was impressed with the advanced tech here. Flynn was still trying to explain things to me. 

I sorted through the jumbled pile of parts, grabbing random pieces of wires and electronics. "What's this one do?" I asked, holding up a microchip I didn't recognize. 

"That one? You know what that one is." He smirked and stared, waiting for me to magically discover the answer. Somehow. 

"Come on."

He simply took a sip of his tea and settled into the worn chair opposite to my spot on the couch. "Darling, it's not often I have the answer and you don't. It's quite fun, actually."

I stared at him, unable to comprehend what he was doing. Why wouldn't he just tell me?

"Flynn."

"Jade."

"Come on."

I tossed a pillow at his face and he narrowly avoided spilling tea all over himself. "Hey! Alright, alright, I'll tell you."

Finally. He motioned for me to pass the microchip and I did, waiting for his reply. Flynn picked it up then turned it over, studying it. "I have no idea what this does."

I stared at him, my jaw dropped. "You-"

"Have no idea."


I was busy flinging throw pillows at his face when there was a knock on the door. 

***

So anyways, I hope you enjoyed. 

Did you participate in Camp NaNoWriMo? Do you have an aversion to love interests like I do?