Spoilers Ahead!

Attempt number two! The first attempt to write this post didn’t go so well, so here I am starting again. Well one thing is for certain, I’m not going to go through the obsolete information again. It obviously wasn’t meant to be. What I wanted to post today was a small excerpt from Timber Varden. A small section from the Prologue and the first 3 chapters, in return for some feedback where possible. I know it wont be much due to how small the sections will be, but anything helps.

Timber Varden Teasers…

Prologue.

“Chris, please tell me that’s not your expected novel sitting empty there. After all these months of you sitting in here, have you not written a word to your novel, which is due a week today?” Amelia spoke with great sadness in her voice, but there was also anger. She was angry that he had lied to her like he had lied to Eric. She knew to expect him to tell small white lies to Eric, but never once had he lied to her. She was starting to wonder, what if anything else he had lied about.
“Ami, love, I…” Christian struggled to find the words to answer her. He could feel everything falling away from him, slipping down the plug hole never to be seen again.
“Don’t Ami love me Chris, I want honest answers,” she began. “Is that page the result of months of work?” Amelia couldn’t look him in the eyes. Inside she was raging by the fact that he couldn’t be honest with her, that he couldn’t just come to her and tell her he was struggling. All he needed to do was ask and she would have been there for him.
“Ami, it’s not that simple.”
“Don’t give me that, Chris. I deserve a better answer than that,” she fumed.
“What do you want from me, Ami?” he shouted in frustration.
“I want to know the truth. Is that, or is that not the book you’re meant to be working on?”
Sighing, Christian dropped his head. “Yes,” he answered, giving in to her demands.
“Yes? Yes… is that all you’re going to say?” she countered. “Don’t you have an explanation as to why you’ve written nothing, or why you couldn’t tell me the truth from the start?”
“What do you want?” responded Christian without a moment’s thought. “Look, you don’t understand what it’s like.”
“Well tell me then!” demanded Amelia.
“I can’t…” he paused, sorrow filling his voice, “… I can’t just go and whip a story up from mid-air when there’s nothing to grasp at. I need foundations and space to work with. Stop crowding me Ami, and stop pushing please. I can’t give an explanation to you when I can’t explain it to myself, and just supposing I could, how on this earth could you have possibly helped?”

Chapter 1 – Aftermath

“How could I have been so stupid, so foolish, and so god damn irresponsible Eric? I mean what on this earth ever persuaded me to think I could overcome writers block, of all bane’s in my life, on my own without help? How could I even think that pushing Amelia away would help anything? I had everything all planned out, and it had been for months now. Once the deadline had passed and my work had been submitted, naturally, I was going to take Amelia up to Timber Varden for a week or two. It would have been great to have spent some time together in my log cabin, with the rest of the world behind us. It’s the one place I could retreat to where I could truly relax and unwind. I wanted her to experience that solitude with me. I had even made arrangements to have it all stocked up for when we arrived. But what’s the point now? God, I’ve made such a mess of things, Eric.” Christian no longer looked at Eric, his head dropped down into his hands. He didn’t want Eric to see the tears that were welling in his eyes. This wasn’t a side of him that he wanted anyone to see. He wouldn’t even allow Amelia to see him in this way.
“I don’t know what’s happened to me, Eric, to Amelia and I. Everything just seems so different, like I’ve lost a part of me that I can’t replace. Or part of me has become a broken wreck and I can’t fix it. I don’t even know how to make it right with her, saying sorry just won’t cut it,” added Christian.

Chapter 2 – Second Chance

The sketch consisted of tall thick trees with little light coming through. He could tell this from the shading that he had added. Christian was drawn to look more at the shade between the trees, and he found himself gazing at the image of a wolf which seemed to look right back at him. How is this even possible? He thought. He had never been the arty type and couldn’t draw to save himself. But no matter how hard he tried to understand how the image appeared on the page before him, he couldn’t. It was there, looking at him. The strangest thing happened when Christian looked to catch the last rays of the evening sun as it faded from sight. When he returned his gaze to the page, the wolf upon it had somehow moved from where it stood in the shadows. The rest of the image remained the same, but the wolf was somehow closer. It was clearer to him and yet it still looked as though it was looking right at him as if it were trying to draw Christian into his world.
Feeling rather disturbed and startled, Christian sharply closed the notebook and threw his pen towards the back door. He was intrigued at the same time, he couldn’t figure out how it was even possible, and he started to think he was losing his marbles. How could I have drawn an image almost like that of my dream, and how on earth is it possible that the wolf moved when it is but a drawing on paper? Christian thought, his intrigue got the better of him and he opened his notebook to the image. This time the wolf had not moved location, but it had done in posture. Something bizarre was going on and it seemed to Christian as though the wolf was somehow alive on the page it had been drawn. He knew deep down that it wasn’t possible, it couldn’t be possible and yet here in the now, that wolf had moved.

Chapter 3 – The Cabin

As Christian absorbed the beauty of the lake his thoughts diverted back to Amelia and guilt rose again. He knew a call to her was sorely needed but he also knew it would need to wait for at least another day. Christian wanted as least one good night’s sleep before he tried to explain to her that he wouldn’t be around for a while. And add that he had taken himself away to his own retreat. He also wanted to tell her how sorry he was for being foolish in the first place.
“Oh, Ami, why didn’t I just talk to you instead of ignoring the situation? I thought I could cope on my own. I was wrong. Oh so wrong,” he muttered under his breath.
Christian decided to phone Amelia before he would Eric. Once the calls were out of the way, Christian had planned to go for a hike through Timber Varden’s hugely overgrown dense forest. He had every hope that it would help him to clear his mind.

Feedback and Constructive comments are welcome. I am by no means an expert when it comes to writing and your comments can only help me to improve on what I already have. I know I can’t expect much with what I’ve presented you with, but I hope it’s enough to whet the appetite.