Aino Chapter 4 - We Sneak Behind the Iron Curtain

So, I noticed I'd let it go four weeks since I last posted a chapter of Aino.

Sadly, no one else noticed and nagged me, which means my brilliant plan of getting you lot to act as my deadline enforcers may not be working.

I'm trying to convince myself it's because two-weeks is too long for short attention spans, and not because you don't care.

You know, back in the Victorian period there was a whole month between chapters for serialised novels.

Crazy stuff, eh?

Anyway, the latest chapter of Aino is here: Chapter Four - We Sneak Behind the Iron Curtain

In this chapter, we find out what our Narrator thinks of van Havien's idea. Something else might happen, too. Perhaps involving teeth.

Aino - Chapter Three: van Havien Has an Idea

I'm sure you've all been waiting with bated breath for the third installment of Aino to come out.

Well, the wait is over. No more must your breathing be subdued or restrained under the influence of awe, terror, or other emotion.

Indeed, the third chapter, in it's ever so rough form, is here:

Aino - Chapter Three: van Havien Has an Idea.

You will, of course, remember the story so far. Our narrator (whose name has not been revealed yet, but since it isn't important I could probably give it away without damaging any part of the story) is holed up in a gentlemens' club with a few friends during a miserable winter's night. They amuse themselves by telling each other ghost stories - except van Havien (the most charismatic member of the group) insists the stories must be "true".

In the first chapter, van Havien told his story involving strange wild things in the Saskatchewan forests. In the second chapter, Davis told his story of a strange presence in a bedroom, and our Narrator told the first half of his story involving what appears to be a haunted mansion.

You will, I trust, remember the mysterious woman roaming around the dilapidated grounds of the manor house? And the old man who told our narrator about the girl who walked off into the woods decades ago and was never seen again? Well, almost never. I'm sure you remember what happens on a midsummer night during the full moon?

If not, maybe you should re-read the first couple of chapters. They're still available. Just click on the tag for "Aino" at the bottom of this email and you'll find them.

Anyway, this chapter provides the second half of our narrator's story, and introduces van Havien's idea.

Is it a good idea? Is it a bad idea? Will it lead to more people being attacked by wolfmen in the woods?

And just who is Aino, anyway?

Stay tuned.

As usual, the first few paragraphs are available on the Siege Works blog.

The Novel Experiment Continues: Chapter 2

For those of you who care, Chapter Two of Aino can now be read in its rough form.

"How rough?" I hear you ask. Well, pretty rough. Practically zero editing, and I'm thinking of changing a character's name.

Why am I exposing you to such raw material of such poor standard? Well, duh. It's so you remind me to keep going with the story, remember?

Mind you, only one person seems to be doing this at present (thanks, Jack), so she'd better do it well.

Now, first of all, a word of warning. I got the idea for this story whilst spending the night on the grounds of a manor house in Estonia. Everyone who is sick of hearing the word "Estonia" come out of my mouth should probably steel themselves.

Any way: Aino, Chapter 2: Davis Tells His Story, and I Tell Mine

A Novel Experiment: Aino

Van Havien has been haunting me lately, so I decided to get my own back and put him in a ghost story. Or maybe it's a monster story. I'm not sure, really. Who is van Havien? I have no idea. His name just keeps coming up in my head at the end of phrases like "So we meet again, van Havien!"

The bigger question is, really, who is Aino? You'll find out in a couple of months, I hope.

Okay, I've tried this before and it didn't work, but I'm going to give it another shot.

I have a slight problem with finishing anything longer than a poem unless I've got some sort of external "incentive" (such as a deadline). This means I've got a lot of half-written things lying about the place, for which I've long lost the impetus of the story.

So, I'm going to try to serialise a story. I've nominally given myself a deadline of fortnightly posts, for which I'll have to have a rough draft of a chapter available for all and sundry. I'm hoping at least some of you will a) read the thing, and b) not let me give up on the story part-way through.

Once it's finished I'll think about what to do with it next. I don't think I've got the space on the server I'm currently using to have multiple chapters up at the same time, so I may have to rotate them. Hmmm.

Anyway, the first few paragraphs of each chapter will go up on my Siege Works blog, and a link to the chapter itself will go up at the end of those posts as well as being posted here.

Here's the first chapter: Aino, Chapter One: van Havien Tells His Story

Happy reading...