Writing Update ~ A Soldier's Story

Greetings, readers! 

Yes, I know. I've been absent from this blog for nearly two weeks (forgive me?) and I honestly have no excuse. I've been doing school (always), writing some (but not enough), and reading a ton (so maybe that's where the fault lies?). So much for posting twice a week...huh? :P 

Anywho... I'm back now with a writing update! Since this was something that was requested recently, I decided to start doing posts like this where I talk about different writing projects. The setting, the characters, the original inspiration, and pics from the storyboard...maybe even snippets. ^_^ Sound fun? Here goes! 

I originally started this story last year, but wrote less than 2,000 words. Then earlier this month, I came across it while scrolling through my documents, opened it, and just started writing. It's been growing pretty consistently ever since. I'm currently participating in a NaNo makeup, and I'm hoping to get this story finished by the time Camp NaNo starts. :) 

So what is this story I keep rambling about? Well, I'm calling it a short story as it's currently about 10k and I'm hoping to wrap it up by 15-18k. It's titled A Soldier's Story because it's a story about a soldier and I'm super awesome creative like that so it obviously just works. 

The original inspiration came from the below image which I found on Pinterest. *sniffles* 

(In the case that y'all can't read the wording, I'll add it below... It's looking pretty blurry on my end. XP) 

A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents from San Francisco. "Mom and Dad, I'm coming home, but I've a favor to ask. I have a friend I'd like to bring home with me." 

"Sure," they replied, "we'd love to meet him." 

"There's something you should know," the son continued, "he was hurt pretty bad in the fighting. He stepped on a land mine and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us." 

"I'm sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live." 

"No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us." 

"Son," said the father, "you don't know what you're asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can't let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He'll find a way to live on his own." 

At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him. A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identity the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn't know -- their son had only one arm and one leg. 

(There's also a heartbreaking YouTube video that was made from this story. I'm not going to include the link here because #toolazytogofinditrightnow. But if anyone wants it, say so and I'll dig it up. XD) 

*ahem* So yeah. Now that everyone is heartbroken out there, let's delve into the precious charries. 

James Greene and Alexandria Lorance are the two main characters. Their's are the two POVs in the story and they may or may not be the OTP of the story toooo. <3 They become great friends later into the story, as the story starts with them meeting in the most unusual way. 

James is a marine. He's precious and broken and just... *hugs him* A lot of the story follows his journey as he struggles to find the new normal in his life, coupled with self-consciousness and doubts.

Alexandria (Alex) is a therapist. She's sweet and caring, but also sarcastic and snarky. She's been deeply hurt by a previous relationship muddled with emotional abuse. Because of her past, she's rebellious and has a hard time trusting people. 

Annndddd some goodies from the storyboard! :D 

And...there you have it! :D Writing updates was a pretty popular request on the recent blog survey, so hopefully y'all enjoyed this. I also have plans for the start of a short story series soon, so...stick around, huh? :D 

Does this story sound good? Entertaining? Have I made you want to read it yet? Any votes for me posting it here once it's done? :D 

~Faith