All Write Already: Year Of Your Book

by Gena Showalter

  I decided to include it as an example because I wanted you to know it’s okay to change your story at any point. If something you envision doesn’t work, come up with something that does!

  Sixteen-year-old Alice Randall is beautiful, a little shy despite the self-defense training her dad has drilled into her head, and has always felt distanced from life, as if she were merely walking around in someone else’s dream. On the outside, her family appears normal. Her dad is a computer software tech whose hobbies are working out and boxing, her mom is a lawyer, and her little sister Emma is a wannabe ballerina. But her family hides a dark secret. Sometimes when her dad drinks, he rants about seeing zombies. He’s always been afraid of the dark, and never ventures out at night.

  Until one fateful Friday evening when Alice and her mother do the impossible and convince him to attend Emma’s dance recital. All goes well until the drive home. He hasn’t been drinking, but he begins to rave about the monsters on the road. The girls try to calm him down – they see no monsters – but the car spins out of control, flips, and crashes.

  Alice awakens, bleeding, and manages to drag her little sister into nearby trees. She’s about to go back for her mom and dad – until she sees the monsters surrounding the car, clawing and biting to get inside. She keeps her sis quiet and hidden, fighting to stay conscious herself, and help finally arrives, car headlights scaring the monsters away. Later, she wakes up in the hospital and learns her mom, dad and sis are dead.

  For the first time in her life, she experiences strong emotions. No longer is she distanced. She feels everything. She also tastes and smells in a way she never has before, as if she had been asleep all her life, but the crash finally woke her up. She doesn’t understand the change, but doesn’t care. Along with her sadness and anger, she feels guilty for allowing fear to prevent her from trying to save her parents.

  A few months pass while she recuperates physically, and her future is decided. Ultimately, she’s sent to live with her aunt and uncle (her mom’s brother). They have no children of their own, and never wanted any. The aunt sees her as a burden, and the uncle is rarely home, but because of the hefty life-insurance payout—which now belongs to Alice’s guardians—they agree to keep her.

  A new life begins, and with it, Alice must start a new school. She’s nervous – until she walks into school for the first time and catches the eye of a boy her age. He’s tall, muscled and clearly hanging with a rough crowd, but the instant their gazes meet, she sees a flash inside her mind. A flash where they are kissing. Everything around her fades, that flash becoming all that she sees, all she can think about. Until someone walks between them and the world around her kicks back into gear and she sees his friends drag him away.

  She learns his name is Noah Hatter, and she sees him periodically throughout the day, but the flash never happens again. Still, she’s attracted and drawn to him in a way she doesn’t understand.

  The next morning, he’s in the same place, with the same kids, and their eyes meet. To her surprise, she has another mind-flash of kissing. Once again, someone has to walk between them to stop the vision. Before his friends can drag him away again, she looks down and continues walking to class, more confused than ever about what’s happening. Is she hallucinating like her dad?

  At lunch, Noah asks her if they can talk. She agrees and they head to a private corner outside. They introduce themselves, and she realizes that talking to him only intensifies the attraction she feels. This leaves her fluttery and unsure, and after several taunt pauses, where they are both staring at the other’s lips and breathing heavily—standing far too close for two strangers—he asks if she’s noticed anything weird when they look at each other. For some reason, he is angry when he asks this.

  Does he see the kissing flashes, too? She admits that, yes, something weird always happens, but she doesn’t tell him what, and she doesn’t let him tell her what’s weird to him. She’s afraid that they won’t believe each other if one goes first and the other simply says,“Ditto.” So she tells him to write down what he sees on a note, and she will do the same, then they will exchange notes after last period.

  After that last class, Noah is waiting outside her door. He walks her to her locker and then to her bus. Before she boards, they exchange notes. She trembles in her seat as she unfolds the paper and sees he wrote the word. Kissing. She isn’t hallucinating, then, and her relief is overwhelming, but she wonders what’s going on. How are they having those visions? Why are they having them?

  Noah talks to his friends about what’s happening with Alice. They are immediately suspicious about who she is and what she plans. They are zombie slayers, and they have to be careful. If anyone were to find out, they would be locked away and they know it. It’s happened before. They’ve lost friends that way. So they wonder if Alice is some kind of spy. It is decided that Noah, their leader, will get close to her and find out the truth.

  Noah’s ex-girlfriend, Maddison Love – “Love” to her friends – is a part of the group, and she still hopes to win him back. She wants to beat Alice to a pulp rather than watch Noah spend time with her. But Noah commands everyone to leave Alice alone until he gets the answers they want. He’s never been so protective of anyone, and Love suspects it’s because he’s falling for the stupid girl.

  The next morning, Noah waits for Alice to arrive at school. He is desperate to see her. There’s another kissing mind-flash. He doesn’t understand how she’s doing that to him, and he’s determined to find out. But he doesn’t talk to her right then, since there are so many people around. He heads to class and then waits for lunch. There, he approaches her once again. They go to their hidden spot outside and he asks her if she knows how the flashes are happening. She says no. They talk, the attraction deepening despite his suspicions and soon he has her backed up against a tree, his hands on her waist.

  “Maybe we should see if reality is the same,” he rasps.

  “But . . . I don’t know you, and I’ve never . . .”

  His eyes widen. “You’ve never kissed anyone?”

  She shakes her head. “I might be bad at it.”

  They kiss passionately. Noah’s friends, who stayed close just in case they were needed, wonder what’s going on and approach. The couple has no idea the others are there. Noah and Alice are only aware of each other. And when the friends reveal their presence, Noah fights them, reacting purely on instinct. Protect Alice.

  Without Noah acting as her anchor, Alice falls. Seeing him fighting his friends, who are shocked because he doesn’t seem to recognize them, she manages to pull herself from the fog around her brain – a fog focused solely on Noah, and stands. One touch to his arm, and he settles down. But she realizes she is now surrounded by his rough-looking friends and a pretty brunette whose glare is almost enough to kill her. Alice can’t believe what just happened. She’d only meant to kiss Noah, to see if those tantalizing mind-flashes meant anything, but she’d lost track of her purpose the second his lips touched hers.

  Shaking, she gathers her bag and whispers, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean . . .” She tries to leave it at that, but Noah pushes his friends aside and catches up to her. She wants to pull away, so afraid of touching him in public, but as he tenderly cups her jaw and asks her if she’s okay, she can’t. She likes his touch.

  “We can’t do that again,” she tells him.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know you, and I would have let you . . . you know . . . right against that tree. At school! Anyone could have walked past us. And did!”

  He agrees that he won’t kiss her again—until they get to know each other. Then all bets are off. Alice likes this teasing side of him, and when he asks her on a date, she immediately says yes. Noah opens his mouth to say something else, but the tardy bell rings, forcing them apart.

  He’s waiting after her last class and offers to give her a ride home so they can talk some more. In the car, Alice – who has been plagued by thoughts of that earth-shattering kiss a
ll day, says, “So. . . since you want to see me again, I’m guessing the kiss was . . .good for you?” He smiles slowly, and her heart flutters. They talk about the fact that neither of them have ever experienced anything like that kiss and he asks her questions about her family.

  Alice is vague, and that rouses Noah’s suspicion again. But he is curious about her – for himself, even though he knows he should be doing so for his friends and their safety. Ever since the kiss, his protective urges toward her have been deepening, so he doesn’t push for more information. He’s got to get himself under control. When his friends had distracted him from the kiss, he hadn’t recognized them, and had wanted to kill them. Now he’s ashamed of himself, but he can’t imagine hurting Alice, even for answers. How has she reduced him to this poor state?

  They see each other throughout the rest of the week, though he doesn’t talk to her because he’s trying to fortify himself against her appeal. His friends tell him that he’s a fool for going on a date with her. That “getting to know him” must be a ploy to learn about his zombie slaying. But he doesn’t change his plans. Every time their eyes meet for the first time at the start of a new day, he has a new kissing flash. And he likes it.

  Alice is glad he stays away from her, too afraid of throwing herself at him and begging him to kiss her again, but she can’t deny she’s eager for the weekend to arrive. Even though she hears stories about how Noah and his friends are the bullies of the school, that they sleep during class, and are “losers.” But she doesn’t buy it. The boy who kissed her isn’t a loser with no future. He’s fierce, honest, and loyal.

  Finally, Friday arrives. Noah picks her up and takes her out to eat. At first, he’s abrupt because he’s afraid his friends were right, that Alice will only want to know about his supernatural ability – every zombie slayer leader has one—and his past. Except, her questions are all about his likes and dislikes. What’s his favorite color? What three items would he take to a deserted island? They talk and laugh and begin to learn about each other, and they like what they discover. He knows he should regret that he learns nothing to help his friends, but can’t. He loves spending time with her. In a lifetime of war against flesh-hungry fiends, she is a light in darkness. She is soothing balm.

  He drives her home. After he helps her out of the car, they both want to kiss goodbye, but can’t risk losing track of the world. In the dark, bad things happen… He says he wants to see her again, and she agrees. They part, excited about the future. But when he gets home, his ex is waiting for him in his bedroom. She asks how his date went and if he got any answers. He says no and she yells at him, accusing him of liking Alice and putting everyone at risk. Then, she kisses him. He’s so keyed up because of Alice that he kisses back—at first. But the kiss doesn’t feel right. His desire is actually cooling, and he pushes her away. She leaves angry and jealous.

  Monday morning, Love waits at the back door of the school, where the kids who ride the buses enter, and drags Alice into a hidden corner and punches her. She threatens to hurt Alice if Alice goes near “her boyfriend” again or if she tells him about the punch, then stomps away. Alice isn’t afraid or intimidated – not after the fighting lessons her dad gave her—but when Love’s skin touched Alice’s during the punch, Alice has a mind-flash. In it, she sees Noah kissing the ex—and wearing the exact same clothes he’d worn on his date with Alice. She isn’t sure how or why she had the vision, she just knows bone-deep that he kissed Love after his date with Alice. She thinks he lied about having a girlfriend, hoping to date Alice while sleeping with someone else. She thinks he’s a cheater.

  When she enters the school and sees him waiting in his usual play, a smile on his lips, there is no kissing mind-flash. She tries to convince herself she’s glad about that and walks away. But he chases her down, concerned by her split lip. She brushes his hands away and says, “Tell your girlfriend I’m not afraid of her, and if she ever touches me again, I’ll kill her.”

  “Love did this?”

  “Funny. She didn’t like the fact that her boyfriend was seeing someone behind her back.”

  “She’s not my girlfriend, not anymore. I’m so sorry she hit you. I swear to you, Alice, that will never happen again. I’ll take care of it.”

  He sounds determined and angry, but she doesn’t let that sway her. “It doesn’t matter.” Then she laughs bitterly. “You already know I’m weird, so I don’t mind telling you that I saw you kiss her. In my mind, another flash. I saw you kiss her after our date. And since the whole purpose of that date was for me to learn about you, I think it’s safe to say that I don’t like you or want anything else to do with you.” She leaves him in her dust.

  She’s so hurt, near tears, and torn up inside. Since the accident, Noah was the one bright light in her life.

  Noah approaches her at lunch with Love at his side and the rest of his friends behind him. Alice is eating her sack lunch in a hidden corner outside, and can’t get away. To her surprise, Love grudgingly apologizes. Instead of replying, Alice punches her in the nose. Tit for tat. Love jumps up to attack her, but the friends hold her back. Noah dismisses them, telling them not to come back, and they reluctantly go away. He then tells Alice that since she saw the kiss through Love’s eyes, would she give him a chance to show her what happened through his eyes? She doesn’t know how either of them can control a mind-flash, but agrees to try.

  They talk to figure out how she had the vision, and decide it was skin-to-skin contact. So they clasp each other’s hands—but nothing happens.

  “Maybe you need to hit me,” she says.

  “I’m not hitting you, not even to prove I didn’t like kissing Love.” He closes his eyes and tries to shove the kissing memory into her mind. This actually opens his mind to hers and hers to him. Finally she sees the kiss through his eyes, and realizes how much he wants her, Alice. Unbeknownst to her, however, he sees the accident she endured with her family and realizes she’s exactly who and what she claims to be. She’s no spy.

  Hours later, the friends have to pull them apart. Neither Alice nor Noah realize how much time has passed. School is now out and she missed the bus. He drives her home, and along the way, he asks, “Do you like me again?”

  She tells him she knows they are only dating, but seeing him kiss another girl hurt. He swears it won’t ever happen again and they agree that even though they are “only dating” they won’t see other people. They reach her house; Noah parks in the driveway and broaches the topic of the accident, telling her that he saw her in his mind. She gives him the details and admits how guilty she feels for leaving her parents inside that car while she hallucinated about monsters.

  He asks her if she’s seen the monsters since. She says she’s now afraid of the dark and the only time she’s been outside since the accident was on her date with him, but she only saw him that night.

  Before he can explain that she has nothing to feel guilty about, the aunt comes storming out and demanding she get in there and do her chores. He says he wants to see her that night, she says her aunt won’t let her go out on a school night, but that she will leave her window unlocked and he can sneak into her room around 9, when she’s expected to shut herself in her room and study. Only, she gets stuck with dinner cleanup on her own—again. All the while, Alice fears Noah will leave.

  Before heading to Alice’s house, Noah calls his group together and tells them Alice is legit and they are to be nice to her. If anyone hurts her, he’ll kick them out of the group. He reaches Alice’s room a little before nine and since she’s not there, quietly explores, impressed with how she turned the little attack room into a home. They tease and talk for a little while before he brings up her dad again. He explains that her dad was a zombie slayer and the moment he died, the abilities transferred to her.

  Alice doesn’t believe him and makes him leave, wondering if Noah is as messed up as her dad. The next day at school, he tries to talk to her, but again, she won’t listen. Except, as the day passes, and s
he thinks about what he said and all that her father said over the years, and some part of her begins to accept.

  After school she is waiting for him, and tells him she’d like to know more. He agrees to pick her up later that night, sneak her out, and show her the world he’s lived in for the last five years.

  And when he does as promised, the whole group is with him, loaded up in a van. They take her to a local cemetery. Alice and Noah sit in the back and he explains more about the zombie world. Zombies are ghosts that have taken corporal form. They resemble their decaying bodies and they are hungry for living flesh from slayers and energy from non-slayers. These zombies only come out at night, and they only attack—and eat—humans who can see them. But they drain the life force from humans who can’t see them, killing those humans, so they are dangerous to everyone. And the only way to kill them is to cut off their heads.

  The leader of a zombie slaying pack always has a gift, supernatural abilities, and Noah’s is the ability to start a fire with his mind. With Alice’s mind-flashing ability, he begins to wonder if she’s supposed to be the leader of her own pack—or co-leader with him.

  Alice learns that most of the kids in Noah’s group grew up together, knowing about this stuff because their parents were slayers and fought together. So they were taught how to fight early on. At the cemetery, Noah shows her a few ways to track the living dead. When the group comes upon a nest of zombies, the fight is on, but Noah stays back with Alice, watching, explaining, protecting. She almost can’t believe the violence. These are the same type of monsters she saw the night of the accident. Her dad wasn’t crazy. And these . . . things were responsible for his death. The fury she feels is overwhelming and before she can stop herself, she launches into the battle, picking up a sword and hacking.

  As new to it as she is, she is unprepared and soon overcome by their strength and easily subdued. Thankfully the other slayers save her. After the battle is won with only minor injuries for their group, Noah takes her home. He helps her sneak back into her room, and they kiss. He backs off before they can do anything more, still wanting to give her the time she needs and not wanting her to ever regret anything they do.