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 Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 9:37 am
 Animilia Academy / In the Dog House
Welcome and thanks for interest enough in this story that you even came here! Well, this is my NaNoWriMo attempts for 2009 and I'm really hoping it goes smoothly. I say attempts because I keep switching back and forth between two different ideas and I'm beginning to think I may want to go with the latter one, which would destroy all the progress I'd made so far, or I can stick with the first one. Not sure yet.
Table of Contents:
A Word from the Author
Official Synopsis x2
Teasers
Characters
Playlist
Notes & Progress
Roleplay, Guild, and Other Links
Prologues?
Chapter One for Animilia Academy
Open for Posts (CRITIQUE IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!!)
*Chapters will be added and updated on here, along with the page number they may be on.*
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 11:53 am
A Word from the Author Well... hi! Um, I'm iAnimalLuver, but you can call me Animal or Amanda. I am nineteen years old, a full-time student in my second year of college and a part-time worker at a boarding and grooming kennel for dogs and cats, but mostly dogs.
This is my first year participating in NaNoWriMo, so I'm really nervous and excited! I want to do good with this, because I love my idea. But, I think that I could probably use some advice and critiques? That would be so awesome!
Oh, and my account name on the NaNoWriMo site is also iAnimalLuver.
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 11:57 am
Official Synopsis Animilia Academy:
Human beings are such sheltered creatures, believing they are the superior beings of the world and discouraging the belief of the supernatural. What humans don't know is that there are other creatures that occur in their everyday lives. These creatures could be their neighbors, their coworkers, the postman, even their mother. Werecreatures. Werecreatures thrive in society, living amongst their families and going to school like all other children. Well, except that they go to Animilia Academy.
Enter Kachina, a rare were-red wolf who has grown to live with a pack of feral dogs in the suburbs of society. When she is approached by the dean of Animilia Academy, she is given an offer she can't refuse and so agrees to go along to this school of his. Little does she know that she is getting herself into more than she bargained for.
In the Dog House:
(Coming Soon!)
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 11:58 am
Teaser Note: These are subject to change as I reach the scenes outlined here. And, they aren't complete yet, just quick thoughts and such that I came up with.
Animilia Academy:
“Well, Kachina, I have to go off for a while. But, don’t worry, Christine has promised to take good care of you.”
“We’re going to try to make you as…. civilized as possible!”
“Civilized?”
“She means we are going to domesticate you.”
“Domesticate me?! Like he-“
“Well, to the best of my ability anyways.” She gave me a once over, obviously disapproving of something. I wasn’t stupid. So, which was it that was bothering her? My unladylike position? My ability to talk around the food in my mouth? Oh, the possibilities.
In the Dog House:
(Coming Soon... maybe!)
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 12:01 pm
Characters Note: Characters will be added to this list as they appear in the story. Also, not all characters will appear here, only ones that have some importance to the storyline, plot, etc. I'll provide information about each of the characters that appear here, but if a name is listed with no information next to it, then I was too lazy at the time to write in the details for it and will get back to it later. Like I said, characters will be updated as the story progresses and they should be listed with some information about them.
Animilia Academy:
Kachina
Moe
Nina
Jethro
Ralph
Duke
Leon
(Wolf Guy)
In the Dog House:
Narrator
Courtney
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 12:03 pm
Playlist Note: These aren't really songs that fit with my novel. Its more like a list of songs that I like and songs that tend to help me think and strike up some creativity. I don't know why I put it up, I just thought it would be a good idea.
Dance with the Wolves by Ruslana
Wild Dances by Ruslana
Wild Passion by Ruslana
Sound of Madness by Shinedown
If You Only Knew by Shinedown
Re-Education (Through Labor) by Rise Against
I Will Not Bow by Breaking Benjamin
Break by Three Days Grace
Riot by Three Days Grace
Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace
You're Going Down by Sick Puppies
For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic by Paramore
Untouched by The Veronicas
Take Me On The Floor by The Veronicas
Popular by The Veronicas
Leave Me Alone by The Veronicas
Everything I'm Not by The Veronicas
Hook Me Up by The Veronicas
This is How It Feels by The Veronicas
Secret by The Veronicas
I Can't Stay Away by The Veronicas
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 12:04 pm
Notes & Progress Animilia Academy:
Started writing on November 3, 2009.
Over 1,000 words as of noon on November 4, 2009.
Chapter One Completed (1,670 words) on November 4, 2009.
Chapter Two In Progress on November 4, 2009.
In the Dog House:
Started writing on November 5, 2009.
Chapter One Completed (1,163 words) on November 5, 2009.
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 12:05 pm
Roleplay, Guild, and Other Links Animilia Academy:
This idea was at one point a roleplay and even became a guild. Now that both of those have died and I'm still crazy about the idea, I've gathered up the motivation to write this for my NaNoWriMo. I had wanted to write it after I made the roleplay originally, but I lacked the motivation. Now, I really want to do it, so I'm hoping I can just stay motivated for it.
Roleplay and Guild
Also, there are some links that I found interesting and thought I may want to share...
None yet.
In the Dog House:
None yet.
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 12:30 pm
Prologue Not sure if I'm going to have one or not, but I'll keep this here just in case...
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 12:30 pm
Animilia Academy: Chapter One Early morning in the city may actually by eight o’clock. For animals, early morning was before sunrise. This fact in mind told me I was running late. It was just after sunrise and, despite it being summer, it was actually cool outside. A slight breeze tickled my red, brown, and gray fur, lifting it some and making it dance lightly. This day was going to be a good day, I could feel it.
The aroma of a hot dog stand being pushed along, the meat already cooking, almost made me drool. Enter Larry, the overweight, greasy, and thoroughly unhappy hot dog salesman who constantly seems to be smoking something foul. Larry hated getting up early and the chill this morning seemed to make him even grumpier than usual. On days like today, Larry breaks down and buys himself a steaming cup of “joe.” On days like today, I waited for him to go into the little shop, where he would be for about the next five minutes.
Upon his disappearing inside, I dashed forward and over to his cart. Rising onto my powerful hind legs, I nosed open the metal door and snatched from inside a long chain of delicious hot dogs. To this day, I still had not understood why they were called hot dogs, but they were awfully tasty so I didn’t think about it too much.
“Hey!” I heard, my reddish-brown ears tilting toward the sound. Uh-oh. Here comes Larry. “Drop that, you stupid mutt!” ‘Not in a million years, fat boy.’ I thought, giving him a wolfish grin before I broke into a run. My strong legs carried me across the rough pavement, the pads of my paws already used to the horrible texture. I knew I was running far more and faster than Larry ever could, but the thrill of running pumped adrenaline through me and I couldn’t bring myself to stop until I reached the junkyard. Home sweet home.
“Hey. Come on guys. It’s time to wake up.” I said after dropping the chain of hot dogs and looking around my family: a pack of five feral dogs. However, when they didn’t take the nice warning I gave them, I went around the circle and prodded each one of them until they would finally give in and get up. The last one I reached was Moe, the black and white pup who had been abandoned and was starving when we found him. Now, we all seemed to consider him the baby of the pack and so we all did our best to take care of him, especially Nina. My crystal blue eyes darted over to the female collie mix as she stretched her front paws out in front of her, yawning. She tended to treat him as if he were her very own pup. Then again, she was the only one of the group who’d ever raised a litter of pups. Raising one should be a piece of cake for her.
I certainly hoped the other three hadn’t mothered a litter of pups. Fathered, maybe, as they were all male dogs. Jethro was the oldest of all of us, and the one who’d originally found me when I was wandering around like a lost pup after losing my family to the fire. He was an old German shepherd and he didn’t really like to talk much about his past apart from the cheerful and amazing stories he told Moe. Then there was Ralph, the mutt who looked in terrible shape but always seemed to have a positive outlook, no matter what the circumstances were. His hair was falling out in patches, his ribs could be seen bluntly through his skin and fur, and he seemed to constantly have fleas, yet he was always so cheerful and full of energy.
“Aw, sweetheart, you shouldn’t have gone to the trouble of getting breakfast by yourself. I would’ve been happy to go with you… for some alone time.” I snorted as I turned to see Duke, the Boston terrier who seemed to have developed this huge crush on me, standing over the chain of hot dogs I’d brought to share. He also seemed to believe that, despite his size, he could take on anything. Any creature, big or small, he could handle. Aggressive, possessive, and driven—all key words to describe such a small dog. And, he hated being told “no.”
“That’s alright. I could handle it myself; I’m alpha of this pack for a reason.” I replied, making my way over and pulling the hotdogs out from under him before he could engulf them all. For such a small creature, he was like a vacuum cleaner when it came to food or, rather, anything edible. “This is for all of us, Duke. I’ll divide it up.”
Moe tumbled over excitedly, happy to have something solid to go into his little belly. I divided the hot dogs up among the six of us, but they were gone faster than I’d hoped. Food was an issue for us, as was shelter. There was never enough food, and we were always on the move to find a good place to stay. Problem was, we usually ran into rival packs of feral dogs. With our group of misfits, I liked to avoid a confrontation with a stronger pack of dogs for the health and safety of my pack. This was the reason we were up so early. We had to get a move on so that we could find somewhere else to stay before nightfall.
“Okay, let’s move it, guys. We’ve got a big day ahead of us.” I yipped, nudging them up and into motion one by one. They had to get going; anxiety was practically dissolving her stomach into nothingness. We were emerging into the alley just outside of the chain link fence that surrounded the junkyard through a hole that Ralph dug up a week earlier when it hit me. That smell… it was a scent a lot like my own. The smell of one who was not completely animal and not completely human, but a mixture of the two. It was the smell of another werecreature…
“Kachina, I’m disappointed in you.”
I turned around, the scent of feline and canine overwhelming my sensitive nose as I wondered how the voice knew my full name. Standing in the alley was a rather large man, with shoulder-length golden hair pulled back into a low ponytail and an equally golden beard and mustache combo. He was not only incredibly tall, but wide as well, his muscles not hidden well beneath the white and golden suit he wore. This man was the one that smelled of feline, but it was a feline scent that I had never encountered before. Something… wilder than your average housecat.
I was surprised even more to see a large member of the canine family standing next to the man that smelled strongly of cat. The canine had gray, white, and black fur, with some brown mixed in too, and amazing golden eyes that seemed to pierce right through me. A fellow wolf, although he seemed to be a timber wolf rather than a red wolf like me. I nearly snorted in amusement at the leash he wore. No true wolf would really allow themselves to be collared and leashed like that.
“Kachina, I expected so much more of you. But, without proper guidance, maybe I shouldn’t have.” The man continued, taking a step closer and I could smell the anxiety climbing in my fellow pack members. My lips twitched in a threat to snarl, but I waited to hear what more he had to say, even if my hackles were rising in a dangerous way. “I have a proposition for you. But, uh, would you mind changing to your human form? That would be a lot easier and also help me to not appear like a lunatic.”
I gave him a canine grin in response, snorting my amusement. Like hell I would do that, especially since I had the feeling that I wanted him to appear like a lunatic. To make my point, I sat on the ground, my ears tilting forward a bit. He chuckled as he understood that I wasn’t going to do anything he asked of me to make this easier. Whatever ‘this’ was.
“Okay, fine. I’ll get right to the point.” He said, walking over to take a seat on a wooden crate. The wolf sat at his feet, obedient as ever. “I am Leon and I am here to talk to you about my school: Animilia Academy. It is a haven for people like us, you see. Werecreatures. Every year, I come out like this and find students who seem to need my help and guidance and I offer my school as a home for them. Kachina, I want to offer my school as a home for you too. Not only will it provide shelter, food, and help to you, but also to your friends here.” The last part he added with a smile, nodding to the five dogs that waited for my instructions behind me. “The only thing I ask from you in return is that you consider attending my school as a student and learning all that we have to teach you. So… what do you say?”
Well… I wasn’t expecting that. I glanced over my shoulder at the five dogs that had become my family. They were everything to me and his proposition included them gaining a permanent home, food, water, and all the other necessities one needed in life. As the alpha of my pack and family, I had to decide what was best for them. Everything I did involved what was best for them. If I could get a permanent home for them, that meant we wouldn’t constantly be on the run to avoid a confrontation with a stronger pack of feral dogs. That alone was enough motivation for me to agree.
“I’ll do it.”
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 1:13 pm
Open! Critique would be so awesome guys! This is my first year and my first attempt at a novel so please let me know if there is anything that needs fixing or sounds weird. That would be so amazing!
Thanks!
EDIT: Ugh, didn't think Chapter One was gonna be so short. Oh well, I guess chapters can be as long or as short as one desires. Look at James Patterson. Skyla Dawn Cameron. Yeah. A three page chapter isn't so bad...
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 1:18 pm
I gotta go for now: work. But, I'll be back later to update the rest of my info and stuff. I just wanted to get my chapter posted really quick in hopes that I can come home tonight and find some helpful comments. I'm really anxious to hear what you guys think of it. I know it is confusing so far, and so I'm really freaking out over it, but I know it'll also become clearer as I get further into it.
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 8:10 pm
Animilia Academy: Chapter Two In Progress
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Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 4:24 pm
In the Dog House: Chapter One “Good morning, guys.”
There are four types of major personalities for dogs and each dog fits into one of these personality types. First, you have the dog that is so happy to see you, they can hardly contain themselves. It is like your simple appearance has made their entire day. You can almost hear them going, “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh, it’s like you’re here and I’m here and we’re like both here! Oh my gosh!!” Sometimes… it can be a little scary. Then, you have the dog that is happy to see you, but not that happy. Just like how you feel when you see a good friend again. Happy, but not overwhelming so. Next, you have the dog that really doesn’t care about your existence. This dog may completely ignore you. If you say something to it and you absolutely know that it heard you and yet it doesn’t even look at you, its ears don’t even twitch the slightest, it is definitely ignoring you. It will probably continue to ignore you as it goes about its business and retreat back to whatever it was you may have interrupted it from. Finally, you have the fourth type of dog, the one who is not particularly thrilled to see you. Actually, this kind of dogs may seem stand-offish, scared, skittish, aggressive, and can be prone to biting. However, if you leave him alone, he’ll leave you alone. That much is almost guaranteed, but there are dogs that will attack you for no reason whatsoever.
Not that I ever have been attacked or even bitten. In the three years that I’ve worked at a boarding and grooming kennel and volunteered at a no-kill animal shelter, I’ve never been bitten, not even once. However, that may be one of several reasons as to why I love animals so much. I understand them better than I understand humans and they seem to have a fondness for me as well. They seem to enjoy being near me almost as much as I enjoy being near them.
“You guys ready for a walk?” I asked, marching through the aisle of kennels at the no-kill animal shelter I volunteered at. Courtney had come in early and so all the dogs were already fed and watered and now she was working to clean out their kennels from whatever mess they might’ve made the night before. I guess that meant I would go outside and walk them, which was fine by me since that was my favorite part.
I opened the door to go outside, the cold wind of winter hitting me hard. Despite my thick winter coat, my teeth were still chattering as I went out and closed the door behind me. I had just started my winter break from college and I was already using the time to take care of the dogs. All of my furry friends rushed out into their runs, excited to get a walk today. Normally, we tried to fit in at least two walks, one in the morning and one in the evening, but it depended on how much time we had. At the most, we sometimes could fit in four walks, but that was only occasionally. The dogs were so excited to get their first walk as early as eight o’clock in the morning that even the calmer dogs were bouncing with enthusiasm. All except one.
One dog, an older male dog that seemed to be mostly German shepherd with maybe some other breeds mixed in, simply sat in the middle of his run and stared at me. I didn’t recall getting him in, so I assumed that he came in when I wasn’t volunteering. However, as I passed by him, his chocolate brown eyes stared at me intensely. He sat unmoving in the middle of his run, staring straight into my eyes and I felt a chill run through me, like he was staring right into my soul.
Feeling a bit uneasy, I started at one end of the building and worked my way in the other direction, letting out one dog at a time to do his or her business. And, of course, I would cuddle or play with them some. They all deserved some kind of attention like that, just the feeling of being loved at least some. Once I felt that it had been long enough and that I should probably move on to the next dog, I would call him or her into the run and lock them in, before moving on.
Halfway down the row of runs, I came back to the German shepherd mix from before. He was lying down, but he stood as I approached. While his tongue rolled out to the side of his mouth, I could still see that same intensity in his eyes from before. I hadn’t seen anything like it in all of my years. At nineteen years of age, it was the first time I’d seen such an emotion in a pair of canine eyes. And, yet, it was combined with this calm control that he obviously contained. Hesitantly, I opened the chain link door to his run.
Stepping out, the dog looked at me for a moment, and then directed his attention to the ground. Despite how old he was, he dashed across the enclosed yard with his nose to the stiff, cold earth. He roamed this way and that and I felt myself relax as his actions returned to those of a normal dog. He took care of his business, and then looked out across the land beyond the fencing. A forest lay just beyond that chain link fence, full of mostly lively pine trees but also some bare other types as well.
I could sense his longing, his wish to be out there, but I couldn’t let him go. It was very rare that domesticated dogs survived in the wild on their own. They just didn’t have what it took to live on their own, to catch their own meals, find adequate shelter, or protect themselves from fiercer and bigger predators. Releasing them out there would be like handing them their death sentence. I couldn’t do it and I didn’t want to. I wanted all of them to find a good home with a family that loved them. They all deserved at least that much.
I didn’t notice him coming until it was too late. All I remember was a furry, dark blur rushing to me. A flash of white and then pain ceased my entire arm, a piercing feeling so painful that I was sure it was the worst physical pain I’d experienced in my entire life. I looked down at him, astounded that he would do anything like that. I was surprised that I didn’t scream or anything. I didn’t fight him or struggle or call for help. I just looked down into his intense, calm and… apologetic eyes, before darkness took over.
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Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 4:25 pm
I think I may settle on In the Dog House, but I'm not really sure...
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