Tuesday 16 April 2013

An A-Z Story - N


A new day in the Challenge and a new letter, N! Never fear, we're nearly there! (Kind of.)

My theme is as follows: each day I will ask for words beginning with that day's letter, which I will randomly select five from to use in a sentence in an ongoing story. That sentence will be posted the next day when I'll ask for words for the next letter. So my Z sentence will appear on May 1st.

A very nifty 316 words were offered yesterday; a record number. Thank you all! Here are the chosen five, which entirely by chance, all happen to lend themselves nimbly to the medieval setting:

Magic (suggested by Cynthia)
Monumental (suggested by Pete Denton)
Merriment (suggested by Dobson)
Merchant (suggested by Nancy Thompson)
Matins (suggested by loverofwords)

So now we have...


Angels had always had a certain ambiguity, being both human and divine, reflected Acatour with an acute sense of malaise as he looked down on the arable fields of medieval England. A bird flew past making a belligerent shriek, unnerved it seemed by a boggart; Acatour descended, thinking it would take a brainiac like him to unravel the poor soul’s beginnings and why it had not reached Heaven.
     York Cathedral hove into view, shrouded in wooden scaffold as part of the local bishop’s campaign of restoration; but before he could challenge a carpenter over whether any of his colleagues had fallen to their doom, his presence was announced by the crawdad he’d eaten back in 20th century New Orleans repeating on him. He wiped dribble from his chin as the remains of the crustacean narrowly missed the workmen to land in the dew of the graveyard, berating himself for his debauched and unangelic behaviour the previous night; why did that dame have to desert him? The effervescent Ella had always been eager for exciting adventures, but when he’d asked her to accompany him on this esoteric time travel mission, she’d called him a crazy drunk and left.
     It did sound rather fabulous, in the true sense of the word, he thought to himself as he descended further before landing on an empty area of scaffold, all the better for making himself visible; next to him was some viscous fluid, making him think that any fall from this precarious structure would surely be a fluke. Stepping away from the gel-like substance, he felt something watching him and turned to see a Gardengoyle on the wall next to a carved bunch of grapes, which caused the gregarious sounds of the workmen to die away as two thoughts rang clearly in his head: what was it doing here, and did he detect guilt in the creature’s eyes?
     That horrendous stare was starting to give Acatour a headache when a workman with a harried expression shimmied up onto the platform via a hemp rope, his arrival causing an apparently hilarious reaction in the Gardengoyle. “Hey, you!” said the workman, stomping towards Acatour, but something seemed to interrupt his progress, drawing him inexorably towards the island of iridescent liquid, which seemed entirely illogical to the angel until he sensed the impish carving’s illicit intentions.
     The workman slipped on the puddle and waved his arms frantically like a jester, trying not to fall over the edge; in that moment Acatour sensed the wickedly joyful mirth of the Gardengoyle and grabbed the man’s arm, saving him from jeopardy and causing the creature’s joy to dissipate as it contemplated a future in Paranormal Jail.
     “Thank you,” said the man, “my darling Kate is too young to become a widow,” but upon saying this he started to keel over as if affected by his own version of Kryptonite; Acatour had been ready to show kindness to the grotesquely kitsch Gardengoyle, but now saw the only solution was to destroy it. While struggling to hold on to the lanky workman - who had become rather loquacious and kept babbling about his wife and lover, who Acatour hoped were the same person - and stop him from being lost over the edge of the scaffold, he cast around for any tools or discarded carvings he could use as a weapon and finally alighted on a rather hefty rock lobster, which, it occurred to him, would be much more effective than a crawdad.
     A look of merriment crossed the creature’s face that was quite deranged considering it was about to be smashed to smithereens, before it melted into the rock leaving nothing but smooth stone - it was magic, of course - and Acatour quickly descended the monumental structure, past more workmen and a rather flustered merchant, and burst through the main door just as matins was beginning.

I need your N words to continue my story, please! You can offer as many as you like, and they can be as obscure and outlandish as you like (feel free to use a dictionary for inspiration). The more words you suggest, the more chance you have of one being picked. It doesn't matter if you suggest the same word as someone else (as I know not everyone always has time to read all the comments); each will count as its own entry.

43 comments:

Dee @ A Deecoded Life said...

Mystifying, this is! (Err Yoda... Get outta my head, man.)

My N words (no, not that one):

Never
Narcissist
Narcolepsy
Nest
Nudge
Needy
Nurse

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Nestle
Negate
Nab

Cynthia said...

Oh yeah, you used one of my words!

Okay, for n...

News
Numb
Norway
Nun
Niece

Anonymous said...

How about...
Narcissism,
Narcotics,
Needless,
Neglect,
Nerves,
North,
Name,
New,
No!

J.L. Murphey said...

nonsense
nut
nothing
natural
nasal
nurture
none
no
note
niche

S.P. Bowers said...

Man, get here late and all the good ones are taken. Hmmm.....nerd, nod, never.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Neutralize, nefarious, and nude!

Rhonda Albom said...

Notorious
naturally
numbing
nobody
nipple
naughty

Michelle Wallace said...

Here goes...

Nab
Narcissism
Native
Nefarious
Nit-picking
Nonconformist
Nuncio
Nub
Nil
Nincompoop
Naysayers
Numbskulls
Neophyte

Good Luck!

Writer In Transit

Shell Flower said...

Loving your story, Nick. It must be a challenge to keep it up, but you're doing a great job.

Nifty
Noodle
Nincompoop
Needless
Nefarious
Needling
Natural
Nonsensical

Bish Denham said...

Native
Necromancer
Nurture
Number
Nonchalant
Nip
Nice
Nephew
Nervous
Needless
Narwhal
Narrow
Nave
Navel

loverofwords said...

nebbish
nemesis
notch
nerd
nymph
nimbus
nail
narcotic

Samantha May said...

Nepotism
Neon
Null
Neurotic
Nile
Necessity
Nor'easter

Almost there :)

Carol Kilgore said...

nevermore
Narnia
nonsense
nasturtium
nickel
niceties
navy
needy
noggin
nifty
nuptial

cleemckenzie said...

Okay let's go with: Nuance, Nice, Nevermore, Need, Naughty

Jennie Bennett said...

It's been too long since I came to read, turning out really crazy and funny. Can't wait to read more!

Rebecca M. Douglass said...

My very random list:
nostril
nabob
nachos
nincompoop
notorious
nest
never
narcissist

M said...

Nitid. It is an old word, one not even all dictionaries bother to continue to include, and it means "lustrous."

Margo Kelly said...

Pick me! Pick me! Or at least one of my words. :)

nada
neice
nightie
noggin
numbskull

Julie Flanders said...

I've never heard the word matins. Now I have to look it up and see what is beginning here.

Negligent
Neigh
Nuisance
Nocturnal
Nebulous

Al Diaz said...

never
numb
now

Mel said...

Nunnery
Neanderthal
Nonsensical
Nearsighted
Nincompoop
Nun-chucks

Ella said...

Nice
naught
Nucky
never
night
nails
nest
nine
name-drop
nano
narrow
noble
nasty
nod
nomad
nimble
Nick ;D

Intangible Hearts said...

Nostradamus

PK HREZO said...

You're doing such a great job! How about

noteworthy
noodlehead
needleheimer

Lynn(e) Schmidt said...

This is such a fun idea!

My N word is:

Ninja :)

Susan Kane said...

netherworld
niche
nisi
notch
noxious
nuance
nudge

I hope these help.

Gwen Gardner said...

You're not going to smash the gardengoyle, right? :D

Neverland
Necromancy
Nutter
Nibbs
Note

Jay Noel said...

Dang, so many good ones already taken.

How about:

nerd
nope
noggin
nip
nap
nickel

Elise Fallson said...

Nipples.
I dare ya.
I double dare ya.
:P

Ciara said...

Necromancer
Nun
Never
acarat
nainsook
naos
narcomania
naricorn

Golden Eagle said...

Nattering
Nickel
Nan
Nullify
Nervously

Unknown said...

Hmm! Wow, what a list of "N" words. Where do I begin...
nervy
nettle
network
negotiable
nobility
nod
Now for the real nitty-gritty...
newfangled
newborn
nevertheless
nihilism
nimble
nightfall
and That's All.
It was fun!

Jean Davis said...

Naughty
Nuthatch
Nibbles
Nuts

Aimee Laine said...

WOW! That's a TON of N words. You're going to get some definitions for a few!

Mina Burrows said...

Holy sh**, Nick! Rock it, man!

Nightgown
Nipple
Neurotic
Noche
Nostradamus
necrophiliac

HAHA! Have fun!

Deniz Bevan said...

Ooh, lots of new characters! Okay, N...
Nesbit
narwhal
nudibranch
nonny-nonny
nincompoop
name

Unknown said...

Here's my words:

Nostalgic
Neptune
Nice
Net
Nifty

Michael Di Gesu said...

Hi, Nick.

So far this new fiction is coming along NICELY... LOL


Nasty

Narcissistic

Natural

Needy

Nervous

Needles

Nimble

Nearsighted

Hey, Nick, Don't forget your book is featured at my blog tomorrow.

I hope you like what I came up with, it's kind of special!

Unknown said...

I'm beginning to think Ninja Captain Alex has taught you his blogging tricks. How are you doing this? Great as usual!

Need
Nutella
Nymph
Nyx
No

Empty Nest Insider said...

Looks like you've got N covered. How about Oreos for O?

Julie

Anonymous said...

Nestle, nutty, nostrum, narcotic, nil.

Nick Wilford said...

Thank you very much for these neverending suggestions! Very nice. Sadly I must say no more as I will now narrow things down to the new chosen five.