Over on my Twitter, I asked if you lot wanted to see the first draft of The Ascension of Melanie Winters. It’s been a while since I’d shown any of my past work; because of the current pandemic situation, publishing another book this year is less likely now.
I made an update on my Instagram about why I’ve been quiet. My newsletter readers had the full breakdown. It’s been a tough couple of weeks and even tougher on my poor, poor stories. To sum things up, my mental health has struggled with isolation. I haven’t been able to keep on top of writing content at all because of it.
However, this changes now! And with it, I thought I’d share the very first draft of Ascension…which originated all the way back in November 2015.
CONTEXT
In 2015, I took part in National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo as it’s usually known by). It’s a great challenge to do and some of my best stories have come from it. I was unfortuantely unable to complete NaNo fully because my mental healh wasn’t in the best state that year. Despite that, I managed to write 15,605 words…and three years later, that first draft became my debut novel!
So, I’ve decided to show the first draft. As I wrote it all those years ago. Yes, possible spelling and grammatical errors included. This will give you all an opportunity to see what my original vision for Ascension was like.
So here is the first section of the draft below, ready for your enjoyment. Let me know what you think!
SECTION ONE
She didn’t mean to pull apart a building.
And yet, here Melanie was, conducting a symphony of destruction, picking pieces of stone and glass like they were paper. It was liberating for her, to move whatever she could at the swiper of a finger. Her hand was outstretched as a chunk of marble fought its way free from the floor and gently followed the rhythm of her hand. She smiled. She had never known something so destructive could make her feel as light as a feather.
Observing her surroundings, the building (or what was left of it) stood tall with deep rigid scars from Melanie’s work. Once a building of four stories high, it had been halved in almost a second. Her eyes widened as she allowed herself to rise up to the remains of the fourth floor. Concentrating her mind, she felt like a bird, being able and travel as they pleased. Her hair began to float while she gained a further height. A little further and the warm rays of the sun shone onto her face. She drank it all in. This is heavenly. She could stay in the remains of this building and pick it apart until it was nothing. Melanie wished for such a luxury to be given to her…
But the high-pitched sound of an alarm clock jolted Melanie into reality and out of her bed. Her body was inches away from the ceiling when she lost her control and fell on the floor. She stayed there for few moments, gripping her forehead. The ring of her clock became more annoying as the seconds ticked by. Holding her hand up, she swiftly moved it, sending the clock crashing into the wall and silencing it for good. She looked over at the clock, broken and battered, cursing under her breath. Clock Number Five was gone. Maybe Clock Number Six would fare better, she hoped.
Melanie got herself up from the floor and stumbled towards her bedroom mirror, looking at her face and rubbing between her eyes. Bits of sleep rubbed off onto her fingers as her head became heavier than normal. The mornings of falling to the floor had began to take their toll. More practice.
Some time after Melanie had exammined her face in the mirror, she had gotten dressed into her school uniform and had made her way down into the kitchen. Making herself a cup of tea, a man briskly walked in, dressed in a suit and tie with a black briefbase, stuffed with various bits of paper.
“Morning, Mel.” He said, placing his hand on her shoulder and giving it a loving squeeze. Melanie looked away from her tea to smile.
“Morning, Dad. You’re out early today.” She commented, resuming her tea making.
“I want to try and use some flexi time to finished early today so I can go play some golf later. Might work, might not.” He replied, shrugging after the last sentence. Melanie figured golf has something to do with it.
“Okay then, I’ll see you whenever.” Melanie replied, while her father gave her a light kiss on the head before heading out of the door. The cup of tea had finished brewing and Melanie gave it a quick sip before checking the time on the clock. 7:51. About ten minutes before the bus arrived.
Once her tea had been finished and a nibble of toast was had, Melanie packed up her bag, which had surprisingly felt incredibly light. She had forgotten that the majority of her books were with her teachers, since GCSE season was almost over. All she had to do was get through one more study session today, which then lead onto an exam the following week and she was free from school at long last. She sat down in the living room on the sofa that was starting to sink the more she sat in it. The emerald green that it once was had become quite a dirty shade over the years. Melanie wondered if she could ever develop enough to move something as big as the sofa. Instead, she focused her attention on the sudden vibrations that came from the coffee table opposite her.
Melanie’s phone moved with every vibration as she outstretched her arm. The phone gently moved off the table and was guided to the palm of her hand. It was 8:05. Time to get to the bus stop. Grabbing her school bag, she made her way to the front door, taking her set of keys from the hanger as she passed through the kitchen.
The morning breeze gently danced through Melanie’s auburn hair as she walked towards the bus stop. It was a surprisingly warm morning, despite the cool breeze. Melanie could feel the heat on her school jumper, which was thick and black, two things that you shouldn’t really wear when it’s warm. She persevered through her flustered state as she turned around the corner at the end of her street out onto the busy city road.
Living in London, a bustle to everyday life was always expected. Cars on the streets were racing around the city when they weren’t locked down in gridlock traffic as passers by power waked to their destinations trying to dodge everyone else. Melanie’s bus stop happened to be right in the centre of gridlock traffic, which often made her late for school due to the bus getting stuck. Thankfully, the traffic was flowing rather steady for a Tuesday morning.
Melanie leant back on the bus stop shelter and check the time on her phone, which read 8.10am exactly. Any minute now. She put her phone away and gazed up into the bright blue sky, with hardly a cloud in sight. She wished she could be up there. Imagine how it must feel to be able to drift among the summer sky, especially on a warm day like this. I wonder if I’ll come back as a bird in my next life? Might explain a lot. Melanie thought to herself.
