I'm trying something new. Trying to imitate one of your favorite authors' writing styles.
First: Shannon Hale (Book of A Thousand Days, Goosegirl)
My room was like a bird cage, sloppily draped with fabrics and bedecked with jewels in an attempt to resemble something appealing. However, you could search every single inch of those ivory walls and silver floors and find nothing but shadows and perhaps, if the maids were lazy, a little dust.
When I was little I pretended there was a hidden handle in the West Wall that led to a magic river. Every Thursday, I'd turn the golden handle and visit the azure river. It was one of the few places my childhood imagination thought up. My plan was to build a river just like the one I'd envisioned once I became queen. But it is my brother, not I, who shall inherit the throne, and besides, river-building is not a skill many Reztians know.
So now, as I lay on my thickly quilted bed, I stare at my walls and wish desperately a window would magically open, and lead me to that river.
"Penelope! Will you get ready already?" My mother burst through the door, wearing a comical peach and turquoise dress, her eyebrows almost reaching her hairline. Her eyes widened as she waited for my response, expecting me to jump up and hop in the bath immediately.
I stared directly at her as I slowly climbed down and said sweetly, "Sorry, I must have been daydreaming. I'll be ready in 20 minutes."
"You better be!" She called as she dashed out the doorway and nearly tripped on the orange fringe which dangled dangerously off the trim of her dress.
I sighed and undressed then slipped into the warm bath.
After my hair was dry and I was wearing my rose-colored robe, I let my ladies-in-waiting come in. One did my hair in tight ringlets, the other applied a soft layer of makeup. After my head was done, one of them took my dress and helped me tighten the corset. I insist on getting into the clothes myself, I am fifteen after all, but the corsets always give me trouble.
I jammed my feet into the cold fuchsia slippers, and stumbled out of the room into the empty hall beyond. When I arrived to the ball room my mother whisked me aside and said in a low voice, "Look in the mirror!" And she fished a platinum mirror out of her small courtesy purse. I looked in it at my own reflection and saw that I had not wrapped a long pearl necklace around my neck three times. I grabbed it and carefully strung in around my neck again.
"Happy?!" I asked, exasperated.
"I will be when you smile like a princess and speak respectfully.'' She said through clenched teeth.
And that's Chapter 1
First: Shannon Hale (Book of A Thousand Days, Goosegirl)
My room was like a bird cage, sloppily draped with fabrics and bedecked with jewels in an attempt to resemble something appealing. However, you could search every single inch of those ivory walls and silver floors and find nothing but shadows and perhaps, if the maids were lazy, a little dust.
When I was little I pretended there was a hidden handle in the West Wall that led to a magic river. Every Thursday, I'd turn the golden handle and visit the azure river. It was one of the few places my childhood imagination thought up. My plan was to build a river just like the one I'd envisioned once I became queen. But it is my brother, not I, who shall inherit the throne, and besides, river-building is not a skill many Reztians know.
So now, as I lay on my thickly quilted bed, I stare at my walls and wish desperately a window would magically open, and lead me to that river.
"Penelope! Will you get ready already?" My mother burst through the door, wearing a comical peach and turquoise dress, her eyebrows almost reaching her hairline. Her eyes widened as she waited for my response, expecting me to jump up and hop in the bath immediately.
I stared directly at her as I slowly climbed down and said sweetly, "Sorry, I must have been daydreaming. I'll be ready in 20 minutes."
"You better be!" She called as she dashed out the doorway and nearly tripped on the orange fringe which dangled dangerously off the trim of her dress.
I sighed and undressed then slipped into the warm bath.
After my hair was dry and I was wearing my rose-colored robe, I let my ladies-in-waiting come in. One did my hair in tight ringlets, the other applied a soft layer of makeup. After my head was done, one of them took my dress and helped me tighten the corset. I insist on getting into the clothes myself, I am fifteen after all, but the corsets always give me trouble.
I jammed my feet into the cold fuchsia slippers, and stumbled out of the room into the empty hall beyond. When I arrived to the ball room my mother whisked me aside and said in a low voice, "Look in the mirror!" And she fished a platinum mirror out of her small courtesy purse. I looked in it at my own reflection and saw that I had not wrapped a long pearl necklace around my neck three times. I grabbed it and carefully strung in around my neck again.
"Happy?!" I asked, exasperated.
"I will be when you smile like a princess and speak respectfully.'' She said through clenched teeth.
And that's Chapter 1
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