Waiting for the Sun

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I wrote this months ago, and I eventually submitted it to a local writing publication. It was extremely well reviewed, and I decided that if I was to post something today, it might as well be the first thing I've ever finished.


t was not as such a long night, so much as one that didn't seem to end. Both of them sat in the same room, waiting for dawn to break. The sun, however, defied them both, leaving the poorly-lit room in the quasi-darkness it existed in. It had to come eventually, they both thought. It had to, but it didn't.

The room was small, but cozy in its own sense. It certainly felt lived in, with clutter in all the corners of the room. It was also very warm, the heater below the window blasting hot air into the room with the subdued rattle of machinery. He listened to it, counting the rattles and trying to find some pattern in the chaos. He grimaced; there wasn't. She kept watching the window, waiting for the sun.

It was too quiet, he thought. He could hear her breathing softly next to him, so barely audible over the heater, but that was all. No words were being shared. There was just the soft sounds of the body and the rattle of machines. It hadn't been like this before, hours ago, but that didn't matter much anymore. Things had changed.

The sky outside turned a crimson shade slowly, heralding the arrival of something new. Neither knew what it was, but they both knew that the instant that it came, the old way would die. It was terrifying to strike out that way, but there was not a thing he or anyone else could do.

As the sun began to creep over the horizon, he gave her one last embrace as everything they had known vanished with the long night.

Welcome Aboard

My name is Daniel O'Dette, and like I said on the description to the site, I am a writer.

I've been writing for years, actually, as long as I can remember. Very few things I have finished, and I doubt that'll change with the existence of this blog, but one can only hope.

My writing style is typically realistic, though if I'm particularly bored I will range into the campy feel that one would get from an 80s action movie or a 40s television serial (don't worry, I try not to lapse into too many cliches when I do this). On average, my stories revolve around larger conflicts and being a "cog in the machine", be it a war or some other large scale event.

Inspirations for my writing range from George R. R. Martin to Tom Clancy, the latter being someone I read all throughout my late childhood and teenage years. I've started reading Martin recently, and I've been hoping to draw influence from his use of details and wheels-within-wheels.

You'll understand that I won't use this blog to share personal information; this is devoted to writing and writing-related activities, such as game mechanics for a theoretical video game (I don't know square one for game-design, but that doesn't mean I can't come up with ideas for a game I would like to play. Perhaps I could forward the ideas to someone in the industry someday).

That's about all I have to say. If you're new here, find a post and start reading. The majority of the stories are chapters in a larger novel, if you will, so it's best to start at the beginning (I will always make them in the following style: "Story Name-Chapter Number-Chapter Name". Logically, if this is a stand alone, it will be just "Story Name").

Enjoy your stay, and welcome aboard!