On Joining an Extraordinary Journey

I have been working on this novel since I was in middle school. I had nothing to do during study hall one day, so I got out a sheet of paper and started jotting down ideas for an adventure story. In the original story, Brittany joins the quest for Revunia after randomly meeting the crew of the Blue Swan on the beach. As the story has evolved, however, Brittany's first meeting with the crew has become much more dramatic.On a dark and stormy night at her babysitter Ellie's house, with her younger siblings...

...there was a loud gust of wind on the outside, a gust so strong that Brittany feared the wall of the house would blow off. She immediately thought of scenes from disaster movies where houses blew apart. And suddenly there was a loud, roaring crunching noise—but it was not from the house. It sounded like it was coming from the beach. And almost as suddenly as the noise began, it stopped.

“That wasn't thunder,” said Danny.

“No, it wasn't,” Ellie affirmed, glancing nervously at her front door.

There was only the howling of the wind for a few moments, but suddenly it was joined by other

noises. There was panicked shouting and yelling and groaning at first. And then there were animal-like noises, barks and squeals and moans.

“What was that?” asked Jessie.

Ellie walked toward the front door, slowly and with trepidation.

“No idea,” said Brittany.

“No kidding,” added Danny.

And suddenly, there was a very loud, deep bark, and it sounded closer to the house. Ellie's eyes widened with amazement.

“I'd know that bark anywhere,” she said, her tense voice almost a whisper. She flew to the front door and slipped on her jacket and rain boots. 

The bark that Ellie recognizes is that of a dog that once lived with her. She goes outside to bring him in and invite his friends to enter her house. Brittany follows her outside and sees the crew of the Blue Swan, mostly talking animals, abandoning ship for the safety of their house. When she returns, she finds this scene in the living room:

Across the living room were scattered various animals, all muddy and wet from the storm, and—strangely enough—all talking and laughing like humans. A fire had been lit in the fireplace, but to Brittany's amazement it burned without wood. Brittany saw two cats, both black and white, seated in front of the fire, along with a short yellow creature she thought could be a gopher, a duck, a small golden mouse, and a large bobcat with tough-looking scars and two belts crossed across its back. On the couch on the far living-room wall sat two large penguins, chattering away in their strange accents. A large rodent of some type, perhaps a ferret, was slumped on the seat of the armchair, dozing in the middle of the noisy crowd. Two dogs, a golden retriever and a basset hound, sat in the middle of the living room, receiving tickle treatments from Jessie and Mickey, who both screamed with delight as they were licked and coddled in return. Ellie sat on the couch to the right beside a raccoon, wiping down a third dog with a towel, this one a large hound dog that looked old and wrinkly.

“How is it you got on that ship, anyhow?” Ellie was asking the dog as she rubbed the towel across its shoulders.

“I'm a member of the crew, Mrs. Dingle,” the dog answered in a slow, deep voice. “I have been a-working for Cap'n Eric since two year ago last August. I took to the sea to have a job, ma'am.”

Later, the ship's officers hold a meeting to explain their situation to the confused mortals. Eric and Evan, brothers and both tabby cats, discuss their quest to the kingdom of Revunia.

Eric took the cue. “We are en route to the wizard nation of Revunia, an island kingdom in the northern Pacific that has been taken over by goblins from the Aleutian islands.”

“You don't say,” said Ellie. 

Brittany raised an eyebrow. “But I've never heard of that place,” she asked. “Is it even real?”

 ... 

“Revunia's capital is one of my ports of call. Or was, before the goblins took over. I have not gone back there for three years. The goblin invasion took place because of corrupt leaders in the government who were disagreeing on trade regulations and security measures with the Grand Prince, Orlando III. They invited the goblins to attack, and once they took over they ruined Revunia utterly.”

“The new government has used the goblins to suppress rebellion by force,” Evan commented. “And he goblins have pillaged everything since the invasion. Farmers couldn't plant crops because of the raiding, and the growing season that far north is so short anyway that there wasn't enough food to feed people. The goblin ships patrolling the seas near Revunia have burned every ship flying Revunian colors in truce, and since we carry that flag, well, we're not welcome there anymore.” 

...

“We are on our way with the fleet to Anchorage for a council of war,” said Eric. “And once we have come up with a strategy, we will launch an assault on the goblins and drive them out of Revunia.

And that is as far as I have gotten this week. Literally! 

And not to mention novel-writing is an exhausting process, one that delightfully entertains the mind but also drains the energy of muses deprived of their sleep...zzzzzzz...I have to say, Northern Warriors is one of my few novel ideas that has not been fueled by visions in the night. One can only hope that once the sun sets and the covers are over the head, the crew of the Blue Swan will find me and take me on the adventure.