Weekend Writing Warriors 2-17-13

Street Glass is my novel-in-progress. My tagline: Underprivileged Latino 18-yr-old leaves street gang and befriends white, over-privileged musicians.

While some of the plot is subject to change (draft two is a pretty early draft, after all) the basic elements will stay, as will the character "voices". So these excerpts will still give you a good idea of how the plot plays out and what the characters are like. Note: There is swearing in English and Spanish! The year is 1986, in Los Angeles, California.

I'm collecting all the snippets here so you can easily see what's going on.

Razor's taken a beating from his gang leader. Razor reflects on his miserable life stuck in the barrio (neighborhood); his friend Chino tries to convince him that he has everything he needs but Razor shouts I hate you! at the barrio. I'm skipping the part where Razor drives to an alley on the edge of gang territory, looking for some unsuspecting person to take his frustrations out on. While waiting, his 13-year-old pal Luis happens by. Razor's uncomfortable with Luis wearing the same kind of hoodie that the gang wears. When he notices Luis has gotten an earring, Razor says Luis' mom Rosa won't be happy about it. We pick up in Razor's point of view.

“Aw Ray, I wanted one like yours, an’ I want a snake tat like yours, too.”

Razor clenched his teeth. “Don’t copy me, Louie. Don’t make Rosa bury you.”

Luis ducked his head then punched Razor’s arm. “She won’t let me do nothin’ . . . sometimes I wish she’d, y’know, go away.”

Ah, that was maybe the worst thing he could say. “I’m livin’ that wish — do I look happy?”

For more excerpts from a wide and wonderful variety of stories, visit Weekend Writing Warriors. We have fun blog hopping all over the world, and we hope you'll come along!

Thanks for visiting my blog today. Comments gratefully accepted :-D