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Night Dares – A Blovel

Recently, for Pen & Muse’s Summer School, I wrote a piece for the Alternative Types of Writing segment called “What the Hell is a Blovel + Freebie Alert.” Essentially, a blovel is a novel you write on your blog. I included a ton of tidbits in that post and a freebie to help plan your blovel. So if you’re interested in starting your own, I highly recommend checking it out.

Anywho, I was so excited about the post, I decided that I was going to write my own blovel.

So here it folks. My blovel, NIGHT DARES. If you prefer reading on Wattpad or Penned, you can follow along there.

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Title: Night Dares

Genre: YA horror

Summary: Six teens sneak out at night to play Night Dares – where they challenge each other to do dangerous and reckless things. When Kallie dares Jamie to go to the top floor of an abandoned Victorian house alone, Jamie is nervous. When she steps inside, she is not prepared for what she finds. Someone has been watching Jamie. Someone has been waiting.

A Note: Whether you love it or hate it, I’d love for you to comment and let me know. Encouragement and/or feedback is welcome! I’m just here to have fun with it!

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Chapter One

Jamie

 

“Go ahead, Jamie,” Kallie said with a sneer. She tucked a strand of long blond hair behind her ear. “You’re not scared are you?”

I rolled my eyes, like I wasn’t. But I was. Of course I was scared. Who wouldn’t be? We were on the outskirts of town, standing outside of an abandoned house at midnight.

We called them Night Dares. We met up a few nights a week, daring each other to do stupid things during the midnight hours.

Unsurpringly, Kallie chose me as the recipient of her dare tonight. My task was to venture to the attic of this dilapidated Victorian house and turn on my flashlight to signal that I made it

The truth was that I didn’t want to. I was scared. But Andy was here and his light brown eyes smiled at me, sparkling in the night. It was almost enough to make me feel like I wasn’t afraid. It was almost enough to make me believe I was fearless. But I wasn’t fearless. I’d always been afraid.

“You got this,” Andy assured me with a nod. He ran a hand through his messy brown hair before giving me a wink. “You’ve done worse.”

True. I had. There was that one time on the train tracks. Or that time on the bridge. I didn’t like to think about those nights. I mean, I was proud that I did those things. But it didn’t change the goose bumps that crawled up my flesh when I thought about it.

Too bad I couldn’t bring Andy with me inside the house. For protection, of course. Okay, and maybe so I could grab his hand when I got scared.  If everyone knew what a chicken I was, I was pretty sure that I’d never be asked back for another round of Night Dares again.

Kallie, Andy, Wednesday, Peter, and Ryder stared at me from the sidewalk.

“Right,” I said, motioning behind me at the house I really didn’t want to step foot in. “Okay, I’m just… gonna go then.”

Andy gave me a confident thumbs up. Wednesday looked bored. Ryder drew a line across his throat with his hand, implying that I wouldn’t make it out or I’d choke or something.

I turned, took a deep breath, and looked up. This decaying giant of a house had at least three stories. The paint was peeling and most of the windows were broken. I tilted my head all the way back to find the top room I’d need to make it to.

Wait. What was that? I could have sworn I saw something move in the window. It was there for only a moment. Now all that was left were sheer white curtains moving gently.

I turned back to the group. “Did you guys see that?”

“See what?” Peter asked, pulling his black beanie down over his curly red mop of hair.

“In the window,” I said pointing to the top floor.

Kallie crossed her arms and wore a sour expression on her face. “If you’re too scared, just say it.”

I shook my head. I couldn’t let her win.

Kallie and I had been good friends, but over the last six months I’d somehow turned into her favorite frenemy. I had a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with Andy. In fact, she’d broken up with Andy for our high school’s star quarterback months ago. But when he dumped her a few weeks later, she came crawling back to Andy. But to my surprise, he didn’t take her back.

Kallie insisted that something must have been going on between the two of us to make him say no. The truth was, I’d been there for Andy as a friend. We’d talked a few times about how upset he was, but that was it. There was nothing going on between us. At least not yet.

“Come on Jamie,” Ryder snapped. “Hurry up, will you? I’ve got a good one planned for Kallie.”

Kallie’s face went white, as she glanced at Ryder with an expression that was begging for mercy.

We could usually fit three Night Dares into our midnight fun.  Ryder was right. I needed to suck it up and just do it. It’s not like it was my first dare. We’d been doing this for years. I just needed to do what I always did. Get in. Get out.

I inched forward, feeling my heart speed up with every porch step I climbed. The light from my flashlight wasn’t much help. The night was pitch black. There was no moon.

I should have stayed home.

I let out a shaky breath and placed my hand on the cool metal of the doorknob.

Here goes nothing.

 

Come back later this week for chapter two!

Thank you so much for reading!

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  • Steve
    August 15, 2014

    Is it later yet? 🙂

    Nice start.

    • JoleneH
      Steve
      October 11, 2014

      GAH, thank you so much. It means to much to me to have you say that.

  • Shen Hart
    September 7, 2014

    This is a great start! You’ve set the scene really nicely.

    • JoleneH
      Shen Hart
      October 11, 2014

      Thanks Shen! You are wonderfully supportive and SO good to me.

  • Tori
    September 7, 2014

    Very cool beginning. I like how I already have some idea of the various personalities of this group, even in such a short amount of words.

    Can’t wait for part 21

    • JoleneH
      Tori
      October 11, 2014

      Tori! You’re making me blush. Thank you so much. I really tried to put a lot in a small amount of words. It’s so wonderful to hear that you like it.

      It means a lot. Thank you!

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    September 17, 2014

    […] I’ve read all of his books. I love horror. And I even write some of my own. […]

  • smedley
    May 29, 2019

    I am attempting to write a blovel.
    A novel in a blog format. It is a work in progress.

    It is based on the truish story and experiences of a stroke survivor, battling with dark-robed demons in the ICU while unconscious. His unconscious mind, believed he was stuck indefinitely at a red traffic light, a barrier he couldn’t pass through until he had resolved crucial questions about the meaning of very strange occurrences in his life.

    He considered a number of coincidences; the synchronicity in his life; the half-forgotten or suppressed, intuitive abilities which may have once informed his spirit.
    Red Herrings as opportunities. Coincidences as feint but meaningful signals of change to come; infinitesimal changes in moments of time engendered by the ever-humming life force of this immense, incomprehensible universe.

    Infinitesimal in magnitude, infinite in nature. In his mind, he enlisted the help of dear friends from his favorite local bar – some living and some whose souls persist in parallel dimensions. Smedley, our survivor, came out from a dark place in his mind to find peace and joy, eventually making the decision to wake up, and return to life, his friends and family, a completely transformed man.

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