Like the Voice of a Snake Charming

Million stars up in the skyFormed a tiger's eyeThat looked down on my faceOut of time and out of placeof monsters and men, "your bones"
Gingerune is now approximately a little larger than a NaNo novel and, if my divisions are correct and I keep them in the end, I am working on the eighth chapter of I do not know how many chapters in toto.  I at last feel as if I know the my core of characters and a rough outline of the plot has finally sketched itself in my head.  As I have said before, my approach to writing is very organic and I will start off a story with a vague idea of what I want to incorporate, but it is through the actual writing process that I discover how characters will react and how things will really unfold.  And so, a little over 50,000 words in, I finally feel as if I have a handle on the characters and can see far enough in front of me to know where to go.  An analogy can be drawn between this method and terrain exposition in a computer game, but that would be a lame analogy to draw...

I did say I would write up a snippets post eventually.  I kicked off Gingerune with one - more for my own comfort than for anyone else's education, probably, since there wasn't much of Gingerune to talk about at that point.  But now that Gingerune has enough weight to throw around, here is a bit more.  I hope you enjoy!

snippets
“They had mighty sons and beautiful daughters, and they built a city for themselves. I have been to the place where, legend says, they raised their citadel. It is…only a desert now. But in the scripts the legends tell me of a glorious paradise, full of water and streets of shining metals. When the sun would rise up out of the Mountains at the End of the World it would strike the topmost tower and it would shine."Gingerune
Ginger turned on the ball of one foot to glance back behind them through the open doorway into the garden. The gate was still ajar, framing in blue a shaded picture of the sloping lane and a far-off glimpse of the acacia tree.Gingerune
His voice had gone suddenly like the voice of a snake charming its meal into its jaws.Gingerune
He was caught and he knew it—Ginger could see it in his eyes—drawn inexorably into Mazelin’s orbit even as she was, curious and knowing better at the same time. Yet the big sun-tanned man with his staff in his left hand, imperious, angry and half-laughing in the eyes, was like a lodestone to them.Gingerune
“Thera is a great island, but not a very large one. Why should I lie to you, when I have nowhere to hide?”Gingerune
The poor honey-coloured thing clutched the pet dog close and stared unblinkingly at a horror in the middle distance which would be a long time dissipating from her view.Gingerune
Ginger found herself...bending a little in stiff deference—the gesture was unfamiliar to her—and feeling as though her life were little worth the energy it took to pluck a saffron flower bare and throw away the petals.Gingerune
“Are there armies?” asked the Queen exultantly. “Are there war-ships on the horizon? Is there an embargo or is trade diminished? The great kingdom of Crete looks favourably on us. The isles in the midst of the sea look to us with awe. Thera is great, and the House of the Red Cyclamen has ruled her fairly and smoothly—in all the years you were away!”Gingerune
[He] drew in his chin like a horse about to wrench against the bit.Gingerune
"You do not know the hand at your own rudder! Ask of me all you will. Cry, plead, threaten, strip me of food and clothing and skin and marrow: I will not give you the Rammerowt."Gingerune
In a vague way she remembered Mazelin singing a song about Elohim in the dark—to her memory the song had seemed like a lamp. Perhaps he had been hard with Mazelin, but it seemed in his way he had been kind. She supposed that was enough to ask of a god. Gingerune
"I would get a horrible taste in my mouth at the sight of him—a big welling blackness, as though I were trying to swallow death.”Gingerune
“Some days I think I must needs only put out a saucer of cream for you,” Ginger remarked, “and, wherever you are, you will come and purr against my legs.” Gingerune