In February, we challenged you to submit a 400-word excerpt from your NaNoWriMo novels. From over 650 fantastic entries, we chose two Grand Prize Winners and four Runners-Up. We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we did! (For more excerpts, check out this forum thread.)

I cross my arms and stare across the street to where he stands--my village's new found savior--the man who had killed the beast that plagued our village for over a decade. I take a swig out of my waterskin, watching as he smiles at the young children skipping around him; one comes up to him and offers up a flower crown. I try and hide my disgust, for even if the beast is gone, I do not trust his smile... Read the rest!

Ivy gasped for air, rapidly sitting up. Her hands were knotted in the bedsheets and she was dripping with sweat. She’d jolted awake several times in the last few weeks, and it had been becoming more frequent. But there was something different tonight– it was as if her soul had been sucked from her body... Read the rest!

The hologram places a hand to his chest in an exaggerated motion, so that the translucent red light of his fingertips brushes against the armillary sphere at the center of his chest. Steam rises from beneath him, where rainwater mixes in with discarded oil and whiskey to create tar-black reflections... Read the rest!

Astoria’s older brother Eryx squeezed her hand as the line grew shorter. She adjusted her skirt, fiddling with the small wrinkle her iron had not removed. Her rattan sandals squeaked as she edged closer to the thick rope separating the snake of commoners with the highest-ranked officials. She found a folded napkin in her pouch and wiped her sweaty palms. Today had to be perfect, and she had to receive an element that would please her elite family. Though she had been only five at the time, Astoria knew what had happened to her older sister... Read the rest!