Today is going to be a fun post! After stumbling across Liesl Brunner’s tag challenge post, I decided to do it myself. This is never have I ever—writer edition.
The Rules
- Link and thank the blogger who tagged you. Thanks, Liesl! Here’s her post.
- Include the graphic somewhere in the post (or make your own!)
- Answer the questions truthfully and honestly.
- Tag 3 bloggers.
Never have I ever...
...started a novel I didn't finish
Totally. I used to do this a lot, but I’ve gotten better recently. I think I’ve learned to outline and plan ahead (strengthening my concept) before starting to draft. There are at least two handwritten drafts of books I’ve never finished in the trash.
...written a story completely by hand
Those of you who know me know the answer to this one. I didn’t have technology or computers to assist me in my writing until I was 13. I think I wrote six complete stories by hand, and some of these I actually published later on.
...changed tenses midway through a story
Whenever I try to write in first-person present tense, it always turns into past tense. I think this is because I don’t read books written in present tense (though I’d love to).
...not researched anything before starting a story
Yes, especially when I was younger. I just used my imagination and went off writing whatever came to mind. Never mind the fact that nothing sounded realistic.
...changed my protagonist’s name halfway through a draft
I haven’t done this for any main characters, but I’ve done it for side ones. In fact, for The Jewish Baby, I changed a side character’s name after completing the final self edit, because someone had pointed out that two of my characters’ names were very similar.
...written a story in a month or less
Do short stories that are one page long count? Because I’ve done these in a couple of hours for school assignments.
...fallen asleep while writing
Five percent of the time. Whenever I hit a slow part and start trying to think up ideas, I fall asleep. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I write in my bed in the dark. Lucid dreams are cool, guys. I have to admit that mine don’t usually make any sense, and nothing from them ever ends up in the book. Still….
...corrected someone’s grammar irl/online
My brothers. It’s automatic. If you say “much” instead of “many,” it’s almost guaranteed I will correct you. Online, however, I don’t. I know people have pet peeves about this.
...yelled in all-caps at myself in the middle of my novel
What? Who wrote this question? Now I need to go back and figure out who’s crazy enough to do this 😉
...used “I’m writing” as an excuse
No. My family doesn’t take excuses. Writing is a hobby, and chores are priority. However, if I’m given a choice between writing and something else, sometimes I’ll pick writing.
...killed a character that was based on someone I know in real life
Yes. I’m currently working on a book where lots of people die. Since most of my characters are loosely based off of people I know, this has definitely happened a few times
...used pop culture references in a story
I don’t write contemporary (yet, at least), so it’s nearly impossible to incorporate pop culture into my stories. I also prefer not to if possible, just because it could outdate the novel, and I don’t have much pop culture knowledge anyway.
...written between the hours of 1:00 am and 6:00 am
Yes. If I wake up in the middle of the night and have a flash of inspiration, I will write until I’m satisfied I haven’t forgotten anything. Besides, I’m a night owl and have tons of creative energy around night time and when I wake up.
For NaNoWriMo, I stayed up through the AM’s almost every day. I usually went to bed around 12, but on weekends and days we went places, I stayed up anywhere from 1 am to 2 am.
...drank an entire pot of coffee while writing
I don’t like coffee. The end.
...written down dreams to use in a potential novel
Not written them down, but I have used dreams as inspiration for scenes or concepts in my books. One crazy dream actually became the whole premise of my Fire Trials trilogy. Check it out in more depth here.
...published an unedited story on the internet/blog/wattpad
Embarrassing story: I published seven semi-edited books on KDP, effectively ruining my reputation as an author. Sales dropped from 50 to 0 a week pretty quickly. They’re still up there. However, I discourage people from reading them unless they’re prepared to read a book that sounds like it was written by a young teenager (because it was).
...procrastinated schoolwork because I wanted to write
I was homeschooled, and so this was both easy and not looked down on to do. Whenever the flash of inspiration or that perfect scene pops into my head, I have to write it
...typed so long my wrists hurt
I’ve done this writing, crocheting, knitting, and pretty much anything else that involves my hands. I tend not to stop until I’m satisfied with my progress.
...spilled a drink on my laptop while writing
Nooo. My mom would never. In fact, drinks aren’t even allowed on the table when computers are out. Did I mention that I write in my bed? Yeah, and drinks are never allowed in my bed.
...forgotten to save my work/draft
I write on my Kindle (most of the time) with an app that crashes (all the time). I have lost pages of progress due to this. Let me tell you, the feeling of your heart dropping into your stomach is real. I’ve learned to hit “save” every sentence or so.
Edit: I now write on my computer and phone, using apps that are of much better quality. They also have autosave. Autosave is a real lifesaver.
...finished a novel
Yes! And I’m happy about it.
...laughed like an evil villain while writing a scene
In my head. I love putting my characters through things I’d never wish upon a real person. In fact, this is where a lot of my joy in writing comes from. Isn’t it fun to be the lord of an entire world and its subjects?
...cried while writing a scene
I don’t explicitly remember, but I think I have. Once. And only a tear or two.
...created maps of my fictional world
Whenever I know I will mess up my traveling descriptions, I make a map. I don’t want to publish a book just to have a reader tell me the technicalities of what I wrote. (“Earlier, you said that was there. How can these two things be in the same place?” “Wasn’t she supposed to go that way?”)
...researched something shady for a novel
Definitely. Ways to kill people, ways to die from explosions, toxic plants, deadly illnesses—I could go on and on. If I became a suspect for murder, my search history would incriminate me.
tags
I don’t know any bloggers who haven’t done this yet, so I’m tagging YOU.
I’m not allowed to do that? *points at Liesl* She did it first. Arrest her.
In all seriousness, though, I don’t exactly know how to tag people, and like I said, I don’t know anyone to tag. If you’re interested in doing this challenge, feel free to steal it from me. (And if you want to educate me in the comments, I’d be more than happy to hear from you!)
Conclusion
I hope you guys enjoyed this (longish) post. What do you think of these questions and answers? Leave your comments down below. As always, happy reading, everyone!