The Rising Author Tag

So... I'm stealing this tag, but I was told to steal it from the person I'm stealing it from. Of course she was originally a thief, and things just sort of get messy from there, so we're going to move on to the questions...

1. What is the weirdest thing someone has ever said to you about your writing?

Well, my family keeps asking me how I can accidentally kill characters, which I've done before*. So probably that.

*And am deeply repentant about.

2. What is the worst thing you ever wrote? 

So I would say my first story that I ever remember trying to write, that being a stellar novel by the name of The Princess in the Sewers but I never technically wrote it* so I guess it doesn't count.

* Writer's block started at a young age y'all

I'm kind of embarrassed to say this, but after I first started writing again at the age of twelve, I became obsessed with writing romances. And what I wrote was horrible. I'm not going to specifically point out any of them because they were all really bad, though there was one particularly bad one about aliens invading the earth and one that was even worse than that about super heroes.

Let's just say that they were sappy and melodramatic and leave it at that.

3. What is the most awkward scene you've ever written? 

Other than everything that I tried to write in my romance phase when I was thirteen... I'm going to have to go with some earlier encounters between Chelsea and Easton. As I was trying to detox romance out of my system Chelsea and Easton suffered for it. They became blushing robots. Pretty much every encounter between them was the most awkward thing I had ever written.

Here is a brief example of what I mean.

“You know, Clint and Bobby have a bet going on about how soon we’ll kiss,” I managed to get out before my voice box suddenly turned off.

I said this startling bit of news just as Easton took a large swig. The result was that Easton accidentally spit it out in a spray.

I jumped out of the way and Easton cried, “What?!”

“I know; that was my reaction. Well, minus the part where you spit out all your water. Although, I think that was a nice touch. It made you look really, really surprised instead of just really surprised.” What was I babbling about? Oh, why didn’t I just keep my mouth shut?

Please keep in mind that I wrote this at fourteen. Ugh, and that isn't even the very first draft, but that will be buried with me, thank you very much.

4. On a scale from 1 to 10, how often do you end up writing more than 3 chapters of the stories you start? 

I'd say that it's an eight or in the very least, a high seven. If I start a book, I'll usually get at least three chapters done. The question then is if I continue it into chapter four, five, six... and so on. I have manuscripts sitting in my laptop with thirty thousand words already written in them and eighteen chapters. Heck, I have a manuscript that I'm sixty thousand words in that I haven't touched in close to three years. Season of Subterfuge, I'm looking at you...

5. What is the hardest thing for you to write?

Emotions. Definitely, if I had my way my characters would be unfeeling rocks. Snarky unfeeling rocks, but unfeeling rocks all the same. Also, this kind of stems from emotions, but romance. I know some of you probably find this answer hard to believe, but it's true. I struggle with romance, which is why I spend so much time on developing it because I know how to write terrible romance and I don't ever want to do that again. *grimaces*

6. When you look back at your early writing pieces, what's one thing you can see you've improved in?

Uh, everything. I mean it. Characters, dialogue, plots, simply being able to sit down and write, romance was a big one... I literally knew nothing when I started out and it showed. Now I know slightly more than nothing and hopefully that also shows.

7. How do you name characters?

Painfully.

Each character goes through a different name process. Sometimes I use a name book. I have a Medieval name book (where I got most of the names in Winter Cursed). Sometimes I Google for names with meanings that I want. My characters from A Certain Sort of Madness I named off of characters and authors of classical novels. My characters in Of Gold and Iron were named off of birds and/or Irish names. Sometimes the name just gets stuck in my head *glares at Mary Rose and Thea* Really, my process is different every time. The only consistency is that it is painful.

8. If you had to pick one genre to write in forever, what would it be?

Fantasy, definitely because that would include stories with magical realism, not just high fantasy. Though I would miss Sci-Fi.

9. Which of your characters do you feel most guilty about?

I call them the big three.

Easton from My Time in Amar, Radmir from League of Thieves, and Cedric from A Winter Dark and Deadly.

I am so, so sorry for everything that I have ever done to them because they are so precious and didn't deserve any of it. They're all just the kindest, softest souls ever (even if Cedric tries to hide it) and I do more than torture them and mess with their heads and break their hearts. I take what they love most and what they fear most, and I use those things to destroy them. I utterly destroy these characters, and they were always my best characters.

*excuse me I'm crying*

I AM A HORRIBLE PERSON!!!!!

10. Which of your characters deserves everything you've given them? 

Um, probably none of them, but for the sake of answering the question I'm going to go with Ravven Crowe from Of Gold and Iron because, yeah, he probably does deserve what I do to him. He's a horrible person and I really shouldn't feel bad about all of the bad stuff that happens to him. But he's also a sweetheart so that means that he deserves the good that comes his way as well. He's just all around very deserving.

So yeah, some of those questions were pretty painful to answer. I'm not tagging anyone. Let's keep the circle of thieves growing, you gotta steal it if you want to do it.

What do you think of my answers? Which of your characters have you tortured the most? Do any of you have a writing phase you never want to go back to? Comment below!