Sunday, September 19, 2021

Never have I ever tag... the writer's edition


Tag, I'm it. Time for you all to learn all of my deep dark secrets.


First the rules...

Link and thank the blogger who tagged you. Thanks Grace!

Include the graphic somewhere in the post (or make your own!)

Answer the questions truthfully and honestly.

Tag 3 bloggers. To that I reply nah, mate, I'm good. Probably the thing I'm going to become known for in the blogging community is the fact that I never tag anyone. Whoops. Oh well.


Now onto my secrets...

…started a novel that I didn’t finish.

Oh boy have I. Like just counting the ones that I actually remember and plan to write someday there is quite a few. But the ones that I fully intend to leave lost to the ages? Yikes. I don't even want to think of all the half scribbled pages of cringeworthy garbage underneath my bed or buried on my old computer's hard drive *shudders*

…written a story completely by hand.

Yes, Week of Werewolves. And can I just say? Never again.

…changed tenses midway through a story.

I have changed tenses midway through a paragraph. Heck, why stop at tenses? I've also changed persons. It's the woes of working on multiple projects. I go from one story that is third person, past tense and to the next which is first person, present and I end up writing something that looks like this:

I know what responsibility is. I have always been taught to put my tribe first. But what if that's just what they teach everyone so that they keep us under their control? She pondered this, but then realized that someone was watching her. She quickly schooled her features praying that they would not give away her guilt

(and no this is not a snippet from anything, I just typed it up from nothing to be an example)

…not researched anything before starting a story.

Every. Single. Time. Because I never research until I'm like halfway through a paragraph describing someone's lunch and I'm like WHAT SORT OF THINGS DO VIKINGS EAT FOR LUNCH??? DID THEY EVEN EAT LUNCH??? WHERE DID THE WORD LUNCH COME FROM??? WHAT ARE WORDS EVEN??? AHHHHHH!!!!!

…changed my protagonist’s name halfway through a draft.

Um, no I don't think I've done this actually. The closest I have come is in Week of Werewolves my main character's name is Chelsea Jean Welling and everyone called her CJ but I changed it so that only like two people called her CJ, and another character called her Chels. But those are just nickname alterations, nothing so grand as changing my character's whole name. (although I may misspell them from time to time)

…written a story in a month or less.

Pfft, I wish.

…fallen asleep while writing.

I don't fall asleep while doing anything. Like I only fall asleep if I am in a perfectly quiet, absolutely dark environment—and also it has to be my bed.

…corrected someone’s grammar IRL/online.

Unfortunately, yes. I swear I'm not pretentious! I use incorrect grammar as well and then I turn around and am like, "actually it is were not was."

…yelled in all caps at myself in the middle of my novel.

I know a lot of people make notes for themselves for when they come back to that point in their novel, but that must be a Google Docs joke that I am too Wordpress to understand.

…used “I’m writing” as an excuse.

Yes, and what a perfectly valid excuse it was.

…killed a character that was based on someone I know in real life.

Not as of yet, but believe me there are a few people I know in real life who I'm dangerously close to doing that to.

…used pop culture references in a story.

Does mentioning Pirates of the Caribbean once count? I think that probably counts. *shrugs*

…written between the hours of 1 a.m. and 6 a.m.

Nah, mate, I'm sleeping then. If I am awake between the hours of 1 and 6 a.m. then for the good of your safety I suggest you better run.

…drank an entire pot of coffee while writing.

Ew, no. I know it's like a huge writer stereotype that we live and breathe coffee and stuff, but caffeine and I are not on speaking terms anymore.

…written down dreams to use in potential novels.

Yes, yes I have. In fact Of Gold and Iron was a dream that got turned into a novel. And I have other dreams of mine scribbled down on scrap pieces of paper that I'll probably locate someday.

…published an unedited story on the internet/blog/Wattpad.

I edit the ever loving snot out of my stories and then find typos anyway *facepalms*. So unedited? Nope. Have I published things with typos? Oh, yeah probably.

…procrastinated homework because I wanted to write.

I've been out of school for years, but yes. For my senior year, I actually worked writing into my school schedule. And yes it did come before the majority of my academic studies, but hey I finished like four books that year. Totally worth it.

…typed so long that my wrists hurt.

Um... maybe? I can't think of a specific instance, but I'm sure it's happened. I have weak wrists.

…spilled a drink on my laptop while writing.

EGADS! No, thank heavens. I drink from my magically lidded sippy cups to remain hydrated and keep my laptop from taking a swim.

…forgotten to save my work/draft

Unfortunately... more times than I can count. RIP those files.

…finished a novel.

Actually, I have even managed to publish a few.

…laughed like an evil villain while writing a scene.

I wish I could say yes, but no. Maybe I'll chuckle mildly ominously, but only while reading back through my books, not while writing and not often.

…cried while writing a scene.

I hate to break it to you guys, but I am completely impassive when I'm writing. My face is basically -_- the whole time. I don't laugh, I don't cry. Just -_-  24/7, 365, at one hundred million percent.

…created maps of my fictional worlds.

Oh yeah. I've made a bunch of maps. At least one for every fantasy world I've spent a large part of time writing in. The map for Amar is actually published inside Week of Werewolves and Time of Trepidation.

Said map of Amar, it's the only one not actually scribbled into a lined notebook to be used only for my own reference

…researched something shady for a novel.

Define "shady"...


Whelp that was fun. Hopefully you didn't learn all of my deepest darkest secrets in one day.

4 comments:

  1. Love your answers Nicki! =D

    Also, can I say that the map for Amar is beautiful, I had almost forgotten about it. I think that it is so cool that you have maps of your worlds in notebooks. I have the tendency to get lost in mine, quite literally XD


    I don't know why, but I somehow cannot imagine your face impassive while you are writing, especially with all of the emotions that you give your characters. Just shows how good of a writer you are. ;)


    Define shady indeed. XD

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    1. Thanks! and thanks for tagging me, this was fun to do.

      Why thank you. I'm such a visual person, I definitely need something even if it is a crude sketch of where the cities and mountains and how large the borders are

      Oh really? No I can assure you, my face is wholly impassive it's like I've been sprayed with nerve gas or something. Oh my gosh, thank you so much XD

      It's such a vague term yah know?

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  2. Writing by hand is a killer. I've been struggling with tenses lately keep going between present and past and it's driving me nuts. The research thing XD I do that too, it's like lets go on an hour long google search. (Pirates of the Caribbean counts, it always counts)

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    1. My hand always cramps so bad, plus I can type faster than I write and even that has a hard time keeping up with my errant brain as it spews new ideas. Tenses are sooo hard like I don't even want to mention how many books I have completely rewritten everything I had previously written in it just to make it a new tense, all I will say is that there are too many. One second I'm looking up what sort of jobs were common in the medieval ages and the next thing I'm looking up the exact geological origins of every foodstuff XD.
      (as well it should tbh)

      Delete