This tag was created by Bree at The Long Voyage, and I decided I’d try it.

First of all, the rules:

Link and thank the blogger who tagged you (I got this tag from E.G Bella)

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 that I didn’t finish.

That depends on what qualifies as starting. And what qualifies as finishing. And whether having so many works-in-progress some of them get shelved indefinitely – or even temporarily forgotten about – counts as “I didn’t finish,” even if I have a track record of doing this with novels only to finish them in rather short order when I finally remember or get back to them – even when I thought I’d never be in the place to write that story again (this happened with the Return of the Dragonriders Trilogy. I wrote DragonBirth and the first half of DragonWing when I was thirteen-fourteen. Then I shelved the series and thought I would never return to it. I wrote the latter half of DragonWing and DragonSword in very short order, about six or seven years later). Probably, every idea either gets finished or forms the roots of another idea that does get finished sometime. Except that I will probably die with a lot of stuff unfinished, and that might still be the case even if I die in one of the “I don’t think I’m ever going to have another story to write again” moods (don’t pity me; there’s nothing uncomfortable or unhappy about them; I just feel like I’ve said everything I have to say as well as I can hope to say it).

… written a story completely by hand.

Oh, I have done this one a lot! DragonBirth was originally written completely by hand, as was the first half of DragonWing. (Back then, if I tried to type, the story just was not the same). And who knows how many stories I wrote completely by hand before then… Let’s just say it was a lot. Even I don’t remember all the stories, let alone how many there were.

… changed tenses midway through a story.

If changing tenses in a paragraph counts, yes. There are languages where this is poetic, not a grammar violation, when done rightly, and I tend to do it naturally at times. Otherwise … no.

… not researched anything before starting a story.

Why should I research before starting a story? I’m naturally curious and tend to weave in all the things I know simply because I like to know about life. And I like to get things right. But I don’t research anything before starting stories all the time, and it’s fine. More often than not, I already know what I need to, or my natural curiosity will ensure I know it by the time I need it! Though sometimes something very specific merits a little research. (It might help that I write High Fantasy. ‘Researching’ my cultures and societies and a number of other things is part of the writing process itself, not a separate thing done on the internet!)

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

Never. Sometimes someone convinces me to change the spelling of a name (usually not the protagonist’s). Never do I change names. I have a kind of synesthesia, and one of the things I experience is that names have a lot to them. I can’t change a name without changing the image of the character that I’ve built the name into (or built into the name?) or at least causing myself a lot of hassle rebuilding that connection. In fact, that’s part of how I keep track of my host of characters throughout so many works in progress. All I have to do to get into a character is to think her name. Her name keeps her separate and distinct, with her own unique, special, often surprising personality and growth arc.

… written a story in a month or less.

This question is impossible to answer. I have certainly gone from first sentence of first chapter to completed draft (usually not copy-edited) in that time. So, technically, I guess the answer is yes. But stories are usually growing and ripening in my head long before I write that first sentence. (I’m assuming we’re not counting truly short stories?)

… fallen asleep while writing

Instead, sometimes I have to stop writing to go to sleep, because otherwise I will write all night and be too tired to do what the next day requires!

… corrected someone’s grammar IRL/online?

When I’m asked to? Or when I’m not asked to? Out loud or in my head?

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

Now, why would I do this? I do not talk to myself at all in my novels, unless one is going to get philosophical about what a novel is and whether it constitutes talking to oneself.

… used “I’m writing” as an excuse.

To write?

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

I do not base my characters on anyone. Ever. For one thing, do I really know anyone well enough to do so? I’m afraid I do not know my characters well enough to base a different character on them, unless that different character has exactly the same circumstances, which would ruin the point, right? I might write two that are very much alike, sometimes, but never based one on the other. They tell me what they do and think in their circumstances, not what they would do and think in circumstances that are never theirs.

… used pop culture references in a story.

I tend to be quite ignorant of pop culture …

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

I have not kept track of this and I am not going to start doing so.

… drank an entire pot of coffee while writing.

No.

… written down dreams to use in potential novels.

No. For one thing, I have too many novels that want to be written already. I do not need more. For another, I almost never write down ideas. Somehow, it makes them less fresh when the time comes to write them. If I can’t remember them then, it was never meant to be.

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

If you want to read unedited short stories by myself, just look in my Resources and Favorites page and read the short stories there! I did try to remove most of the typos, though, if that counts. And fix any glaring grammar mistakes. But I often do the latter while writing.

… procrastinated homework because I wanted to write.

Homework? What homework?

… typed so long that my wrists hurt.

I don’t think so.

… spilled a drink on my laptop while writing.

No.

… forgotten to save my work/draft.

No. Though one time I did lose a couple of paragraphs … it did not matter, though. I scraped that idea. The next one was much better.

… finished a novel.

Yes. And how many depends on what standard one holds it to. From my point of view, I’ve been ‘finishing’ novels since I was … what, nine, ten? But those were definitely full of typos, and the grammar was readable but I doubt it was remotely clean.

… laughed like an evil villain while writing a scene.

Laughed like an evil villain? Well, some of my typos are pretty funny. And have you ever watched a dragon try to cook?

… cried while writing a scene.

Or while reading a scene?

… created maps of my fictional worlds.

Oh, I create lots of maps of my fictional worlds. I’ve created maps of fictional worlds I shall never visit again or that formed the basis of the current ones. I still have an amazing number of them, and I know that’s not the half of it. I love maps. How could a writer not make maps of her fictional worlds? You can see all the current ones by going to my Novels Page and then going to the “Introduction to Areaer” and “Introduction to Kaarathlon” pages from there.

… researched something shady for a novel.

I don’t think so. My research tendencies tend to involve things like volcano videos and plate tectonics. At the moment, I kind of want to do some research on the different levels of the atmosphere and maybe make wind maps, but I might never get to that as it requires some effort I’m only sometimes in the mood for.

Tags:

Ramey Guerrero

Mikayla

Mariella Hunt (mariellahunt.com)

And anyone else who’s interested!

I will be interested in all your posts! Feel free to ask any questions, if you want me to elaborate on or explain something!