Despite the low rating by critics and the sort, I enjoyed the movie Tag. But this blog post has nothing to do with that.
Author C.G. Coppola tagged me in the Rising Author Tag. Not sure that I’m a rising author since it’s been years since I put out anything beyond a short story, but still… Thank you, Caitlin! 🙂
These are the rules, according to the tag:
- Thank the person who tagged you… check!
- Answer the questions they came up with.
- Nominate four people to do the tag (no tagging the person who tagged you originally).
- Come up with 10 new questions for the people you nominated.
Here are the questions she picked for her nominees, along with my answers:
1. What are you currently working on?
The book is called Teymir, and it’s the third installment of my epic fantasy series. It’s a dark book compared to the others, and that’s saying a lot because the first two aren’t exactly light.
2. Are you a plotter or a panster?
Plantser? The big books have a general outline to them, because the series follows the tale of the main character as he goes from self-discovery (book 1) to facing the consequences (book 2) to taking responsibility (book 3) to acceptance (book 4). But I only have a general idea of what needs to happen to get from point A to B, and I end up pantsing my way through most of my actual writing. When it comes to short stories, though, those are completely pantsed.
3. If you could re-write any of your books, would you? And which one(s)?
It’s on my to-do list already. I need to re-write Thanmir War. I’ve learned a lot over the past five years since its release, and I see the flaws in it more clearly.
4. How long does it typically take you to write a book/story?
A book? YEARS. A story? Well, depending on length and inspiration, it’s usually done within a day or two. I wrote Just a Matter of Time that’s in the FULL DARK anthology in an afternoon.
5. Of all your characters, who do you wish could be real?
Whooboy… if my characters were real, they’d be royally ticked off at me for what I’d put them through, so I’m not sure I’d want them to be real! But if I did pick someone, it’d be Cera. She’s got her own series of novellas (of which only one is actually released), and she’s in my current WIP (which precedes the events of the Cera Chronicles). Plus, she’s awesome. Really, she is. You can go ahead and ask her, and she’d agree with me. 🙂
6. How many drafts do you go through?
I know it’s a thing to actually count drafts, but I have no freakin’ clue how many drafts I go through. I edit as I write, hoping back to earlier chapters as I think of things, tweaking details here and there. Then I adjust things as I get feedback, usually on a chapter by chapter basis. Maybe it’s one draft. Maybe it’s thirty. *shrug*
7. When do you tend to write? Early or late?
Neither. I take lunch at noon while I’m at work and I usually hit the writing pretty hard then.
8. Do you listen to music while you write?
Nope. Got playlists related to characters, but can’t have stuff going while I’m actually writing.
9. What is your least favorite thing about writing?
When I realize I have to rewrite a whole bunch of stuff because of all the flaws and it causes an anxiety attack that triggers my depression. Yeah, that sucks.
10. What is your most favorite thing about writing?
Entertaining myself with different character exchanges or situations. Even if no one else enjoys it or even reads it, I have moments where I’m grinning manically at the screen because someone just exploded or got kicked off a cliff or discovered their father is the monster everyone is scared of. Yeah… I might have a bit of a messed up mind.
Now I’m supposed to tag 4 more people and give them 10 questions. This is the part I really suck at because I don’t know who participates in these tag things. So I’m going with a theme: Wattpad. Elizabeth Seckman, Ken Rahmoeller, Anna Simpson, and Aldrea Alien… tag, you’re it.
Your ten questions (all relating to Wattpad):
1. How would you rate your experience, 1 being utterly terrible and 10 being AMAZEBALLS, and why?
2. Do you only produce, or do you consume as well?
3. Do you find it a good place to interact with readers?
4. What’s your story (or one of your stories) about?
5. What’s your favorite part about the platform?
6. What do you like least?
7. How often do you post?
8. Do you plan to put up more stories?
9. What wouldn’t you post?
10. What’s some random, interesting thing I don’t know about you? (Okay, this doesn’t have to be Wattpad related.)
Do you like to do blog tags? Have you ever used Wattpad? How would you answer any of the questions given to me or I gave to others?
Oh no! Now that I’ve read this post I know that I’ve been tagged. The responsibility is too much! Well,
at least it will give me a reason to post on my blog. Thanks, Loni.
I also don’t count drafts. Sometimes I go through a manuscript and change a few words here and there, removing certain phrases I know I over use. Does that count as a full draft? The next day I might re-write an entire chapter. Does that count as a new draft? Once I get the first draft out, I tend to work on it in bits and pieces.
I wouldn’t have any idea how many drafts I go through either!
This is why when I do one of these things, I never tag anyone else. They end up hitting all of us eventually, eh? And nothing wrong with writing slowly. Slow and steady wins the race… (And the tortoise still wins. Have you seen the YouTube video?)
I don’t count drafts either because I constantly go back and revise as I work.
Plantser…that’s funny! So was the movie Tag. Especially because it was based on a real-life story.
Elsie
That’s great that you can get writing done on your lunch hour 🙂
I’m a panster, too. It’s more fun in my opinion.
I do sometimes count full drafts (the time where I send the document to a person and then my changes), but I do tend to adjust things as I go, so it would be difficult to determine how many draft-drafts there are.