The Writer’s Tag

Now that I’m writing again – now that I’ve won NaNo 2017 and finished the first draft of my WIP – I’m making leaps and talking about my writing on my blog, and that means The Writer’s Tag is the perfect one for me to take part in. I was tagged by Sophie at Sophie’s Corner and Marie at Drizzle and Hurricane Books. Thanks so much both of you for the tag, I had a lot of fun with this one so I hope you enjoy reading my answers just as much.

What genres, styles, and topics do you write about?

The genre I write more than any other is fantasy, to the surprise of probably no one. However I do have an idea for a sci-fi WIP which has been floating around in my head for a while, so that will probably be my next project once I finish my current WIP.

The topics I like to include are basically the things I love reading about in books, and the things I feel like we need more of as well; strong family relationships, close sibling bonds, diverse characters, and plenty of magic.

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How long have you been writing?

A long, long time. I can’t say exactly when I started writing but I can say it’s been as long as I can remember. In primary school I would write short stories, only a page or two long if that, and I never really stopped although obviously my writing has improved over the years.

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Why do you write?

I just do. I have so many ideas floating around in my head and the more I think about them, play out different scenarios for the characters and the story, the more they morph into different ideas. Putting them down on paper is the only logical thing I could think of, and basically when it comes down to it I just love writing.

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When is the best time to write?

On the weekdays in the evening. In the mornings I’m never really awake until I get to work, and then I have to work all day so I only tend to be free in the evenings to work on my WIP. On the weekends I can write all day if I’m inspired which is why during NaNo my word count soared on the weekends.

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What parts of writing do you love and hate?

The parts of writing I love are…

• Creating new worlds that, before I started writing, only existed in my mind.
• Getting some of the many ideas floating around my head out onto paper and seeing the stories and characters take form.
• The way my ideas change as I start writing, going places that I never could have planned.
• The moment when I’m inspired and in the zone and I feel like I’ll never stop writing.

The parts of writing I hate are…

• Writers block

(Honestly I think that’s about it, there’s nothing worse than writer’s block.)

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How do you overcome writer’s block?

Normally when I’m blocked it’s because I’m not sure where my WIP is going, so I do something different. Either I move onto another chapter or another part of the story that I am inspired to write, or I try and reset my brain by watching TV, or reading a book, or even cleaning my room.

Sometimes it’s not writer’s block I’m experiencing, but just me being lazy and not feeling ‘in the mood’ to write. Then I push myself through and start writing something, anything, and before I know it it’s a couple of hours later and I’ve writing a few thousand words.

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Are you working on something at the moment?

Yes, kind of. I started a project that I’ve had in my head for ages now for NaNoWriMo this year, but now November is done I need to go back, do more research and planning, and then re-write everything because while I managed to write over 50K words in one month not much of it was good.

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What are your writing goals this year?

As this year is almost over I’m going to talk about my writing goals for next year.

First I need to re-plan and re-research my NaNoWriMo WIP. It felt like the second November was over I had hundreds of ideas for my WIP which needed to be put down on paper ASAP. Currently half my characters have been re-named and I’ve added more secondary characters to my story.

Secondly I need to re-write my NaNoWriMo WIP. I’m aiming to spend January and February on the re-planning and re-research so I’m hoping to get started on the re-write in March.

Thirdly I want to take part in NaNoWriMo again in November and reach 50K words again with a new WIP. I’m hoping that by November I’ll have re-written my WIP so I can get started on a new project which I have already started planning.

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I feel like all the bloggers I know who are also writers have either already been tagged, or already taken part in The Writer’s Tag so I’m at a loss as to who I can tag.

So instead let me know what your answers for these questions would be. Why do you write? Are you working on anything new at the moment? What are your writing goals for the next year? And if there’s anyone out there who wants to take part consider yourself tagged.