The Rising Author Tag

We’re more than halfway through NaNoWriMo and after a pretty disastrous start to the week I’m happily back in a place where I can focus on writing and catching up on my word count. Also as it’s November and all of my energy is focused on my WIP it seemed like the perfect time to post another writing-related tag. I was tagged by May at Forever and Everly who is an amazing blogger and the person who’s pretty much solely responsible for getting me back into writing as well.

Thanks so much for the tag May, and for inspiring me because without you I wouldn’t be writing this post now (or writing my WIP either)!

Rules:

• No tagging back
• Tag four people
• Thank the person who tagged you
• Come up with 10 new questions

What is your current WIP about, and what’s its status? (ie. plotting, writing, editing, etc.)

In a way I’m almost plotting, writing and editing my current WIP all at the same time; I’m writing, going back to re-write/edit what I’ve already written (because apparently I’m a compulsive editor), and planning the second half of the story all at the same time. The working title is Death Born (that will likely change, it already has a couple of times) and I see it ending up being a duology rather than a standalone (again, that will likely change).

It’s an idea that’s been floating around in my head for years now in one form or another. There’s plenty of magic and fairytale/mythology influences, and I’ve included strong sibling relationships, absolutely no girl hate or love triangles (because I hate those tropes), and plenty of diversity. I wrote 50K words last year during NaNoWriMo, and when I re-read it I was surprised to find not all of it was terrible, but I kind of hit a wall when it came to writing the second draft.

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Do you plot things out and/or outline, or just figure it out as you write?

I’ve tried both, and personally I think plotting things out is going to work the best for me. If I try and figure things out as I go I know I’ll get distracted by wild tangents that change the direction of my story, and after a while it can feel like I’m never getting anywhere because I keep re-writing the same thing over and over trying to make it better.

(Aka what happened to my failed second draft of Death Born).

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What are some book ideas you want to write in the future?

Funny story when I started re-writing my current WIP for NaNo there was another story idea which took up space in my head and refused to stop distracting me, so while writing Death Born I’m always planning and plotting another WIP (so far untitled). Once my mind has settled on what it’s about I’ll be posting more about it (because after I’ve finished Death Born this is my next project).

I also have a couple ideas for sci-fi genre WIPs I’d love to get around to some day. One of them is for a fairytale retelling of some of my less retold childhood favourites – The Wild Swans, or The Snow Queen – set in space, and the other is about an epic heist (think Six of Crows style epic) set in multiple but connected worlds.

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Out of the characters you’ve written so far, who are your favourites?

This will probably change but right now Rhian and Zeva. Zeva is more of an antihero than a straight up hero or villain; she has her own story separate from my main character (Aria) which I can’t wait to explore in more detail. Rhian on the other hand actually sticks close to Aria so it’s their relationship I enjoy writing, but also the fact that Rhian is a pirate who takes no prisoners (literally and metaphorically).

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What’s your writing routine, if any? (ie. snacks, music, time of day, location, etc.)

I get most of my writing done in the evenings; I’m a night owl and I always stay up way too late even when I have to wake up for work really early. I’ll normally be sat in my chair, with a cup of tea nearby and some music playing in the background to help me concentrate. I’m actually planning on creating a playlist for my WIP and the characters I’m writing.

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Show your WIP’s aesthetic in images or words (or both)!

I have a Pinterest board for Death Born, and updating it was one of my favourite parts of the planning process (I will admit I’ve likely spent more time on Pinterest searching for aesthetic images than I have actually planning my WIP). I’ve split my board into two sections; one for my character/story aesthetics and the other for world building inspiration.

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What (or who) motivates you to write?

It’s 100% other bloggers. The reason I started writing again was because May was posting discussions on writing, and talking about NaNo and her potential WIP ideas. Since then it’s been following Sophie’s journeys as she starts and finishes her latest WIPs, taking part in the fun writing tags Kat creates, hearing Marie talk about the trials of editing her WIP, that keeps me going.

I love hearing other people talk about their writing, and hopefully people enjoy hearing me talk about my writing too.

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What do you find is the easiest part about writing? The hardest?

The easiest part is writing once I get in the zone. I consider myself a mood writer (kind of like I’m a mood reader) and I write what I feel like writing. If I don’t want to write in chronological order (go from chapter one, to chapter two, to chapter three, etc.) because that’s not where my inspiration lies I will skip ahead. It makes it easier to get everything I want down on paper.

The hardest is the different tangents my story wants to go down once I start writing. When I start writing and get ‘in the zone’ it’s the easiest thing in the world to follow where the plot and the characters want to take me but that means I have to re-write pretty much everything, and it’s what led to me failing epically when it came to working on my second draft of Death Born.

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What genre will you never try, and why?

As much as I love reading it I don’t think I’d ever try my hand at writing a magical realism story. It’s a genre full of so many beautifully written and magical books that it’s a lot of pressure to create something that could fit in, and I’m not confident enough in my writing skills to attempt it. I know there’d end up being something missing, and I wouldn’t end up doing the genre the justice it deserves.

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Share a tiny (or large) snippet/excerpt of your writing, if you’re comfortable!

I am comfortable sharing my writing, but please bear in mind I’ve only just started working on this WIP properly and as of this moment there’s a lot of editing and planning that still needs to be done.

Seeing him standing there, almost unchanged by the years that had passed, Elias was hit with a wave of love and heartache that nearly drove him to his knees. He wanted to go back; back before Aria had been killed and Elias had been cursed, back to when Solon would smile at him and Elias knew he was the one constant in his life, back to when he could be sure of Solon’s love.

If only he’d been the child of the God of Time rather than the God of Death, maybe then he could have.

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She didn’t move, didn’t turn away from what was left of Eirene.

Not as her father met the same fate, screaming for Zeva as the blow Death dealt nearly took his head off.

Not as Death wiped the blade on his cloak, smearing the blood of the two people Zeva had loved more than anyone else on the dark fabric.

She didn’t move, not until Death finally turned his attention back to Zeva.

“I begged you,” she whispered, her voice broken and hoarse from grief. “Is this your idea of mercy?”

*

“I’m not leaving until I speak to Rhian.”

“I am Rhian. Weren’t you listening?” The girl turned, one hand gazed the dagger sheathed at her waist, but she didn’t draw it, while the other she threw out to one side, indicating the ship they were standing on. “This is my ship.”

Davillir made to grab Aria’s arm, pull her back and reign her in. “Let’s not antagonise—”

Aria scoffed, dismissing the girl’s claim and authority, pulling herself free of Davillir and taking a step forwards, “I don’t know who you are, what you are, but you aren’t Rhian.”

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I’m not going to tag anyone in The Rising Author Tag, so instead if you’re a writer and if you’re working on a WIP let me know what your answers for these questions would be.

Tell me what your current WIP is about and where in the planning or writing process you are? Let me know which of your characters is your favourite, and what you think the hardest part of writing is? And if there’s anyone out there who wants to take part consider yourself tagged.