Pretty Deadly Words #1 | A Look into my Writing Life

Hey, everyone! I hope you’re all doing well. I meant to post on Friday, but my site decided to give me some problems and I had to get it fixed. Thankfully, it is working again. I was worried it would take longer.

I am very excited for today’s post because I am going to start participating in a new meme that just got launched a few weeks ago. This will focus more on my writing, so if you’ve wanted to know more about that, here it is!

Pretty Deadly Words is a monthly meme for writers, co-hosted by Ash @ Ink Words and Ash and Anoushka @ Dipped in Ink. Each month, they post ten questions for you to answer, which are based on your writing project and your writing in general. It’s designed to help you understand your plot, characters, their personality traits, flaws (etc) and your writing style! 

When was the first time you ever thought: “You know what? Words are pretty amazing and the real world sucks. I think i shall be happier living between words instead” and then gladly took up the amazing hobby of writing and daydreaming between science essays and english finals? (how long have you been writing)

I’ve always loved writing stories; it’s my way of escape. The first story I physically wrote down was when I was seven, but even before that, my mind made things up. As I’ve gotten older, my writing has evolved and I’ve written different forms of stories, like poems. I even wrote a speech once. When I started high school, I joined the school newspaper and began writing articles. My most recent project is my novel, Of Moonflowers and Myths, which has been in the works for three years. I got the idea for it in 2019 and finished the first draft in Summer 2020. It’s not finished yet–nowhere near done–but it’s come a long way and I intend to see it through.

Do you generally type out your novels because the clicky-clacky noise of the computer keys is YOUR FAVORITE or do you prefer the good old pen on paper method where you can torture more trees and bring them under your cruel rule? (do you type or handwrite and why)

I used to handwrite everything and then transfer it to the computer. Then I started using the computer more because I found the clicking of keys to be a very satisfying sound and it was easier for me. When I got an account for the NaNoWriMo YWP in seventh grade, I used their writing site. For OMaM, I typed the first two drafts on the YWP site, then decided to switch it up a bit and handwrite the third one. It’s said that you’re more creative when you handwrite, so I thought I’d give it a shot. I still haven’t finished the third draft, something I’m hoping to accomplish. Overall, I prefer typing, but hand writing is still an option I’ll take.

Genre that you otherwise refer to as the love of your magically miserable writing life? Also what is the genre you are most fond of / fill entire computer memories (or blank notebooks, WHICHEVER YOU PREFER) with? (what’s your most written genre and favourite genre to write?)

Fantasy for both questions. Almost all my stories have some sort of fantastical aspect to them. The only ones that don’t are some of my poems and maybe one or two of my short stories. The fantasy genre has always fascinated me; I love how authors make their worlds and how they can have anything happen. That’s one of the reasons I love it as well. Worldbuilding is one of my favorite parts of writing, but it’s also one of the hardest.

Spill your treasonous secrets that might just lead to your death: are you a plotter or pantser?? If plotter, SHOW ME YOUR DELICIOUSLY INFURIATING PROCESS while trying not to brag too much about it, YOU BLACK-NOSED OLIVE. (plotter or pantser? tell us how you go about creating your stories!) 

When I first started writing, I just went for it. Back then, my stories weren’t that complex or detailed so they didn’t require much planning. Now, my stories are more complex, with more layers. I planned out a few projects a while ago, but not extensively. OMaM is the first novel I’ve fully planned out. I have documents of notes, (incomplete) character profiles, picrews of my characters, a full character list–just a whole lot of stuff pertaining to it. I even have a family tree for the main character. I did some worldbuilding before I started writing and I created the character profiles after the first draft, I think. I filled some of it out, but learned that in order to fill them out, I need to write some of the story. You learn about your characters while you’re writing their story.

How do you come up with character names without losing all of your remaining braincells and also possibly hair?? (how do you come up with character names?)

Naming characters is one of my favorite things and I don’t really have a clear answer. Sometimes, I go with names I really like at the time. For OMaM, it’s set in a fantasy world, so I didn’t want names to be super common, but I also didn’t want super uncommon names either. I also wanted a certain theme to them. The characters live on floating islands, in the sky. Nature and agriculture are very important to them and I wanted the names to reflect that. As a result, my three main characters are named Aria, Jasmine, and Castor. They’re uncommon enough that you probably don’t know a whole lot of them, but not totally unheard of. (Well, apparently Jasmine is common because there are three of my in math class, but that’s beside the point.) Baby name sites also are a lifesaver. I’m surprised Google doesn’t think I’m pregnant by now.

First novel you ever wrote/dreamed about and were scolded for unhealthily obsessing over (in your head of course) during the middle of a physics class? (what’s the first novel you thought of?)

Wow, that was a long time ago. Excluding short stories, the first novel I wrote was about a second-grade girl named Isabella (I really liked the name at the time) who lives in a world where people have wings. She finds out she has a sister and after some big magical thing, discovers that they got separated at birth. It was heavily influenced by Tinker Bell: Secret of the Wings and the whole sister separation at birth reveal scene. I was seven years old when I wrote this, so I took from things I’d seen around me. I don’t like to say I plagiarized, but. . . that’s basically what happened.

Do you ever just fling your pen across the room and dramatically collapse on your bed because you’ve hit a block? If yes, how do you kick the slump and if no, GIVE ME YOUR MAGICAL POWERS!! (do you ever hit a writers block? if yes, then how do you get out of it and if no, how do you avoid it?)

So many times. Writer’s block is the worst. I may write random things, just to get my brain flowing with something. I even wrote about having writer’s block once, in an attempt to stop my writer’s block. If I’m having writer’s block on a particular scene in my WIP, I’ll go and write a different scene, one that I may have ideas for. This helps keep my brain moving and I can always go back to the other scene later.

What event prompted you to lose all your remaining sanity and retreat into the woods, madly scribbling story ideas and muttering possible titles under your breath (what got you into writing?)

My dad got me into writing. When I was in kindergarten, he made up stories about me and my imaginary dragon, Starlight. The stories he told me sparked my imagination for writing. That dragon is part of what influenced the name of my blog. The first story I wrote was about me and my dragon. I was also read to a lot when I was younger, which helped me learn to love stories and eventually want to create my own.

What force keeps you in this world of mad magic? (what motivates you to continue writing?)

Reading books, most definitely! And also reading other people’s writing. Reading so many amazing pieces of writing urges me to finish my own. I also motivate myself. I really want to finish OMaM; it’s the first book I’ve truly thought out and planned thoroughly. I don’t want any of that to go to waste.

What was the first genre you headfirst dived into? do you still splash in its waters? (what genre did you originally dabble in? do you still write it?)

Fantasy. And yes, I still write it. I don’t think I will ever stop writing fantasy. It’s one of those things that just comes to me. If I had to write a book set in the real world with no extra fantastical things, I don’t know what I’d do. I’m sure I’d figure it out, but it wouldn’t be as easy as fantasy is. And I love creating new things and daydreaming about alternate words and realities.

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I had a lot of fun answering these questions! It’s fun to look back and think about the beginning of my passion for writing. I’m so glad this meme was created, it will definitely help my writing. Be sure to check out Ash and Anoushka’s posts, I linked them above.

Are you a writer? How long have you been writing? What was the first story you wrote?