Writing Questions to Ask Yourself

My writing mode is either wildly typing every single word I can think of or curling up in the corner crying with a notebook and pencil and an empty page. There is rarely any middle ground. So, in honour of writing, I’m going to be answering some writing related questions.

1. What genre do you write in? If you write in different genres, what’s one you’d like to try that you haven’t yet or one you’d never bother with?

I love writing contemporary, but it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to not end up with someone dying. I also love the Cassandra Clare style of magical realism, but it’s not something I’ve experimented with yet.

I’d never bother with historical fiction unless it’s Gods tying in with a modern plot line like Percy Jackson, or thriller.

 

2. How do you pick your characters’ names?

I hate picking names a lot for someone who is slightly obsessed with naming things. How can you sum up everything about a character in a single word? But sometimes the names just come to me. Sometimes they belong to real people I see while I’m scrolling through Instagram. Sometimes they come from a magical sounding word that I really like the meaning of. It’s all a surprise.

 

3. What can you say about your current projects?

It’s a bit contemporary and a bit fantasy. There’s two male main characters that my entire heart belongs to and their hearts belong to each other. There’s a forest that’s basically like a personal heaven when you ‘die’. It’s very exciting.

 

4. How many books have you written?

I think it’s time for some number related facts.

• I’ve only completed 1 full draft
• I have 4 or 5 unfinished drafts
• I’ve been writing seriously for around six years
• The book I’m working on now is the third that I’ve attempted to complete
• My drafts are only around 40,000-50,000 words which is a lot less than most people want

 

5. What are your writing goals this year?

Finish writing my draft and edit it and release it into the world. Either make a lot of progress on another draft, or abandon all hope and start something new.

Some small goals for some point in the future, maybe not this year:

• I want to write about modern/contemporary witches
• I also want to write about pirates or mermaids or both in one book
• I want to do a retelling of a fairy tale
• I want to do a gender-bent retelling of a fairy tale
• I want to write more openly about my mental illness
• I want to write about friendship. True friendship. Everlasting friendship

 

6. What are your writing strengths?

I think developing characters is one of my strengths. While I was writing ‘Beauty in the Breakdown’, one of my reasons wrote me this comment saying how Josh was so easy to fall in love with, and that’s a comment I think about every time a new character comes to life. I’ve also had a comment saying that some of my descriptions are like poetry, and that one honestly means the world.

 

7. Do you enjoy any other creative outlets?

I love making book related videos for my YouTube channel. I love photography, and self-portraits, and conceptual images. I love making short films and music videos and practically any creative video.

 

8. Your best tip for punching writer’s block?

My personal favourite method for fighting writers block is to take a song I like and make a story out of it. A lot of songs have very narrative-based lyrics that practically tell a story on their own. With a music video for visual inspiration, it’s quite easy to put a few more words in there and make someone else’s story into your own.

 

9. Who do you write for?

Myself. I am my number one fan.

 

My hands are too cold to answer anymore questions, so I’ll ask you some instead. Have you had a successful writing start to the year? Is writer’s block bringing you down? Who do you write for?