"Would You Rather?" Writer Tag

I enjoy coming up with absurd scenarios. Here’s one—pick a fictional character. Got them? Good, now imagine you’re stuck in an elevator with them for 5 or more hours. How dead are you? I usually pick ridiculous characters like Loki, so I’d probably be dead.

The following questions are some would you rather scenarios from the generic to the ridiculous. Enjoy!

 

Would you rather be outlining or writing?

Writing. I don’t really like outlining because I inevitably over-world build and then don’t include all the exciting details. And for whatever reason, outlining never feels like real work because, even though I’m a plotter, it doesn’t seem like I make any measurable progress. There’s no real moment when you have to stop, which drives me crazy.

 

Would you rather be writing or editing?

Editing. Or rewriting. I don’t really like working on my rough draft because I’m consciously aware of how terrible it is while I’m writing it! I’m such a perfectionist. I prefer rewriting where I can go back and change everything or editing where I can really make that sentence shine, even though I sometimes reach that point where I’ve stared at a word long enough that it no longer looks correct.

See my informal Twitter poll. I was surprised (and yet not?) that so many people choose screaming.

 

Would you rather meet the antagonist or the protagonist of your current WIP?

My YA novel doesn’t technically have an antagonist, so my sci-fi novel it is! In that story, I’d rather meet my protagonist, Cory. Definitely protagonist. It would be nice to meet somebody who’s also staring out in their career journey as a linguist/investigator instead of somebody who would probably arrange my kidnapping. No, thank you.

 

Would you rather have a movie based off your book or write a book based off a movie?

Movie based off my book. Even though they have a reputation for being terrible, I still find the idea appealing, and it just grows an audience! That and I like the idea of originality and coming up with my own stories. There’s something about movie to book adaptations that I don’t care for, even though I haven’t quite figured out what it is yet.

 

If you became a super rich author, would you prefer to have your own private island or castle?

I’m going to go with castle. While I enjoy the beach, especially tropical ones, I’m more in love with the idea of secret passageways, creaky floorboards, and the howl of the wind on a cool autumn night. Even if it was just a ruined castle where I could camp out and have a wild garden, that would be awesome.

 

Last but not least, pick one of your fictional characters. Would they rather be stuck in the middle of a bank robbery or onboard a sinking ship?

Hmm, I’m going to go with Haebinna, the profiler from my sci-fi novel. The space colonies don’t really have cash in a system where most currency is digital, but imagining a similar scenario, Haebinna would probably go with the bank robbery. She deals with criminals at her job anyway. She’d probably psychoanalyze the robbers while coming up with a plan to stop them. Somebody would definitely get shot.

 

There you have it! Just a few fun scenarios. As for my fellow bloggers reading this, I tag you! Feel free to borrow the questions and add some of your own if you’d like to participate in a “Would You Rather” Writer’s Edition post. Happy writing!

Let’s chat! Readers, would you rather have lunch with one of your favorite authors or one of your favorite characters? Bloggers, for those who don’t want to write an entire post, feel free to answer any of the questions in the comments.

 

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Similar posts: “Never Have I Ever” Writer Tag, Confessions of a Bookworm Tag, and The Bookish Q&A Tag

Writing Update: Between Publications

Some time has passed since I posted anything about my latest stories. Two years have gone by since I released Last of the Memory Keepers, and it’s been a little over a year since I started querying Origami Swan. So what exactly am I working on?

I’m glad you asked!

I try to keep my Current Stories page updated, but I tend to include only the major projects I’ve announced. Here are just a few things I’ve been working on lately.

What happened to Origami Swan?

I’ve made it farther with this novel than I have with any previous queries. I reached over 100 rejections, not all of which received letters, though the ones I have received have been encouraging. My favorites are when the agent actually personalizes the letter and mention my main character by name.

That being said, I have had several manuscript requests. I’m excited to see which publishing route this novel will take!

Writing Slump (Summer 2018 – Spring ‘19)

Oh, it happens to the best of us. For nearly a year I was struggling to get through a middle grade magical realism/fantasy/what-is-this-even manuscript. For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to write out the entire story by hand—ha! never doing that again—and somewhere along the way, the plot jumped out the window and was never seen again.

That and I didn’t care for my job, which was so boring that I’d come home and just want to sleep or read or play video games. (I’m not usually a video game person, but I found I really enjoy Subnautica, an underwater sci-fi survival role play.) If anything, I found myself avoiding my story more and more. It wasn’t until after I finished the Camino that I decided I must finish my story before we moved.

So I did. It still ended up being terrible—most rough drafts usually are—but I was finished! Then I could finally move on to other projects.

All the Road Trip Poetry! (Summer ‘19)

Yeah, okay, so I wrote like three poems. But that’s quite a lot for a two-week period—for me anyway. You can check out two of them poems here:

Another poem I wrote was the result of an art/writing sprint I had with a friend. I gave her a poem, and she had to draw a picture. She gave me a picture, and I had to write a poem. I’m quite pleased with the results, but I’m debating whether I want to submit it for publication or post it here.

Also, since the start of this year, I’ve been adding audio and sometimes video versions of my poetry. Though I didn’t have time to record during my road trip, I have considered going back and adding audio versions. My recent poems could use some views as well, so check them out!

My Not-So-Secret Novel (Summer ’19 and on…)

I don’t typically talk about my novels until after they make it past the rough draft process. That way, I know whether I’m going to stick with them or not, and so much can change between the beginning outline and the final edits. But I will say that it’s a *whispers* adult sci-fi. *cough* I’ll be starting it next month for NaNoWriMo.

That’s all you get for now! Thanks for reading.

Let’s chat! Fellow writers, how are your projects coming along? Are you interested in audio versions of the poems I posted this summer? When was your last writing slump, and how did you escape it?

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