The Rising Author Tag // Talking About My Writing (?!), A Few Snippets (Ew), and a Short Intro to My WIP’s Main Character

In a surprising turn of events, I am doing a tag, and even more surprising: IT’S ABOUT WRITING.

Talking about my WIP??? Sharing (bad) snippets??? More likely than you think!!!

But seriously, I’m a bit nervous to be doing this even though no one will read this or care for… no reason? I mean, I’ve talked about my writing in the past but recently things havne’t been going so well soooo.

And I’ve also gotten very personal with my writing! My current WIP’s MC (WHICH YOU’LL GET A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF WOW) is really similar to me* and I have a problem with sharing things about me. But I will do it because she’s really cool, cooler than I’ll ever be.

So here’s a long post about random things concerning my writing!!

*Except she’s extroverted and NO.

RULES

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

(I added at last rule because I was very confused about whether or not we were making new questions??? And I want to spare everyone from that confusion as well.)

Thank you SO SO much to The Temperamental Writer for this wonderful tag!! It was super fun to do and helped me open up a bit more about my writing!

1. what’s your favorite thing to write about?

Oh my god, there’s too many?? Can I make a list???

I don’t care. I’m making a list.

• MAGIC. I love writing about magic. Or magical things. Or things-that-don’t-happen-in-real-life. Because it makes my imagination (and mind) go CRAZY and I can come up with all sorts of things.

 I don’t like JK very much but I mean… did you see the whole magical Harry Potter world she created??? but ew the cultural appropriation

• Diverse people from all marginalized communities!! I’m slowly including more and more different types of people in my stories because it’s SO important that they are represented in books. PLUS I really love writing queer characters (especially sapphic ones) and also Asian characters (because MEEEE).
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• Soft boys who are still “masculine” & feminine girls who are still “strong”. Soft boys are some of my FAVORITE characters to read & write. And I think it’s important to write them to battle toxic masculinity where boys have to be “tough” to be a man. ANDDD while sword-wielding fierce female warriors are amazing, girls who AREN’T that and like society-deemed “feminine” things are STILL STRONG!!
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• Dark things. My current WIP is actually not that dark* but my last one was EXTREMELY dark, and it was so much fun to write???? I mean, KILLING PEOPLE! KILLING FRIENDS! My favorite.

*I COULD make it really dark and creepy and sad but… the gays deserve haPPINESS.

2. what’s the weirdest thing someone has said to you about your writing?

I don’t think anyone has said anything weird about my writing…? Or if they did, I don’t remember, because I have horrible memory.

But if someone did say something weird about my writing, it’d probably be along the lines of “your writing is good” because that’s a very odd thought to have!!!

3. do you outline, or make the story up as you go?

I outline! I know for a fact that I can’t just make up the story as I go. I HAVE to have a plan???* Otherwise I’d literally end up banging my head against the wall in frustration because I don’t know WHAT I’M WRITING.

The sad thing is that I’m horrible at plotting (see: the whole month of February in which I plotted nothing) so outlining is a unique form of torture for me.

*Which differs greatly from my reading habits, which is to go in with NO PLAN WHATSOEVER. (Which is why I end up reading 2340584 books at the same time.)

4. how do you name your characters?

Naming characters… We do not speak of this.

Okay, but in all seriousness*, I do have SOME naming methods!! Mainly, I just go to Nameberry, which is a baby-naming website that actually saves lives. And by lives, I mean MINE because I would be lost without it.

Except sometimes there are tOO mAnY names to choose from and I get overwhelmed. And if I’m looking at a “names that start with G” list, all the G’s start blinding me because there are TOO MANY and it’s scary. LIKE. LOOK.

*When am I ever serious??

5. which of your characters do you feel the most guilty about?

Um… no one?? Because then I wouldn’t write them.

OH WAIT GUILTY AS IN GUILTY FOR TORTURING THEM BECAUSE I HAVE A LOT OF THOSE.

Niko of my old WIP (Glittered Ghosts) went through some horrible things and I honestly LOVE his tortured backstory but like… does he deserve the suffering?? No. (The suffering involves death.)

6. are there any objects/situations/etc. that you’ve noticed tend to show up in a lot of your stories?

Honestly, not really? I know that some form of magic or not-existing-in-the-real-world thing ALWAYS appears in my stories because I apparently can’t stick to the rules of the modern world. (The world sucks so I obviously want to escape it.)

I do write a lot of sassy characters tho. And also characters who like food. And also my characters are starting to become more obsessed with socks to reflect my own obsession with socks. (And leggings. And sweatshirts.)

7. what’s a genre you’ve never written that you would like to try?

URBAN FANTASY!!! Or magical realism!!

AndMagical realism has roots in Latinx colonization and I really feel like if I write magical realism, there are going to be a lot of ways that I mess that up, and I do !! not !! want !! to !! do !! that !!  urban fantasy seems to fit my style of writing better anyways.

8. do you let anyone read your writing? if so, who?

I let SOMEEEE people read my writing. SOMEEE.

Usually it’s my close irl friends (I have a friend who happens to be a very good writer and understands the pain of sharing writing) who read my writing, but that barely happens because I’m secretive and also insecure. BUT I also like validation so conflicting emotions here!!!

Speaking of validation, here’s a brief moment where I interrupt the daily I-am-extremely-secretive-and-insecure broadcast with a I-really-like-compliments commercial:

  

1) My poetry is so emo and 2) those last two snippets are from my last WIP, which is aCTUALLY BETTER THAN I THOUGHT IT WAS

(I also have shared a little bit of writing with some online friends in the past. WHO DON’T GIVE ME ANY CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK AT ALL but it’s okay because I gain a bit of self-confidence for approximately .50238 seconds.)

9. if your book were a movie, who would play the main character?

I’m really stupid and thought this was like “WHO’S THE MAIN CHARACTER OF YOUR NOVEL?!” and actually wrote an intro for her before realizing, no, that is NOT what the question is asking. I’m!! so!! DUMB!!!

But hahhaah here’s a character description anyways:

• Peter!!
• a girl (her real name is [insert name that I have not figured out yet because I procrastinate])
• southeast Asian (like meeee) with hair dyed green at the tips
• pansexual (BECAUSE PETER PAN… PETER… PAN… PETER IS PAN…)
• extroverted, loves socks, obsessed with cereal, loud, very chill, likes to read, extremely sarcastic, can get really moody
• Slytheriny Gryffindor (fight me, JK)

And about the actual question: I can barely find any people that really represent Peter in my mind and I literally know no Asian actresses (due to me not keeping up with Pop Culture™ AND not seeing enough Asians in Hollywood). But you know what? Kelly Marie Tran* is pretty great and pretty cute.

LOOK AT HOW CUTE SHE IS AAAHHHH

*Look at me talking about Star Wars, Syd & Elise.

10. what’s something you’ve written that you feel proud of?

Nothing!!!!

Okay, just kidding. I have SOME semblance of self-confidence, thank god.

Actually, I often think that a lot of what I write is decent… at first. When a few days pass and I go back to read over it, I don’t really think it’s that good anymore. Or like, there are only small things that I like???

But I guess I’m proud of everything that I write?? I mean, IT ALL SUCKS, but I wrote it. I spent time and effort on it (probably). I at least have SOME tiny sliver of pride.

(Unless it was really horrible and cringy and anything written before two years ago. In that cast, I’m running away as fast as I can.)

WHO I TAG & MY QUESTIONS!!

So I’m nominating way more than 4 of my fellow writer blogger friends that I’m close with because I want to force them to talk more about their writing I’m sure they’ll have lots of fun:

May, Ju (are you even writing anything tho), Ilsa, Jackie, Amelie, Syd, Marie, Beth,  Elise (YOU’RE WORKING ON SOMETHING RIGHT), Madeline, Lu, Emma, Lia, Savannah, and uhhhh all the other cool writer-blogger people I forgot because I have a useless brain!!

Also if you’ve already done this tag, or you’re actually NOT writing anything, you can blame my memory and I’m super sorry!! And don’t feel like you have to do it because I don’t do a lot of tags either understand.

Here are my questions (and feel free not to answer certain ones)!

• What is your current WIP about, and what’s its status? (ie. plotting, writing, editing, etc.)
• Do you plot things out and/or outline, or just figure it out as you write?
• What are some book ideas you want to write in the future?
• Out of the characters you’ve written so far, who are your favorites?
• What’s your writing routine, if any? (ie. snacks, music, time of day, location, etc.)
• Show your WIP’s aesthetic in images or words (or both)!
• What (or who) motivates you to write?
• What do you find is the easiest part about writing? The hardest?
• What genre will you never try, and why?
• Share a tiny (or large) snippet/excerpt of your writing, if you’re comfortable!

*”Like” is the most underwhelming word I could use in all of these situations but okay.

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what are YOUR current WIPs?? are you plotting, writing, editing? PUBLISHING?! which characters have you tortured and how? who would play your MC in a movie? share a piece of writing you’re proud of! and feel free to steal this tag if you want to!!