The Wisteria Writer’s Tag: Penprints Edition

There are a lot of writer tags running around the internet these days, and the one I’ve been seeing the most of is the Wisteria Writer’s Tag. Today I’m participating in it because the darling Alea from Elvish Pens, Fantastical Writings tagged me last week. You should go check out her blog (talk about swanky photoshop skills over there, plus Alea’s just amazing).

Here’s how this tag works: thank the person who tagged you, answer their ten writing questions, add your own set of ten questions, and tag some more people.

So here we go (hold onto your hats, ladies and gents, because Alea came up with some pretty swanky questions, and I came up with some significantly less swanky answers).

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1. If you could be the author of any published book, which one would you pick and why?

Hmmm. This one is tough. Part of me jumps immediately to A Time to Die by Nadine Brandes (surprise, surprise), but part of me wants to say Starflower by Anne Elisabeth Stengl. And yet another part of me goes then non-fiction route and says Embracing Obscurity by Anonymous. I say one of those three because I wish that I had my spiritual ducks in a row enough to write any of them.

2. Do you ever daydream about your book at school/work?

The better question is when don’t I daydream about my stories at work. One of my jobs is at an antique shop, and that place seems to be the perfect place for my muse to come out and chat. I wrote almost all of Flickering Lights in my head while I was at work. If it’s a fresh idea, I’m definitely dreaming about it in my head.

3. When do you write best?

At night. Once everyone else has gone to sleep. The house is silent and dark. I strike a match, light my favorite taper candle, and get to work. I think this works best for me because there are no interruptions or distractions; it’s just me, God, and my writing.

4. What are your favorite writing snacks?

Dove chocolate, sparkling grape juice, cream soda, gummy bears, and apple juice all feed my muse (I know, I know, the healthiness is overwhelming). Apparently (and unfortunately), my muse seems to detest healthy snacks. (For non-writer peeps, a muse is a thing we writers like to think we have, but it’s all in our heads… like our books.)

5. Is writing easier after reading something?

Excellent question! Not really. Usually, after I’ve read a book, my head is full of that story, and it’s hard to focus on my own. However, if it’s a book on writing craft, like Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, then I am eager to jump into my writing right away.

6. What does your dream book cover look like?

Covers. Oh. I honestly haven’t been able to dream up a suitable cover for my WIP (that’s a work-in-progress, my non-writer lovelies), but I’m thinking possibly red on black. Possibly some claw marks somewhere? Or a black rose? Or both? Beasts (my WIP) is the darkest thing I’ve ever written (sorry, Mom), and so I don’t think the cover would be all that cheery, but for the life of me I can’t figure out what would fit the story. Ugh, and now I really want to come up with a brilliant cover that will knock off a bunch of socks.

7. Does your writing style resemble that of your favorite authors?

Probably not. I want it to, but I’m not there (yet?). I think I have a slightly sardonic tone akin to Robin McKinley (maybe, MAYBE). I try for the richness in Anne Elisabeth Stengl’s writing but that’s a major emphasis on the try. I want to be able to pack a spiritual punch like Nadine Brandes, but alas, still working on that too. My writing style is mainly weird, and so I’m going to have to stick with my first answer that it probably doesn’t resemble that of my favorite authors.

8 . Coffee or tea as writing fuel?

Tea and hot chocolate all the way (what is that you say? Hot chocolate wasn’t an option? To which I say: whatever). I’ve tried to like coffee so hard so many times, I just…. can’t. I want to like it, but… no. It’s like coffee is an affront to my nature (shhhh, let’s keep that between you and me because some people are coffee crazies and would tar and feather me for calling coffee an affront). So I take a mug of green tea with two tablespoons of French vanilla creamer because I’m a sugar junkie in case you hadn’t noticed.

9. NaNoWriMo or Camp NaNoWriMo.

I don’t have a preference. Possibly neither. *gasp* *gasp* *gasp* (My dear non-writer peeps, it’s against some ancient unwritten law for a writer to even possibly dislike a form of NaNo.) Here’s the dealio: I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) way back in 2014, and I won (50,000 words in 30 days, whoop whoop!)! And then I participated in Camp NaNoWriMo in both April and July of this year and failed miserably (less than 20,000 words in 30 days, less whoop whoop…). It was rough. I’m trying to figure out if either NaNoWriMo works for me or not… so, yeah… I’m just going to let this sentence trail off some more…

10. Share your favorite sentence from your WIP.

I can’t do just one, but I’ll settle for two. I’m doing my favorite descriptive sentence and my favorite sentence regarding a character.

A descriptive line: The sun drives away the clouds of the night, sparkling through thousands of tiny droplets of water, millions of tiny prisms shifting with the morning light as it overtakes the horizon. – Beasts

A character line: If purple was a creature, Faye would be it. – Beasts

And that is the Wisteria Writer’s Tag: Penprints Edition.

Thank you so much for tagging me, Alea!

Now, I tag…

J. L. Mbewe.

Brittany on New Authors Fellowship.

Gabriela over at A Heart Redeemed.

Victoria from Wanderer’s Pen.

Katie at A Writer’s Faith.

Here are your questions:

1. What was/is the inspiration for your current WIP?

2. What does your writing process look like? Plotter? Panster? A little bit of both?