Last Updated on December 15, 2022 by ThoughtsStained

Hello, lovelies!

This week is a little busier for me and I actually found a few different tags through blog hopping I wanted to try, so I hope you all don’t mind if this week is a little more tag-heavy than normal. 🙂 And I hope you liked my review this past Monday over The Wolf of Oren-Yaro, written in my new review format! Coincidentally, it was also at the same time WordPress switched me over to the “block editor,” which I honestly have no idea how to manage. So, if that are completely wonky, formatting wise, I do apologize! It may take me some time to figure things out.

Anyway, I was really excited when I stumbled across this Writing Tag (which, I’d never seen any writing tags before, so this was exciting!) that Margaret @ Weird Zeal participated in, so I’m giving it a go!

The tag was originally created by The Long Voyage!

(Also, I had way too much fun finding all of the LOTR GIFs for this, so I hope you enjoy them! :))

Never Have I Ever…

…started a novel that I didn’t finish.

I have, actually! Though, this was a novel that I started in middle school and wrote like a womping 100+ pages for it, before I ended up not finishing it (I think because I started high school and ran out of time). After that, I’ve finished all of the novels I’ve started, with one exception of a sequel that I’ve paused, because I was more excited to work on a different project than that sequel (but, I’m not considering it dropped, because I do hope to finish it, one day!).

…written a story completely by hand.

That is a negative. I have the worst handwriting in the history of handwriting (I put doctors to shame) and, instead of writing a novel, I’d end up just creating a real-life murder mystery instead, where the mystery is me trying to figure out what on earth I wrote within notebooks upon notebooks that I once labeled as a story; and the murder would also be me, by me, because I was foolish enough to attempt this, despite knowing better.

…changed tenses midway through a story.

Fuck, um, every draft I write? Seriously, it blows my mind how many times I’ll switch from third-person (which is what I usually write) and throw in a first-person bit, before switching back to third-person and not realize it until edits. This happens a lot more with short stories than novels, but perhaps this is a sign I should try to write more first-person stuff? 👀

…not researched anything before starting a story.

Yep, certainly done this! Though, I think I’m more often prey to researching too much, as a way to put off starting my story. Oops.

…changed my protagonist’s name halfway through a draft.

Oh yeah, totally done it. Though, I usually find myself changing side or support characters more than I do with the protagonist.

…written a story in a month or less.

Yes, I have! During NaNoWriMo, I banged out a draft of a story and killed it. Usually to write a novel, if I’m at my top, it takes me about 2-3 months to write 120,000 words and complete a story.

…fallen asleep while writing.

I haven’t, actually.

…corrected someone’s grammar IRL/online?

…yes. Mostly my boyfriend or family to be cheeky, though I mentally do it all the time.

…yelled in all caps at myself in the middle of my novel.

Hahahaha, yes, 100%. It’s my favorite way to edit unproductively yet still feel productive when I’m doing it. 😝

…used “I’m writing” as an excuse.

Oh hell yes. In college, I actually had a lot of times where I wouldn’t hang out with friends, because I was working on the third novel in a trilogy and really wanted to finish it. More recently, I definitely let my boyfriend know when I want to go write and to not bother me, so…*shrugs*

…killed a character that was based on someone I know in real life.

I haven’t, actually. Which is surprising, because I’m certainly not shy when it comes to killing characters.

…used pop culture references in a story.

I did in my first trilogy that I shelved and I’ve found that I’m not a fan. Not only because I write SFF, but I also don’t like dating my stories so clearly. However, will I have nods to pop culture or another fantasy references hidden throughout? Oh, absolutely.

…written between the hours of 1 a.m. and 6 a.m.

Nada. Usually, if I’m up that late, I’m playing video games, not writing. Otherwise, I prefer to sleep and then write during the day!

…drank an entire pot of coffee while writing.

Please don’t revoke my writer card, but I actually…don’t drink coffee?

…written down dreams to use in potential novels.

YES. I have the absolutely worst habit of, when I’m trying to fall asleep (because it usually takes me ages to fall asleep), thinking about either characters of my novels or new stories I want to write. Of course, that is when I have some of the most amazing ideas, so I’ve started writing down jumbled word vomits in my “notes” section on my phone. They usually don’t make that much sense in the morning, but at least the idea doesn’t disappear completely.

…published an unedited story on the internet/blog/Wattpad.

Not really? I mean, I edit everything I write, so I don’t think any of the short stories or the little amount of fanfiction I’ve posted is “unedited,” though none of it is polished to the level my novels are, so…you be the judge of that one!

…procrastinated homework because I wanted to write.

Hahahahha, all the bloody time.

…typed so long that my wrists hurt.

Yep! Usually when I’m nearing the end of the first draft of a novel, I’ll be unable to stop writing and write in really large, 6-7 hour chunks of time to finish it out. My whole body hurts at that point.

…spilled a drink on my laptop while writing.

Yes. *sighs in broken keyboard*

…forgotten to save my work/draft.

Yes! Now that I use Google Docs, I worry about this less often, but I also have a flashdrive to back up my work and download it/send it to my family to have spare copies.

…finished a novel.

8 times!

…laughed like an evil villain while writing a scene.

Oh, duh.

…cried while writing a scene.

I have, actually! Not that often, which does surprise me a little bit, but I remember crying when I finished the first draft of my first full novel, because I was so blown away that I did it. I also almost cried editing my recent WIP, because damn.

…created maps of my fictional worlds.

I have! They are never very good, but it’s nice to have that point of reference, sometimes. I’m really jazzed to perhaps get something commissioned, one day. Or, have a map included in one of my published books!? *swoons*

…researched something shady for a novel.

Isn’t this a requirement for SFF writers? It has to be, right? *laughs nervously*

I hope you enjoyed the tag! I know I don’t do tags very often, but as this was a writing one, I couldn’t pass it up! Anyone who wants to participate, may (and I think that’s one of the main reason I don’t do tags, because I dread trying to come up with who to tag). I’d love to see your responses, if you do, so let me know in the comments if you do it.

Cheers.