Never Have I Ever [Writing Edition]

I saw this tag first on Jenna’s blog and I decided to do it because it looks so much fun and my loyal followers deserve to know all the dodgy writing things I’ve ever done.

With that all out of the way, let’s get going!

Never Have I Ever…

…started a novel that I didn’t finish…

So many, my friend, so many.

I literally couldn’t count them all.

Moving on 😛

…written a story completely by hand…

Yes! I actually used to do this all the time, before I had pretty much constant access to a computer (I.e. Before I got my own laptop). At least six of my novels were written entirely by hand. Nowadays, I write my drafts on the computer, but I still do all my plotting and worldbuilding in physical notebooks.

…changed tenses midway through a story…

I do this all the time as well. My last novel, Southern Cross, I attempted to write in present tense, but I kept accidentally switching from present to past. And then I decided to write all in past tense, and then kept switching to present… I dunno know, mate. I also change between first and third person at random.

…not researched anything before starting a story…

Not usually, actually. Random research on historical periods and cultural settings tend to spark off my novel ideas, so I would rarely begin a novel without knowing anything at all. Of course, as I write, I always find aspects I forgot to research, but no, I’ve never not researched “Anything” before starting on a new story.

…changed my protagonist’s names halfway through the draft…

I’ve changed protagonists’ names between drafts, but I don’t think I’ve ever done it halfway through one draft.

…written a story in a month or less…

Yes! I wrote When Infinity is Empty in three weeks during Camp NaNoWriMo two years ago.

…fallen asleep while writing…

Pretty sure I haven’t done this 😛

…corrected someone’s grammar IRL/online…

I find this really annoying when it happens to me, so I don’t usually do this to other people, unless its to clarify something.

…yelled in all caps at myself in the middle of a novel…

I may have.

…used “I’m writing” as an excuse…

Of course.

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

I don’t really base characters off people I know in real life. In one instance, I killed a character who reminded me strongly of someone I met after I wrote the first draft, but it wasn’t due to any malicious intent or anything.

…used pop culture references in a story…

I often make references to history, classic books and theatre. Not really mainstream media references though, because I feel that they can date books quite a lot more than other sorts of references.

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

Yes, I have done this, though admittedly not very much. I remember one book that I was really excited to finish and I stayed up until 2am to write the final words.

…drank an entire pot of coffee while writing…

Ew no.

…written down dreams to use in potential novels…

Only twice have I ever had dreams that I thought were good novel material, but I haven’t written either yet.

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

Haha…

No.

The closest thing would be snippets from my novels, but I think the point of those is that they are unedited snippets. I definitely wouldn’t publish an unedited story on my blog though.

…procrastinated homework because I wanted to write…

Back in my school days, I never did my work unless I’d written for about six hours first. I’m not even kidding.

…typed so long that my wrists hurt…

I have chronic wrist issues anyway, so this doesn’t take much, but yes, I’ve written so much that I’ve put my arm in tape for months. Its not pleasant.

…spilled a drink on my laptop while writing…

A couple of times, but never anything serious and usually only just a bit of water.

…forgotten to save my work/draft…

I used to do this all the time back in the day, but thankfully, technology has caught up and Microsoft Word autosaves now, so it hasn’t happened to me in years.

…finished a novel…

I have finished…quite a lot of novels, maybe close to ten?

…laughed like an evil villain while writing a scene…

I have never done this.

…cried while writing a scene…

I have done this…once or twice.

…created maps of my fictional worlds…

Yes, I love making maps! All my fantasy worlds have maps attached to them and I would cry if any of my fantasies were published without pretty maps in the front.

…researched something shady for a novel…

Of course I have. I’m convinced all writers have shady search histories…

What about you guys? Do you have a shady search history? Have you ever spilled stuff on your laptop/notebook? And have you ever used a dream as inspiration for a story?