Never Have I Ever//Writer’s Edition

Hello all! Look at me posting semi-regularly? What is this? Anyway, I received this tag from the amazing Hailey Hudson and I think I’ve done it before, but it’s such a fun tag that I’m going to do it again. We’ll see if my answers have changed in the last few years.

I believe this tag was created by Bree Dawn over at the Long Voyage

… started a novel that I didn’t finish.

Of course! I think its pretty much a given that a writer will start and not finish a hundred stories to each one that actually does get finished. However, I don’t do this as much as I used to. I have so little free time nowadays that I usually only start novels that I am almost certain I will finish. It still does happen occasionally though.

… written a story completely by hand.

This is something else I used to do all the time! I come from a big family, and back in the day we only had one computer, so getting a lot of time on the one computer was pretty difficult. Thus, I relied on writing in notebooks and exercise books. I actually wrote a number of full-length novels using this method, and it wasn’t until I got my own computer in 2017 that I started writing mainly by computer. That and the fact that I was developing major chronic wrist problems. Don’t get me wrong, these are still bad when I’m typing, but not nearly as bad as they used to be, when I was writing 80k novels completely by hand.

… changed tenses midway through a story.

I do this all the time! It’s mainly a reading based thing. While I tend to write in past tense as a default, I also write in present quite a lot and I tend to automatically fall to one or the other when I start a new novel, depending on a bunch of different factors, mainly genre and vibes. However, if I’m writing a book in past tense, for example, but reading a book that is written in present tense, I often flip flop between the two when I’m writing my novel. Tense changes is one of the biggest things I have to fix when I’m editing.

… not researched anything before starting a story.

Not really, to be honest. As I’ve mentioned before, I get a lot (probably most) of my inspiration from non-fiction books. For example, I recently read a book about female pharaohs, and now I’m plotting a fantasy about a woman pharaoh. Because this plot bunny was originally birthed by the nonfiction research, I already know a fair bit about it, and even if I started writing now, I’d still know a little bit (though not nearly enough!) So no, I don’t really ever do this.

… changed my protagonists’ name halfway through a draft.

No way! I have changed character names, but never in the middle of a draft. If there are any character name changes, I always do it between draft. I would be far too confused if I just started swapping names in the middle of a draft, I have enough trouble keeping things straight as it is.

… written a story in a month or less.

Yes! I have indeed, but only during NaNoWriMo, and funnily enough, never in the actual official NaNo month (ie, November), but only in the “off” months (April and July). The sequel to Stars Fill Infinity was written in three wild weeks, for example. Something that I, quite honestly, never want to do again.

… fallen asleep while writing.

I don’t think I have, to be quite honest.

… corrected someone’s grammar IRL/online.

Correcting grammar seems like such a useless thing to do. Grammar is just….yeah, basically my least favourite thing. I hate it. Also, as an Australian we are not known for speaking Queen’s English, so correcting grammar also seems quite hypocritical.

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

I actually have done this. Furthermore, my sister went through a period of great annoyance when she would write in all caps on my novels if I left my computer unattended for but a moment. I guess that’s what sisters are for.

… used “I’m writing” as an excuse.

Alas, my boss really doesn’t care if I say “Sorry, I can’t come into work today, I’m writing”, and neither do my teachers, so it works less than it used to, when it was my siblings asking if I could play a game.

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

Not specifically, but there was a case of life imitating art when I happened to meet someone who reminded me exceedingly of a side character in The Stars Fill Infinity. This character died. Which was fine because this particular gentleman got on my nerves from the very first moment I met him. But no, I haven’t purposefully put a character based on someone I know into a novel and then killed them. That is petty.

I am not petty. At All. Definitely Not.

… used pop culture references in a story.

Kind of? I tend to subscribe to the idea that too many pop culture references date your works, so I am sparing with them. However, I often make references to historical events, people, mythology, my favourite books, and occasionally I will mention celebrities (but not often).

… written between the hours of one AM and six AM.

I have done this, but I certainly don’t make a habit of it. I am chronically fatigued and staying up past 11pm literally feels like a death sentence for the next day. But yes, I have done this. Once I stayed up till 2am finishing off a novel. I think I was about fourteen at the time. Young and Naive.

… drank an entire pot of coffee while writing.

Nope. I am not that keen on coffee, and I will only drink caramel or vanilla lattes, and mochas. I never have more than two cups a day (more like one though). I have most certainly never drank an entire pot.

Maybe an entire kettle of tea though? If you add up how much I drink in a day.

… written down dreams to use in potential novels.

Only twice, and thus far I’ve never written either. One was a dream about tiny people living in our gardens (kind of like the Borrowers) who had to go on a quest. The other one was a sci-fi dystopian future I dreamt about where the whole world was set up like Camelot, for some completely unknown reason, all the positions of government were named after King Arthur and his knights and also there was a conspiracy going on.

yeah, I’ve never written either book yet.

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

Nope, never. Unless unedited novel snippets count, but since they’re like published specifically as unedited novel snippets I really don’t think they count. I have always been very meticulous about editing things before they appear anywhere. Even the blog serial I published on here a few years back went through at least five drafts before I published it, possibly more.

… procrastinated homework because I wanted to write.

Back when I was a wee homeschooler, yes. Nowadays I don’t because I have some regard for my future and also I don’t want to get fired from my job. So not anymore, sadly.

… typed so long that my wrists hurt.

Yep. I mentioned the chronic wrist issues above. I have definitely typed so long that my wrists hurt, though honestly it doesn’t take much.

… spilled a drink on my laptop while writing.

Yes. Let’s move on shall we?

… forgotten to save my work/draft.

Yes. All the time back in my young days, but nowadays, I use Scrivener and Scrivener autosaves, so it hasn’t happened in a very long time. Thankfully.

… finished a novel.

I have finished a lot of novels. About fifteen I think. Not to brag, but I feel like I’ve been on this earth for centuries.

… laughed like an evil villain while writing a scene.

I’m pretty sure I haven’t. I think my family would be sincerely concerned if I had done this and they would have staged an intervention by now.

… cried while writing a scene.

Once. Once I’ve cried while writing a story. It was in the sequel to Stars Fill Infinity and I’m sure those of you who have read that particular novel which scene it was. It did involve a character dying, possibly one of my favourite characters of all time, I was pretty traumatised. By my own writing. What on earth is wrong with me?

… created maps of my fictional worlds.

Yes, plenty! Whenever I write a fantasy novel I usually draw a map to go along with it, especially if its a story that involves travelling, because otherwise I just get very confused.

… researched something shady for a novel.

I tried to find a futuristic version of a guillotine and came up with nothing, so maybe that. That’s probably the most shady thing I’ve ever researched. Funnily enough, I actually do very little dodgy research.

If you haven’t done this tag before, consider yourself tagged! I’d love to see your answers! Now, some questions for you, do you like drawing maps? Does research go before the first draft, or after? And what’s the shadiest thing you’ve ever looked up?