These days are quite weird, so I decided to go out of my comfort zone and share something about my writing in this format. So, let’s get to it.

Warning: some answers might be a shocking revelations.

The tag rules:

• Link and thank the blogger who tagged you. Thanks, Mary, for your open-ended fourth nomination *evil grin*
• Include the graphic somewhere in your post. Check. Just below this list.
• Answer the questions truthfully and honestly. Yeah, will do.
• Tag 3 bloggers. Let’s leave that for the end.

Now, the questions:

Started a novel I didn’t finish.

Well, this is a bit vague – do they mean reading or writing? Well, let’s try both. As for reading, there is one at my DNF currently – a book I did not continue past the free sample because my expectations were set too high. As for writing, tricky as well. Since my whole project (which can end up anything between 3 and 8 books) is stil a WIP, it’s technically unfinished. Despite the fact that 3 books are drafted start-to-end at various stages and two more have bits and pieces.

Written a novel completely by hand

Hell, nope. I struggled to read my uni notes two weeks later.

Changed My Protagonist Name Halfway Through the a Draft

Most of my characters, including the main ones, started under nicknames/placeholders, some even more of them, before getting the final name. So that’s a yes, I guess.

Written a story in a month or less

I am working on my current WIP for almost 5 years so… nope, not really possible for me. I had a few writing bursts when I wrote 25-40k in a week, though. But that’s far from a full story for me.

Fallen asleep while writing

Nope. The few times I was writing late in the day, when I started to feel really sleepy, I just wrapped up what I had, wrote enough notes to continue the next time, and went for shower&bed.

Corrected someone’s grammar in real life or online

I probably managed to do so though I can’t recall a specific situation.

Yelled in all caps at myself in the middle of a novel

Nope. Usually, I just face palm or roll my eyes. That’s enough.

Used ‘I’m writing’ as an excuse

I’m making excuses to not tell people that I’m writing. So, nope.

Killed a character based on someone I know in real life

Writing is an escape for me and thus I won’t base a character on someone I dislike – I don’t need that kind of negativity in my writing process. In fact, I avoid making direct connection like this. Sure, I might get bits of inspiration but all of them are positive and I avoid anything major.

Used pop culture references in a story

The prologue of Eternal Defenders is named ‘Lifetimes at war’ as a reference to Sabaton’s song ‘A lifetime of war’ (which is based on 30-years war). Chapter 50 is named ‘Darkened days to come’ after a song of the same name by Sirenia. That’s just to give two examples from metal music but there are some more, so yes.

Written between 1:00 and 6:00 (AM)

No. I value a decent sleep schedule – the earliest I’ve gotten up with the intention to write was 6:30.

Drank an entire pot of coffee while writing

Nope, I don’t drink coffee at all. A liter of tea, on the other hand… definitely possible.

Written down dreams to use in potential novels

I have used bits of dreams as inspiration for plot points. Hell, the very first bit I ever had was based on a dream. But I’ve never actually written them down.

Published an unedited story on the internet

Confession: I wrote a few pieces of Warcraft smut – and that’s not something one would edit. So, yes, five 18+ short stories.

Don’t ask me where to find them, I won’t tell you. But they’re all still there, with a few hundreds of views each.

Procrastinated schoolwork because I wanted to write

Yes. I believe I’ve said it at the time when I was supposed to work on my bachelor’s thesis, I spent a lot of time drafting Eternal Defenders.

Typed so long that my wrist hurts

Nope. I guess I position my hands correctly for writing, or something – since there were times I wrote for 6-7 hours a day. Or the years of gaming just made me immune to this issue, at least for now.

Spilled a drink on my computer while writing

Well, it’s physically impossible because my computer is below my desk. Keyboard might be possible but that did not happen to me yet.

Forgotten to save my work/draft

No – there are times when I save after every small edit if it means I scroll more than half a page. I had Word crash a few times, though – but again, my regular saving saved me.

Finished writing a novel

If this means completing the story in draft stage, then yes. If it means reaching the final version… well, coming soon.

Laughed like an evil villain while writing a scene

Nah, I’m mostly silent – or humming along some folk or metal (or folk-metal) song.

Cried while writing a scene

Technically yes, when revising/drafting some of the more emotional scenes.

Created maps of my fictional world

So far, I made an awful doodle that I definitely plan to improve by the time the story is ready for publication.

This mess of a drawing (from 2016), made even worse in the allmighty MSpaint, is what I built on that doodle when one of my first readers struggled to put the story’s geography straight.

Researched something shady for my novel

Do you remember the post I made about birth control in fantasy? I think the history of birth control (both preventive and reactive) is the worst. Other than that, it was mostly looking up things about cuts and burns.

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Now, at the end, I *should* tag 3 people.

But I’ll take the easy way out. Since I guess around 3 people will read this post, if you made it here… I guess you’re tagged! Yay!

I guess I revelaed some new bits about me this way – and I hope my awful doodle did not burn your eyes out. That’s it from me for this time. In the next time, I’ll be back with something more serious.

Maybe.

See you later.