The NaNoWriMo Tag

This tag was created by Kristina Horner on youtube and I found it on Tamara’s blog Tamaraniac and decided to do it myself. Even if Kristina created it with booktubers in mind I’m sure she won’t mind if us regular bloggers get on it as well 😀

1. How many times have you done NaNoWriMo?

I’ve done it every year since 2009, so this is my 7th year. I’ve reached 50k every time, woo. 

2. How did you first find out about NaNoWriMo?

I don’t even remember. I probably heard about it somewhere in relation to fanfiction writing. I think I first heard about it in 2008 and then must have forgotten about it because I found it again next year, on October 31st. So I decided to join on a whim and began to write right when the clock hit midnight. Good times.

3. What was the name of the first novel you attempted with NaNo?

The Black Unicorn. Hahaha. It’s kind of a magical realism type thing. It wasn’t very good and it was completely pantsed. It still doesn’t have an ending and it probably won’t ever get one because that story made no sense and I can’t be bother to try to rewrite it. 

4. Give us a 1 sentence summary of what you’re writing this year.

I’m pantsing again so I don’t even know if I can give you a summary yet. I’ll try though. It’s going to be about a gay couple who used to be in a band together but were forced to break up by their management as to not “ruin their image”. Several years later one of them is struggling to make the ends meet back home while the other one is surging into stardom with his new band. It might get a bit of a “Skater Boy” vibe. 

5. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever been given?

No idea. Maybe the reminder that first drafts are always shit, it doesn’t matter who you are and how long you’ve been writing. Everyone needs to edit and rewrite and there’s no need to despair if your first draft is a hot mess. 

6. Did you ever take a year off from NaNo? Why?

Nope! I’d feel like that would kind of ruin my nice winning streak. 

7. What’s your biggest inspiration when figuring out what to write?

I’ve written fanfiction almost every year, so my fandoms are huge inspirations. That said, all my stories have been quite AU and deviate a lot from the source material. I get a lot of inspiration from music too, that’s how I came to my plot this year. 

8. Read us the first sentence from one of your novels.

Oh, god. Okay, I’m going to go with one of the novels that’s not fanficiton. This is from The Shade of Darkness, my NaNo story from 2012. I haven’t even looked at it since 2012 so don’t judge.

“The dream catcher was enormous, way bigger than a human head, with one large circle and two smaller ones attached below it on the sides.”

Edit: I saw another blogger who decided to post the first sentence of all the NaNo stories, and I thought I’d do that too. Why not. 

2009: The room was quiet except for stifled sobs and people shuffling in their seats.
2010: If Tom had known this would have happened he would never have gotten out of bed that day. (This is so cliche, I hate it.)
2011: Friend. That was his name. Friend. Just Friend. No last name, no middle name, just Friend. (slightly more than a sentence, but whatever)
2012: (See above)
2013: It had been too long. 
2014: “I’ll be back by nine, just call me if there’s any trouble.”

9. Why do you love writing?

I don’t know how to answer this, except that it’s fun. I enjoy it a lot. Plus, the fanfiction community is great and it’s awesome to be able to get that much feedback from a story. I want to write stories that can engage people, and I want to write the books that I want to read. So that’s basically it. 

If you’re also doing NaNoWriMo this year I’d love to read your answers to these questions! Let me know what you’re writing this year 😀

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