Have you ever... (game!)

mellymel

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Thought it might be interesting to play the Have you ever game but with all the questions related to reading, writing, or anything within the writing/publishing industry. Someone asks a, Have you ever question, and then the next person answers it (with a small explanation if you like), and then asks the next Have you ever question. Perhaps this idea sounds cooler in my head then it really is and this thread will die a quick death, but I thought it would be interesting to see what questions people come up with and what answers they receive (keep it semi-clean people ;)).


Have you ever had a dream about one of the books you read?
 

Claudia Gray

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Have you ever had a dream about one of the books you read?

I have occasionally! The last one was a dream I had after reading HAMILTON: THE REVOLUTION about the Broadway musical. I dreamed I was talking with Lin-Manuel Miranda backstage. There were other sources of inspiration besides the book--I've seen the show, follow LMM on Twitter, etc.--but I think my reading some of the book that day got the dream going.


Have you ever recognized a trait in yourself only after unconsciously writing it into a character?
 

The_Ink_Goddess

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Great idea for a thread!

*

Thought it might be interesting to play the Have you ever game but with all the questions related to reading, writing, or anything within the writing/publishing industry. Someone asks a, Have you ever question, and then the next person answers it (with a small explanation if you like), and then asks the next Have you ever question. Perhaps this idea sounds cooler in my head then it really is and this thread will die a quick death, but I thought it would be interesting to see what questions people come up with and what answers they receive (keep it semi-clean people ;)).


Have you ever had a dream about one of the books you read?

Yes, I have very vivid and frequent dreams so I dream about books (mine, other people's, ideas) all the time. I also frequently mash up books I've read in really strange ways. After I read about Stephanie Perkins' new book, I dreamt that Anna & the French Kiss was a horror. There was killer animals and the Catacombs (probably inspired by Becca C.'s 2017 novel, which I beta-read).

Have you ever recognised a trait in yourself only after unconsciously writing it into a character?


What a good question! and a weird one. :tongue I wonder about this ALL THE TIME. I think I certainly have, but maybe I just have zero self-awareness. I think because my stuff is so incredibly dark, I also //worry// about it in a way that you might not if you wrote more chill, less dark books. About two minutes ago, I realised that in all my books, love interests are dangerous individuals, and they have dark, dangerous designs…so I'm currently dealing with what that says about me. But yes. Short answer is definitely yes. Long answer is wait for the psychiatrist.

//

Have you ever worried about the moral implications of something you've written?
 
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lenore_x

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Have you ever worried about the moral implications of something you've written?

Quite often! I don't think a book goes by where I don't dwell on one thing or another, worrying about what I might be unintentionally saying, whether what I'm intentionally saying is okay, how things might be interpreted/misinterpreted....

A few years ago I wrote a fantasy novel about a pregnant girl. Because souls and death were running themes in that book, I ended up having to tackle the question of if and when fetuses get souls. That felt like a minefield. Also the main character had once had a miscarriage which was very traumatizing to her, and although I am pro-choice I worried the book came off as aggressively pro-life. I kept imagining having to defend myself from readers on both ends of the spectrum. It was a weird experience. :Huh:

I also think a lot about cultural appropriation when writing fantasy, and even using certain aspects of my own culture/religious beliefs.

//

Speaking of moral implications: Have you ever written something that caused you to reexamine or change your views on a certain topic?
 

mellymel

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Hmm...I had to think for a bit on this one and I would say yes. I wrote a YA thriller with stalking as the theme. As I was creating my MC (the character being stalked) it felt fitting that she was Chinese. Not really sure why, but I did realize two things as I wrote the story 1. Just because she is Chinese, doesn't mean she has to be so completely different as everyone around her. She doesn't fit any stereo types. She was born and raised in Pennsylvania to parents who were raised most of their lives in Pennsylvania also. She is like everyone else except that maybe some of the decor around her house and some of the foods she loves to eat are representative of her Chinese culture. Other than her last name, you would barely know she is Chinese. Diversity doesn't have to be in your face. And 2. Stalking happens to people of all races, genders, ethnicities, cultures, religions, etc.


Have you ever sent a query letter addressed to an agent to the wrong agent?
 
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neandermagnon

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A few years ago I wrote a fantasy novel about a pregnant girl. Because souls and death were running themes in that book, I ended up having to tackle the question of if and when fetuses get souls. That felt like a minefield. Also the main character had once had a miscarriage which was very traumatizing to her, and although I am pro-choice I worried the book came off as aggressively pro-life. I kept imagining having to defend myself from readers on both ends of the spectrum. It was a weird experience. :Huh:

It's interesting you should feel that way, because as a Brit, where we don't have this big in-your-face pro life v pro choice thing that's going on in the USA* - to me, the way you described it I'd interpret it as a character having an internal struggle as she tries to decide what to do for the best. It doesn't come across aggressively anything. It's an incredibly difficult choice to ever have to make and if someone's in that situation, their personal feelings are paramount, wherever those feelings lie on the pro choice v anti-abortion spectrum, and the decision she makes needs to take her own personal feelings into account. If the story shows that internal struggle then that's what the story's about. Pro choice means making a choice - if she's choosing to keep the baby because of her personal feelings towards the unborn child, then she's making a choice. The other side of the debate is forcing women to have babies regardless of their physical or mental health or whether they have the emotional or material means to give the child a half-decent life. That's anti-choice. The "aggressively anti choice" story would be "girl gets pregnant, girl's family force her to have the baby and give it up for adoption because she can't look after it, girl suffers physical and psychological fall it from this, girls own feelings never come into the matter" OR the very unrealistic/propaganda thing of "girl is forced to become a mother, keep the baby, then realises she loves being barefoot and pregnant, marries the boy who made her pregnant before she's too big to look obviously pregnant in her off-white wedding dress, and they live happily ever after while she makes him sammiches, still barefoot in the kitchen."

*there is debate on abortion but it tends to centre around whether the limit for abortions that are not for medical reasons should be 18, 21 or 24 weeks gestation. There are people who think they should be completely illegal, but they're a minority. There are groups that lobby parliament about it, but it's not something that's usually mentioned in election campaigns. It's not the huge political football that it is in the USA.



Regarding the latest question - I've yet to submit anything to an agency so the answer's no

Regarding the question before that - writing prehistoric fiction based on a scientifically accurate interpretation of the fossil record is a bit like conducting a giant thought experiment. Sometimes, writing characters in that situation makes me discover things about the prehistoric ways of life.



Have you ever had a really good story in your mind, then when you come to write it, you totally change your mind and it turns into a completely different story?
 
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Becca C.

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Great thread!

Have you ever had a really good story in your mind, then when you come to write it, you totally change your mind and it turns into a completely different story?

Yes... but it's a lot more gradual than that. My original idea for a story is rarely the story I end up with, but it takes years and many, many drafts for the evolution to happen. A lot of realizations and lightbulb moments and frustration -- "why can't I ever get a story right the first time?!" kind of thing :p

*

Have you ever had an idea for a story that's been lurking in your mind, but still hasn't been written, months or even years after you first thought of it?
 

Matt T.

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Yep, I have a story idea like that. It's loose, and I'm not even completely sure what genre it would fit into (perhaps science fiction or dystopian), but I keep coming back to ideas for a handful of characters who keep popping up in my brain. I can see the beginnings of character arcs, and I have a desire to put them together into an epic story that spans several novels, but the details are still fuzzy. Every so often, I'll be thinking and another couple pieces will fall into place.

Honestly, I don't feel like I'm ready to write it. I think I need to cut my teeth on simpler novels and then reevaluate it in several years.

Have you ever finished the first draft of a novel in its entirety and then decided to scrap the whole thing? And by scrap, that could mean abandon it entirely, trunk it, or drastically rewrite the entire thing to where it is almost unrecognizable.
 

neandermagnon

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Have you ever finished the first draft of a novel in its entirety and then decided to scrap the whole thing? And by scrap, that could mean abandon it entirely, trunk it, or drastically rewrite the entire thing to where it is almost unrecognizable.

Yes, if you count not actually finishing writing the final scene, which I had totally planned out in my head (I'm a pantser, so I don't mentally plan scenes until they're about to be written). The whole thing is trunked and while I never entirely rule out going back to trunked stuff and doing major edits/rewriting/etc, I can't really see it happening with this story. I enjoyed writing it but it had some very serious issues.

Have you ever written a character that you thought you'd completely invented, then later realised that this character is totally like someone you know, like you subconsciously wrote this person into your story without realising it?
 

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Have you ever written a character that you thought you'd completely invented, then later realised that this character is totally like someone you know, like you subconsciously wrote this person into your story without realising it?

Yep! In my first ever story, one of the main five characters ended up being like a friend of mine. They were different enough, but their looks and certain mannerisms were very similar. That character was also my favorite in the book, but that has nothing to do with being based off a friend.

Have you ever written a book based off a dream you had?
 

heza

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Have you ever written a book based off a dream you had?

One of my WIPs is based off a dream I had of a moment of a single scene... for a couple of years, I knew I wanted to write about it but I didn't really know where to go with it. Two years later, I kid you not, I had another dream of another scene in the same story that tied it all together for me and enabled me to outline it.

Have you ever ended up actively disliking the personality of a character you wrote?
 

KateSmash

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Have you ever ended up actively disliking the personality of a character you wrote?

Oh goodness yes! The first two drafts for Space Idiots(tm) are painful to read. Jessia is just so ... frustratingly obtuse. Selfish. Hedonistic, too. I think part of my problem was my starting point - taking a cliched "strong female character" and building them into a real hero.

I had to put it away for a year and half before serendipity changed almost everything about her character. And then suddenly the story worked so much better.

Have you ever considered switching a drastically different category/genre?
 

Matt T.

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Have you ever considered switching a drastically different category/genre?

Yes, I have! Way back last year when I first started figuring out that I might want to do this novelist thing seriously, I started off with a science fiction/horror novel. Aside from the addition of romance into the story, my approach wasn't drastically different from older short stories that I wrote. In the handful of short stories I wrote up to that point, I always stuck to either science fiction, horror, or dark, semi-literary contemporary fiction. Over time, I began to worry that the novel was drifting into YA territory, a genre that I had no clue about, so I did some YA reading.

I'd always looked down on young adult fiction to be perfectly honest, as I viewed it as poorly written drek. However, I read John Green's Looking for Alaska, and I was impressed enough that I kept reading YA novels. Eventually, I decided that I liked the style of YA novels and it fit well with my own interests and hopefully my writing style, so I'm currently in the process of writing a YA novel!

Have you ever written a protagonist whose political/social views were the opposite of your own?
 

dancing-drama

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Have you ever written a protagonist whose political/social views were the opposite of your own?

The opposite in one direction, I guess. While I've never written a protagonist who represented extreme right-wing beliefs, fueled by hate and fear and misinformation, I've had an extreme anarchist who wanted to see 'the establishment' burn. (She kinda came to her senses by the end of the novel...)

Have you ever prepped a novel, planned & plotted, only to abandon the whole thing before getting any real writing done?
 

PorterStarrByrd

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I am very intelligent and abandon them well before I go to all of that work

Have you ever run out of toilet paper during one of those creative sessions as you sit there on the throne creating a great novel.
 

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Have you ever run out of toilet paper during one of those creative sessions as you sit there on the throne creating a great novel.

No, I prefer plotting in the shower.

Have you ever made a word-changing typo/miswrite/slip and left it in because it improved the story?
 

mellymel

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Have you ever thought of a story only to later realize that you took an already existing book/movie/tv show/comic etc. and only changed the basics?

Yes. I'm very influenced by movies, so now and then I get ideas from one (mostly older adult movies) that spark ideas that I want to turn into a YA story.

Have you ever read a book that made you so mad (for whatever reason), you literally threw it across the room?
 
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bellsmuir

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Well, it was a beach by a lake, but close enough. I was at summer camp when I was seventeen and had just finished THE SUBTLE KNIFE.

Have you ever rewritten an ending because things didn't wrap up well enough the first time?
 

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I struggled so much to write the ending to my first book. Took me forever to find my footing and I only kept going, because I was like, "It may be a crummy novel, but it'll be a crummy finished novel, thank you." Endings are something I really struggle with, regardless of what I write. Getting going is scary, but once I do, I can proceed at a speedy clip until I reach some point where I'm like, "Okay, you've got a good word count. Time to start writing the ending." Because you want an ending to have a since of resolution, but at the same time, it shouldn't feel pat; you like a sense of future stories to it.

Which tropes in YA fiction are you absolute suckers for?

Wait, that isn't a "Have you" question. Need to think for a bit.

Okay, everyone can answer the first question if you want, but to satisfy thread requirements: Have you looked up anything that made you hope "I swear I'm a writer not a terrorist and/or pervert!" is a valid defense?
 

cmtruesd

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Have you looked up anything that made you hope "I swear I'm a writer not a terrorist and/or pervert!" is a valid defense?

Totally feel this way sometimes when I'm pinning things on Pinterest. Just the other day I think I pinned an article about killing off characters that was like "How to Kill with Courage" then the next day I was pinning something about writing about weapons. Good thing Pinterest has secret boards :)

Have you ever completely deleted a story (on accident or on purpose)? No back ups, recovered drafts, etc.
 

SallyB

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Have you ever completely deleted a story (on accident or on purpose)? No back ups, recovered drafts, etc.

Oh yeah, the first novel I ever wrote. The story was interesting but I wasn't that great at writing. Maybe one day I'll try again, but that version will stay dead forever.

Have you ever been recommended a 'Great' book and found that you hated it?

 
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zmethos

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Have you ever been reccomended a 'Great' book and found that you hated it?

So many times . . . I hated Gone Girl and only kind of like Harry Potter. (Sorry.)

Have you ever written a book--either you're done or nearly done--and realized there's a huge plot hole that will require a massive rewrite?
 
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InsomniaShark

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I've only written one book (for fun/practice, not for publication), and it didn't end up having any huge plot holes that required massive rewrites once I was done. Probably because I had all the major plot points outlined before I started writing. I'm working on a new novel right now and I'm not doing any outlining at all, so I bet I'll be fixing plot holes with this one!

Have you ever written something you thought was not-so-good or only okay-ish at the time, only to find it was actually pretty great upon reading it later on?
 
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mellymel

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Have you ever written something you thought was not-so-good or only okay-ish at the time, only to find it was actually pretty great upon reading it later on?

No. Everything I write is AMAZING.

Hahaha. But seriously, I recently tried my hand in writing contemporary. I have no confidence in it at all (I generally write thrillers in all different categories). But I asked a couple of beta readers to read what I'd written so far (wanting to know if I was wasting my time and should give it up) and was told is was some of my best writing yet. Reading back over it, I've come to accept that it is in fact some of my best writing in terms of prose (which generally is not my focus).

I'm going opposite of a previous question:

Have you ever been told a book was terrible only to read it anyway and then discover you love it?