Everywriterneedsfanart - Art Imitates Art

what is the best/worst book you've ever read?

My childhood love are the books by Tonke Dragt. She has created the strangest, most fascinating universes, always slightly unsettling but at the same time inviting, and wholly unique.

One book that will always have a special place in my heart is The Bookthief, by Markus Zusak, because that is the book that showed me I didn't have to be ashamed of my love for stories.

More recently, I was very impressed by Kafka on the Shore, by Haruki Murakami. It's a crazy, almost absurd, book, but I was immediatly caught in this confusing, magical world of his.

I also am a fan of Donna Tartt, who's meandering works have never failed to give me wonderful images and inspiration and insights.

For Tin: If you've ever had any 'paranormal' experiences, which ones stand out the most? (Sorry if this is kinda irrelevant to the world, I'm not too familiar with your WiP yet so I don't know how prevalent paranormal occurrences are 😅)

Tin: I’ve never met a ghost, if that’s what you are asking. But I don’t see why everyone insists on hanging out in empty buildings and graveyards all the time. I prefer to not take the risk of getting into a fight with something I can’t shoot.(There is magic in my world, but this is not experienced as ‘paranormal‘ by the inhabitants. Though the paranormal does not really exist in this world, it is reffered to as ‘the occult‘ and some people do believe in it).

25 Writing Questions

Tagged by the amazing @ally-thorne. Thanks!

1. Is there a story you’re holding off on writing for some reason? Apart from a few vague ideas, I'm holding off two major ones at the moment. I don't want to let them interfere with my current WIP.

2. What work of yours, if any, are you embarrassed about existing? Not many, actually. I've written a lot of bad stuff, (I'm still writing a lot of bad stuff), but that's how a writers grows. What I ám embarrased about is that I've allowed some people back then to read those pieces. Grown up people. Who knew full well how awful it was.

3. What order do you write in? Front of book to back? Chronological? Favorite scenes first? Something else? I mostly write from start to finish – not a chronological line per se, but the order in which I want my readers to read it. Sometimes I jot down little things for future scenes, but I don't fully write them till I reach the right point in the story.

4. Favorite character you’ve written? This is damn near impossible, but I think at least one of my favorites is Frank, a character from the only novel-lenght story I ever finished, called The Seasonschildren. He is gentle and stubborn in his beliefs and he tries so hard to fight in all the little ways for his great cause. He wants to keep all his loved ones safe, but he also feels so much pressure to keep all other people safe. I think he's one of the most human characters I've written, a balans of bad and good that turned out real well.

5. Character you were most surprised to end up writing? The Clockworker surprised me. He’s another characters from The Seasonschildren. The work is set partly during World War II, something I didn't expect to write in general, since I don't generally like war stories. He's not sympathetic and quite a bad father (though he tries, in his own way), and he doesn't grow in that aspect. He became a fascination to me.   

6. Something you would go back and change in your writing that it’s too late / complicated to change now If I am convinced it should be changed, I change it, no matter how much work it is (or I lose interest in the story altogether). Right now, I am considering wether or not I should get rid of one of the characters in my current WIP.

7. When asked, are you embarrassed or enthusiastic to tell people that you write? I used to be embarrased (really embaressed, I actually hid the fact that I wrote completely till I was fourteen), but now I'm enthusiastic! Especially in college, where I am surrounded by people who love art and creativity, and who genuinly want to hear about it.

8. Favorite genre to write Fantasy and childrens literature will always have a special place in my heart.

9. What, if anything, do you do for inspiration? I mostly try to find places with a good view to sit, and I listen a lot of music that makes me feel things. Sometimes I rewatch scenes from movies or series.

10. Write in silence or with background music? Alone or with others? Silence and background music are both fine, it depends on my mood and what I am writing. I always write alone, thought I sometimes do so surrounded by others (during lectures, for example).

11. What aspect of your writing do you think has most improved since you started writing? The first story I wrote was this: 'Kees wanted a chicken. He did not get a chicken. He did get a cat. He plays with the cat.' My plotting stayed somewhat the same, but I'd say I'm more creative with words now.

12. Your weaknesses as an author? I'm not that good at plot, and I can never finish a single thing.

13. Your strengths as an author? I like playing with words, which I think strengtens my descriptions. And I can create likable characters (I hope).

14. Do you make playlists for your work? No.

15. Why did you start writing? Well, the first time I ever wrote a story I was four, so I don't know. But when it moved from something all kids do to something that felt special to me, I think it was the need to escape and the need to explore. I was eleven, I disliked my life and I wanted to go on adventures.  

16. Are there any characters who haunt you? I've got some characters that have been with me for years, even though I still haven't written their stories. And their are characters types I somehow always end up writing, like two young kids, a shy boy and an adventurious girl. They come around in my work in different forms fairly often.

17. If you could give your fledgling author self any advice, what would it be? I am still a fledgling author, but I would advise myself not to be ashamed so much, and just enjoy having a passion. Let go of that perfection.

18. Were there any works you read that affected you so much that it influenced your writing style? What were they? I have this thing were I can copy a style pretty easily, but only just after reading it. It doesn't stick. I think my style is a combination of hundreds of books.

19. When it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, etc.? Endless lists, fifteen documents, drawing with colours and arrows.

20. Do you write in long sit-down sessions or in little spurts? Either, depending how much time I've got.

21. What do you think when you read over your older work? Most of it makes me cringe. I used to be horribly pretentious. But cringing means you've gotten better, right?

22. Are there subjects that make you uncomfortable to write? Among the things I actually want to write about, I mostly struggle with representing minorties that I do not belong do. I think it's hugely important to be diverse, but I' scared as hell of doing it wrong. So I tend to ask around a lot.

23. Any obscure life experiences that you feel have helped your writing? Maybe my dad? He loves fantasy and he's got a lot of swords, and he knows material arts. So I learned some usefull fighting techniques at young age and I could get easy information/access to swords.  

24. Have you ever become an expert on something you previously knew nothing about, in order to better a scene or a story? I always do a lot of research, so now I know, among other things, how to built a clock, the etiquettes of duelling and ervything about being epileptic in 1800.

25. Copy / paste a few sentences or a short paragraph that you’re particularly proud of.

Most of my scenes I only like in context of the full story, or because they sound nice (but I write in Dutch, so these are hard to translate). I guess I like this bit: 'Look, growing up with four brothers and sisters, you learn at a very young age that your toys are never yours. Sooner or later they are going to be broken by someone who shouldn't have had his hands on them in the first place. Same goes for your plans, mate. Someone will always fuck it up, no matter how many times you lock the door. You just gotta glue the arms were the legs are supposed to be and laugh about it.' I'll tag @sancta-silje, @gracebabcockwrites, @create-and-procrastinate, @dreamsofbooksandmonsters and @anightravensecho. Only if you guys want to!

10 Questions

Thanks so much for tagging me, @authorisada! I've been gaining a lot of new followers lately (yay!), so this is a good moment to talk some more about my WIP ^^. 1. Tell me something you love about your current WIP(s). I enjoy the sense of discovery I feel when writing this story. It had been a while since I had written any fantasy, and only now I notice how much I have missed it. The adventure, the magic, the feeling that everything is possible... Plus I really love the 1800's, so doing all kind of research on that period is very inspiring.

2. Three of your characters are coming with you on a road trip. Who are they and why did you pick them? If I'm picking characters from Elementary, I'd choose Bismuth, Zinc and Mercury. Bismuth is a general sweetheart ánd very responsible, so he would take great care of us travelers. Zinc is an explorer from his toes to his fingertips. He would somehow feel exactly which road to take to find the prettiest and most lonesome places. And Mercury is just the kind of guy you need when you are lying on a car in the middle of the night, having eaten nothing but old sandwiches, looking at the stars, thinking about life.  

3. How do you name your characters? I either spend four weeks scrolling through every single page of behindthename.com without ever finding the right name and settling for the one I started with, or I know the name of my character immidiatly and without doubt. There's no in between.

4. Which relationship do you write more of—romantic or platonic? Platonic. You can prey the misfits-to-family-trope from my cold, dead hands.

5. Has your main character(s) gone through any major changes through the course of your WIP? I think Tungsten has become a lot stronger and more secure. Though he is and always will be introverted and shy, I think he and I both discovered with quite a bit of surprise that he has a core made of iron.

6. Which tropes, if you’re aware of any, are in your WIP? Well, there is the misfits-to-family trope that I mentioned earlier. There is also a pretty and dangerous women (more than one, actually), a main character with extraordinairy strong magic (though he seldomly uses it) and probably some real bad romance cliches (because I can't write love but I also feel the need to write gay stuff). And I'm sure there are a thousend more, but I'm trying.

7. Favorite hero from any book/movie/etc.? That's impossible! I've always loved Maggie, from Heart of Inkt, and Liesel (and Rudy, and Max, and I just really love this book) from The Bookthief. Cormoran Strike from The Cormoran Strike mysteries is also lovely.  

8. Favorite villain from any book/movie/etc.? Littlefinger from Game of Thrones is an absolutely horrifying and genius bad guy.

9. What’s your favorite part of the writing process? Editing, honestly. I love going over my work seventeen times, changes sentences over and over till they sound just right.

10. What makes your story different and compelling for readers? The characters, I think. I try to bring interesting, lovable characters with good intentions and many flaws. A friend once told me she could feel how much I cared in anything I wrote, and because of that, my work always felt warm. I thought that was very sweet and exactly what I am aiming for. I believe in mankind, as fucked up as it might be, and I hope I can make people fall in love with living and with humans just a little bit.

I don’t know who to tag, but the questions are great, so just fill them in if you feel like it!

Last Sentence Tag Rules: Post the last sentence you wrote and then tag as many people as there are words.

Thanks so much for tagging me, @concealeddarkness13! From Elementary: “ 'If you promise not to yell, I'll let go of your throat, and we can have a talk.' “

Little bit of a cliche, but at least there is a cliffhanger to the ending of part 1!

That quite a long sentence, so I’ll just tag some people: @anightravensecho, @dreamsofbooksandmonsters, @ladyliliana, @andtheotherstars, @mj-writes, @lethalblizzard, @whatdoyoumeantheresonly3episodes, @knightedwriter, @panticwritten. No pressure, though!

HI! can you tell me about your fave oc? or first oc, or both? Maybe 1,3 and 14 for the questions.

Thanks so much for the questions! (I amgetting around to your moodboard as soon as I got my other laptopback :')) I will assume Cultor was my first real OC, becauseit's a little unclear when this all started, but all the others Iremember where either very vague or just me with a different name. Ican hardly choose a favorite OC, so I will just take the maincharacter of my currect WIP (who I do love, so there's that) ^^. 1.What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering(name, appearance, backstory, etc.)?First OC: I think thefirst thing I considered about Cultor was his race. He's a characterfrom a fantasy, and I made up a population group that was sort ofmaginalized. They consisted of people that were 'mixed': half humanand half elf, one/fifth troll and three quarters dwarf, that sort ofthing. For this story I made up a specific mythical being, which wascalled will-o'-the-wisp but was somethingnot-quite-feary-not-quite-human. His father was a human, his mothersuch a will-o'-the-wisp. Favorite OC: The first thing I found out about Tungsten was his dislike towards leaving stuff behind. His father works in a antique store and hegrew up surrounded by things that had once been precious, but werenow broken, forgotten and gathering dust. He would rather live a lifeon the outskirts of society, leaving no traces.  

2. How did you choose their name?First OC: Because I was eleven andstill believed all things have meaning, I looked up Latin words withtranslations that fitted Cultor as a person. If I remember correctly,his name means 'friend'. Favorite OC: Funny thing, becausethis whole story started with Tungsten's name and the names of histo-be friends. Sometime in the middle of high-school, I found this list in my chemistry book with theEnglish names of the first discovered elements. I am Dutch, so I didnot know these English names, and they struck me as quite beautiful.For some reason I thought they would make amazing stage names for agroup of traveling artists; the idea stuck, and here we are.    14. If you had to narrow it down to 2 things that you MUST keep inmind while working with your OC, what would those things be?FirstOC: Well, Cultor's father was the badguy (I was such an originalchild *ahum*), so his mental struggle about fighting his own dad waspretty important. The other would be his protective nature; he'sabout sixteen in the story, but he thinks himself quite an adult andhe is convinced he has to look out for everyone. Favorite OC:Tungsten's main goal is to find his place between the band of artistshe has just joined, so most of his actions are motivated by that.Further I think it's important to know that though he's quiet andshy, this never stops him from doing what he wants to do, tremblinghands and all.Thanks so much again!  

send me an ask directed at one of my ocs and i’ll answer it in-character

You all have such lovely Noah’s! I would like to join your Noah squad, if possible! Here’s some info on my Noah: * 12 years old * Blond hair sticking up in weird directions and grey eyes. He has a yellow raincoat that he likes wearing and a black backpack with a never ending collection of rope, sketchbooks, broken pencils, gum, paperclips, a slingshot, old cookies and change. * Always running * Loves trainstations because they are full of colors and smells and people and noise and life. * Only child * Befriends a twenty-something art student by running into him, toppling him over and almost destroying his latest painting * Can be very serious and mature for his age * Can also be very silly * Firmly believes that popcorn and crips should be eaten together, at the same time

I see you also have a Noah! What's your Noah like??

Yes! Welcome to the Noah Support Squad, t-shirts pending.

Noah Ramsey Facts:

18 years old

ISTJ, Gryffindor, Scorpio, etc. etc.

Light brown skin, dark brown hair, splotchy freckles that get more prominent every time the writer mentions them

Enjoys running

Majoring in exercise science

May or may not have killed his powerful, magically gifted grandmother

As a result, is cursed with messed-up magic - his mind sometimes decides to astral project without his body’s consent

Full of sarcasm

Rolls his eyes so much that they’ll probably get stuck that way

T1 diabetic

Twin to August Ramsey (he’s the younger twin, please don’t remind him)

Stubbornly independent

Follows the rules

Threatens to murder someone on a regular basis (though the thought of actually hurting anyone makes him sick)

Tries his best, but doesn’t know how to people sometimes

Please tell me about your Noah!!

For Imanol, who wants to leave, but only in theory 

Waterwegen [1/7] [2/7]  [3/7]  [4/7] 

@ocdevelopmentstuff asked for a moodboard for their soldier Aksel. Hope you like this one! Requests for OC aesthetics are open