#ask flamey

Going backwards to be cool, I see your game.

50 : Would you rather be remembered for your fantastic world-building or your lifelike characters?

I think characters. I do a lot of worldbuilding and I think I’m decently good at it, but I’m much more intrested in making people feel things about my ships and relationships between characters and I think really lifelike characters are more useful for that? On the other hand I dunno if lifelike is needed to be enjoyable to ship? I dunno. SHIP MY CHARACTERS!

41 : Do you find it distracting to read while you’re writing a first draft?

Yes. I notice my “serious” reading dies when I’m actively working on a story. Even after the first draft. I can’t fall in love with another world because I’m having an affair with my own.

That said, you’ll drag my erotica from my cold, pruney fingers. (I’m gross.)

38 : What’s one piece of writing advice you try--but fail--to follow?

Turn off the inner editor and just write. Write for just yourself, fuck everyone else. Write with the door closed.

1. He’s always lying.

Bonus! Yay!

26: How they feel sleeping under the stars.

That is so sweet! Though if it’s in high school, I was not quiet. In high school a common thing a teacher said was, “Does anyone who’s not Nica want to answer?” I was a TALKER.

14 : Do you have a favorite writing-related quote?

The entirety of Neil Gaiman’s “Make Good Art” speech. (x) Especially in this day and age seems important.

19 : Would you rather live in your characters’ world, or have your characters come live in our world?

Depends on if I get magic or not. I would risk everything to have goddamn firepowers. I want them. Give me to me. Let me control fire please. Otherwise, come into my less deadly world. I suppose.

28 : On a scale of 1-10, how much do you stress about choosing character names?

7. I find names very important and want them to mean things and sound cool and be unique. I want them to be appropraite for the nationality of the character and have a good flow. Sometimes names find me and it makes me fall in love. I wrote One Good Deed literally because I found the main character’s name. Originally she was Gwen (and white) but then Gwen became a radically different character and I wanted to go back to One Good Deed and edit it but Gwen no longer fit the novel. Then knowing her full name (Guinevere) I thought of calling her “Vere” instead of Gwen and suddenly I had the heroine my novel needed. Likewise, Radick, the hero, I have NO clue where I got that name from now. It’s not a common name in the least. But there we go.

Maybe someday someone will name their kid that and it will get common. That’d be cool.

40 : What would you ask your favorite author if given one question?

Yo, can you give your agent this manuscript and encourage them to read it? Thank, bro.

9 : What do you struggle most with as a writer?

Any and all prewriting. I’m awful at building seeds into full stories. I’m awful at knowing what to research and doing the research right. I hate making character profiles and doing outline. I just want to write. But all that is so important and it’s how books get finished is by doing the hard work at the beginning. I just hate it.

Then again, I kind of think I hate every stage of writing I’m currently at and the next stage is always the stage I want to be at. Because when I’m doing first drafts I often thinking longingly of second drafts. And second drafts make me dream of final edits. So yeah.

12 : Is your writing space clean or cluttered?

Cluttered ish. I write at my main desk where I relax (which I’d love to not) and so it always has a crochet project, generally a snack and just...shit I keep within arms reach for no reason. But I generally keep the front area a little clean.

Ideal writing space is when I have a laptop so I can curl into a couch. I love having my screen right up near my face when I’m writing and then it doesn’t matter how dirty a place is, because all that exists is me and the screen.

17 : Do you make soundtracks for each story?

Ha! I wish. I’m not good at...music. Like the whole thing. I don’t listen to a lot. What I do listen to is rather random. I tend to just like what I like and everything else is bleh. I want lyrics to be very literally focused on my characters and I don’t see how people can have instrumentals be for their story at all. Like how they pick it out.

My YA trilogy One Good Deed does have a playlist but that’s been in the making for nearly a decade now. My other stories might get a song or two if I’m lucky.

That said, someone making me a soundtrack is a DREAM of mine.

22 : Has your own writing ever made you cry?

I have cried from writing a lot. I’ve cried because it’s awful. I’ve cried because I’m no good. I’ve cried because I spent most of my life declaring myself a person who does one thing and then I did not do that one thing and so I had no clue who I was, because a writer writes and I am not writing and if I am not writing then I am not a writer and if I am not a writer then what am I even doing?

But I don’t think I’ve ever read my words and cried. But I don’t cry much at writing.

I used https://www.mindmeister.com. It’s easy to use but I’m not in love with it. This is my first time really using a mind map, so I’m not an expert. Next time, I’m probably going to search around to see if I like this the most or if there’s something else I’d like.