So I was tagged by the lovely @candlelitwriting. Thank you so much by the way! And away we go with a snippet from my current wip! The True Story of Alice (TTSoA)

Alice laughed it off, smoothing her sister’s creased forehead with her thumb, “Oh relax. I can handle myself. And besides, we have great service out here. I’ll only be a phone call away. And we’ll even videochat when you guys get off the plane. I promise.” That was part of the stipulation for Alice being allowed to do this at all. She had to check in and often. Her grandfather’s only rule for the summer. She gave her sister one last hug and sent her off to get in the car. They were all on a schedule after all.

And speaking of her grandfather, the old man was busy arranging for monthly food deliveries and anything else that he thought she might need during the summer. When he finally put away his phone, he waved her over. Alice felt as though she’d rather face an entire firing squad. But she obeyed.

Translated from English to French to German to Arabic to Korean to Slovian to Indonesian to Latin and back!  

It 'wrinkles in his forehead, and his sister, Alice is in a laughing-stock. "Oh, it is well, I am well. There is a great job they did here, and I promise that if you get on the plane." Some laws must be allowed to enroll John was often in the summer. In order to do that. All on alcohol.

When the grandfather of six months of work in the summer to try to make food. When he laid out his cell phone until the end. Alice wants to fit in practicing these statements. But listening.

Here’s the proposal: I’m gonna give all my characters an emoji. And maybe you guys will send me an emoji (or two) and I’ll tell you some good stuff about my characters.

📷Alice

🦋Alison

🐶Jodie

🥀Ellory

🌱Kazia

👻Haru

🗡Maverick

💎Orial

🏳️‍🌈Yvette

💋Quincy

👑Bayard

👠Natalie

⏰Grandpa Charmaine

So I was tagged in this forever ago by @silvertalonwriteblr and I saved it for later when I had more time and then forgot about it. Well I've remembered and here we go! I'm gonna use the characters from The True Story of Alice.

Someone tells your characters, "I'd die for you."

"Then Perish": Maverick, Bayard

"You Will": Natalie, without even glancing up from her phone.

"Please Don't": Jodie, Alice 

"Cool": Oriel

"I'd Die For You First": Kazia, Alison

And the additions:

"Then We Die Together": Ellory, Quincy. Ellory would be serious. Quincy would probably be joking. 

I have GOT to start paying attention to when people tag me in things. But anyways. I was tagged by @silvertalonwriteblr to do this. And oh boy, do you ask some good questions. Let’s go. I’m seriously trying to focus on The True Story of Alice (Shortened to TTSoA for convienence.) so most of my answers will be about it.

1. How do you go about doing your first revision?

Bold of you to assume that I revise. Actually no, in all seriousness I haven’t made it that far. I’m still working on a completed first draft. (I’m on attempt #3 of the first draft for TTSoA.)

2. What do you come up with first: plot or characters?

Honestly, that really depends. Sometimes the plot comes and then I create characters around that. And then sometimes I just have this character nagging me until I just have to know what their story is. TTSoA is the result of the former. I wanted to write an adventure into the land of the fairies and developed Alice from there.

3. Is your MC now the same as what you had at the start?

Alice has honestly came a long way, I feel. I feel like she’s kept this unwavering belief that really makes her character. But she’s changed a lot. When I started, she was angry, immature, and very determined to prove her grandfather that she’s right for the sake of proving him wrong about something. Now she’s definitely not angry. She wants to prove that she’s right, but in a more seeking approval kind of way. It’s like she wants to prove that she’s not a silly little girl that believes in fairies. But a young adult will stand by her beliefs. Her relationships with her family members, especially her grandfather, have improved dramatically. She still has a ways to go before she’s completely a mature adult but she’s definitely matured. And she’ll continue to mature throughout her journey, I hope.

4. Are any of your characters still using placeholder names? How long has that been going on?

I usually don’t use placeholder names believe it or not. I tend to obsess over finding the right names, and can’t settle for anything less. But I do have at least one character with a placeholder name in TTSoA. Her name right now is Alison. And it’s been like that since I started attempt number three of the first draft. So not very long.

5. Have you ever used a plot point off a randomizer and had it stick?

No. Like I definitely enjoy using the randomizers, it’s perfect for a quick prompt to get my writer brain working. But I’ve never gotten anything concrete out of it.

6. How is your WIP different from how you initially envisioned?

Oh my goodness, the story has changed so much. My baddie actually has a motive. The plot is the same, but the path that the characters are taking to move the plot along is so different from where I started. Alice has an actually reason to get involved with the plot other than “Hey, I’m here. So let’s get involved with a dangerous task to stop an evil fairy from crashing our worlds together instead of leaving it to, well I don’t know, an actual adult?” I love how the story has changed. It’s breathed so much life both into the world and the characters.

7. Do you have any OCs that you genuinely hate?

No. Like I’ve had some that I started out hating because I only gave them negative traits and no real personality. But once they got fleshed out, it was like I didn’t condone their actions but I can’t hate them because they’re one of my babies. And they should be protected. Like Maverick for instance. He was originally just this big bad fairy that killed two of the sweetest cinnamon rolls in the story to crash two worlds together. But he’s grown to be a very charming character even if he is the villain.

8. One bad writing habit that you have?

Other than never actually writing? I tend to build my characters up so much that I put off doing anything bad to them because I’m so attached that I don’t wanna hurt them. Especially when it involves killing off a character that I’ve really come to love.

9. Give us a quick rundown on your main cast’s dynamic. (The messier, the better.)

Buckle up. Because here we go!

Alice is the reincarnation of her great-however-many-great grandmother Alison. Who left a journal about her life behind and is the reason that Alice is even in this mess basically. Alison is also the ex-fiancé of Ellory. Who is an elf. And he’s-well he has a lot of feelings. Especially centered around Alison and Maverick. And Maverick is the big bad. He’s the elf that escaped exile and wants to completely merge the fairy realm with the human realm. Sounds like a scary bloke, right? Nope. He’s charming as shit. And to hear him talk, you could totally understand where he’s coming from. And then there’s Haru. A sweet cinnamon roll of a Seelie that couldn’t hurt a flea. Basically the baby out of the group of fairy reps. Orial the tough gal that she is really has a soft spot for him, ofc. She’s a dwarf, and generally the call to action. Then we have Kazia who is the mom/big sister of the group. She’s a dryad and is also a cinnamon roll. She’s sweet and excitable. Next, we’ve got Yvette the Vampyre Babe. She really can’t be bothered with... anything. She just wants to talk about her girlfriend most of the time. And last but not least, we have little Jodie, one of Alice’s little sisters. She’s a sensitive soul and absolutely loves animals. She wants to be a vet. And Alice is basically her world. And yeah, that’s my cast.

10. Which of your traits do you see in your characters a lot?

STUBBORNNESS. Oh my goodness, I am such a stubborn person. And I have so many stubborn characters. Like that’s one of the most common traits among my characters. But that’s also right up there with being a hopeless romantic. I am a total sap. And my characters tend to reflect that. I do have some that don’t have a romantic bone in their body. But a lot of the time, my characters end up being these awkward but hopeless romantics. And they’re basically a guilty pleasure of mine, because I’d love to have someone like my characters to come in and just sweep me off my feet.

And I’m going to tag @candlelitwriting, @ladycalliopemoon, @whimsicalace, and @thatsmybluefondue. If you feel up for it, if not then just carry on.

And here’s my questions for you all.

1. What song would you use to describe your MC?

2. What was the inspiration for your main WIP?

3. We won’t tell your characters but who’s your favorite?

4. What’s your process or routine for getting ready to sit down to write?

5. What’s your favorite trope or cliche?

6. Which one of your WIPs would you most/least want to be transported in to?

7. What’s the hardest part about writing to you?

8. Have you ever based a character on a person you know in real life?

9. What book would you love to see turned into a movie or tv series?

Alice meets Ellory for the first time and knees him right where the sun doesn’t shine. Then she proceeds to lock herself in HIS bedroom.

It shouldn’t be that funny. But I got a good solid five minute giggle out of this.