FOR EVERY LIKE I’LL ANSWER: QUESTIONS 7 – 10

https://ardinpatterson.wordpress.com/2020/11/01/for-every-like-ill-answer-writers-edition/

Continuing from the list created by @mouthyjen, I’ll be answering questions 7 to 10!

7. What’s your favourite tense to write in?

I’m not sure if I have a favourite. I alternate between first and third person POV’s depending on what works best for the story I’m trying to tell. I do the same with tenses. It just depends on the project.

8. Do you write romance in your projects? What kind?

I do. Not always but I’d say probably 80% of my books have some kind of romance. Honestly the majority of what I’ve written between middle school and university has a sprinkle of romance in it…off the top of my head there’s only 2 books that I’ve written one in middle school and one in university that focused more on friendships and family relationships…everything else I’m thinking of has had a love interest. I think I just like having cute moments between my characters. Funny enough, most of the romance I read is manga…but I do enjoy romance subplots in novels as well.

9. What inspired your recent project?

The inspiration for Vermin came from a dream I had after mulling over what to submit for my creative writing assignment. This isn’t the first time a dream has saved me before a deadline for one of my creative writing courses…but I was so stressed out and kept writing out random pieces of things and nothing was clicking. A few days before my deadline, I had this dream which part of ended up being the first chapter of the book.

What I submitted for my assignment however features an adult Nicholas. The dream was long, and the assignment was a short story, so I ended up only submitting that portion of my dream instead.

10. Is it hard for you to kill your darlings?

Thirteen-year-old Ardin would’ve said, “Absolutely not,” however I’m in my twenties now and after having angered many friends of mine who read my earlier unpublished works throughout school, I would say it gotten harder.

When I was younger, I firmly believed in the phrase, “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader,” so whenever I felt a strong connection to a character I figured that the readers would most likely feel the same way. However, I also learned after killing off a favourite character in a series I’d written back in the day, that its very cruel to put your readers through that…and so I revived the character.

In more recent years, I’ve managed to kill characters off without feeling the need to miraculously bring them back to life…I do miss them when they’re gone though. It hurts and I do cry…but I also feel sad when I get to the end of a story I’m working on.

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Well, I’m off to catch up on some reading! Feel free to check out my recent blog posts, and if you’re into YA Paranormal Urban Fantasy books, check out Vermin!

Songs from Vermin

As promised, yesterday the EP Songs from Vermin released onto streaming platforms, along with the single Loneliness. I had so much fun recording all of these, and prepping them to release for my birthday. Now readers can listen to the songs that appear in The Vermin Series before the sequels come out, which is so…

by Ardin Patterson March 27, 2023

The Last Song by Ardin Patterson

My latest track just released, you can listen to it on most streaming platforms. I had a lot of fun singing this one. It gave me old Paramore vibes. This song like many others was written for my nieces doll’s band. Hope you like it! More music comes out on Sunday (My Birthday!) so please…

by Ardin Patterson March 23, 2023

The Vermin Series Book 2: What You Need to Know

If you have yet to read book one in the series, I will do my best not to spoil anything with this post, and of course if you’d like to read it, you can find it here: Thank you to those of you who have been so patient, waiting for the release date announcement. I…

by Ardin Patterson March 22, 2023March 9, 2023

For Every Like I’ll Answer: Questions 7 – 10

Howdy there friends! I’m answering questions from the Writer’s Edition of For Every Like I’ll Answer! Woo!

In this post I’ll be answering questions 7 to 10. If you’re interested in doing this on your own blog, Twitter, YouTube etc…there will be a link below. Also feel free to answer the questions yourself in the comments!

7. What’s your favourite tense to write in?

I usually write in past tense, however I did attempt to go outside of my comfort zone and write in present tense. You can check out that post here! Honestly, it made me feel as though I was going cross eyed. I think I’ll try it again someday. I like to play around with different styles and genres. It definitely didn’t go well but at least I gave it the good old fashioned try!

8. Do you write romance in your projects? What kind?

I hate to admit it but yes. I don’t intend for it to happen but alas, my character’s sometimes end up in relationships. On rare occasions my character’s have a love interest while I’m planning the book but normally it happens during the actual writing process. I personally blame my shojo manga obsession. It’s all romance. It’s the only romance I intentionally read. Sad huh?

The type of romance that I write tends to be on the milder side. It depends on the ages of the character’s their personalities and how important their relationship is in comparison to the plot. For example, if two character’s being together will ultimately save the world from devastation, then they’ll obviously confess their feelings and end up together at some point.

Most of the time my character’s have crushes on people. It’s awkward and I wish them the best as they navigate through their feelings.

9. What inspired your recent project?

It all started when I was in the 12th grade. I needed to write a piece for my creative writing class. One night I went to bed and had a dream about a little girl with a red dress named Rose who lived in a large old house with her uncle. She told me a really sad story of her best friend Nicholas, who had grown up. I woke up and ended up writing the story for class.

The story I wrote for class turned into a novel series.

I have not had a dream about Rose or Nicholas since though. Isn’t that odd?

10. Is it hard for you to kill your darlings?

Yes but no. It depends on the character. Sadly, I get attached to all of them. Even the ones I hate! Have you ever loved to hate a character? That’s what happens to me. I’ve cried after killing off a character. It wasn’t hard to do or anything–which sounds creepy–I used to kill character’s off all the time when I was a kid. It’s just that after I really miss them. It’s almost like having a close friend move away.

As promised, you can find the link to the original post with all of the questions here.

I am once again on break from work because of the pandemic, but I’m trying to make the most of it. It snowed just in time for Christmas and I got to snuggle up in my nice new blanket. I luckily got some books for Christmas so I’ll be reading those during the lock down and working on book 2 until I get word about the next step for my debut novel.

I may create another list of blog prompts during this time too so that I can entertain myself. Perhaps I’ll share my favourite reads of the year?

For Every Like I’ll Answer: Questions 5 & 6

Sorry for being a bit quiet lately. I had some stuff going on.

Thankfully things seem to be getting better!

Now onto answering questions 5 and 6 from my post.

Over writer, under writer, or just right?

I do a mixture. Sometimes I write too much and cut out the unnecessary details and other times…mainly when I’m trying not to reveal too much to the reader I’ll under write. I’d love to say that I always get a scene “just right” but even when I’m mostly satisfied with what I’ve written, I still edit them just as I would with any other.

Which is your favourite part of the writing process: planning, drafting or revising?

I absolutely love, love, love the planning process. I probably spend most of my time planning (aside from writing and editing). It’s when I can let my imagination free and build upon the layers of my story!

I like deciding on the settings, the characters, the rules of the world…and then building upon that. Usually I’ll do a mixture of research and imagination at this stage. Sometimes I do even more research during the drafting and revisions!

I just have so much fun with this part.

Answering Questions 1-4: Writer’s Edition

I thought it would be fun to start off NANOWRIMO with this fun post I saw circulating on Twitter. So far the post has 4 likes, so I’ll be answering the first 4 questions. Each like equals one answer! I don’t think I’ve done one of these since back in the old days when my friends and I used to send chain mail to each other.

So, let’s get to it!

Question #1: What Genre do you write in?

Genre is one of my favourite things to explore as a writer. Over the years I’ve played around with sci-fi, fantasy, contemporary, adventure, children’s literature, horror…etc. Most of my work tends to blend genres. I write things that I would enjoy as a reader and if others enjoy them too then that’s fantastic.

What genres I like to read changes often. Currently I’m reading a modern Gothic lit’, a shojo romance series, poetry and contemporary lit which would probably fall under a general fiction category. I also like to write historical fiction…but with a twist.

Question #2: How many projects have you started?

I don’t even know how to answer this question. A lot. The follow up question scares me more. I’d say recently I’ve started around 10 projects. By starting I mean I’ve got the synopsis and characters laid out and a couple introductory chapters done. These are projects I’ve been working on between 2013 and 2020. My debut novel is included among this list.

Aside from that there are the many…many pre-2013 projects. One is a 7 book series that’s been put on hiatus if any of my friends ask. It needs a lot of work. The others dwindled off after about 3 to 5 chapters. I usually know if I’m connecting to a story by then. Doesn’t mean I’ll never return to the story or characters but at the time my skill level as a writer and my knowledge as…well a person…just wasn’t at the right point.

Question #3: How many projects have you completed?

Completed projects…ehhhhhhh. Haha. Okay so for my debut series I’ve completed 1 and a half of the first two books. Book 1 is being prepped for publication so the editing of the first draft of its sequel is currently on hold.

As for those other 10 projects they’re either 50% complete or still in the early planning stages. I basically schedule out which projects receive my attention. Last NANOWRIMO I finished the draft for book 2 for example. I began rewriting and arranging it at the start of 2020 but have now prioritized getting the first book ready for publication.

During my off periods…and by that I mean when I’m working on projects that haven’t been given a deadline…I spend time researching, writing and building my other works. It saves me time down the road and allows me to get to know my characters.

Question #4: Planner, Pantser or Plantser?

I am a…Plantser. It honestly depends on my mood. I could spend hours researching, organizing my notes, getting every last detail in…or other times I sit down and write out whatever comes to me. The majority of the time I might write out a single chapter without any planning whatsoever and then begin my planning stages. I try to give my characters names as I’m writing that introductory chapter. I find that once they have a name, they’re more alive.

It started snowing today…well technically it started hailing and then it snowed. I’m glad I got my winter clothes out early. I may need to invest in some more sweaters for work though.

For Every Like I’ll Answer: Writer’s Edition!

Character Interview Questions

For yesterday’s prompt I was to compile a list of questions to ask my OC’s. I used The Me Journal by Shane Windham as inspiration for some of these question. I also like using it when I want to work on character building.

Question 1: Where is your favourite place to be alone and why?

Question 2: What is your favourite holiday?

Question 3: Describe your family in 8 words.

Question 4: What is something that people make fun of you for?

Question 5: What i the most memorable untrue rumour that has ever been spread about you?

Question 6: Do you have any nicknames? If so which is your favourite and which ones do you hate?

Question 7: What are 3 things that you would never do?

Question 8: What’s been on your mind lately?

Question 9: What is your favourite season and why?

Question 10: What do you want to be remembered for?

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