22, 39, 62, 71 for ask game
Hi Pixel! You always ask the best questions :}
22) Are there certain types of writing you won't do? (style, genre, tropes, pov, etc)
I will never EVER write in second person or current tense. The fact that there are actual published books written in present tense shocks me because it just feels... wrong. There are times and places for that (like on here) but telling a story is not that time.
I also won't do smut of any kind. And for personal and family reasons, I won't include self harm or suicide in my writing at all. Those are lines I draw and will never cross.
If you catch me writing a fic in present tense you have my full permission to gun me down right then and there.
39) Share a snippet from a WIP
Always eager to see more? I COULD share the page and a half that's literally nothing but ticking, but I'll be nice and give you a cute turtle tots flashback.
62) Thoughts on cliffhangers?
Love writing them, hate being on the other end of them.
In the past, I've been a victim of 'cliffhangers for the sake of cliffhangers' (cough kotlc cough) so I try to give mine a purpose. I write what's necessary for the chapter. I felt SO BAD leaving y'all off on the cliffhanger between chapters 14 and 15, but I needed to split them up for narrative reasons. But the chapter 18 cliffhanger, for example, was very evil of me and brought me joy >:)
I think they're useful to elicit strong emotions and to make people eager to come back, but overusing them is just mean.
71) When it comes to complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timelines, etc?
I have a notes document, currently 113 pages long. It has the og draft for Spider's Web on it (would you believe me if I said the entire plot outline was written in one day?) , cut scenes, rants about what Big Mama is thinking throughout certain scenes, color coded charts, and every idea that hits me that I just NEED to write down.
Four turtles, two humans, one rat, one sheep dude, one spider lady, and SO many Yokai are a lot of characters to keep track of. In addition, I had to keep track of the passage of time, Leo and Donnie's mental states, and account for the wear and tear of injuries.
But my main piece of advice for keeping track of things is to not spend too much time focusing on tiny little details. If I can get a general idea of how Mikey has been feeling, or how long it was between fights, or when exactly Viper needs to come back, that leaves more room for me to adjust how characters are feeling based on what's happening in the current moment.
