OAQs! Occasionally Asked Questions: How Many Books Have I Written?
So I know I've mentioned a time or two that I don't get that many questions from my readers about the craft of writing. I do, however, get some questions about my personal writing. I thought today I'd answer a few of those. This post is less advice-y and more just about my personal experience, so be forewarned!
Occasionally Asked Question #1: Have You Ever Finished a Novel?
I've finished the first draft of a novel, yes. In fact, I've finished the first draft of a bunch of novels (there's a small chance there are one or two more that I've forgotten and deleted long ago.) The first book I ever set out to write, I finished, and I was twelve at the time so I'm a little proud of that. It was terrible, and if you don't believe me, you can read chapter one here. It turned out to be the first of many terrible novels that I finished, realized were terrible, and never went back to edit. So it kind of depends on your definition of "finished."
I don't really have any regrets about those projects, though. I learned so much more through the process of finishing those novels than I ever would have by just learning about the theory of novel writing, and by the time I finished each one, I felt like I had leveled up in a way, and grown.
In case you're interested, I'll list all the books I've written (that I can remember). This is only the books that have some sort of beginning, middle, and end... if I listed all the books I've started, this blog post would be 9 pages long and very depressing. This list is in order, as close as I could manage.
1. Cariadnae's Story-- the tale of a wingless fairy who ends up going on a quest to get her wings, and fight... a bad guy... Of some sort?
2. Cadushan's Quest-- the sequel, about Cariadnae's friend, and his adventures with... a squirrel, I want to say? It was a mess. Like, an even bigger mess.
3. The Haunting of Four Oaks-- a story about a young boy who starts seeing a ghost in his new town, and she tells him the story of who killed her over the course of the book, while he also deals with bullies and regular kid stuff. By the end of the book we find out she's not a ghost, she's been poisoned and she's in a coma and her "ghost" is an astral projection. (I was a... weird 13-year-old.)
4. The Emerald Ghost-- Ellory is a cleaning girl in a castle, and she gets swept up in a political controversy involving unethical mining practices and a forced marriage. This was my Sophomore project.
5. Dragon Cyrcle (not to be confused with Dragon Ryders, which was never finished. I loved dragons as much as I hated the letter "I," apparently).-- One that was lost to a corrupted hard drive. I'd love to re-read this but there are sadly no surviving copies. This story was about a farm girl, a magical land, and a severely misunderstood prophecy... and that's about all I remember. Except I do vividly remember writing a scene where she kisses a boy she doesn't like and compares it to kissing a dead fish. I had never kissed a boy at that point, but my summary would turn out to be pretty close to accurate.
6. Untitled Rat-Dragon Book-- This book had a title, but I can't remember what it was. This involved a girl, her pet rat, and her cousin, being transported to a Fantasy world where the prince believed she was his long-lost true love. Her rat turned into a dragon, her "true love" turned out to be her brother, and she fell in love with her adopted cousin. It was... a ride. (If you are one of my forever-long friends and remember this book, what on Earth was it called?)
7. Four Kisses for the End of the World-- finished this in college. I'm not even sure about making this into two entries, but the original version of this story was much, much different from the next draft, so I'm calling it two different books. Four Kisses followed thief and badass Natalie as she tries to find a cure for her mother's lung disease, as their biodome city collapses.
8. Meltdown-- my current WIP, which I'm about 70% finished with the second draft of. This one follows Natalie as she tries to regain her memory, escape a mental institution, and find a missing girl.
I'm 99% sure I'm forgetting a couple of early books... I have a vague memory of a couple of fairy-tale retellings that haven't made the list, but you get the picture. I was a Fantasy stan until college, when I switched over to Sci-Fi because I got tired of making up names.
Occasionally Asked Question #2: Are You Going to Finish Dragon Ryders/Insert Project Here?
I get asked this one often. "Dragon Ryders" was a work in progress about 15 years ago, back before I started my rule of not letting people see my work until it was finished (a rule I still break sometimes because I'm impatient and dumb). It was a story about a girl who pretends to be her twin brother to get into an all-boys dragon riding school, where she falls in love with her roommate and hatches a dragon egg. I'm sorry to the people who read this and liked it, but no, I have no plans to ever pick that story back up. Why? Because it was basically an Alanna fanfic.
Occasionally Asked Question #1: Have You Ever Finished a Novel?
I've finished the first draft of a novel, yes. In fact, I've finished the first draft of a bunch of novels (there's a small chance there are one or two more that I've forgotten and deleted long ago.) The first book I ever set out to write, I finished, and I was twelve at the time so I'm a little proud of that. It was terrible, and if you don't believe me, you can read chapter one here. It turned out to be the first of many terrible novels that I finished, realized were terrible, and never went back to edit. So it kind of depends on your definition of "finished."
I don't really have any regrets about those projects, though. I learned so much more through the process of finishing those novels than I ever would have by just learning about the theory of novel writing, and by the time I finished each one, I felt like I had leveled up in a way, and grown.
In case you're interested, I'll list all the books I've written (that I can remember). This is only the books that have some sort of beginning, middle, and end... if I listed all the books I've started, this blog post would be 9 pages long and very depressing. This list is in order, as close as I could manage.
1. Cariadnae's Story-- the tale of a wingless fairy who ends up going on a quest to get her wings, and fight... a bad guy... Of some sort?
2. Cadushan's Quest-- the sequel, about Cariadnae's friend, and his adventures with... a squirrel, I want to say? It was a mess. Like, an even bigger mess.
3. The Haunting of Four Oaks-- a story about a young boy who starts seeing a ghost in his new town, and she tells him the story of who killed her over the course of the book, while he also deals with bullies and regular kid stuff. By the end of the book we find out she's not a ghost, she's been poisoned and she's in a coma and her "ghost" is an astral projection. (I was a... weird 13-year-old.)
4. The Emerald Ghost-- Ellory is a cleaning girl in a castle, and she gets swept up in a political controversy involving unethical mining practices and a forced marriage. This was my Sophomore project.
5. Dragon Cyrcle (not to be confused with Dragon Ryders, which was never finished. I loved dragons as much as I hated the letter "I," apparently).-- One that was lost to a corrupted hard drive. I'd love to re-read this but there are sadly no surviving copies. This story was about a farm girl, a magical land, and a severely misunderstood prophecy... and that's about all I remember. Except I do vividly remember writing a scene where she kisses a boy she doesn't like and compares it to kissing a dead fish. I had never kissed a boy at that point, but my summary would turn out to be pretty close to accurate.
6. Untitled Rat-Dragon Book-- This book had a title, but I can't remember what it was. This involved a girl, her pet rat, and her cousin, being transported to a Fantasy world where the prince believed she was his long-lost true love. Her rat turned into a dragon, her "true love" turned out to be her brother, and she fell in love with her adopted cousin. It was... a ride. (If you are one of my forever-long friends and remember this book, what on Earth was it called?)
7. Four Kisses for the End of the World-- finished this in college. I'm not even sure about making this into two entries, but the original version of this story was much, much different from the next draft, so I'm calling it two different books. Four Kisses followed thief and badass Natalie as she tries to find a cure for her mother's lung disease, as their biodome city collapses.
8. Meltdown-- my current WIP, which I'm about 70% finished with the second draft of. This one follows Natalie as she tries to regain her memory, escape a mental institution, and find a missing girl.
I'm 99% sure I'm forgetting a couple of early books... I have a vague memory of a couple of fairy-tale retellings that haven't made the list, but you get the picture. I was a Fantasy stan until college, when I switched over to Sci-Fi because I got tired of making up names.
Occasionally Asked Question #2: Are You Going to Finish Dragon Ryders/Insert Project Here?
I get asked this one often. "Dragon Ryders" was a work in progress about 15 years ago, back before I started my rule of not letting people see my work until it was finished (a rule I still break sometimes because I'm impatient and dumb). It was a story about a girl who pretends to be her twin brother to get into an all-boys dragon riding school, where she falls in love with her roommate and hatches a dragon egg. I'm sorry to the people who read this and liked it, but no, I have no plans to ever pick that story back up. Why? Because it was basically an Alanna fanfic.
Tamora Pierce already told that story, far more masterfully than I ever could.
Other WIPs I've gotten this question about, and the tentatively definitive answers:
The Protector's Mistake
This was a story idea about a girl who disguises herself as an old woman in the woods, to test the men who come to court her sister. Her sister has a curse on her that forces every man to fall in love with her, which becomes quite dangerous. I liked this idea, but it's just too similar to both "The Hushabye Queen" and aspects of "Meltdown," so I doubt I'll return to it.
House of Stones
A story about a young orphan girl who is raised by her mother's employers, a rich family who live in a haunted mansion. They treat her terribly her whole life, except for the oldest son, who is always kind to her, and who she becomes obsessed with. When the patriarch dies, his will reveals that the orphan girl is in fact his daughter, and leaves everything to her, so she has to decide whether to accept her inheritance and come to terms with having had a crush on her half-brother for most of her life, or walk away from the house and all its secrets.
I will definitely be finishing this story, at some point. I doubt it will keep that title, though.
Untitled Doll Shop Project
A woman named Jane can't have children, but she loves babies, so she dedicates her life to doll-making. She gets really into making reborn babies, and her work is very popular, especially with other women who struggle with fertility. One day, though, all of Jane's dolls come to life, and suddenly, they're all real babies.
I could never figure out how to make this not a horror, so, barring more inspiration, no, I probably won't finish this.
La Cle de Barbe Bleu
Or, "Bluebeard's Key." A Historical gothic romance about a governess, a series of mysterious deaths, and a brooding widower. I almost put this on my list of completed projects, because I wrote 75% of the novel, and then wrote a whole screenplay, which I feel like almost adds up to done. I will definitely be returning to this story.
Occasionally Asked Question #3: Are You Going to Use a Pen Name?
Probably. If you've read this far, you might have noticed that I want to write across some pretty diverse genres, and I think it might be less confusing for readers if each genre I write in had a different pen name. Some people get away with writing broadly under the same name, but if I want to dabble in, say, Christian Romance, that's gonna need to happen under a different name than my action-heavy, violent, Science Fiction.
Occasionally Asked Questions #4: Can I Read Something You've Written?
Sure! To facilitate that, here are some easy links to fiction I've put up on the blog.
Short Story: Sinners (previously published on a website that I cannot for the life of me remember the name of that has since gone down; hopefully, no correlation there)
I will also be putting up the first chapter of "Meltdown" once it's finalized, as a teaser for you guys, and some sections of my NaNoWriMo novel will probably get put up, too.
I currently have no plans to ever share my poetry here or anywhere public, so we can all breathe a sigh of relief about that.
Occasionally Asked Question #5: Will You Beta/Proofread/Critique My Essay/Application/Short Story/Novel?
It depends! I'm pretty open to doing some amateur editing, and I've been a writing tutor, an English teacher, and a freelance writer, so I have a pretty good grasp on the technical aspects of editing. However, how quickly I respond will always depend on what else I have going on, whether I know you, and whether your project appeals to me. You're welcome to PM me or email me (see the "Contact Me" section) to ask about editing services, or propose a critique partner or beta swap situation.
Well, that's all the Infrequently Asked Personal Questions I can remember for today, and if you've made it all the way to the end of this very rambling post, you are awesome. Please like and share on social media, follow me by email if you haven't, and have an amazing day.
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