I Answered Your Questions – 100 Subscribers Special! ✨ (favorites + struggles + WIPs)

You probably won’t remember this, but a few months ago, 16 of you sent in some of the best questions ever for my 100 subscribers celebration. AND TODAY I FINALLY ANSWERED THEM. 

Yes, this blog surpassed 100 subscribers!!! 🎉🎊✨ Thank you all so much for all the support and love you’ve given me!!! <333 (In honor of this milestone, I’m working on a long-overdue book page, featuring my works-in-progress and my as-of-yet one published work! 😉)

But first, this Q&A! This is part 1 of two parts – the second coming in a few days, Lord willing!

Now, let’s dive straight into this, shall we? 🍿🍵

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the questions – pt. 1

Emma Thrasher’s questions!

If you had $100,000 given to you, what would you do with it? 

Save some for future expenses, give to causes I whole-heartedly support, and spend some on things related to writing, to music, and clothes, because…I love clothes. 🤣 Oh, and books. Let’s try that again: BOOKS!!!!!!

What is the best piece of writing advice anyone ever gave you? 

Hmmm. That’s a challenging question, because I’ve come across so much good writing advice. 😅 But something basic that has stuck with me is to write what God calls you to write. It’s the most important thing to remember. I might or might not be a bestselling author, but I believe good will come out of my efforts to write the stories He’s calling me to write – specifically, to write about the themes that He’s laying on my heart.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Ooo, that’s an interesting question! I imagine I’ll have published about three novels by that time, and I’ll probably still be blogging, just more routinely/consistently. I probably will have branched out into YouTube, with an author channel. What else…I might be working on Book 3 for the series Project Gillory might become, or the series my fantasy WIP might become. Ya never know. I want to release some original music and make covers, and fully expect to have begun doing that before I turn 22 or 23 (just because I love songwriting and singing). I hope to have a business on the side, providing editing services for novelists, something like that. 

Of course, I’m going to come back to this in five years and shake my head at Younger Me’s lofty aspirations.  😂

Emily’s questions!

If you could have 3 fictional characters over for dinner, who would you invite?

GIRL. You’re forcing me to choose just three fictional characters? 😭 I’ll first use charries from my own WIPs: Gillory Durand, Ean West, and Laura Durand.

Now from other books: Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables), Janner Wingfeather (The Wingfeather Saga), and Elizabeth Bennet (Pride and Prejudice). 

I spent way too long trying to answer this question, and sadly, I’m not satisfied with my answer. *sighs* I can’t convince myself it’s not the most serious thing in the world. *apologizes to every other beloved character I could have chosen but didn’t*

What’s your favorite movie based off of a book?

Lord of the Rings! That’s one of my favorite movie adaptations! (The 1985 Anne of Green Gables, Narnia movies, both Pride and Prejudice movies, and The Magic of Ordinary Days are also incredible!) 

What do you struggle with most during the writing process? (i.e. grammar, naming characters, the ending, etc.)

The ending. Is. So. Hard. I always second-guess the ending. Because there are a million different paths I could take with it. I also often struggle with staying connected to the characters. At times, it can be rather emotionally exhausting to keep my heart really deeply knit to the characters and feel their pain and the emotions they feel. But that produces my best work, without fail – when I don’t have to force it, that is. 

Honestly, it’s how I imagine acting would be. You need to feel these emotions – you can’t fake it, or it falls flat.

Does anyone else relate to that?

*crickets chirp*

Madisyn Carlin’s questions!

What are your top five character ships?

Phoebe + Barnabas from Karen Witemyer’s Inn for a Surprise, Darcy + Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice, Cartier + Brienna from The Queen’s Rising, Parvin + Solomon from A Time to Die, and Matthew + Mirelles from Yours is the Night. 

Let it be noted, there are many contenders, but those are the ones that first jumped to my mind!

What are your top five favorite books you read in 2022?

Goodreads says I only read 22 books in 2023. There is no way that’s even remotely possible. (I just do a bad job keeping my Goodreads book statuses up to date 😅) I’d say my top five favorite reads of the year were: Wishtress (Nadine Brandes), the Grace Sufficient series (Vanessa Hall and yes, a series counts), Bound and Determined (Grace A. Johnson), A Hope Undaunted (Julie Lessman), and Shattered Reflection (Madisyn Carlin). 

Let it be known that I hate choosing favorites of books/fictional characters. It’s nearly impossible. There are about twenty other gems I absolutely loved and could’ve listed as my top five. 😭

What tropes would you like to see more of?

• Love triangles. *hears the groans of readers* I mean, good love triangles where you don’t truly know which person the MC will end up with. The angst is so delicious.
• Redemption arcs. Need I say more?
• The sassy/sarcastic mentor with blunt advice
• Unpredictable marriage-of-conveniences
• The ragtag band of rebels/heroes

Of all the characters you’ve written, who is your top favorite?

And I thought trying to choose books was hard enough.

I’ll answer this based on which I’d have the most fun with in real life. *thinks* Y’all, I have no idea why I want to say Websten from a fantasy WIP. I haven’t even (yet) developed him as richly as I have many other characters, but he’s so fun and spontaneous and humorous. As for Project Gillory, I think once Gillory gets out of her shell, she and I would have lots to connect over, so I’ll go with her from that WIP. 

I also am quite fond of a certain hero from a secret project I’m brainstorming. *coughs and moves on to the next question*

In your opinion, who are the top five to ten literary villains you’ve ever read about?

• Declan from The Queen’s Resistance (Rebecca Ross)
• Garten Longtreader from The Green Ember series (S.D. Smith)
• Gollum from Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
• Gnag the Nameless from The Wingfeather Saga (Andrew Peterson)

If you could live in any literary world (or worlds), which would you choose?

The Shire. 😍

Annabelle’s questions!

What’s your favorite thing about being a writer? 

The limitless scope for imagination, the way I can weave in themes that are important to me, and the darling characters that just slowly come to life and decide to make friends – or enemies – with me. 😉 

What do you like doing besides writing? 

Besides reading and blogging, singing. I’m subscribed to Tara Simon Studios on YouTube and learn all the singing tips I can from her (and Cheryl Porter!). I love experimenting with the different techniques/stylistic choices and putting them into practice. And unsuccessfully trying to unlock my vibrato. What goes along with this is listening to music every other minute. 😛

I also love journalling, which I aim to do every Sunday afternoon, and writing letters to friends. And playing piano. And putting together cute outfits.

Do you like snow or sunshine better? 

Sunshine!!! Snow is beautiful but sunshine is even more so. That’s a fun question, Annabelle! (And makes up for your next question. *smirks*)

And also, who is your favorite author? (sorry XD)

YOU HAD TO. 😭 Lol, well, my current favorite author is Amanda Dykes, because I read her book Yours is the Night and I absolutely adore it. (Andrew Peterson, Jocelyn Green, Karen Witmyer, S. D. Smith, Julie Lessman, Rebecca Ross, and Nadine Brandes are some of my other favorite authors, but they’re only a few out of many.)

Amelia Cabot’s questions!

Have there ever been any incidents with you and your siblings that gave inspiration for a story or a scene for a story?

I think so! Things like weird inside jokes, especially. 🤣 Sadly, I can’t think of any examples right now. 

*one hour later*

This exchange between my brothers gave me some inspiration for Gillory’s brothers (it was so funny and weird and random I had to write it down):

Older brother: “Who gives you candy at night?

Younger brother: “Who almost broke my head?

Out of context it doesn’t make much sense, but it made me laugh. (And yes, I literally keep a list of snatches of dialogue from real life for writing inspiration.)

What’s the hardest scene/novel you’ve written/plan on writing?

Oooof. This is such a good question. One is a scene I just got out of, the midpoint of my WIP Gillory. I won’t spoil it, but I think you’ll know it when you read it. And the third is one I have yet to write: the dark moment of my WIP. Capturing and portraying the emotion without melodrama is hard, y’all. XD

Have you ever written any characters that you just absolutely want to strangle like a boa constrictor mercilessly strangles its prey?

Amelia, are you okay? Have YOU ever felt like that? *gulps* LOL, joking aside, I have written characters like that before. But they’re obviously always villains. XD

Would you ever consider making music soundtracks for your future books and/or anthology story? (Not hinting or anything.)

Oh, absolutely!!! I plan to do this for my WIP Gillory. As for my anthology story To Be Loved, I never thought about making one for that! But that’s a great idea, and perhaps I shall. *winks* (Of course you’re not hinting, Mellie. 😜)

Have you ever tried associating a specific Myers-Brigs type to any of your characters, since Myers-Brigs is something you’re into?

YES! (And I’m totally going to do a post about that someday!) I always figure out the MBTI of all my characters, both the side and main characters, because it gives me an easy structure for what this character’s personality is like. It gives me some direction. (And when I say structure, there’s a lot of wiggle room, so to speak. I kind of mentally match my character to several MBTI types that I think they’ll fit into, and after some brainstorming, the right one just clicks. And then I flesh them out, fill in all the gaps.)

Anna Lane’s questions!

Do you often base your characters off of people you know in real life? Celebrities, favorite movie characters, friends, etc.

Surprisingly, I very rarely do this! (The huge exception being a story I wrote when I was little, which was based on my family’s life.) I do have characters who remind me of certain siblings, but it’s not intentional.

And do you cry over sad movies?

Oh, girl. I LOVE to cry over sad movies. Like, I get excited when I know I’m coming to a part that will make me cry. I look forward to that emotional high. (Which some would say is a low but no, it’s always a good feeling.) I cry over a lot of movies, and sometimes I’m surprised at what affects me so deeply. 

(But correction: I don’t always love crying because that’s awkward when anyone could see me. 😂 I’ll get over that eventually. XD)

Bree’s questions!

Can you tell us a two sentence horror story? 

Night pressed, nothing moved. Then a hand fell on my shoulder and my heart dislocated.

Why is horror so hard to write?

How about 2 sentences that are super extra happy?

Tears welled and my pulse ached at my throat as I wrapped my arms around her, clinging tight. I was finally home.

Vanessa’s question!

What’s your favorite type of character to read, and why? Is it different from your favorite type of character to write?

Broken protagonists with a redemption arc. It’s the same, honestly – I love both writing and reading them!

I must say, I also love sassy/sarcastic characters, but find them much easier to read than to write! 😂

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Make sure to stay tuned for Part 2, coming in a few days, where I answer the rest of your delightful questions! (It may or may not involve blogging tips, spilling the tea on my Least Favorite Marvel Movie, and the hardest part of writing for me. *gulps*)

Do you like snow or sunshine better? Can you tell a two-sentence horror story? What’s a recent incident with your siblings (or anyone in general) that provided unexpected story material?