#WIPjoy - Where Shadows Lie

Happy Saturday!

Have you heard of #WIPjoy? If you're not familiar with it, it's a Twitter hashtag created by Bethany Jennings that involves daily prompts and chances for writers to share about their novel. She's created a lovely Twitter community full of writers encouraging each other and becoming excited over future stories. :D

The idea is that you keep up with the hashtag, tweeting your answers every day... but I have a habit of forgetting about it and falling behind (whoops). So I'm going to choose my favorite questions and compile them in a blog post. 

describe yourself and your WIP

I'm a pizza eating, pun making, and story flailing, and bad-at-describing-myself writer. :P

My WIP is called Where Shadows Lie, and it follows Eerie, a young girl, trying to save her parents from shape-shifting shadows. (and that's the best I can do for a one sentence pitch xD)

your first inspiration for this WIP

I feel like a lot of writers get their first inspiration for the plot or characters, but I usually get my ideas from a mood/aesthetic/vibe/feel (who knows if that makes sense xD). I was on the way to a youth retreat with my youth group. We drove past a hauntingly beautiful forest of birch trees and BOOM! I immediately knew that I had to make their twisting branches and shadows my next story setting. 

would you rather: get trapped in your story for a week, or have your antagonist enter your life for a day?

BOTH OF THESE SOUND EQUALLY TERRIFYING. Have my antagonist enter my life? Uhh, no thanks, especially if they're specifically in my life to hunt me down, and, er, finish me. 

I would love to meet the characters in my world... but I'm not sure how I well I'd survive with the shadows and the creepy forest and the shape-shifting darkness. I'd probably have to go with that option, though. How could I pass down an opportunity like that? <3 (I feel like being trapped in my story is basically like being trapped in my own mind for a week. #research xD)

a line you nailed perfectly

I'm not one to share a lot of my writing, and it's rare for me to be insanely confident with one line... but I spent forever trying to come up with the title for my first chapter and I'm happy with how it turned out:

chapter one: beware the monsters of the birchwood forest  

I'm also fairly satisfied with my first line?? (below)

We can't leave, because the shadows won't let us.

So the first two lines are great, and then everything's a mess from there on out. xD

your MC's aesthetic in seven phrases

fierce little warrior • sandy bare feet • chopped hair • adventurer • best friend is a fox • talks to the trees

would you rather: never publish this WIP, or watch it be adapted into a horrible movie?

OKAY THAT'S JUST AN EVIL QUESTION. *shudders* Are you trying to torture me? ('cause you're succeeding)

*comes back to this question after a literal ten minutes of thinking about it*

I've decided that I'd be okay with either. Yeah, I'd love to publish this WIP, but I have so many novels in my future! I've got time -- lately I've been talking about not rushing the process, and this is part of that.

If this WIP was made into a horrible movie, at first I would be terribly disappointed. But look at the Percy Jackson movies -- everyone hates those, but the books are still insanely popular and loved. If anything, it would drive more traffic back to the original story.

So, like any other "would you rather" question I'm given, I can't decide. But there's my reasoning for both. :P

choose an ideal reading spot, food, drink, and music to go with your book

reading spot: quiet window seat with the view of a gray, stormy sea

food: pizza DUH
drink: CHAI. <3 or tea. or coffee. really anything cozy and soothing would work

music: haunting instrumentals, Aurora, the sound of the crashing waves, aching silence

what's something you're still figuring out about this WIP?

Beside the plot and the beginning and the middle and the characters and the setting and the conflict and the story arc? (you think I'm kidding but I'm mostly serious. :P)

The ending. Endings are incredibly difficult for me. (because no matter how great of a beginning you have, I feel like the reader is always going to walk away from the book with the emotion you give them at the end: are they satisfied? disappointed? angry? inspired?)

share a thought that keeps you going as a writer

Here's a couple because I can't just keep it to one:

You're the only person who can write this story.

A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit. (Richard Bach)

A writer is a writer not because she has amazing talent, or because everything she does is golden. A writer is a writer because, even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway. (Junot Diaz)

The secret to writing is pizza. (Katie Grace (hehe...)

a line that was hard to write

The answer to this question would mean copying and pasting my 77,000 word novel into this blog post, because every. single. sentence. proved to be difficult and took much thought and creativity.

So. There. Writing is hard. :P

why do you yearn to share this story with the world?

It's a story that's unique to only my heart and mind -- one that God's given me to write, and I will write it to the best of my abilities. I yearn to share it so that I can meet and encourage others through it. Storytelling is a powerful, beautiful thing. <3

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Here is the complete compilation of the #WIPjoy prompts (click on the image for a larger version). I encourage you to write a post about your WIP using the questions, because I'm always curious as to what everyone's writing. ^.^

<3,
katie grace

how did you get the inspiration for your WIP?