Hello gentle reader,
this week I’m taking part in a Thursday’s Children and Like A Virgin Writing Contest Mash-Up. Thursday’s Children is “a weekly blog hop where writers share their inspirations”. The Like A Virgin Contest is a contest for unagented writers in the YA/NA categories. Both are organised by the awesome Rhiann Wynn-Nolet and Kristina Perez.
This week’s theme is writing “firsts,” and we have to answer a series of questions.
- How do you remember your first kiss? I don’t remember it, actually.
- What was your first favourite love song? Probably a Celine Dion song. How embarrassing.
- What’s the first thing you do when you begin writing for the day? I check Twitter to find out if other people are writing or doing a writing sprint. I listen to music. Then I open my Word document and write.
- Who’s the first writer who truly inspired you to become a writer? I’ve been writing for so long, I’m not sure who inspired me first. I do know who inspired me to seek publication, though. It’s Susan Dennard.
- Did the final revision of your first book have the same first chapter it started with? I’m not going to talk about my first book here (I wrote it 16 years ago and I couldn’t tell you much about it). But the manuscript I’m currently querying, Lily In The Shadows, has had its opening from the first draft. This first scene was actually the idea that started the whole story.
- For your first book, which came first: major characters, plot or setting? Characters. Always. I tell stories about people. Then I have stuff happen to them in a certain place. But it’s always about the characters.
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What’s the first word you want to roll off the tip of someone’s tongue when they think of your writing? This is hard. Intriguing, maybe?
This is a blog hop! Feel free to join in and to answer those questions as well! Or leave me a comment below and let me know how about your experience in writing your first book!
EM Castellan 
Thanks for playing! And now I know you even a little bit better 🙂
Thanks to you and Kristina for a great quiz! 🙂
Ooooh, another character first writer! We seem to be rare in this plot driven bunch.
Are we? I’m surprised, it seems so natural to me…
We can mock Celine now, but she made me cry in me teens 😉 Thanks for joining us and good luck!
Thanks for a great contest! 🙂
You’re very welcome 😉
Good luck, Eve!!
Thank you Kate! 🙂
Celine Dion — I can relate! 🙂 Nice to meet you! Good luck!
Nice to meet you too! Thanks for stopping by my blog 🙂
16 years? Awesome that you’ve been doing it for so long. I didn’t find my passion until later in life 🙂
“Intriguing” was in the running for me as well. It’s a great word. And, I do the same with my first scene – it’s usually what I think of first (not in the case of my first ms though), set’s the tone for the entire story, and in *most* cases, stays because it works.
Keeping characters in focus is always great 🙂 Good luck!
Woah now, I LOVE Celine. She may be a bit dramatic and emotional, but whenever It’s All Coming Back To Me Now comes on, I belt it out with pride. And I’m impressed that Lily has kept the same first chapter! Cant say the same about my MS!
Wow, I read the pitch for Lily in the Shadows you have here, and it sounds so interesting! I would definitely pick up a book about a Victorian flower girl – a nice change from the usual Victorian heroine. See you at the contest!
Great answers! Good luck.