Young Writers Society

Question Game

Hi Camp NaNo-ers! How has Camp been going for you? If you're looking to get your writing gears going and interact with fellow Campers, here's an activity for you:

First, you post a question to another Camper, either here with a tag or on their thread. (You can also write a free-for-all question so anyone who sees it can post an answer!)

Second, you answer a question posted by a Camper.

Third, you ask a follow-up question to the Camper's response.

This can happen either here in this thread or on your respective Camp NaNo threads - it's up to you! The important thing is to share the curiosity in each other's projects and the motivation (I'm sure we all need it in this last week of Camp!)

Tagging everyone who made a thread for Camp NaNo:

Alright, I'll go first with a free-for-all question! Who has been your favourite character to write this Camp and why?

@Liminality My favorite character to write this Camp has been James. Its mostly because he is not the most perfect or ideal character. He has his own set of flaws and vices and I think that is what makes him more human and relatable. He does not get along well with people and likes to pretend that he is alone. He is smug and overconfident, but if you look closely behind the superior act he puts up, you will find a really insecure man who has been alone for too long. He connects with my protagonist because she has been rejected by people as well and he sees in her a fascinating ally who can stand up to him and challange him and understand him as well. The development of thier friendship plays a really important hand in shaping his own character development. That is mostly because they have both gone through some very similar situations and yet she is stands tall on her battered legs, while he is only the pretentious shadow of the man he once was.

I enjoy writing his character because I think he has the most room for development. And I like taking my characters on a journey where they come out as different and better versions of themselves at the end.

My question is free-for-all! What has been your most favorite scene to write this camp and why?

@RandomTalks Thanks for that detailed answer! It's clear you have a good grasp on your characters' roles in the story and how they act as foils to each other How does James' personality appear in the way he talks or interacts with others besides the protagonist?

I'll go ahead and answer that fave scene question as well:

My favourite scene to write in Miscreants was one where Lucretia is watching some of the heroes gather from the balcony, as they prepare to quash a small uprising in her capital city. I liked writing it because it was largely unplanned, and I like watching things just arise from the story like that. It was also good because it shows Lucretia struggling with her morals for the first time.

Meanwhile, my fave to write in Mutant Families so far has been a scene where Ren speaks to a young teenager, a mutant who is part of a street gang rather than being into those organisations they call 'mutant families' in this universe. When she asks him what being in a family 'is like', I really enjoyed writing the difference between what he tells her and what he's thinking inside. His inner monologue is weirdly poetic. It's a very short part of a long, winding and not-fun stretch, but at the time I thought it was pretty swell.

@Liminality Thanks for answering! Those two seem to be amazing scenes and I can imagine you had a lot of fun writing them. I was particularly interested by that unplanned scene from Miscreants as sometimes we write our best works when we are not busy planning our words. Is there any other scene which you started without any plans but it ended up having a really big significance in the story or the character's life?

As for your question, there is a really big difference in the way James speaks with my protagonist and the others on the island. Because they are stuck in a situation from which they cannot run, he feels a need to always have an upper hand with these people. It gives him a power that makes him feel more in control of the situation. However, in doing so, he comes off as rude and undependable and untrustworthy. He makes unnecessary rude comments and insults the others because it is the only form of interaction he has been used to for a very long time, and now its too late for him to start with a blank slate. With my protagonist, he does not need to maintain that act because she sees through it. She is constantly challenging him and he is too busy trying to retaliate and defend himself to actually bother with pretences. Also, he is more honest with her because she is an outcaste just like him and he takes comfort in the fact that he is not alone.

@RandomTalks

Is there any other scene which you started without any plans but it ended up having a really big significance in the story or the character's life?

Oh yes, in Mutant Families (this is a more extreme example) I had one character who was supposed to appear in one scene, but because I spontaneously wrote a conversation between them and the main character, I ended up having a whole subplot dedicated to them :0

And that is a great answer!

Because they are stuck in a situation from which they cannot run, he feels a need to always have an upper hand with these people. It gives him a power that makes him feel more in control of the situation.

I love that you have a clear idea of what the underlying motivation/need is behind how he treats others. I think that's really important in writing a character, and I sometimes struggle to get clear senses of why my characters do something myself.

She is constantly challenging him and he is too busy trying to retaliate and defend himself to actually bother with pretences.

Haha, I like that! So she sort of moves him out of his "comfort zone" kinda.

Hmm I'm going to try and yoink another camper into playing this game.

@bees What's your favourite thing about working on Colonia Heights? c:

Thanks for the tag @Liminality! I meant to reply originally but as always, I forgot lol

There's so much I enjoy about working on Colonia Heights that I think picking one would be really hard! I know that's kind of a cop-out answer, but it's really not just one thing. Colonia Heights is really personal for me; it's the novel I was writing through some of the hardest points of my life and it gave me an outlet to channel what I was feeling in a way that really validated it.

It's both the easiest and hardest novel I've written so far lol it's so much less work than some of my huge fantasy projects have been without nearly as much worldbuilding and the plot has never given me a lot of grief stares pointedly at pirate novel. writing and revising it has been a relatively smooth process, because each step of the way, I knew what I wanted to change and improve on. but it's also been painful to write at times. again, one of the most personal novels I've written, so it's been pulling a lot of my own feelings and repackaging them in a different way for the novel.

but I've discovered something new with each draft, and I finally found the ending I wanted in this one I've been working on. and it feels good, this draft. I'm really proud of what I've done so far.

plus I LOVE writing abstract scenes, and this novel has been the best outlet for both that and atmosphere. I love how much breathing room it has (in a way that high fantasy, with a lot of action and drama, doesn't get as much), and I love that I get to write a relatively quiet novel that is still unsettling. it's got teeth under the softness I blanket it with, and I love writing that.

this was such a long answer but I have a lot of feelings about this project and I've been riding a very long and blissfully sustained high about this novel's project and I love it very much, so I always want to gush about it lol


tldr; basically everything about writing CH is my favourite xD (shh don't tell the others)


free for all question: what inspired you to work on your current project? I love hearing origins of where novels began!