1 Year Blogging Anniversary Q&A!

It’s official—I’ve been blogging for 1 year!!! And to celebrate, I’m hosting a Q&A! A huge thank you to everyone on my email list who submitted questions. I’m so excited to answer them, so let’s dive in!

1. How do you come up with your story ideas?

This is a fun question! Usually, I don’t have to seek out story inspiration—it just comes to me. Sometimes I get an idea when I’m reading a book or watching a movie or listening to music. Other times it’s completely random and an idea will just pop into my head out of nowhere when I’m in the car or taking a shower. To make sure I never forget any ideas, I always jot them down on the notes app on my phone.

2. What are your favorite themes to write about?

This is a deep question that I had to think on for a little bit. All my books focus on different themes, but some of my favorites that I’ve written about are: forgiveness, love, truth, identity, and hope.

3. What is your favorite thing about the fantasy genre?

Ooh! I’m so glad you asked. My favorite thing about fantasy is the adventure and excitement it brings. I don’t exactly know how to explain it, but there’s something mysterious and enthralling about writing the worlds and creatures I’ve concocted in my imagination.

4. What advice do you have about honoring Christ through writing?

This is a beautiful question! For me, I believe that God has given me the drive and opportunity to write for a reason, so the way I glorify him is simply by writing and stewarding this gift he has given me. As far as the content of what I write goes, I don’t write explicitly Christian fiction, but I still like to incorporate Christian themes and messages into my writing.

5. What is your favorite Bible verse? Bible story? Bible character?

I love this question! For the longest time, my favorite Bible verse was Phillipians 4:13, which says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” But recently, a verse that’s stuck out to me is Exodus 4:14—“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Even though this is a portion of a speech that Moses made to the Israelites, I believe it still applies to us today. My favorite Bible story is the story of Esther, and she’s also my favorite character. Her story has always resonated with me and her courage inspired me.

6. How many drafts do you usually write before you're finished with a story?

I’ve only completely finished one story, which was a novella that I wrote for school. I believe that one took six or seven drafts. But back then I didn’t have beta readers or an editor, so there’s that too.

7. What is your favorite genre to read and write besides fantasy?

Hmm. If I’m being honest, I haven’t written much outside of the fantasy genre besides romance, which wasn’t my favorite. But I have a few science fiction ideas that I’m keeping to write in the future that I think I’ll enjoy.

8. Do you like writing fiction or nonfiction (like your articles) better?

That’s a tough question! I started writing fiction first, and I only started writing nonfiction a year ago when I started my blog… I really love them both, but I have to go with fiction.

9. Do you like to snack while you write? If so, what is your favorite thing to eat or drink during your writing time?

Sometimes I do, but it’s not very often. I usually just drink water, and my snack of choice is the Dove dark chocolate that I keep in a drawer in my desk or Kit Kats. They’re usually a reward for hitting a specific word count.

10. Do you enjoy writing romance?

Great question! I’ve learned that writing stories with romance as the main plot isn’t my favorite, but I love including romance as a subplot in my fantasy novels.

11. Have you ever written poetry?

The answer to this is yes. Would I ever share any of it? Probably not. XD I like writing poetry to process my emotions sometimes, but it’s very personal and intimate, so it’s not something I’m interested in getting published or anything like that. I also don’t know a ton about the writing craft that goes into poetry, but it’s kinda nice to have something creative that isn’t perfect and I can keep just for myself.

12. Do you listen to music while you write? What do you listen to?

Yes!!! It depends on what I’m working on. For nonfiction, I usually just listen to a playlist I made of music that I enjoy, which is about 75% Taylor Swift (Okay, I just did the math and it’s technically only 58%, but whatever…) For my current novel, Project Legend, I’ve been listening to classical/light academia/cottagecore playlists on YouTube. My favorite one is called Nostalgic for a fairytale you were once in. It’s very peaceful and relaxing—and most importantly instrumental, which allows me to focus.

13. Favorite Thanksgiving food?

Umm, apple pie? XD That’s technically a dessert, but I’m a picky eater, so I’m not a huge fan of the traditional Thanksgiving dishes like stuffing or cranberry sauce. So I’ll just go with the pie.

14. Favorite way to get to know your characters?

Ooh, interesting question. As a part of outlining my characters’ character arcs, I love brainstorming their backstory wound or ghost—whatever you want to call it—because it helps me learn a lot about my characters. This is the pivotal moment in a character’s backstory where a lie is cemented into their life that they’ll (hopefully) overcome throughout the story by learning the truth.

15. How do you find motivation to write?

Good question! Personally, I don’t believe in writing whenever I feel like it or when I’m feeling inspired because there are plenty of moments where I don’t feel that way, and if I lived like that I probably wouldn’t get anything done. So usually, I’m pretty good at forcing myself to write even when I don’t want to. But during times when it’s particularly hard to get any work done, I remind myself of why I write and why I like my book. I also love praying before I write (when I manage to remember) and I ask God to help me because I know I wouldn’t be able to do any of this without Him.

16. What do you do when your story hits the muddy middle?

Ah, yes. For anyone who doesn’t know, this term refers to the middle of writing a book where things get a little murky and hard to manage. What’s funny is that I actually love writing the middle of my books—it’s the beginning and the end that I have the most trouble with XD. But I think outlining is a huge help. I’m an extensive outliner, so I know everything that’s going to happen within each scene and chapter, and that helps me know what I’m writing, so I can stay on track. But sometimes I have trouble actually getting the words down on the page when it feels like the middle of the book is never going to end, and the best thing that’s helped me is chocolate rewards.

17. Do you have any tips for creating an engaging plot?

I like this question! The biggest thing that’s helped me with this is structuring my scenes. I first learned how to do this in The Young Writer’s Workshop, but K.M. Weiland has a bunch of great articles on this too. The gist of it is that there are two types of scenes: action scenes and reaction scenes. Action scenes are made up of a goal, conflict, and a disaster, while reaction scenes consist of a reaction, a dilemma, and a decision.

18. How many novels have you written?

Good question! I’m currently working on finishing the first draft of my fourth novel, and I’m almost done! As of right now, I only have 4 chapters left!

That’s it! I hope you enjoyed the post. And thanks again to everyone who submitted questions!

Now, I challenge YOU to answer 3 of these questions in the comments! How do our answers compare?

Until next time,

Kayleigh Idea