Beautiful Books | The Process of Writing "Living City"

Hello, Wordlings! It's the second month in Paperfury's blog link-up, Beautiful Books and this time it's all about the process of writing the books was slave over in this crazy month some of us refer to as NaNoWrMo. 
Speaking of which, I've won NaNo! I completed it on the eighteenth and on that same say, I also finished the first draft of the novel at just over 95k. 
This post now seems incredibly fitting since it will kind of be like I'm looking back on my writing process as well as looking forward to what writing the next book will be like. 

So let's get to it. Onwards to the questions! 

Is the book turning out how you thought it would be, or is it defying your expectations? 

As of the completion of the first draft, it's defied my expectations but in the best way possible. I definitely thought it would have a slightly different tone to it and I imagined a lot of the scenes to turn out differently than they did—some scenes just sort of happened, too! It will obviously need some editing but overall, I'm super happy with what I've written.

Super, duper happy. How could I not?
This is my first ever completed draft!

What’s your first sentence (or paragraph)?

My first paragraph is only one sentence but here it is: 

              “Kyla, you’re late.” 

Are you a plotter or a pantser? Have you ever tried both methods and how did it turn out?

I'm kinda a mix between the two so a plantser I suppose. I can't seem to do just one. I've tried just planning and I became stressed and suffocated by my own outline. I need be able to let the story flow. At the same time, whenever I tried just pantsing, my lack planning lead me straight to some pretty big moments of writer's block. The combination gives me direction without holding me back.

What do you reward yourself with after meeting a goal?

Web-camming sessions with my friend, Tori, new music, watching anime with another one of my friends, Kendall, watching some Good Mythical Morning or buying myself a slurpee. Sometimes I'll combine a few :) To reward myself for bigger goals, I might buy myself lunch or a bigger slurpee ;) 

A slurpee my sister brought me as a reward. 

What do you look for in a name? Do you have themes and where do you find your names?

Assuming this question means the name of my characters, I look for ease of pronunciation, if it's similar to any other characters I have in that book, if it fits the time period and genre of the novel and generally if I think it feels right. I don't usually have themes for names but I often gravitate todays 'A's and 'J's for some reason...

I usually find my names just by surfing around the internet. If I like a name, I put it in my document I've called 'Name Bank'. When I need a new name, I'll go through it and see if anything stands out. I think I have about 400 names in there by now. I'll never run out! 

What is your favourite to write: beginning, middle, or end — and why?

I love writing the end. I love bringing things full circle, tiring up lose ends and having my characters ask more questions. There's something incredible about writing the end of a story. 

Kim using her ability

Who’s your current favourite character in your novel?

Kim, my protagonist is still my favourite. It could be a biased answer though since I'm writing from her point of view and have basically spent the last while living inside her head. She's got a clever sense of humour, is a little impatient and is definitely determined. I love her ^ ^ 

What kind of things have you researched for this project, and how do you go about researching? (What’s the weirdest thing you’ve researched?!)

I've researched a lot about the Bermuda Triangle. I've watched documentaries and read articles about people who claim weird things have happened to them around the triangle and about the Atlantis conspiracies. 

Basically my researching is composed of a simple google search which then leads me to more google searches, YouTube videos and pictures. I don't usually write a lot down. Instead, I'll bookmark sources. 

The weirdest thing I've researched for this project...hm...I researched a lot on drug tolerance and overdosing. You may not think so but I'd even say that researching the conspiracy theories was pretty high up on the list. It lead me to learning about a lot of pretty strange stuff.
I also researched what a dead body looks like for one of my writer friends....*coughs* moving on.

Do you write better alone or with others? Do you share your work or prefer to keep it to yourself?

I write best alone. The movement of people around me is distracting. I'm working on it though. I've managed to generate words on the bus to school which is a total plus. 

Ironically though, all my highest word counts come from warring with friends. Then again, those wars are over the internet so maybe that doesn't count. 

I share snippets but I like to keep it to myself. When a draft is finished though, I'll let a few people read it. I won't make the story completely public though until it's published or I've polished it enough for it to be published. 

What are your writing habits? Is there a specific snack you eat? Do you listen to music? What time of day do you write best? Feel free to show us a picture of your writing space!

Music is a must. I listened to a lot of HDSoundi on YouTube and "The Scorch Trials" soundtrack for this novel. As for snacks, I like to eat grape tomatoes and bell peppers will I write. For drinks I for a slurpee if I'm rewarding myself or tea and sometimes Coke if it's early but I still need a caffeine boost. 

Time of day has jumped all over the place. It used to be eight and then it was three in the afternoon and then eleven at night. I think it depends on my current sleep pattern and the wakefulness of my muse XD 

This is my living room where I make my home while writing. Here you can see the remnants of a reward, my journal, my fuzzy blue blanket, my blue English binder from school and my backpack because I'm also trying to balance that right now, and a glass of Coke over ice because it's just one of those times XD

So that's the link up for this month. If you missed last month's post where I talked about "Living City", click here. 

I'll be doing one of these next month too so make sure you follow me on my Facebook, Bloglovin' or subscribe to me with your blogger account or email so you don't miss it :) 

How's NaNo going for everyone? Do you have a few quirky things about your writing process?

Keep on keeping on, Wordlings!