That’s right, I am back to talk about my WIP today. I feel like I’ve been mentioning it a little sporadically on the blog, but hey, I’m making progress from that time I never, ever talked about what I was writing, right? I feel like I should be proud somewhere there, but instead I’m still a nervous mess.
Ever since my last writing updates, there has been some sort of progress going on with my writing. As I’m writing this, I am almost done with the entire re-reading of my WIP. I’m both really happy and an emotional mess, because I know that, after the re-reading part will come that real editing part, where I’m supposed to tear my WIP apart into a million pieces and never find it again.
Wish me luck.
In the meantime, and instead of thinking about killing off precious characters and my own mind, I thought we could talk about lighters topics, so… I’m going to do this lovely tag my friend Kat created just the other day, in honor of Valentine’s Day.
YES, people, we’re going to talk about love. Yes I am aware Valentine’s Day was a couple days ago and you’re all sick of these love-fests, but… surprisingly, my WIP does not have all the cheese so I’m hoping you’ll enjoy this?!
RULES
- Thank the person who tagged you but also link back to the original post!
- Provide a short description of your WIP/story!
- You can check out this post to find out more about Arcadia!
- Donāt use just one character for all answers if possible!
Okay, so here’s the short synopsis I already used for the previous Write Tag I did, a little while ago. I don’t know if that’s enticing or if it sums things up well, but… here it is.
After the disappearance of her best friend, Keely chooses to follow their dream-path and gets into the very selective boarding school they both wanted to attend. Grieving Gaulthier, making new friends and trying to make her dreams come true turns out to be more of a challenge than she thinks, especially when this new competitive world is paved with something that clearly seems like bad intentions.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
If there is a couple in your WIP, what are their plans for Valentineās Day? And if there is no couple in your WIP, is there someone your main character would like to spend Valentineās Day with?
Okay, so I think it’s time we talk about revelations here. There is a hint of romance, romantic feelings and whatever of the sort in my WIP. There always will be, because I will always be a marshmallow at heart. Yet, there isn’t one main couple and it’s NOT a romance. I know. WHO AM I.
So I’m going to answer the second question, because the first one would mean tons of spoilers for everything and say that, for this Valentine’s Day, my main character Keely would have like to spend her day as she did all of the years before: with her best friend.
Who has no shame about going out for dinner on Valentineās Day alone?
That would definitely be Lyna. She’s fiercely independant and, if she doesn’t have a special someone to spend her Valentine’s Day with, who cares? She’d gladly take herself to dinner alone in a fancy place and be proud of it, too.
One of your characters requests a song on the radio for their crush! Which song and for which character would they pick ?
I think I could see Noah doing that – that poor awkward boy would rather send a hidden message in a song than actually talk about feelings. And to be extra-cheesy, I’m guessing it’d be something along the lines of Ed Sheeran’s Perfect.
Is there a character who would organise an Anti-Valentineās Day party?
Maybe I’d have to go with Lyna for that one as well. That girl would take herself out to dinner for Valentine’s Day and, on extra-crappy-valentines-day-just-sucks kind of year, she could definitely host a party along these lines. With, you know, targets of your exes plastered on the walls, loads of food and friends and fun.
What romantic gesture would swoon your main character?
Give my Keely the book she’s been raving on and on for years or that sweet in-night chilling with movies or a tv show marathon and you’re all good. Grand gestures actually kind of makes her a bit uncomfortable.
Which character would buy a bunch of red roses and hand them out to strangers on the street, just to make their day?
That would totally be Jamie. That guy has a heart of gold and, while he patiently waits to spend the evening with friends on Valentine’s Day, he could be that one guy you meet on the street, handing you a bunch of red roses and telling you that the day is beautiful and so are you.
What are your main characterās favourite Valentineās movies? (Note: Valentineās movies donāt have to be romantic!)
About Time, The Notebook. Cheesy movies for the win.
Who is ready for the February 15th, just to get all the chocolate on sale?
Noah. If he’s ready to be cheesy and all adorable on the 14th if or when needed, he’s even more eager to buy his loads of Cadbury Chocolates and just eat them all at once. Well, strike that. He’s probably going to eat a couple of those until Jamie barges in and eats the rest without asking. Friendship goals.
Is there a character who never spends Valentineās Day alone aka always has some sort of date?
Of the top of my mind, there’s no one I can think of – my main cast of characters really are okay with spending Valentine’s Day alone and it’s not a day or a celebration that matters that much to them. (who am I. I swear my next WIP will have all the cheese in it).
Bonus: Create a Valentineās Day aesthetic for one or several of your characters!
I am an over-achiever, so obviously I spent two hours making aesthetics for each and every one of my main characters. You’ll get vibes of tons of friendships, fancy dinners, nights in and netflix and a hint of the romantic my little cheesy Noah is. The aesthetics are above, by the way, in the actual questions where I talk about the characters.
I don’t know which ones of you are writing and/or can’t remember and am a bit lazy right now, but if you are a writer, feel free to do this amazing tag!
If you’re writing anything – do you have romance in your stories and all the cheese??
If you’re not writing – do you like books with romance, a little bit, a whole lot, not at all? Let me know all of your thoughts on love in comments!
*heart eyes heart eyes heart eyes* I love your WIP so much and I haven’t read it yet, but I’m crying, please tell me that you will send me an ARC of this when you will publish it (because I know it will happen)!!! Friendships all around, characters focused on self-love, bad-ass female characters and cute, soft boys – it’s just my cup of tea. I’m going to love every bit of this book. Lovely post! <3
omg what are you saying right here, are you planning on making me cry, because it’s working ? you are WAY too sweet, thank you so, SO much for your words, that means so much to me!! The road is looooooong to getting published, if that ever, ever happens hahaha, don’t get your hopes up too much, but thank you for your support ? <3 <3
MARIE!?!?!!?
I NEED TO READ THIS BOOK
I want to meet Noah and Lyna they sound so interesting.
just hurry up ad get published š
Awwwww you ??? you’re WAY too sweet, thank you so much!! So glad you like them <3
Your WIP looks so interesting! I’m sure it will be amazing š I love books that give friendship a center place and that’s way too rare!
Oh thank you so much Alienor, you’re so sweet <3 I agree, we need more books with amazing friendships at the heart of it all <3
This is such a cute post! Love getting to know a little more about your book š <3
Aww thank you so much! So happy you enjoyed this š x
Can I run into a Jamie in the next couple of days?? Pretty please? I mean, all your characters sound absolutely lovely, don’t get me wrong š and the time spent on the aesthetics was definitely worth it once again. I hope you are going to make this a regular thing. Talking about your WIP, I mean. Because I am sure there are loads of people interested in your writing/editing process and the story itself.
I had a feeling that Jamie would be your favorite š
Oh thank you, that’s so sweet <3 Talking about everything makes me nervous, but your tags are so much fun to do, even if I spend hours on aesthetics haha, I love it and it's so inspiring. <3 Maybe I'll try and write some more about it all and editing once I start? Time will tell haha š
thank you for all of your support, you're the best <3
Hahaha Jamie is already golden in my heart <3
I'll try to make more tags if I can think of themes. Creating the two that I did, I am not surprised anymore that the Beautiful People tag just sort of vanished haha it's SO hard to come up with stuff.
Awww <3 <3 Hopefully you'll love him as much in the whole story as you love him in these posts haha š
Yeah I get it, I wouldn't even be able to come up with like, two questions hahahaha.
I have a good feeling about him.
You don’t need luck, honey, you rock this! Loved this tag, such a tease!
Awwww ? you’re too sweet, thank you my Sweechie!! <3
Okay, I seriously love all the photos you used for this post. Like seriously, the whole aesthetic of this post was fantastic! All around this post was so fun to read! For a lot of the V-Day posts going around I feel a little out of the loop since I haven’t read a lot of books people mention, but since this was all about YOUR writing and YOUR characters it made it so much more fun! Not to mention I’m always thrilled to read about other peoples writing š Thank you for sharing!! As for me, my books always have TOO much romance, haha. I’m trying to real it in lately since I know a lot of people are so sick of it. Oops.
Oh wow, thank you so, so much for your sweet words, that means so much to me ?
Ahahaha, oh don’t worry about it, it’s always great to read books with romance in it, I know I love it – it’s quite strange that my WIP doesn’t have much of it, actually, hahaha š
thank you so much for your sweet comment! <3
So I’m not writing anything else than my blog posts but my main genre is …romance so š Happy Sunday Marie!
YAY! Well romance is a lot of fun to read š
thank you so much, Sophie! Happy Sunday to you too! x
Ahh this still sounds so amazing! And I love your WIP boards. I hope I can someday read your book!!!!
AHH Lenna thank you so, so much <3 <3 I really hope so, that'd be amazing <3
I love reading romance novels! There is nothing better than an HEA. In my own WIP Iāll admit thereās a hi t of romance but itās more a romance gone wrong than right. Lol. No HEA in my book! At least not in the first in the series… fun post!
Ohhh…romance gone wrong… now I’m intrigued haha, you have to tell me more š
Thank you so much, Deborah!! š
Your WIP looks really interesting. I want to meet Keeley and Lyna. They sound like amazing characters. When are you going to publish this? Just tell me you would send me your book š
Awwwww you are way too sweet, that means the world to me <3 For now, I'll just try and focus on the editing hahaha, afterwards we'll see if it's worth it to even try and go down that road š but your support means everything, thank you!! <3 <3
I am sure it would be great ā¤ļø
Oh brilliant answers for this tag Marie, and as ever I loved learning more about your WIP. I’m glad you’ve nearly finished the re-reading part, and I’ll wish you luck for the editing part as well. š I still have this tag on my to-read list, the main challenge is coming up with a couple to answer question one that isn’t kind of spoiler-y. I don’t actually have a lot of romance in my WIP, well, I do but it’s the kind that develops slowly over a couple of books rather than just in one.
I love the sound of Lyna and Keely’s characters the most. Keely really does sound like a girl after my own heart, but I can’t deny I’d love to go to Lyna’s anti-Valentine’s Day party! š
Again great answers, and good luck with your WIP too. š <3
Oh thank you so much, Beth, so happy you enjoyed this š x
I hope you will be able to do this tag at some point, I’d love to read your answers and always love to learn a bit more about your WIP š
Thank you so much!! x
Thatās all right, and yes I will definitely be listing this one myself, probably in March though for reasons that will hopefully become clear soon-ish! š
Thatās all right. š ā¤ļø
Ohhhh… I’m intrigued, haha š
I love this post and all your answers! Your WIP sounds pretty good. I hope we get to meet your characters someday! I love books with romance even if it was a little bit.
Oh thank you so much, Raven, I’m so glad you enjoyed this <3 I hope so, too, ahah š
You should *definitely* be proud! Honestly, I have so much respect for you for sharing stuff about your WIP! š I’m so glad your making headway with the re-reading- it won’t be as bad as you think with the edit, but good luck! Love your synopsis as well. Aww that’s a sweet answer for Keely- even though now I am super intrigued about spoilers (and also yay for stories about friendship). And Lyna sounds so cool and Noah sounds cute. Yay to cheesy movies as well! Really enjoyed reading this!
Aw thank you so, so much for your sweet words, that means so much to me <3 <3 I hope the editing will go well, I am SO nervous about it all ahah š
Thank you!! <3
This is SO CUTTEEE and now I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT WAIT to read your book!!! THis is going to be so so good. I’m P S Y C H E D!
AWWWWW you are so, SO sweet, that means so much to me, thank you!! xx
Beautiful post Marie! <3 I love it!
(Especially your graphics – that self love picture really struck me in the best of ways. :D)
I loved learning about your characters (Noah sounds like such a sweetheart LOL) and can't wait to hear more! Yayy!!
Oh thank you so much, Aila, that’s so sweet <3 I'm so glad you enjoy the graphics as well, I spent WAY too much time on these, haha š
Thank you! Noah IS an awkward sweetheart ahah, I love him š
Gosh, this was the cutest post! I loved reading about your WIP and characters, Marie. They sound amazing! I especially loved Lyna because she’s this epic badass lady who doesn’t need no man and is super cool, and also Jamie. Noah sounds like an absolute sweetheart as well ā¤ļø Aaaww I want to hug them all!
Also, love your aesthetics so much!! Girl, you spent those hours well, I tell you ?
Amazing, amazing post! ?
Awwww, Sophie, thank you SO much, your comment means the world to me. I’m so glad you enjoyed this <3 <3 <3
As if, you deserve all the praise hon! ?ā¤ļøā¤ļø
awww, stop it you’re going to make me blush ahah, you’re so sweet <3 <3
Mischief managed! ?
Once again I absolutely love the sound of your WIP Marie! ā¤ļø Your characters just sound so lovely – you’re making me fall in love with them throughout tags without me even reading your WIP haha. Seriously Keely just wanting to spend Valentine’s with her best friend BREAKS MY HEART why you do this to me Marie
AWwwwww thank you Michelle, that is the BEST compliment I can get, you falling in love with my characters <3 <3
And… I don't know, I'm hoping to break readers' hearts, but… isn't that every writers' goal? ??
Aww, I love that you write a lot of romance because you’re a marshmallow! ?? But yes, platonic relationships are nice too, and I can’t wait to read your book and see them both beautifully written. š
Aahh Keely sounds like a character I’d really relate to! Especially about the book thing — grand gestures are nice, but sometimes smaller things are better. ? And aawww Jamie seems like SUCH A SWEETHEART (reminds me of you ?).
Can’t waaaaait to read more about your WIP and read it when it publishes! ?
Awww thank you so, so much May!! <3, Oh Jamie is quite different from me, but I wish I could be a little more like him, so… I'll take that compliment haha š
Thank you SO much – no idea if it will ever publish ahah, but I'm so thankful for your support, you're so sweet <3
Yes more information about your WIP ? I hope that you survive the editing phase! It’s quite scary to me and I’m not there yet, but soon it will happen to me too, as I vowed the edit my draft once I finish it – then I might join you in the editing despair ?
I’ve got to say it: I already love Lyna, she seems to be such a cool character! š Generally, I love that the focus of your story isn’t the romance and that it’s a lot about friendship! Now I feel the need to see your book published, because I want to read it š
Awww thank you! Well, feel free to join me anytime, haha, I’m so not ready to do this, but I want to make this the best story it can be and AHHHHHHH what a struggle haha.
Oh thank you so much, you’re so sweet!! I hope you will get to read this someday <3 <3
I’m also not ready at all, but maybe soon we can struggle together š I plan to look a bit into the resources on Susan Dennard’s website about editing, so far they look like they could work for me š
That would be amazing ā„
Oh thank you so much for the tip, I need to look into these too! š
I love how your main character Keely is the kind of person to spend Valentine’s Day with her best friend… that’s the way to build a good friendship in a story ? I find it so impressive that you know your characters well enough to do these tags for your WIP — it makes me more motivated and inspired to get to know my own characters well enough to maybe do a few of these tags in the future.
I’m having so much fun reading about your WIP, and it sounds like you have a really good hold on understanding your characters! Good luck with making your story grow even more! ??
Awww thank you so much, that means so much to me! This tag makes me realize that I have a better grasp on my characters and who they are, way better than I thought I had haha š
I hope you will give these tags a go someday, it is so much fun to do and very inspiring š
Thank you so, so much for your support <3
Hello Marie! <3
I am so glad to hear that you are making progress on your WIP! That's awesome that you are almost done re-reading it š
I think I like all the characters in this post – Noah and Jamie sound very sweet, and Lyna seems like a cool and independent-minded gal, however I think it is Keely that I can relate to most š
Loved reading more about your project and your characters! It sounds like my kind of book, and I look forward to hearing more updates about your progress š
Hi Sophie! <3 Thank you so, so much for your sweet words, I'm so glad you are liking my characters so far <3 I hope I will be able to write more updates about this… and have the courage to share them ahah š
It does take courage to tell the world about our WIPs doesn’t it? I am nervous each time haha š I am definitely hoping for more updates <3 š
It takes a whole lot of courage for sure haha š x