The Writer’s Halloween Tag (MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA–HACK!)

Good morning, Cyberspace!

Today, I realized that miracles do, in fact, exist. . .

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I don’t know about you guys, but Autumn is one of my absolute favorite times of the year. The crisp falling leaves, the mutilated pumpkins, the whimsical colors, the subtle nip in the air that threatens to quickly expand into frostbite on your nubbly toes. . .

It’s an all-around beautiful season.

But with all of the NaNoWriMo posts and preparation that peppers (see what I did there??? Ah??? AH???) our blog feeds as November speedily approaches, it’s easy to get so lost in all of the excitement and stories and NaNoWriMo inspiration and survival kits that we forget about the delectably ghoulish holiday that stands right smack-dab between us and our untimely deaths.

Halloween.

And this will not do, dear beans. This will not do at all.

*cue me flailing like the beheaded chicken that I am whilst trying to figure out how to write a Halloween-y post in one day (because I am a procrastinator and OH LOOK! it’s already Monday)*

HOWEVER! Right when I was about to have a panic attack and gruesomely rip out my bulging left eyeball. . .I saw it.

A tag.

A tag that combines both writing AND Halloween.

It was like a Heavenly host of angels had manifested all around me, their beautiful music filling my eardrums as I tapped the tag with quivering fingertips.

But then, as I came to the end of the beautiful, life-saving post, I realized that an even greater miracle had bestowed itself upon me this glorious day.

I had been tagged.

This revelation, of course, completely crushed my dream of snitching the tag away in the night like the speedy ninja that I strive to be, but whatever. The deed is done, and here I am, writing this post legally without a single felony to my name.

#howdisappointing

However, I am extremely excited to be doing this tag, because A) tags are literally the best and B) they provide a GET OUT OF WRITING AN ORIGINAL POST FREE card.

(I am such a professional blogger)

So one giant THANK YOU!!! to the wonderful Shay over at Shay Writes for tagging me! I really appreciate you and your face.

And now, without further ado, let us dive into the tag!

The Writer’s Halloween Tag (MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA–HACK!)

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Question One . . . Are you a scaredy cat or a horror aficionado?

Uhhhhhhh. . .

Both. Definitely both.

Sometimes I am fearless and laugh in the face of terror, and other times I am a limp noodle who knows not how to have a spine.

I blame my family completely when it comes to the majority of scary movies that I have seen. My siblings are obsessed with The Ring, and thus I was obviously forced to watch it.

Twice.

And then we just had to watch the second. And the third.

And now I’m pretty much to the point where I would personally stuff myself into the well to get out of watching any more of them.

But to be honest, I’m oddly starting to enjoy the series. Every now and then it’s kind of fun to get so freaked out that you end up cowering up in your bed late at night, begging your bloggy friends to help calm you down whilst everyone around you sleeps. #sofun

Besides, the plots of these movies are exceedingly deep and watery. 10/10 recommend. You should totally watch it.

but can you do it before Thursday because I only have two days left, thanks.

Question Two . . . Would you ever consider writing a horror novel?

Depends on what you mean by ‘horror novel’.

If you mean something with a creepy and eerie feel to it that will hopefully keep you up at night with uneasiness crawling so thickly through your quivering veins that you physically cannot fall asleep, then yes. I would definitely consider (and am currently plotting) something along that thread.

But if by horror you mean ‘terrifying demon-possessed child living in the basement of a nursing home’, then no. I would never write something like that. Even I have my limits when it comes to fear.

Although writing about a creepy, non-possessed child living in the basement of a nursing home is something that I would definitely consider.

DON’T STEAL IT, IT’S MINE!

I shall call him George.

You see, while I might despise watching scary movies, I am actually in love with writing about unnatural and creepy things that will hopefully haunt my readers to the end of their days. Which, I guess this is made even creepier by the fact that I don’t like horror movies?

Because if I don’t watch these shows. . .where is all of this coming from?

(hahahahahaha…haha…ha…?)

Question Three . . . What is the favorite bookish Halloween costume you’ve ever worn?

Lame Answer – I don’t think I’ve actually ever dressed up as a bookish character for Halloween.

I know, I know. I’m a disgrace to the bookish community.

HOWEVER! This year I’m planning on dressing up as a mime, so let’s just pretend that I’m the mime from Tangled, which is actually a spin-off of Rapunzel, which is a Grimm Fairytale, which when smashed together with all of the other fairytales is technically a book, so HEY! I’m dressing up as the mime from Rapunzel.

BAM. Bookish Costume = Created.

You’re welcome.

Question Four . . . What is the best bookish costume you’ve seen someone else wear?

Again, I can’t really say as if I’ve ever seen someone wearing a bookish costume.

Apparently I come from a very lame part of the world.

But one year we had this ADORABLE tiny little kid come up to our door wearing an Iron Man costume, and he was literally the cutest little trick-or-treater I’ve ever seen, so I’m just gonna go with him.

Besides, Marvel is a comic, which is a story smushed between two covers, so technically it’s a book.

Obviously.

Question Five . . . What literary villain is your favorite?

I know for a fact that at least two of you are already anticipating my answer to this question. I cannot recall whether I have flailed over this villain on my blog as of yet, but it is a miracle if I have not.

The answer, my dear bean, is quite elementary.

. . .

. . .

. . .

MORIARTY.

MORIARTY MORIARTY MORIARTY MORIARTY MORIARTY MORIARTY MORIARTY–

MORIARRRRRRRRTTTYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!

*ahem*

James Moriarty is — and will forever and always be — my all-time favorite villain of ever. I have unfortunately not met him in the Sherlock Holmes novels quite yet, but that matters not.

Moriarty from Sherlock is the most wonderful villain that has ever existed, and if the writers of that show keep him dead I will probably murder someone with a rusty pitchfork.

Despite what some of you might be thinking, I am not obsessed. It’s not like I named my brand new laptop after him, or something.

(hahahahaha…ha. [oh stop it, my family helped me okay])

And it’s not like I squeal like a dying pterodactyl hatchling every time I see a GIF with him in it.

I’m fine. I am perfectly fine.

Question Six . . . Will you be visiting a haunted house this year?

Ew. No.

I hate haunted houses.

I mean, I’ve never actually been to one, but come on. I don’t need to visit one to know that I will despise the experience for all eternity.

I’d rather stay home and knit a sweater. Which isn’t really saying anything, because I love to knit, but knitting a sweater sounds awful and tiring, so there.

Question Seven . . . Would you rather go to a Halloween party or go Trick-or-Treating?

Trick-or-Treating ALL THE WAY. Parties are blech and weird. There are people there. And socializing.

And no.

I’d much rather go Trick-or-Treating dressed as a mime so that I can act like a complete and utter idiot whilst simultaneously stealing the candy from unsuspecting villagers.

And I would actually do this, too, if it wasn’t frowned upon for teenagers to go Trick-or-Treating.

I mean, seriously. Why do the tiny children always get all of the fun?

No wonder no one ever wants to grow up.

Question Eight . . . What’s the best Halloween song?

Ooh, this is a tough one. . .

I’ll just make a list:

• Jack’s Lament from The Nightmare Before Christmas
• This Is Halloween from The Nightmare Before Christmas (sorry, Shay, I just had to steal that one!)
• The Entire Corpse Bride Soundtrack from The Corpse Bride
• Basically Anything From Any Tim Burton Movie Ever by Tim Burton
• OOGIE BOOGIE’S SONG!!!! from Nightmare Before Christmas
• What’s This? from The Nightmare Before Christmas
• THE ENTIRE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS SOUNDTRACK, OKAY? from The Nightmare Before Christmas
• A Little Priest from Sweeney Todd (this is a personal favorite)
• According To Plan from The Corpse Bride (I’m only putting this one because I can do a brilliant voice impression of Victor’s dad)

There you go. Your Halloween playlist for 2017. Enjoy.

Question Nine . . . What scares you the most about the writing process? 

Oh goodness, this just got deep, didn’t it?

*initiate ominous music*

I think the single thing that scares me most about the writing process is failure.

And yes, yes, I’m sure that everyone who ever does this tag is probably going to say the exact same thing, but just hear me out for a second, okay?

One of my greatest fears of all–not just with the writing process–is failure. I’m frightened of not being good enough, of not being smart enough or talented enough. I’m frightened of falling so hard and so fast that I’ll never recover from the plunge.

And most of all, I’m frightened of never accomplishing my dreams.

It’s so easy for me to hold back on what I want to do because I’m frightened of what might happen if I simply try. Courage is not my strong suit–it never has been. But I am learning that it doesn’t matter how many times I fail, or how hard I fall. I can always pick myself up and try again.

And that’s what I’m trying to remember with writing. This story that’s inside of me deserves to breathe. It deserves a life. And maybe I won’t get it right the first time. Or maybe not even the second. Maybe it takes me ten years to accomplish something that it only took someone else six months to complete. But I can assure you that when I am done–when this story finally lives and breathes on its own–it’s going to be the best possible version of itself that I can possibly create.

And no one–no publisher or editor or agent–can tell me otherwise.

Not even myself.

Question Ten . . . Monster mash – if you had to say your antagonist was a mix of two traditional monsters what would those be?

Oh my word, I love this question!

So for those of you who don’t know, my villain is…well…not your ‘normal’ villain. There’s a lot of gray surrounding his life, and I still haven’t figured out his personality to a T.

For this reason (and also spoilers, obviously), I have also failed to mention him too much on this blog. And while I still won’t be going into too much detail right now, I shall try to give you enough of a general background to pacify your obvious thirst for information by telling you what he is not.

He is not:

• wrong. (at least in his eyes)
• evil. Unless you talk to Thao.
• okay.

That pretty much sums him up for now, so let’s jump right into the question. . .

If my lovely villain was a complex mix of two traditional monsters, I would probably have to say that he was made up of Victor Frankenstein (I totally just looked up that guy’s first name) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

that’s actually three people but LET’S JUST ROLL WITH IT, OKAY

And of course those are two (*coughthreecough*) traditional villains, what are you talking about.

I’ve actually never read either of these two stories, but I know enough about the tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to accurately make this deduction, and my lovely friend Kate has told me enough about the story of Frankenstein that I’m pretty confident I’m making the right choice.

So there you have it! Dr. Jekyll Frankenhyde. My new villain.

Question Eleven . . . Would your MC be more scared of being left alone in a dark forest or an abandoned castle?

I think the answer to this varies greatly on the character.

As I’m sure you’re all extremely aware of by now, my current WIP has four main characters: Thao, Peter, Adaline, and Bella. (and if you’re not aware of this, then you can click right here to go get better acquainted with them! [9 out of 10 doctors recommend you do])

For Bella, my guess is that she would be much more frightened of a dark forest than an abandoned castle due to certain. . .reasons. Either that, or she would be absolutely in love with the freedom it provides. But seeing as though it’s a dark and potentially creepy forest and not some magical land full of chirping birds and munchkins, she’d probably be freaked out.

As for Peter, it’s a little difficult to scare him. I think no matter where I placed him, he’d look at everything with a cold, calculated emotion. To him, every cause has an effect. Everything that happens has a logical explanation. And that kind of level-headed thinking would help get him through most nerve-wracking situations.

Adaline, too, would take everything in stride as it comes, but for a much different reason. She’d probably enjoy being caught in the middle of a dark forest all by herself just as much as she’d love being trapped in an abandoned castle. Although, I think she’d tend to prefer the castle a tad bit more. It’s more up her ally, after all.

When it all comes down to Thao, however. . .

I think we can all safely agree that it doesn’t matter where he is–whether it’s a dark, haunted wood, or a creepy abandoned castle–he would be freaking out immediately.

And also quite loudly.

Question Twelve . . . Does anyone in your WIP believe in ghosts?

Peter definitely does not, but Adaline and Thao most definitely do.

Adaline would be the one prone to actually seeing the ghosts, but never really taking into consideration the fact that she should probably not be seeing floating smoke vapors right about now. Seeing ghosts would be completely natural to her. Just another person to talk to when she’s lonely.

Thao, on the other hand, would be the one to blame an unexpected or unpleasant turn of events on a supernatural being, before even stopping to gather more evidence.

Something slams in a far-off corridor?

Ghosts.

His bottle of hand-sanitizer mysteriously disappears?

Ghosts.

Adaline starts talking to a blank wall again?

GHOSTS.

I’m not sure as to whether Bella believes in ghosts or not. Maybe a little bit, if she had proper evidence, but it would definitely take at least one piece of hard proof to convince her.

Question Thirteen . . . Which character would last the longest in a scary movie?

Ooh, that’s a tough one. I’d love for all of them to survive the longest for varying degrees of reasons, but I think my personal preference would be to keep Thao alive the longest, just to watch him squeal see how he would react.

Honestly, though, I think the tally board would go something like —

First Death – Peter

Second Death – Bella

Third Death – Adaline

Final Death – Thao

Thao has that unfortunate talent of getting the exact opposite of what he wants.

It’s quite fun to write.

Question Fourteen . . . Good witch or a bad witch – do you enjoy torturing the characters in your WIP or do you feel bad about it?

Eh. A little bit of both. I do enjoy torturing my characters when it’s done properly. If I can get the pain and the shattering of their hearts and souls and limbs just right, I love it.

It makes me laugh.

Especially knowing that someone could potentially read my words and turn into a crippled ball of feels.

But then again, I often find my eyeballs leaking this weird, dripping ooze and that concerns me greatly, sir.

I’m not a fan of the salty ooze. I should not be leaking the salty ooze. All I did was stab my precious baby in the gut with a rusted pitchfork a few times.

Three, to be exact.

There is obviously nothing wrong with me.

Question Fifteen . . . Pick a love interest from your WIP; would they be most likely to scream like a little kid or punch someone in the face if they were scared abruptly?

I love how this just automatically assumes that my story has a love-interest.

Hahahahahahahahahaha. . .ha.

Okay, fine. They would totally scream like a little girl. Like a tiny little girl with pigtails and a floral yellow dress and a tricycle who would then promptly try to smack their assailant in the face with their grinning pumpkin bucket of Halloween candy and miss.

But this, of course, is assuming that there is a love interest. Which there is not.

SO DON’T GO GETTING ANY IDEAS, SIR. (why yes, I am looking right at you. you know who you are.)

#IDON’TWRITEROMANCE

The End.

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All right, then! Those were my answers for the Halloween Writer’s Tag! I surely hope you enjoyed those questions immensely, because here comes the fun part. . .

NOMINATIONS!!!

Duhn duhn DUHN!

And since there are apparently no limits to how many people you can nominate (that I have seen, at least) I’m going to take it upon myself to nominate a whole bunch of you.

Here we go:

– Kenzie’s Nominees –

• Jethan
• Kate Marie
• monkeyeverything
• loverofwriting2
• Ruby Sky
• lilyorphaned
• Phoebe Ava
• Felicity Annora
• Lillian
• shewillwriteandwrite
• Alex Charming
• Kirsten
• writingtomusicblog
• thegailiusblog
• AND YOU. OBVIOUSLY. Because you are amazing and deserve to be tagged, sir.

Whoa, that was crazy. I think that’s the largest amount of bloggers I’ve ever tagged before.

Well, then! There you have it, folks! My nominations! If you do the tag, be sure to link down to your post in the comments below. I’d love to read your answers!

Also, another enormous THANK YOU!!!! to Shay!! Thank you so much for tagging me, dear bean! This was SO much fun to do!

As always, until next time. . .

*flings cookies in the air and disappears*

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talk to me, peasants!

So what did you think of this post, Cyberspace? Wasn’t this tag exhilarating? I’m super excited for Halloween this year (I’m dressing up as a MIME, guys. A MIME!!!), and so this tag was absolutely PERFECT for feeding my ghoulish desire for chocolate and nightmares.

But what about you, my dearest bean? Are YOU excited for Halloween? What are some of your favorite Halloween traditions? Do you like to steal candy from unsuspecting children and watch them cry? (I obviously don’t do this, hahahahaha. ha.) Do you dress up as an evil witch and hand out moldy apples? Or worst of all. . .POPCORN BALLS??? (THE HORROR.)

Let us talk about ALL OF THE HALLOWEEN THINGS down below! (and also tell me what you’re dressing up as because I am ALL THE CURIOUS)

And for all you writerly peeps out there, don’t forget that there’s still an entire week to sign up and send in your dares for the Dare Squad!!! We’d love to have you there! (Unless you don’t want to die. Then you might want to stay home and quietly sip some disgusting tea whilst wiggling your happy toes in your pumpkin orange socks.)