What’s Your WIP? Writing Tag

I stole this from Rebekah @Books And Hooks, and below are the posts in which she did the tag. Thanks for allowing me to snurch this, Rebekah!

What’s Your WIP Writing Tag: Dystopian Novel

What’s Your WIP? Writing Tag #2

Rules:

• Thank the person who tagged you & link to their blog.
• Link back to the creator, Katja @ Little Blossoms for Jesus, & add the tag graphic. 
• List the rules. 
• Answer the questions. 
• Feel free to add snippets!
• Tag as many or as few people as you wish & let them know they’re tagged. 
• Add a clean copy of the questions at the end of your post for the “tagged.”

Has your WIP a working title? If so, tell us! If not, have you any idea of what it might be?

A Retelling of Swan Lake. It’s straightforward, cut to the chase, and incredibly uncreative. It’s perfect, and I’m too lazy to change it, so that’s that.

Have you a synopsis for your WIP? If so, give it to us! If not, can you give us a blurb on what your WIP is about?

I haven’t got one down officially (if anything related to this can be counted as official), but I’ll have a go at it. This isn’t polished and will change, so forgive me.

But before that, let me ask an AI to give a synopsis of the Swan Lake ballet.

“Swan Lake is a ballet that tells the story of a young prince, Siegfried, who falls in love with a swan princess, Odette. Odette has been cursed by an evil sorcerer, Von Rothbart, and can only take her human form at night. During the day, she is a swan and can only be saved if a man swears to love her forever. Siegfried promises to do so and invites Odette to a ball to present her as his bride.

At the ball, Von Rothbart arrives with his daughter, Odile, who looks just like Odette. Siegfried mistakes her for Odette and swears his love to her instead. Odette, heartbroken, runs away, and Siegfried realizes his mistake and goes after her. In the end, Siegfried and Odette jump into the lake, breaking Von Rothbart’s curse and living happily ever after. Swan Lake is a timeless classic and one of the most popular ballets.”

So, those are the original happenings. I played with it, adding some changes, but you can expect a similar gist.

Being a royal was never an easy role. Prince Siegfried’s been running away from this fact since his chilhood, before he even met the posh princess. But without his father by his side as he turns twenty-one, he has to brave the title that’s been staring at his face all these years. King. Maybe, hopefully, not alone, but that depends on if he can save his betrothed from the hands of the Shapeshifting Monster.

OoooOoOoOoOoooh, mysterious. I don’t think I captured the main plot, really, but that’s okay.

That’ll be changing from time to time. Do you find the story interesting? I might just post regular updates on it if so.

Have you a working/mock cover for your WIP? If so, show us! If not, have you an idea in mind?

Mock cover? Goodness, no. Not when I spent hours working on this:

So what if it looks unprofessional.

I really like the upper half. I slaved on that gradient background and the shadowy text. Even that little crown at the top. The bottom looks a tad too cartoonish, but oh, well.

How did you get the idea for this story?

My sister played Odette in my ballet school’s most recent production. She danced her heart out that recital day with much grace. It was magical. If you’d have seen it, you would’ve agreed.

But behind the scenes were hard work, diligence, perseverance, and sacrifice. I witnessed the sweat and tears (who said pointes were ever easy?), which greatly inspired me.

Tchaikovsky was a sucker for love stories, and I wanted to try it. I did some research, yada yada, and now we’re here.

How long do you think it will be? Is it longer or shorter than you thought it would be?

Longer than I’m comfortable with. I have this toxic trait where I start a captivating story—or I’d like to think—only to drop it at a point where there’s “closure, but not really” because…fear of commitment, maybe? I’m not sure. This is stepping out of my comfort zone. Oh, but did I mention I may or may not have forgotten I had this for a month? If not, then I did.

What‘s your favorite memory related to this WIP?

The typing.

Any special person(s) who helped create it?

Aside from the sister mentioned earlier, no one, really.

What‘s your favorite scene so far (if you can tell about it without spoilers!)?

My favorite scene might be the part where Siegfried [insert questionable thing here] in Chapter 2. It showed he isn’t a heartless prankster, even if his whole plan backfires. But I haven’t got all my ideas down on parchment, so most of what I have to offer are ideas of where the scene may go. I have a plot down but not much more.

Perhaps my favorite scene will be where Siegfried and Odette have that one… ballroom thing. I plan to share the completed thing here one day, so I don’t want to spoil it completely.

Can you give us a snippet? 

Prologue

Ah, Swan Lake. A tale of two lovers—one a princess beneath her feathers, the other a conflicted prince—destined to love and fated to die. A tragic romance that illustrates what most would call the idiocy of love. The lovers would tell you otherwise—the true idiocy would be never loving at all. It also, when examined closely, gives insight on the consequences of tinkering with the Forbidden Magic, which, by the way, is always a helpful lesson.

But is that really how it went, you might ask? Perhaps this tale is just what it professes to be—a tale. I wouldn’t blame you. Tall tales, folk tales, fairytales—all of them, one might argue, are to entertain children and to keep them from asking deeper, darker questions that no one has answers to. 

But many forget the credibility of a tale. Sure, they seem unbelievable now, but they always started somewhere, stemming from a reality to something entirely different. One element that remains unchanged is the magic that surrounds it—whether or not you believe in magic.

The real question now is: where did the tale originate? Lucky for you, I have the answer. How can I be trusted? 

Believe it or not, I personally knew this tale’s protagonists. In the most modest tone I can render, I was quite involved in their story. One might say it would’ve turned out entirely different had I not helped. And I can say with full confidence that they are worthy of your admiration, even those of you who detest romance of all kinds.

You can judge for yourself. I present a tale of friendship, compassion, duty, title, power, and love. A retelling of Swan Lake.

sWaN lAkE (A Docs File)

To be edited.

Is the story still what you thought it would be, or has it thrown you a couple curveballs?

It’s still what I thought, and think, it will be, but I wouldn’t be surprised if…if it surprised me soon enough.

Is there a Bible verse, poem, hymn, picture, or quote that helped shape this story?

Oh, man, it would be really cool if one did. But my response to that is a reluctant “no.”

When and where have you done most of the writing so far?

The Prologue, and I know, I know, I shouldn’t have. But it was just so much fun. It wasn’t even writing, really. It was just editing.

Where do you get inspiration for this story?

Tchaikovsky’s story. Shocker, right? Many events are merely the original plot but modified. Not the majority because I’d be lying to your face if I said that. Speaking of which, I altered it. A lot.

Also, watching my sister practice this with her partner was a terrific catalyst for idea generation. It felt no less than 20 minutes, but it was probably 5. Either way, it was beneficial.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I used to think I was a plotter, but some inserts randomly popped up when I wrote the scene. I heard writers rave about it, but I never thought it would happen to me. So, I believe I’m both.

Do you have a little ritual before you start writing?

No, I don’t think I do.

Are you thinking of publishing this story?

*profuse sweating initiates*

Let’s see where God leads.

What things have you learned while writing this story?

Remember all those authors saying writing is not easy? Yeah, they were right.

I didn’t expect to experience the thrill of nurturing and creating a story, but it was certainly rewarding. I pity my future self who’ll edit this, though. Sorry, me.

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Thank you for reading!

Docs is better than Word. Debate with me in the comments.