Vinnie Answers Questions! AGAIN!

Answering questions is fun! This time I took to Bluesky, Mastodon, and Tumblr for questions! These are the questions I recieved, and the answers I am giving!

What’s your most and least favourite trope in storytelling?

My most favorite trope in storytelling has to be “the final girl” trope.I love horror films/books, and there is something so satisfying about seeing loveable characters survive horrible situations. And I love that this trope has evolved so much since its inception. I am also a fan of “friends to lovers” but it’s partially because that’s my current relationship.

My least favorite favorite trope is miscommunication. You know the one. Where one character is doing something, and the love interest comes by at a weird moment and perceives that something else is going. That trope pisses me. I know it drives plot forward, but there are better way to do that. And it sucks that so many people eat that shit up. And it’s usually over something that can be explained in under sixty seconds.

Mutual Pining is a hit-or-miss for me, because if done right it can be really cute. But if the mutual pining carries on for multiple books or seasons, then it’s too overplayed and gets so annoying.

What is your least favourite piece of punctuation?

It’s basic, but I cannot stand commas. No matter how much education I have been through, I still am never one hundred percent certain of whether my usage of commas is correct or not. Like is the comma I am about to use correct, or am I just making this sentence confusing?

It used to be the semi-colon, but we came to an understanding.

What has your writing journey looked like?

Long. My writing journey has been so long. I started writing in middle school. I had so many ideas that make me cringe now. And this was back during a time where I was religious, and not yet the fabulous, confident writer chee I am now. My first real project was so ambitious, and I have documents and documents of series ideas for a superpowered teens adventure series that would have had so many spinoffs, Marvel would have been proud. I was also young, and ADHD, so you can already guess that none of that really got off the ground. There were other projects, but furry writing was what gave me my first finished work of long-form fiction. I am gonna go into that later on in this post.

But as I have written and sent stories away for publishing, I have learned so much. And not just as a writer, but as a person. My writing journey, and my journey as a queer person line up. Because both are big parts of who I am. So there’s been a lot of improving that has had to be done to get me to here. And I am still not perfect. I don’t think I will ever be. But I am still trying to get as close as I can manage to works I can be proud of.

What is your writing process like?

This is a difficult question to answer, because I am horrible about planning things when it comes to writing. Most of my stories that have outlines, where I meticulously plan things out? Those stories haven’t been writing. Most of my stories are written by diving in to a concept headfirst and hoping to heaven that something legible. My best work seems to happen when I rewrite an entire draft after a short time away from the story.

How did you plot out the story beats for your novella, and what was the process of publishing it like?

Once again, most of my novella was me making spur of the moment character decisions while I was writing the book. And if there were any outlines or notes anywhere, I don’t have them anymore.

I do remember the publishing process because it only happened because I met Howl. I remember going through the query process and sending in my twenty pages (I think it was?) I remember both of the editors who went through and offered me advice on things to fix and trim. I was so young, I just figured I was supposed to just follow what they said. Other than that, I don’t remember much. I just remember certain things and feelings. I hope this answer is okay? >.<

What inspired you to write?

Well, let me tell you. Repressed queerness, ADHD, (possible) undiagnosed autism, and a huuuuuge imagination made for a lot of ideas, especially when I was younger. I would always draw inspiration from my favorite shows. Mutant animals, kids with superpowers, people that turn into cars (Yes… This was as weird as it sounds) and these are just a few. There’s been a multitude of things that inspired me to start writing. Now that I am older, I try to limit myself a bit. Because ideas are wonderful. But sometimes they go like the wind and I can never find the motivation to keep working. So my philosophy, is that I only start stories that I have been thinking about for a long while. (Unless I come up with ideas for anthologies. But that hasn’t happened for a bit.)

Thanks so much for taking the time to read! And thanks to those who sent/commented questions!