Here it is! The much awaited interview! As promised, we have some fantastic guests! These two girls make me laugh every time I read something of theirs. They are both teen writers and have some interesting things to say regarding Planning and Pantsing! So without further ado; Cait and Mime!
Do you consider yourself a planner or a Pantser? Tell us why!
MIME: I’m a mutant. I plot to a certain degree, but I don’t outline. I usually have an idea of what’s going to happen in the book, but I don’t always know my theme, or my climax. They come as I write.
CAIT: Yes, Mime, you are definitely a mutant.
MIME: Go X-Men!
CAIT: I used to be a full-out-plotter (down to outlining every scene! My outlines were up to 10,000 words long. Yeah. It was…intense.) Now I write as it comes because a) I’m too lazy to outline and b) I’m too lazy to brainstorm.
What does your writing space look like?
MIME: Either Cait’s beanbag on the floor of her bedroom or Cait’s bed. I can steal her inspiration from the air that way.
CAIT: I write at my desk, when I’m feeling industrious. Usually, I write on my bed because it’s cold here. I usually have to kick Mime off. But that’s okay.
If you could choose any author (dead or alive), which would you most want to have coffee with?
MIME: None of them. I’d be too afraid to say something totally stupid.
CAIT: Mime! You scaredy-cat! Gmail chat is a viable option. I’d pick Joan Aiken, because she’s dead and it’d be a seriously interesting conversation. (Plus, she was a teen author and wrote steampunk before it was cool!)
Do you prefer writing in 3rd or 1st person? (Or maybe second?)
MIME: First—definitely first. I used to write in third when I was little, but I like first better because I feel like it’s more personal. I like reading it better, too.
CAIT: I looove first person. Reading it. Writing it.
Favorite tense? (Past or present?)
MIME: I’m not fussy. I like present better, but I read a lot of past tense, too, so it flows for me when I read it. I gravitate to present when I’m writing, though. One of my WIP’s is in present and past, which is a bit of a challenge, adjusting in between.
CAIT: Present!! All my books are in present…so far. I should expand my horizons. Present is so fun because you’re “in the moment” instead of recounting. Some of my favourite books (A.K.A The Hunger Games and Divergent) are in present tense.
What is your favorite thing to snack on while you write?
MIME: Chocolate is always my answer to anything that involves food. Enough said.
CAIT: Sultanas! I think in the USA you call them “raisins”, but same difference. They are delicious and small and you can line them up when you have writer’s block.
What does your writing playlist have on it? Or do you prefer to work in silence?
MIME: That really depends on which book I’m working on. I love writing with music—music is one of my most favourite things ever. Right now I listen to a loop of the Piano Guys for my WIP Graffiti Bible—the music is kind of classical, but with a modern twist. I love it.
CAIT: Music all round! I usually have a movie soundtrack going – Inception, Batman Begins, Avatar, Gladiator. Basically if Hans Zimmer wrote it, it’s a good soundtrack.
Do you ever have conversations with your characters in your head?
MIME: All the time, they just won’t shut up.
CAIT: Now, Mime, that’s called insanity and it’s frowned upon in most societies.
What time of day do you write the best in?
MIME: Night—always night. If I had a theme song, it would be a Nocturne.
CAIT: Any time. I used to be quite picky, but now I just write. Five minutes spare? Write.
Writing; by hand or typing?
MIME: I haven’t written by hand for ages. I wrote half a book by hand—three volumes of exercise book later… and one of my other ones I wrote half by hand and half by typing, because I was writing it in school, and it was more convenient. Now I type, because I find it easier to wring in the word counts that way.
CAIT: Typing. I can’t read my own handwriting.
Who or what first inspired you to write?
MIME: The Boxcar Children and Meet Molly. Interesting combination, I know.
CAIT: Mime did! I didn’t like to think of her penning novels and getting famous without me. It wouldn’t be fair.
What is your favorite genre?
MIME: I try not to get stuck in one genre, because it’s not good for my writing. I love a good dystopian or contemporary, but some of my favourite books are historical fiction or fantasy.
CAIT: Dystopian! I like to read anything YA, though. So contemporary, sci-fi, paranormal, fantasy, and even the odd bite of steampunk.
What genre does your current WIP fall under?
MIME: Chaos.
CAIT: I think Beth meant something a little more specific.
MIME: Okay, okay. YA Christian Contemporary Fiction Chaos.
CAIT: Sci-fi. Simple and to the point.
Tell us about your WIP?
MIME: I have a whole page on my blog for it—It’s called Graffiti Bible and it’s about one dork, one graffiti artist, and one girl who’s not swallowing any of the stuff the pious boy next door is throwing at her.
CAIT: Currently I’m working on an idea. It’s being difficult. It’s mostly sci-fi, but I’m throwing in some carnivorous grasshoppers just to shake things up.
Do you prefer rainbows or penguins? ;)
MIME: Unicorns.
CAIT: Being difficult are we, Mime? Penguins. Like from Madagascar. “Just smile and wave, boys, smile and wave.”
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About the sisters: Cait and Mime blog at Notebook Sisters. They like to read books so much they decided to write their own. Mostly they snack on tasty novels, have Avengers movie marathons, and thump the piano. Though not all at once. You can find them on twitter and facebook and Cait blogs as Hulk on YAvengers. They are currently plotting to take over the world. You can sign up to be a minion on their blog (there is cake).
