What are your consistent writing habits?

[Crusoe]

Consistency?? Where!

Jk, my projects vary wildly but I guess if I need to point to a few consistencies, I'd be:

1) Cryptic titles that are about the core of the story. Feathered Fall is about how Milo is given an easy out from their employment as matchmaker when they fall into temptation rather than a typical fall from heaven. Fair, no Fair is about whether you think actions by certain characters are justified, especially when you get new information on their motivation etc.

2) Queer characters. Other than the 100 word stories of Lucky Draw all my stories feature queer main characters, even my comic Robin!.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

I just like my non-human humanoid creatures so much. Same with magical/supernatural abilities.

[Leyelle]

I write a lot of these too

@Crusoe I'm also a sucker for cryptic titles lol, especially when they have long and complicated explanation that no one will ever be able to guess unless I explain them, probably

[applebun]

Siblings are important in my writing too! Older siblings protecting younger siblings, the other way around, adopted siblings, twins… everything. In fact, in every story I’m currently working on, it’s the sibling of the protagonist that makes them start their journey.
And the dramatic death thing with the maniacal laughter… I’m very guilty of that too though I do a different thing more often, which is making the character actually survive whatever horrible incident I write them into, but making it affect them for the entire rest of the story. That way, I get more cute character interactions where they take care of each other. Funnily enough, my friend and co-creator has the same consistency, so in the story we are currently writing there are (uhhh let me count) at least 10 such situations, lol.

[Leyelle]

Siblings are important in my writing too! Older siblings protecting younger siblings, the other way around, adopted siblings, twins… everything.

yes! we need more wholesome sibling moments. I'm looking forward to writing more for Andrew and Alicia but I loved writing the flashback bonus chapter when she was 9 years old and he was 5 because it was so cute

[Leyelle]

Oh!

friends should annoy the heck out of each other. That's what friends are for.

Kattar and Alicia drive each other nuts. Dominic's sisters drive him nuts. Andrew drives Jinho nuts. Chili has literally been driving Texas nuts the entire comic so far.

Read Sketchy Business :: Adjectives... | Tapas Community

[skidiggy]

Ooh, love this question.

So far, it'd be between my romance novel "Apparent Secrets" and my action fantasy novel "Of Lowlifes, Lutes, & Liars." Here goes:

• Ladies in the Spotlight: The main character is female, and the majority of the story features her struggles, windfalls, and shortcomings. There's plenty of male characters to go around, but ladies take the center stage for the majority of both stories.

• It's a Hard Knock Life: Poverty is front-and-center in my stories. For Apparent Secrets, the MC is battling to survive health problems and bills in the big city. In Lowlifes, the MC struggles with living on the streets of Old Sarzonn as an outcast half-breed in a city that hates everything she represents.

• Can't Win For Losing: If it can go wrong, it will go wrong. Have you ever met someone who only got the fuzzy end of the lollipop? These MCs go from one catastrophe to another, barely surviving brushes with death, failure, eviction, and more!

[Leyelle]

Can't Win For Losing: If it can go wrong, it will go wrong. Have you ever met someone who only got the fuzzy end of the lollipop? These MCs go from one catastrophe to another, barely surviving brushes with death, failure, eviction, and more!

It's a Hard Knock Life:

Me realizing I do this to my OCs a lot too TT. Poverty isn't a central theme in the novels I've released so far, except for in Alicia's childhood, but it's pretty central several of my currently unreleased stories.

[Juniper_dG]

Over the years, I've noticed that water is a consistent important presence in my stories. It can be an ocean, a lake, rain (in If I Never Saw the Sun), even a bathtub, but water always plays a part in characters' introspection and growth.

Read If I Never Saw the Sun | Tapas Web Community

[Leyelle]

I write a surprising amount of scenes revolving around bathtubs lol

[Juniper_dG]

I do all my best thinking (and sometimes writing!) in the bathtub, so it tracks!

[Leyelle]

Aye. They're always introspective moments for my characters lol

[skidiggy]

We sure like to give our characters a tough time.

[megumibex]

1. Romance: I just like it. Can't imagine writing something without romance.
2. Another world: other than a few things I wrote as a student, I've never written anything set in the real world. I like to craft a setting that couldn't really exist.
3. Happy family/drama family: So far, all the novels I've (almost) finished have had a dynamic where one of the main characters has a very ideal, happy homelife, whereas another comes from a very tense, difficult background. I think I just like the contrast, and the difference in worldviews this facilitates. I also like fixing/ redeeming members of the drama family by the ending.
4. Stories about the 1%: I like to write about royal families. Mainly because it's a good way to put a lot of external pressure on the MC, it allows me to describe a lot of fancy dinners, ballgowns, and palaces, and family drama is always elevated when there's a title on the line.

[nene]

Oop I do the exact same thing most of the time

[Leyelle]

I like writing different family dynamics too, though they often have a mixture of some happy, some not. Rarely are any of the families entirely happy, but there will be one kind/mature parent, or a close knit set of siblings and things like that.

[thisisadriane]

Hey, new author in Tapas here. I used to be a fanfic writer and I would say that these are what I've noticed from my 10ish fanfics (which will probably continue into my original work ):

1. The main characters are not the main characters. I mostly write BL, and the main couple is almost always described from another character's POV. And, honestly, after a decade of writing online, it became my niche.

2. There's always a protective older figure; mostly males, but I've written female ones too. They can either be an actual parent, a mentor, a sibling, a friend. There's always one.

3. Strong tea/coffee/cafe culture. My first work is very descriptive when it comes to the afternoon spread they're having on the table. Second one revolves around cat cafes. My last one involves a group of spies working in a cafe, serving teas and coffees. There will always be a character that always has a tea party somewhere. And, surprise surprise, my penname is Tea Cup.

4. The main theme with my stories is spies/crime/secret agent. I've done other things, but this is almost always my one consistent 'thing'.

I feel like I should avoid doing the same theme over and over again, but I cannot not write these!

[Leyelle]

I feel like I should avoid doing the same theme over and over again, but I cannot not write these!

XD, It might be fun to challenge yourself sometimes though. I do. I rarely write action stories but I tried that recently. it's a nice writing challenge/exercise

[thisisadriane]

I actually did! Once though, and already that is very uncharacteristic of me. No organized crime, no murder, no police, nothing. Just a high school puppy love story that lasted about 20-something chapters. I surprised myself with how that lasted that long (it was meant to be short).

[Leyelle]

I have a habit of making my stories much longer than previously planned as well XD