Interested in my answers to common questions? Here, I decided to gather all my answers to questions I am asked on Goodreads in one place! Enjoy!
Q: "Can you tell us a two sentence horror story?"
There was a story that everyone wanted to read, because its beginning was so ambiguous and obscure that everyone had to find out what happened at the end. What happened at the end was that it was unfinished, making it end at the beginning, leaving a larger void of ambiguity and obscurity. (lol)
Q: "What are you currently working on?"
I am currently working on a book called "Feminism and Biblical Hermeneutics." It is meant to refute arguments that misuse the "Bible" to relegate women to a lower status or limit women from certain activities, and I intend to reintroduce egalitarian concepts that are biblically supported.
Please note that I am no longer working on this book, because I have already finished it! I am constantly working on new writing projects!
Q: "What's the best thing about being an author?"
The best thing about being a writer is that you can write about a diverse range of subjects, whereas other careers usually aim at topics from only a few academic disciplines. For instance, if you were a physicist, you would typically only be working with physics and possibly other sciences. However, as a writer, I have the liberty to write about multiple topics: instead of just writing about physics, I could write about logical fallacies, stereotyping, politics, history, mathematics, engineering, anatomy, chemisty... well, I could write about anything, or learn/apply skills in pretty much any topic.
Q: "Where did you get your idea for your most recent book?"
My most recent book, which is called "Logicalard Fallacoid" was created out of my passionate hatred for stereotyping and people's inability to distinguish theories from concrete, confirmed certitudes. The former was motivated generally by my observations of popular culture's preconceived notions about people based on race and gender---for example, as seen with the case of George Floyd, African Americans are believed to be more likely to be culpable of crimes, but to correlate racial identification with the ability to commit a crime is obviously a theory created on the basis of a logical fallacy. (This is actually known as the causal fallacy.) Also, though statistics show that African Americans do commit more crimes, it is wrong to THEORIZE that the African American who inadvertently went beyond the speed limit had criminal intentions; don't just theorize! Look for the FACTS and ANALYZE the actual circumstances of the driver! You are theorizing about that driver by thinking about what's more PROBABLE, but not with what's more FACTUAL! I was not trying to be a pacifist, but a pragmatist. I thought it was concerning that people would yield to stereotyping, which is nothing more than a bunch of logical fallacies and a demonstration of people's inability to distinguish a theory from a fact. So yeah, that was how I got my idea for "Logicalard Fallacoid."
This question was answered when I published my debut, Logicalard Fallacoid. Hence, my most recent book would not be Logicalard Fallacoid.
Q: "What mystery in your life could be a plot for a book?"
I have a couple of mysteries in my life, as of right now; whether or not they are well-qualified for a book may vary from perspective to perspective, but I find these to be VERY difficult mysteries, so I suppose they could be possible considerations for book ideas:
1. Is it best for ME (Lucy) to pursue college education or self-education? I was so intrigued by this mystery that I asked for an answer to this on my birthday list, so I'll just have to wait until my birthday to see what my family thinks, since I am still vacillating between the two options! XD I'll probably have to independently make the actual decision once I get my family's testimonies, so it could make a very good book. ;) ;) ;)
2. Am I a Christian because my parents are Christian, or because I inherently have the potential, dedication, and personality characteristics to believe in Christianity? (I have always thought that either agnosticism or atheism would best fit my lifestyle and personality. I believe in rational skepticism! I tend to stay true to my own beliefs (and those beliefs should include rational skepticism), but this instance is a tremendous exception. I must make an allusion to "Lost in Space"---sometimes, it seems as if I was just PROGRAMMED to be a Christian by being raised by Christian parents, but from my perspective, I don't believe that I necessarily and exactly had a self-seeking identity, religiously speaking.) It's actually a very serious and personal mystery in my life, but I might actually write about it and solve the mystery, so that seems promising.
3. Should I listen to music while solving math problems? I love math, and I have been thinking about what life would be like with more music, since my brothers listen to hours of music every day, so I am wondering what it would be like if I solve math problems while listening to music! (lol) This may not seem like a mystery, but it exemplifies the contrast between the practical and the pleasurable: I like math so much that I have this emotional connection to it, but as a student, I know that states standard tests, quizzes, and assignments kind of subtract from that pleasure; what seems to matter most is that you get everything done so your teachers wouldn't be mad at you, and to score high on your states standards tests not because you love arithmetic problem solving, but because it will make you look good to your high school and eventually the college/university you want to apply to. Listening to music while solving math problems may be pleasurable, but eventually, I might stop having the liberties of online homeschooling and have to go to a public school, where the pressure piles. Even with online schooling, I am still affiliated to a middle school, so there is that looming, unwanted truth that the meaning of academics is tests and college degrees. (That is one of the reasons why I have thought about self-education; to be academically strengthened, since I am academic-oriented, but to still be able to have the freedom to embrace the PLEASURES of academic topics.)
Q: "How do you deal with writer's block?"
4/22/22---Today, I suffered from a temporary but enlightening writer's block. This happened while I was writing an essay for my fourth book, "For the Intellect." I have always suffered from writer's blocks, and in "For the Intellect," I even wrote about why writers, among all other professions, suffer from a blockage, but I never knew how to deal with MY writer's block. I always had this question pending on my author's dashboard, but I never knew how to answer it until today.
"For the Intellect," by the way, is a series of essays that contain my own insights and analysis on things such as STEM, writing, history, philosophy, and even movies and songs. I was trying to write a new essay today, but I had a writer's block. One usual cause of writer's block is a deficiency in ideas, and this is a valid and understandable cause that has happened to me, but this has not been the main cause of most of the writer's blocks I have had throughout my history of writing. I, in fact, had many ideas for today's essay: I wanted to write about my thoughts on the 1968 "Planet of the Apes" movie, the prevalent teen girl tropes in film and media, the way "Shrek" would make a good social commentary, and, at the back of my mind, I even thought about writing about the "yogurt" in yogurt covered raisins. I should not have had a writer's block. However, that was not my reality. I stared at a blank screen for 20+ minutes without writing, no joke. Why? I thought that I would hit a dead end or write useless crap if I started pursuing one of those topics. For reasons that are not pertinent to this answer, I was underconfident about writing down the ideas I had, and I thought that I would either write something that was not eloquent or intellectual enough, or I would not have enough topics to discuss my subject and hence the essay would be insufficient. That was why I sat staring at my screen, trying to think of a different idea to write about. However, eventually, I wisely chose to use one of my preexisting ideas: the Planet of the Apes review. It actually worked out quite well, and I realized that I wasted so much time sitting there when I could have been writing, maybe even finishing two instead of one essay today!
With that being said, I would say that to deal with writer's block, I'll just do the opposite of having a writer's block: WRITING. I have so many ideas that zombies will want to eat my brain, so I might as well stop being so underconfident and just write. I could easily just edit my book after I am done writing. (I finished writing my third book, "The Reformation," a while ago, and my dad is currently reading through it to make any suggestions. Before I gave it to my dad, I had to reread all 390+ pages 3-6 times because of the mistakes I made.) There is always going to be a period in your time to look over your book again, so just write!
Q: "How do you get inspired to write?"
Steps to being inspired to write and ultimately publish:
1. My beautiful brain perceives something to be passionate about or something to analyze or dive deeper into. (In other words, my curiosity about the world helps me).
2. My beautiful brain comes up with an idea using what it perceives.
3. My beautiful brain finds a way to articulate and execute this idea in words.
4. My beautiful brain checks for mistakes after the text is written.
5. I give it to someone else to look over, who has a beautiful brain that might make suggestions or see mistakes that my brain can't make or see, respectively.
6. My beautiful brain chooses a cover (I have been using Amazon covers), and it finds a way to summarize the book, tag a book, and remember to blog about it on Goodreads. My Dad's beautiful brain helps with Amazon, since it has been used in online schooling and a lot of online shopping.
IT'S ALL IN THE BEAUTIFUL BRAIN! 🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠
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