The Life Choices Write Tag

Hello fellow bookworms 🖊️ Camp NaNo is now in full swing and we have already reached the halfway point, just under two more weeks now! Therefore, I wanted to do a writing related post (to procrastinate revising maybe? 😂 and decided to do a fun Tag, as revision is in a way about delving even deeper into our story and characters. I was tagged by fellow writer and blogger Kat @ lifeandotherdisasters a while ago and finally got around to doing the Tag. Thank you for tagging me Kat! 💕 Definitely check out her blog, she is a lovely human and also always creates the best writing Tags, that I really like doing!

A lot of people have already been tagged for this, but I’m tagging Madeline @ madelinebartson and Mel @ cottoncandybookwitch!

The RULES

• Thank the person who tagged you but also link back to the original post! (I want to see all your lovely answers, people!)
• Provide a short description of your WIP/story!
• This is pretty focused on main characters but don’t hesitate to use several characters for the answers if you want to! (We want to get to know as many of your characters as possible)

What my WIP is about

My book is about WITCHES in an urban fantasy setting! They are chosen by a  god, which gives them the ability to use magic. There’s a focus on European Witches which ingest potions to fully use their powers. Furthermore, there are two rivaling covens, who are told to have been split as a punishment by their god and are now the black sheep among all witches. The book centers around a Big Tournament to determine the Master, who’s the leader of the witch community and is supposed to unite the two covens. Our Protagonist, who has lived in exile since her father was banned, must participate to save him when he’s kidnapped by the rivaling coven!

Short breakdown of my characters

• Astrid 🖊️ my main character, good-hearted but impulsive
• Ian 🖊️ Astrid’s love interest, voice of reason #1
• Cole 🖊️ Ian’s brother, resident troublemaker
• Yasmin 🖊️ Astrid’s best friend, aspiring writer
• Cashel 🖊️ the villain (at least according to Astrid 😉)
• Ryan 🖊️ Cashel’s cousin, very soft and caring

The QUESTIONS AND my ANSWERS

Where does your main character (MC) live? Were they born there or did they move to that place? 🖊️ Astrid was born and lives in Hamburg at the beginning of my WIP, because her father was exiled from London, never to return to the ‘capital’ of the witch community for the crimes he committed. Basically, Astrid has never been to London and felt no inclination towards ever going back to the people who shunned her and her father and made them life in exile. All of the other characters were born (and still live) in London, as they all belong to prestigious witch families, that lead their lives here!

Does your MC have a dream career? What (if anything) stops them from pursuing it? 🖊️ Due to being so separated from her community, Astrid never strived to hold a position among her fellow witches. Instead she went to study at university and planned to become a Journalist, as she has a curious nature and would like to work for a newspaper sometime, maybe even hold a leading position. However, when her father gets kidnapped this becomes a distant reality, because now she is diving right back into London and leaves her home town behind. Will she ever be able to go back to where she was? It doesn’t seem like it, as fate (meaning: me) has other plans for her.

Did any of your characters ever go against their parents/family’s wishes? How did that change their relationship? 🖊️ Yasmin escaped her stifling life in London by doing a semester abroad in Germany. She’s the daughter of the coven representative (that’s a change I’m making in my revisions: I’m combining her with Scarlet into one character! Basically Yas is the same, just now the daughter of the coven leader), and wanted to get as far away from her strict mother as possible. She studied creative writing there and that’s how she meet Astrid! Basically it put even more of a strain on her relationship with her mother, as Yasmin doesn’t want to the future her mom has decided for her.

If faced with their greatest fear – would your MC try to overcome it or run the other way? 🖊️ Oh I like this question, it really got me thinking! Astrid’s greatest fear is losing her father (and of course later also her friends), because he was her only connection to her nature as a witch as a child and is the only remaining family member she has. Her mom left her, because she was only an affair and the rest of her father’s family has shunned him or is dead. That’s why the two of them were always such a great team: they only had each other in the exile, so they depended on the other. Her father is the main catalyst for Astrid, as she needs to get him back at whatever cost, after he was kidnapped.

Did any character have to cut a person out of their life? Why? 🖊️ Well Cashel certainly cut out his father, even though it’s not always working great, because as the representative of the other witch coven he is still very much present. However, after enduring his hatred and verbal abuse Cashel left home when he was 17 and got his own flat. His father was betrayed by his mother who was working with his greatest enemy, so he projected his resentment on their son. There’s also the fact that soon after Cashel got sick and his father saw that as further proof that his child was useless. Cashel’s cousin Ryan also got cut out, but by his ex-boyfriend Ian after their father’s death that was rumored to have been committed by his family. Ryan never was involved in any of tat, but Ian didn’t trust him any longer.

What is your main character’s biggest regret? 🖊️ I’m going to talk about Cole for this one instead of Astrid, because I haven’t mentioned him yet! His biggest regret clearly is fighting with his father the last time he saw him (yes, I love making my characters suffer) and it kind of eats him up inside. It wasn’t a big fight, but Cole deeply regrets storming off angry and never getting to apologize to his father and makeup. It’s a horrible last memory of his father before he died and made Cole’s obsession to get his revenge against his murderer even more intense, as he feels like he has to make up for what happened between them! Ian of course says that he couldn’t have known it would come to this, but Cole ignores his brother and starts isolating himself, pretending like he doesn’t feel anything for anyone anymore.

Which character is most likely going to help a stranger, even if they got nothing out of it in return? 🖊️ I can totally imagine that this would be Ian. He is generally very nice and polite person and would always stop and help someone, even if he didn’t know them before. He kind of did that when he meet Astrid during the Tournament and decided to help her, even though she definitely was too stubborn to be grateful at first and she shouldn’t help one of the enemy coven at all. Ian is just one of the good guys and not bad like people say about his coven, he would always help when he can! That’s why he makes for a good and compassionate leader!

If your character got good/bad news, who would be the person they first tell? 🖊️ Going back to Astrid, she would immediately call her best friend Yasmin to tell her of the news, as she is the first person on her mind! If it was good news they would both celebrate with a cheesy pizza and some Netflix, but if it was bad news, Yasmin would immediately come over and comfort her with ice cream! I just love these two girl so much and always enjoy writing their relationship!

Tell me about your WIP and characters! How is your writing going? Are you participating in Camp NaNo as well? 🖊️