#AuthorTubeNewbie Tag -- Just who AM I as a writer?

How's it going out there?

I hope this post is finding you well.

My name, for those of you who do not know, is Andrew J. Stillman, and today, I am actually going to be answering the AuthorTube newbie tag questions at last.

I did my BookTube newbie questions last week. I've got to get the AuthorTube tag questions just out of the way.

But before I get into that, I wanted to do a quick little end-of-the-month wrap-up and announce what I've got coming for November.

Just for those of you who do not know, I've essentially created a book from scratch.

My friend gave me some random genres, I put them in a generator, and it came out with dark fantasy. From there, I've basically just used the "rules" of constructing a novel to make said book through a series of tutorials.

Next month, I'm going to keep you up to date with that through a weekly writing vlog.

I will also reacting to/revisiting the first blog that I ever wrote back in September of 2012. That introduced me to National Novel Writing Month, and I'm going reflect on my journey from the first time I did NaNo in 2012 to where I'm at now in 2020.

I will also be reacting to my very first writing videos that I gave during nano 2014.

I'm actually going to take some time this month to open up and let some personal content in.

Even though I say I don't want this whole channel to be about me, I still need, I think, to have some things about me. That way, people who don't know who I am have a chance to get to know me and to understand what I have been through on this little writing journey.

I will also be shaving off my whole beard and cutting off all my hair so that I can take place in No Shave November.

I want to bring back this Andrew from when I was 25, about one week away from going to New Zealand for a year.

And this is the Andrew that came of that trip:

We will see what happens at the end of the Andrew that goes through No-Shave-November-National-Novel-Writing-Month-on-YouTube.

I'm giving daily writing prompts during NaNoto help you either connect to your character, your plot, or your setting.

They're just three-paragraph little prompts that. The idea is, the later in the month we get, and the more you might get stuck, the more prompts you have to get you unstuck.

And then here, I am going to post my responses to my own prompts... as well as my daily writing... and my weekly writing vlog posts will also include everything that I've written for the week.

Just because, this was supposed to be an example, so, yeah.

I'm sharing my first draft.

I'm not nervous about it, it's okay, it's not a big deal whatsoever.

The whole point is just so that you know that even if it's not a good first draft, you just write it.

I am done with all of that roundup stuff, so let's get Write On In to that to the AuthorTube questions.

#1: How did you find out about AuthorTube?

Well, I did actually start, like I said, doing writing tutorial video advice kind of stuff like, six years ago.

I only made five videos back then, but now I came back and I found Meg LaTorre over at iWriterly. That just kind of opened me up into realizing that now that's kind of, like, a whole huge thing.

Because I feel like when I was doing it back six years ago… it's not that nobody was doing it, but I guess I felt discouraged because I felt like nobody was gonna watch those type of videos.

And instead of just carrying on with it, I quit.

#2: What genres do you write in?

Normally, I would say fantasy, and even this NaNo book I'm writing is also a dark fantasy.

But that wasn't actually my choice.

My answer to this would now actually be that I had a great time asking someone to pick random genres for me, throwing them into a generator, and then building a book from that.

In the future, if it wasn't for National Novel Writing Month and doing tutorials like this, I would love to do that again and have it be kind of way more open without having, like, that one-month time frame, you know?

So, if someone gave me, like, historical fiction or something, if I had the proper time that I would need to do the research for that kind of a book, I would totally love to be challenged with any type of genre.

We'll see how that goes.

#3: What is your preferred writing tense, point of view, and category of story?

Part of the reason that this channel even really kind of came about was because, in July, I started writing what is the best book that I've ever written in my whole entire life.

It was my eighth one?

My ninth one?

I don't really know how many I've written out nowadays.

That book kind of -- I took a Patrick Rothfuss approach, and I have both third person and first person in that.

Tthat's been really fun for me, too. I actually really enjoy writing in first person, but it's harder to read first person sometimes.

I don't know it's all about the execution, but I talked about that enough in my BooTtube newbie tag.

But if it's executed well, I like it.

So I'm not gonna be about that this time.

As far as my category of story, I'm definitely more for adults more than children or middle-aged books.

I've always been like that.

Now that I'm actually in my 30s, it's easier to write about 30-year-olds than it was when I was 16 .

So, there's that.

#4: Are you a plotter, pantser, or plantser?

I like to let the book decide.

If you have seen/read my plotters vs. pantsers video/post, that's kind of my answer there for that, as well.

I like to plot, but I think, ultimately, I usually come out as more of a plantser.

I just like to let the book breathe a life of its own and be whatever it wants to be.

And I think that, you know, with that kind of mentality in mind, to the plotters versus pantsers versus plantsers thing, it's also kind of easy to get caught up in it to think that you have to identify like that.

So, I just say let the book decide, and I usually end up as some version of a plantser.

But I'm most likely gonna be a plotter in a normal sense.

#5: Are you a self-published, published, or yet-to-be-published author?

I did self-publish a book.

It's called Immortality Awaits by Andrew J. Stillman.

The Kindle version of this is still out there, the hard copy is out there for a gajillion dollars.

I talked about that in my first video, as well.

I was very traumatized by publishing that book.

That's also going be something I talk about more coming up, especially over this next month.

I published that book when I knew it wasn't ready.

It basically sent me into a eight-year spiral of… I just thought that I was the worst thing ever.

I thought I was an insult to the writing and the publishing community by purposefully publishing something I knew wasn't ready.

A lot of people who have read this book tell me I'm overthinking it.

They say that it's really not as bad as I say at all.

I thank them for that, but at the same time, that's now been where my career has stalled for myself.

It's just that I refuse to ever put out a book that I know is not ready yet again.

Even if I feel like it's ready and then later on in life I look back and see my own growth in the same way that I have done now -- like I can look back and be, like, "Wow, I've grown a lot."

But, I was very traumatized by my decision to self-publish. I have held myself back from anything, from any kind of publishing avenue since.

That's why now I have eight freaking books without an idea as to what I'm gonna do with any of them. I guess I just feel lost.

Part of what I'm doing with this, which, I think is another question coming up, is challenging myself to be more open and vulnerable and to start sharing my work again.

#6: What publishing company, literary agent, and or printing company do you use or want to use?

So, if I ever got published by Tor, I could die happy.

And I think that my top agent would be Eddie Schneider.

I don't really know why, I just vibe with him.

Especially, or at least, on Twitter. I like the kind of stuff that he tweets, and he has some pretty good books that he represents.

He's also part of that whole JABberwocky literary agency with Joshua Bilmes, who represents Brandon Sanderson, who's one of my favorite writers.

That would be, I think, kind of shooting for the stars, reaching for the moon kind of stuff.

But, if I ever had any of that happen, then maybe I could say I would die happy.

#7: What AuthorTube-related videos can we expect to find on your channel?

Well, right now, obviously, we're talking about books, and National Novel Writing Month.

These were my first attempts at video tutorials, or really sharing how the novel-writing process works.

I'm a little bit surprised, to be honest, about how it's turned out from what I've done. I was super nervous about just putting some genres into a generator and going from there, but it's been pretty exciting.

The thing is, going forward, I didn't and I don't want this channel to only be about books, and writing books.

In the future, there's going to be more about all sorts of different types of writing.

I didn't even want to start with books until I realized, "Oh, it's National Novel Writing Month, so maybe I should just do that."

In general, want to talk about poetry, and songwriting, and freelance writing, and scriptwriting, and all sorts of different types of writing. I, personally, just have experience with and interest in all of those types of writing.

Outside of this whole "publishing" fiasco or whatever that I did for myself, I've also always kind of struggled to figure out what type of writer I wanted to be.

That's why I have explored so much in all sorts of different types of writing.

In the future, I would like to cover more than just book writing. I want to bring on writers of all different types, to have interviews, and discussions, and all things like that.

Even though I'm allowing for some personal content this month, I really don't want this to just be all about me, so there's that.

#8: When did you start writing?

When I was three.

I also said this in my BookTube newbie tag question video… my sister was in kindergarten. I was three, we shared a room, I learned how to read by reading her lips when she learned how to read.

For me, I always say my first toy was the typewriter I found in my parent's bedroom that I still have in my garage.

I guess, technically, I started writing in second grade when I learned what a paragraph was.

And I remember that day just because I remember that was the day that I learned the word "describe."

In my BookTube video, I had mentioned that kindergarten teaching me the alphabet was the first kind of game-changer when I learned the names of the letters.

But learning what a paragraph was in second grade was when I became, like, a writer.

That was when I was like, "Oh, I'm gonna go write my first story" --

That's the next question --

#9: What was the first story you ever wrote?

Okay, hold on just one sec.

**This part of the transcript is best viewed at12:34 of the video**

This is what I'm talking about from my second-grade years.

I've got Forbidden Fire here, I've got, I don't know what that one's… but also, second grade, Forbidden Fire, when I was 24 does this maybe look a little bit familiar?

It's like it never changed.

What else do I got in here?

Tides of Darkness, okay, hold on --

That is the second book that I wrote for this series here that no one has ever read.

So, apparently, that one stuck around with me for a while.

Here we go, "Andrew's story: Kingney." Oh, you can't see that. "King--knee. K-i-n-g-n-e-y."

That was the first story I ever wrote in second grade with… I don't remember anything, except for the, the villain's name was "Lord Faroumiunt."

I thought I was so cool for coming up with that, and I have remembered "Lord Faroumiunt" my whole life, and I've always wanted to bring him back into a story.

So, if he ever shows up into a story, now you know that I was all of seven years old when I came up him.

#10: What authors have inspired your writing the most?

Oh, my gosh.

I don't know, there's so many... I mean, I've read a lot of Stephen King, Patrick Rothfuss, JK Rowling, Ted Dekker, Brandon Sanderson…

There's -- there's so many people, and then there's people that aren't necessarily even, like, big authors.

I love my friend E. Ardell, I've mentioned her before.

R.L. King, I love her Alistair Stone series.

I don't know, it's really hard to answer that question.

Truthfully, authors that I know personally really impact me positively, because I like connecting with other writers.

Obviously, it's really cool to see authors who have reached crazy margins of success, and to look at them have these New York Times bestsellers just flying off the shelves.

But I also really enjoy people who I feel like I can relate to, who are just kind of like me, they're just trying to write their stories and share them with the world and maybe make a name for themselves.

So, I don't know, that's a hard question to answer.

#11: Do you schedule your writing sessions or write whenever you can?

If I am in a position of being able to carry a habit, then I, habitually, usually write just right when I wake up, it's one of the first things that I do.

If I'm kind of, like, traveling, or if I'm all over the place, or if my schedule's crazy, then I just write whenever I can.

#12: Do you use a computer, typewriter, write by hand, or a blend?

Well--

**This part of the transcript is best viewed at15:18 of the video**

So here's this, and this, and this, and this.

These are some of the stories I've written throughout the years.

This one, especially, is the big folder that I've brought out a couple times on this channel.

It's for this book series that I don't know what I'm ever gonna do with.

But I definitely like to handwrite things, because I feel like it connects me better with the story.

However, typing is faster, so nowadays I usually just use a computer.

So, I don't know, but definitely kind of a blend of all of it.

#13: What are you most looking forward to now that you're part of AuthorTube?

A few things, actually.

I'll just be honest, one thing I really am looking forward to, obviously, the community.

I like connecting with other writers, as I've said a few questions ago.

Especially writers who I feel are in similar boats and situations as me I also really enjoy sharing advice, so, even from the people so far -- I've only been around a little bit of time, it's not like I have a huge following -- but the people who have been around so far who have commented either on my videos or messaged me personally and said that they've gotten something out of what I've been doing?

That makes me really happy.

From the writer's side of things on this channel, I really wanted to influence and uplift and inspire people through my own journey.

And I also want to push my own self to further my journey, as well.

Especially because, like I said earlier on, I stopped myself after this whole fiasco.

I -- I really allowed fear and self-doubt hold me back, and I'm not doing that anymore.

So, I'm just hoping that I can help influence or inspire or push other people to just… get write on in, and to just write whatever they want and whenever they want.

And that's why, again, I don't want to just have books on here, because I want to encourage anybody with any writing interest in them to just write it out.

So I guess I'm just excited to see how my own journey unfolds, as well as the people that I connect with and, hopefully, also the people that I inspire.

So, that takes care of all of that.

Thank you so much for watching my AuthorTube newbie questions.

I feel so weird answering them, and I said it, as well in my BookTube newbie thing, I hate introducing myself.

It just always just has to be how it is.

This next month, especially, is gonna be seeing a lot of pretty personal content from me as I reflect on my journey and write out this book that I've created on this channel.

It's super weird that I've had no privacy with that book.

I would just like -- I'm gonna put that out, this is more for me than anybody else, that I have not had a private moment with the book that I'm about to write, except for in each of the two, each three tutorials, character, plot, setting that I did -- I did, I had one private moment of doing those exercises for myself outside of what I did on the camera, and everything else that I do for this book is gonna be recorded and published daily.

So this is gonna… I'm not gonna have any time alone with this book at all, and that is actually something that I'm purposefully doing as an experiment for another book that I'm writing, so all of this is gonna be super fun, at least for me, to look back on in a few months.

And if you've joined, or will join, or in the future join, you'll be able to look back and know exactly what I'm talking about.

The next video/post I have is gonna be the first video that I have starting us into NaNo.

I can't believe that, but there it is.

So, thanks for having me on here for two months and here's to however many more!