Someone Asked My Beta This Question...

WHY does LA like to debate w/ people tho? Like what does she get out of it?

It’s a way to sharpen the mind. It’s like mental chess. It helps you learn to think fast, adapt to changing circumstances, overcome obstacles. My parents and my brother and sister and I have held debates on random things since I was like, 3 years old. I learned research skills, how to keep calm under pressure, how to handle overwhelming odds without cracking, and how to read certain things from people (mostly when they’re starting to get nervous cuz I’m winning).

It’s also just a good way to learn how people think about things (which in turn can tell you a lot about their background) and you can learn things from debates, too. It opens up new avenues of thought for me when someone mentions something I haven’t thought of before. And as long as everyone keeps their cool and we don’t resort to name calling or insults or whatever, it’s a great way to make friends with people who like to analyze stuff (mostly books but sometimes not) as well.

It also taught me something major that’s helped me a lot in my life - don’t commit to something unless you’re sure. When my dad and I would debate things and he would say, “That’s wrong,” if I argued, he would say, “I bet you. I bet you.” My dad doesn’t bet unless he’s certain. And so winning a bet of that kind with my dad was always a big deal, a sign that I’d taught him something.

But being wrong sucked. So I learned to make sure that in a situation where I was like, “No, this isn’t just conjecture, I’m positive I’m right,” I was pretty d*** positive before I even put myself out there.

One of the Scariest Things I've Ever Done

When I was 7, in my swim class they offered…some kind of prize, I forget what…for jumping off the lifeguard stand into the deep end of the pool. It was perfectly safe but a) I was only 7, b) I was afraid of heights, and c) I couldn’t swim very well. I mean, I wouldn’t drown, but I didn’t go into the deep end without floaties because I wasn’t confident in myself that way.

But I did it and it scared the bejeebies out of me. My dad was super proud of me and took me to McDonald’s and my brother picked me up and carried me to the car because he was so impressed. :)

Why Did I Decide to Write Fanfiction?

When I found out fanfiction was a thing, I realized I’d been writing fanfiction in my head since I was about 4 years old - for Power Rangers. And I figured it would be good practice for writing a novel if I could do fanfiction. Especially since there are, in some ways, more restrictions in the sort of fanfiction people post on FF.net than there are in writing original novels.

Also because it's fun. :)

How I Came Up With the Plot of My First Novel

I started a book in 10th grade that’s sort of like, “Okay, what if Odysseus got stuck on his way home from a war but not because he was a cheating douche bag? And what if his son tried to rescue him and actually pulled it off? Also what if his son was actually a daughter? Also girls are fab, so make it two daughters. Also we’ll make everybody werewolves.”

…yeah. That was a thing I did. It was called Gemini Moon and the girls were the daughters of one of the 13 werewolf gods, who was stuck in similar fashion to Odysseus and so his mate, their mom, was battling for the throne because she’s a queen (so not because of werewolf pack stuff, but sheer politics) and so they were like, “Our dad is a literal god? Let’s go get him. ‘Cause we’re only 13 and stuff.”