Meme: ravens and writing desks.
Once upon a Tuesday, weary,
Faced with efforts dull and dreary,
I went looking for a writing meme I hadn't done before;
Then upon my blog I heeded
Just exactly what I needed,
And the meme I stole quite promptly from the lovely telynor.
From the fair and distant lady whom we name as telynor,
Lovely lady I adore.
***
What's the last thing you wrote?
I'm only going to include Things What I've Finished here, since any other way lies madness. With that kept firmly in mind, the last book I wrote was Newsflesh, a modern horror novel about zombies, blogging, and how George Romero accidentally saved the world; the last song I wrote was 'Reality Television', which was just plain silly, and the last short story I wrote was 'Flowers For Barry Ween', for Yuletide.
Was it any good?
They all were in their own ways, but I think I'm probably proudest of Newsflesh, for some wacky reason.
What's the first thing you ever wrote that you still have?
My mother was very fond of taking things I wrote when I was a kid for her own collection, so I don't technically own very many of them, even though they still exist. The first thing I wrote that's still in my possession is probably a really weird novella I co-wrote with Jill Steinberg when I was in the sixth grade. It was about, among other things, shape-shifting horses who dealt with really weird elf-type crazy people.
Was it any good?
It was insufferably twee and treacle-soaked, it made no linear sense once you stepped back more than three feet, and my twelve-year-old idea of romance was probably proof of actual insanity. I'm sure that if we rewrote it to be longer and include sex, we could totally sell it.
Write poetry?
Pretty much constantly. It's a sanity check.
Angsty poetry?
That, too. It's not actually a large percentage of what I write these days, funnily enough, but I definitely did my share.
Favorite genre of writing?
Even as I snatched this meme from Telynor, I'm going to snatch her style of answering this question and break it down into types of writing. For poetry, I love layered images and strange references -- I'm a T.S. Eliot girl at heart, although I have a major soft spot for Karl Shapiro. Good rhyme and structure can make my month, although I love free verse. In songwriting, I like things that tell me a story, and that make me stop to think about things. Talis Kimberley, Jeff Bohnhoff, Adam from the Counting Crows. I also have a soft spot for showtunes and good pop. When it comes to fiction, at the end of the day, my favorite genre is probably horror, although I could list a favored 'style' in half a dozen different genres.
Most fun character you ever wrote?
The Luidaeg, daughter of Maeve and Oberon, sea witch, Lady of the Lake, pain in Toby's side. She first shows up in Rosemary and Rue, and was so much damn fun that she's been in every book since then. I love the Luidaeg.
Most annoying character you ever wrote?
Probably Corey's brother -- the one who wants her to stay evil, not the chemist. He's a snotty popular kid with no real redeeming value, and while he's essential to the structure of the book, he's deeply irritating from a writing standpoint. Witness my forgetting his name just now.
Best plot you ever wrote?
It's really difficult to measure urban fantasy against horror against YA against chicklit, which is what I'd have to do to answer this one coherently. Probably Newsflesh, which manages to be surprising and involving and keep people's attention, all at the same time.
Coolest plot twist you ever wrote?
Not telling. But it's in Toby.
How often do you get writer's block?
On a specific project, fairly frequently. Whenever I hit a point that slams me up against the wall of 'but how do you get them out of this?', I wind up needing to back off a few steps and study it from another angle. This sometimes means books sit fallow for months at a time, just because I'm not ready for them.
How do you fix it?
Switch projects. I usually have two to five books going at any given point in time. Some of them eventually fall of the bottom of the pile, like Lady of the Underground, which is on hold until I can sell Chasing St. Margaret, but it broke my block when I started it, and enabled me to finish the Toby book I was writing at the time.
Write fan fiction?
Yes, I do, although I understand that I'll have to stop eventually, for reasons of 'I am trying to become a published genre author, and that means not muddying the waters any more than I have to'. I enjoy practicing technique and plotting on settings I don't have to build from the ground up -- being able to just start, and know that everyone who's reading understands the building blocks of the world. Also, I believe that there's a lot more fanfic in 'real' writing than a lot of people realize. Fairy tales and folklore, anyone?
Do you type or write by hand?
Both, depending on what I'm trying to do, and how free-form I'm being at the time.
Do you save everything you write?
Yes.
Do you ever go back to an old idea long after you abandoned it?
Nothing is ever abandoned, although some things can sit fallow for a very long time before they flower again. Some things eventually get disassembled and worked into other things, but the basic material is never gone forever.
What's your favourite thing that you've written?
Um...poetry, 'Patchwork Hearts', short story, 'Pixie Season', fanfic story, 'Terminus of Prayer', gamefic story, 'Halfway Through the Wood', novel, Rosemary and Rue, and song, 'Sycamore Tree'.
What's everyone else's favourite thing that you've written?
Book-wise, Chasing St. Margaret seems to be loved by almost everyone who reads it. Song-wise, it's a toss-up between 'Sycamore Tree' and 'The Black Death'. People are weird.
Do you even show people your work?
Almost always, although sometimes I wait until I have my feet all the way under myself before I really start sharing.
Who's your favourite constructive critic?
It changes with who's available and what I'm working on. Right now, I'm probably getting the most helpful commentary from Kate and Vixy, with Bayushi in a close third.
Do you have a web site for your writings?
www.seananmcguire.com has a full songbook, and will be adding sections on poetry and essays later this year.
Did you ever write a novel?
Oh, yes.
Have you ever written fantasy, sci-fi, or horror?
All of the above, actually, although it took me a surprisingly long time to come to the horror playground as anything other than a visitor.
Ever written romance or teen angsty drama?
Definitely a yes to the first; the second only if you're willing to allow Upon A Star as angsty (unlikely) or let me have were-critters running around making things difficult.
What's your favourite setting for your characters?
Toby's world is definitely my favorite place to play. Everywhere else is nice to visit, but it's Toby's world that my imagination lives in.
What's one genre you have never written, and probably never will?
Honestly, I can't say for sure that there's any genre I'll skip forever, given that I'm planning two different biological thrillers and just finished a horror/conspiracy novel with heavy technological overtones. No one knows.
How many writing projects are you working on right now?
Uhm...
Books: The Brightest Fell (Toby #5, writing), Lycanthropy and Other Personal Issues (writing), Shining Star (Corey #2, writing), Newsflesh (editing), Chasing St. Margaret (cleanup pass), A Local Habitation (Toby #2, cleanup pass), Nativity of Chance (planning).
Stories: 'Anthony's Vampire', 'Grave and Gravy', untitled Martin's Passage story (all writing).
Songs: about half a dozen in my 'fragments' file (all writing).
Do you want to write for a living?
I'm working very hard to get there.
Have you ever written something for a magazine or newspaper?
Yes, actually. I was on the staff of New Witch Magazine for years.
Have you ever won an award for your writing?
Several, mostly for my poetry.
Ever written something in script or play format?
Yup. A huge number of episodes of Electric Knights, and one very bad high school play. Oh, and several half-finished musicals, including an adaptation of Orwell's 1984.
What are your five favourite words?
Limnal. Meridian. Viral. Silent. Solemnity.
Do you ever parody?
Sometimes. Not very often -- it's not a big thing of mine -- but it happens from time to time, and I don't stop it.
What's your favourite thing to parody?
Right now, usually Vixy, because she turns the best colors.
Do you actually like that thing, or are you spitefully making fun of it?
Generally, I parody out of love.
Do you ever write based on yourself?
To a degree, absolutely, because it's nearly impossible to write characters who think in ways that are totally alien to your own. I've gotten a lot better about it, though.
What character that you've written most resembles yourself?
I really don't know. Margery, maybe.
Where do you get ideas for your other characters?
All over the place. People on street corners. Necessity. Friends. Everywhere there is.
Do you ever write based on your dreams?
Sometimes, absolutely. I have a whole trilogy planned, based on a dream I had once.
Do you favour happy endings, sad endings, or cliff-hangers?
It really depends on what the story needs. Most of my endings are bittersweet ones.
Have you ever written based on an artwork you've seen?
A few songs, but no stories or books. I had a scene in one of the early Toby books inspired by an art gallery layout, but it got cut in favor of a chase down Geary.
Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write?
Yes, absolutely. Although you can totally tell how tired I was when I wrote something by how purple it gets, because I get really, really over-ornate when I'm half-asleep. I do a lot of cleanup after a fit of insomnia.
Ever write something entirely in chatspeak? (How r u?)
Not unless you count LOLcats.
Entirely in L337?
Nope. I'm no good at it.
Was that question completely appalling and un-writer like?
Nah. The Penny Arcade guys do stuff with L337 that actually makes it funny, on occasion.
Does music help you write?
Absolutely. It helps me edit, too. Currently, I'm editing Newsflesh to the soothing tones of Evil Dead: the Musical.
Do you have a weblog or livejournal?
I think I can safely say 'yes' just now.
Are people surprised and confused when they find out you write well?
Not really, largely because I do it so damn much. It's hard to miss the fact that I write, y'know?
Quote something you've written. The first thing to pop into your mind.
Not the first thing I thought of, but the first thing I can quote without spoilers or files that I don't have:
"They left her there, when they moved on to stories of their own, stories more anchored than those of the seasonal maidens -- one the Queen of Winter, when all was stark white and black and blood on snow, one the Queen of Summer, when all was growing and vital and quick to harm or heal, and one strange one, one shadow one, one the Queen of Limnal Spaces, who stood between her sisters, kept the peace, soothed the wounds they opened on each other -- stories that could span a thousand seasons, rather than trading themselves around the circle of the year. They left her there, a final sacrifice to the wheel that bore them, and they did not look back."
Good night, ladies and gentlemen.
Faced with efforts dull and dreary,
I went looking for a writing meme I hadn't done before;
Then upon my blog I heeded
Just exactly what I needed,
And the meme I stole quite promptly from the lovely telynor.
From the fair and distant lady whom we name as telynor,
Lovely lady I adore.
***
What's the last thing you wrote?
I'm only going to include Things What I've Finished here, since any other way lies madness. With that kept firmly in mind, the last book I wrote was Newsflesh, a modern horror novel about zombies, blogging, and how George Romero accidentally saved the world; the last song I wrote was 'Reality Television', which was just plain silly, and the last short story I wrote was 'Flowers For Barry Ween', for Yuletide.
Was it any good?
They all were in their own ways, but I think I'm probably proudest of Newsflesh, for some wacky reason.
What's the first thing you ever wrote that you still have?
My mother was very fond of taking things I wrote when I was a kid for her own collection, so I don't technically own very many of them, even though they still exist. The first thing I wrote that's still in my possession is probably a really weird novella I co-wrote with Jill Steinberg when I was in the sixth grade. It was about, among other things, shape-shifting horses who dealt with really weird elf-type crazy people.
Was it any good?
It was insufferably twee and treacle-soaked, it made no linear sense once you stepped back more than three feet, and my twelve-year-old idea of romance was probably proof of actual insanity. I'm sure that if we rewrote it to be longer and include sex, we could totally sell it.
Write poetry?
Pretty much constantly. It's a sanity check.
Angsty poetry?
That, too. It's not actually a large percentage of what I write these days, funnily enough, but I definitely did my share.
Favorite genre of writing?
Even as I snatched this meme from Telynor, I'm going to snatch her style of answering this question and break it down into types of writing. For poetry, I love layered images and strange references -- I'm a T.S. Eliot girl at heart, although I have a major soft spot for Karl Shapiro. Good rhyme and structure can make my month, although I love free verse. In songwriting, I like things that tell me a story, and that make me stop to think about things. Talis Kimberley, Jeff Bohnhoff, Adam from the Counting Crows. I also have a soft spot for showtunes and good pop. When it comes to fiction, at the end of the day, my favorite genre is probably horror, although I could list a favored 'style' in half a dozen different genres.
Most fun character you ever wrote?
The Luidaeg, daughter of Maeve and Oberon, sea witch, Lady of the Lake, pain in Toby's side. She first shows up in Rosemary and Rue, and was so much damn fun that she's been in every book since then. I love the Luidaeg.
Most annoying character you ever wrote?
Probably Corey's brother -- the one who wants her to stay evil, not the chemist. He's a snotty popular kid with no real redeeming value, and while he's essential to the structure of the book, he's deeply irritating from a writing standpoint. Witness my forgetting his name just now.
Best plot you ever wrote?
It's really difficult to measure urban fantasy against horror against YA against chicklit, which is what I'd have to do to answer this one coherently. Probably Newsflesh, which manages to be surprising and involving and keep people's attention, all at the same time.
Coolest plot twist you ever wrote?
Not telling. But it's in Toby.
How often do you get writer's block?
On a specific project, fairly frequently. Whenever I hit a point that slams me up against the wall of 'but how do you get them out of this?', I wind up needing to back off a few steps and study it from another angle. This sometimes means books sit fallow for months at a time, just because I'm not ready for them.
How do you fix it?
Switch projects. I usually have two to five books going at any given point in time. Some of them eventually fall of the bottom of the pile, like Lady of the Underground, which is on hold until I can sell Chasing St. Margaret, but it broke my block when I started it, and enabled me to finish the Toby book I was writing at the time.
Write fan fiction?
Yes, I do, although I understand that I'll have to stop eventually, for reasons of 'I am trying to become a published genre author, and that means not muddying the waters any more than I have to'. I enjoy practicing technique and plotting on settings I don't have to build from the ground up -- being able to just start, and know that everyone who's reading understands the building blocks of the world. Also, I believe that there's a lot more fanfic in 'real' writing than a lot of people realize. Fairy tales and folklore, anyone?
Do you type or write by hand?
Both, depending on what I'm trying to do, and how free-form I'm being at the time.
Do you save everything you write?
Yes.
Do you ever go back to an old idea long after you abandoned it?
Nothing is ever abandoned, although some things can sit fallow for a very long time before they flower again. Some things eventually get disassembled and worked into other things, but the basic material is never gone forever.
What's your favourite thing that you've written?
Um...poetry, 'Patchwork Hearts', short story, 'Pixie Season', fanfic story, 'Terminus of Prayer', gamefic story, 'Halfway Through the Wood', novel, Rosemary and Rue, and song, 'Sycamore Tree'.
What's everyone else's favourite thing that you've written?
Book-wise, Chasing St. Margaret seems to be loved by almost everyone who reads it. Song-wise, it's a toss-up between 'Sycamore Tree' and 'The Black Death'. People are weird.
Do you even show people your work?
Almost always, although sometimes I wait until I have my feet all the way under myself before I really start sharing.
Who's your favourite constructive critic?
It changes with who's available and what I'm working on. Right now, I'm probably getting the most helpful commentary from Kate and Vixy, with Bayushi in a close third.
Do you have a web site for your writings?
www.seananmcguire.com has a full songbook, and will be adding sections on poetry and essays later this year.
Did you ever write a novel?
Oh, yes.
Have you ever written fantasy, sci-fi, or horror?
All of the above, actually, although it took me a surprisingly long time to come to the horror playground as anything other than a visitor.
Ever written romance or teen angsty drama?
Definitely a yes to the first; the second only if you're willing to allow Upon A Star as angsty (unlikely) or let me have were-critters running around making things difficult.
What's your favourite setting for your characters?
Toby's world is definitely my favorite place to play. Everywhere else is nice to visit, but it's Toby's world that my imagination lives in.
What's one genre you have never written, and probably never will?
Honestly, I can't say for sure that there's any genre I'll skip forever, given that I'm planning two different biological thrillers and just finished a horror/conspiracy novel with heavy technological overtones. No one knows.
How many writing projects are you working on right now?
Uhm...
Books: The Brightest Fell (Toby #5, writing), Lycanthropy and Other Personal Issues (writing), Shining Star (Corey #2, writing), Newsflesh (editing), Chasing St. Margaret (cleanup pass), A Local Habitation (Toby #2, cleanup pass), Nativity of Chance (planning).
Stories: 'Anthony's Vampire', 'Grave and Gravy', untitled Martin's Passage story (all writing).
Songs: about half a dozen in my 'fragments' file (all writing).
Do you want to write for a living?
I'm working very hard to get there.
Have you ever written something for a magazine or newspaper?
Yes, actually. I was on the staff of New Witch Magazine for years.
Have you ever won an award for your writing?
Several, mostly for my poetry.
Ever written something in script or play format?
Yup. A huge number of episodes of Electric Knights, and one very bad high school play. Oh, and several half-finished musicals, including an adaptation of Orwell's 1984.
What are your five favourite words?
Limnal. Meridian. Viral. Silent. Solemnity.
Do you ever parody?
Sometimes. Not very often -- it's not a big thing of mine -- but it happens from time to time, and I don't stop it.
What's your favourite thing to parody?
Right now, usually Vixy, because she turns the best colors.
Do you actually like that thing, or are you spitefully making fun of it?
Generally, I parody out of love.
Do you ever write based on yourself?
To a degree, absolutely, because it's nearly impossible to write characters who think in ways that are totally alien to your own. I've gotten a lot better about it, though.
What character that you've written most resembles yourself?
I really don't know. Margery, maybe.
Where do you get ideas for your other characters?
All over the place. People on street corners. Necessity. Friends. Everywhere there is.
Do you ever write based on your dreams?
Sometimes, absolutely. I have a whole trilogy planned, based on a dream I had once.
Do you favour happy endings, sad endings, or cliff-hangers?
It really depends on what the story needs. Most of my endings are bittersweet ones.
Have you ever written based on an artwork you've seen?
A few songs, but no stories or books. I had a scene in one of the early Toby books inspired by an art gallery layout, but it got cut in favor of a chase down Geary.
Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write?
Yes, absolutely. Although you can totally tell how tired I was when I wrote something by how purple it gets, because I get really, really over-ornate when I'm half-asleep. I do a lot of cleanup after a fit of insomnia.
Ever write something entirely in chatspeak? (How r u?)
Not unless you count LOLcats.
Entirely in L337?
Nope. I'm no good at it.
Was that question completely appalling and un-writer like?
Nah. The Penny Arcade guys do stuff with L337 that actually makes it funny, on occasion.
Does music help you write?
Absolutely. It helps me edit, too. Currently, I'm editing Newsflesh to the soothing tones of Evil Dead: the Musical.
Do you have a weblog or livejournal?
I think I can safely say 'yes' just now.
Are people surprised and confused when they find out you write well?
Not really, largely because I do it so damn much. It's hard to miss the fact that I write, y'know?
Quote something you've written. The first thing to pop into your mind.
Not the first thing I thought of, but the first thing I can quote without spoilers or files that I don't have:
"They left her there, when they moved on to stories of their own, stories more anchored than those of the seasonal maidens -- one the Queen of Winter, when all was stark white and black and blood on snow, one the Queen of Summer, when all was growing and vital and quick to harm or heal, and one strange one, one shadow one, one the Queen of Limnal Spaces, who stood between her sisters, kept the peace, soothed the wounds they opened on each other -- stories that could span a thousand seasons, rather than trading themselves around the circle of the year. They left her there, a final sacrifice to the wheel that bore them, and they did not look back."
Good night, ladies and gentlemen.