Random (and meme)
Sometimes I get so utterly sick of stories that have nice, safe linear storylines, that start at the very beginning and go through the middle until they get to the end and... stop. Yeah, you can't beat tradition and all, but sometimes it really irritates me and all I want to do is pick the story up and jumble it about like its some kind of jigsaw puzzle - damnit, just make your readers work for a change, please!
*clears throat*
This has absolutely nothing to do with the story I started this afternoon which begins about two thirds of the way into what should be termed the "plot" and then goes both forwards and backwards. Yes, this is my idea of a good time ^_~
And because Nacchi and Jamie said so...
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I respond by asking you a couple personal questions so I can get to know you better.If I already know you well, expect the questions may be a little more intimate!
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
I know I've done it before, but these things always amuse me because the questions end up being so wonderfully random. On that note -
1)Is it really always raining in London?
It rained while I was in London on Saturday, but only a little so it wasn't worth getting my umbrella out and the worst was while my friend and I were on the train. Generally speaking, I don't think it does rain that much, but this is England, it's meant to be soggy! Yay for stereotypes ^__^
2)Who's your favourite pharaoh? (if you don't especially like one, the one you prefer studying or something)
Ramesses II, Seti I or Hatshepsut. Ramesses' ego rivals Atobe's, Seti was named after my favourite Egyptian deity (Seth) and Hatshepsut is the only woman to have ruled Egypt when central power wasn't in decline. Also, I have much love for Ramesses and Seti because between them they built up, almost destroyed and then re-built the Egyptian Empire during the Nineteenth dynasty and did all kinds of shiny things ♥
3)What do you think is your best fic?
It's a choice between Speeding Cars, Study, parts of Nile Blue and Narnia (yes I know I haven't shared it with anyone but Squirtle and KY yet but it still counts!) for the fandom side and out of my original writing, various parts of Tremanthia. I am very fond of some of my shorter fics too but it feels like cheating to mention them ^_^
4)What genre do you prefer writing?
I suck at doing any kind of research for writing, even when it's fanfiction I won't bother to check details which is why I have a tendancy towards being very vague, so you'd never catch me writing something deeply historical although I'll happily dabble round the edges based on what knowledge I hold in my head. I'm basically a fantasy writer because then the rules can be whatever I make them, society can function how I decide and if I want the sun to rise in the west and set in the east (which it actually does do on Ocenica) then so be it. Not that I have a superiority complex or believe that I should rule the world, really. This is basically why my two longest contributions to the Tenimyu fandom (NB and Narnia) are AUs. For all that I love writing one-shots based off blog images, interview translations and so on, I can't sustain that in the way someone like Rissa can when she's writing Closing the Distance. See, I'm a fantasy writer masquerading as a fanfiction writer and doing a debatably bad job at it!
5)What did you think about the States when you came here?
How long have I got? My short answer is that I found it to be like England in some ways and completely different in others! The really short answer is that America is BIG in ways that made me appreciate how small and cosy dear old England is ^_^; I don't think I know what the long answer is... but I wish I hadn't had to have been so cultural most of the time cause I would have preferred to have been spending time with Rissa, Court and Eli instead and getting to do the kind of things you're doing cause to be honest, historical recreations in America are a lot like the ones in England, its just that the guides have to assure you that when they say they're going to shoot the British they really, really don't mean the twenty of you standing in front of them!
1. What's your favorite kind of tea, and why?
Milk, one sugar, a Fair Trade teabag and lots and lots of very hot water. Some of my friends drink different varieties of tea in more flavours than I can name or remember, but I stick to the normal stuff and drink it by the bucket load XD Note to self: next time I go abroad - take tea bags!
2. As far as writing goes, do you feel like you spend more time on the creative process (plot development, brainstorming, etc.) or the mechanics of things, like editing?
Creative. I ummed and ahhed a bit about this but judging by the folders and folders full of notes, maps, family trees, plans and building layouts on the shelf beside me I do invest a lot of energy in figuring out where my characters have come from and where they're going. The editing stuff happens more or less as I go along because I usually don't feel capable of progressing with a story if the previous segment/chapter/paragraph isn't polished up.
3. How did you first become interested in Egypt and all of those crazy Blue Nile-type things? :D
When I was five I had a history book for kids that had four sections to it showing what life was like for a typical family in different places/periods. The first section was about the Vikings, the second about the Romans, the third was about the Egyptians and the fourth about Knights and Castles. That's when I became interested in history and specifically in Egypt and it all evolved from there. I still have the book (complete with examples of my early handwriting on the first page), goodness knows where the parents picked it up but it was originally published in 1976!
4. What's your favorite book/author? Terry Pratchett - my personal deity and the author of the Discworld series. My favourites tend to shift about a bit, but he's always so consistently wonderful, even when he has an off day he's better than a lot of writers are at their peak. And my hands down favourite of his is Night Watch because... Vimes ♥ ♥ ♥ As I seem to say on a regular basis, if I could ever write any character half as well as he writes Vimes, I would be a very, very happy writer *____*
5. How did you choose your LJ name?
Back when I took my first tentative steps into the realm of the fangirl I was setting up my yahoo email account and needed a name. I'd just finished writing the first draft of The War of Tremanthia and so was kind of dosed up on the Countess but I didn't have the guts to give myself a name entirely based on her because that seemed a bit egotistical so I took her first name (Alexandria) and chopped it down to Dria. "Uesugi" is an obscure reference to what dragged me into being a fangirl in the first place - it's Yuki Eiri's real family name (the angst-ridden writer from Gravitation) and as he was my first anime crush and the first character I ever inadvertantly wrote a fic about, it seemed appropriate ^___^ When I was told by Tayles to get myself an LJ in September 2004, I couldn't have Dria because someone had beaten me to it so I used my full email username and its stuck.
And now I need sleep ^_^
Edit: 1. How and when did you first found LJ?
My dear friend and then-flatmate tayles told me to get an LJ in September 2004 when we moved into our flat the main selling point of which had been the broadband ^_~ She'd had an LJ for a while and as I always used to do what she told me to do, I got started. Two and a half years later and I'm still here!
2. What's your opinion about the Royal family? Generally I feel sorry for them because of the way they're treated by the press. I have a smidgen of respect for the Queen but towards the rest of them I'm rather "blah". If the monarchy is removed then it wouldn't bother me one way or the other, but I realise that they're good for tourism!
3. If you could live anyone else's life, who would it be? (It could be anyone. Real, fake, dead, alive, famous, whatever.)
Hmm... Ramesses II? JK Rowling? The Countess? (one of my original characters) I don't honestly know, it'd be cool to go back to Ancient Egypt and live as one of them for a bit but I wouldn't want to make it permanent, ditto for a lot of other people. I'd love to be able to do the kind of things the Countess can do (ride a horse, fight with a sword or several, kick butt and generally be tough and argumentative) but I wouldn't want her problems and angst. Guess I'm more or less happy where I am I'd still like to be able to know how to use a sword though ^__^
4. Do you know a show called "Black Books"? And if you do, do you like it?
I do know the show you're referring to but I've never watched it. It was always on Channel 4 and had Bill Bailey in it from what I remember of the adverts.
5. What movie can you watch repeatedly but never get tired of?
In no particular order - Stiff Upper Lips, Persuasion, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Stargate, The Frighteners, and then some. I love my movie collection ♥
*clears throat*
This has absolutely nothing to do with the story I started this afternoon which begins about two thirds of the way into what should be termed the "plot" and then goes both forwards and backwards. Yes, this is my idea of a good time ^_~
And because Nacchi and Jamie said so...
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I respond by asking you a couple personal questions so I can get to know you better.If I already know you well, expect the questions may be a little more intimate!
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
I know I've done it before, but these things always amuse me because the questions end up being so wonderfully random. On that note -
1)Is it really always raining in London?
It rained while I was in London on Saturday, but only a little so it wasn't worth getting my umbrella out and the worst was while my friend and I were on the train. Generally speaking, I don't think it does rain that much, but this is England, it's meant to be soggy! Yay for stereotypes ^__^
2)Who's your favourite pharaoh? (if you don't especially like one, the one you prefer studying or something)
Ramesses II, Seti I or Hatshepsut. Ramesses' ego rivals Atobe's, Seti was named after my favourite Egyptian deity (Seth) and Hatshepsut is the only woman to have ruled Egypt when central power wasn't in decline. Also, I have much love for Ramesses and Seti because between them they built up, almost destroyed and then re-built the Egyptian Empire during the Nineteenth dynasty and did all kinds of shiny things ♥
3)What do you think is your best fic?
It's a choice between Speeding Cars, Study, parts of Nile Blue and Narnia (yes I know I haven't shared it with anyone but Squirtle and KY yet but it still counts!) for the fandom side and out of my original writing, various parts of Tremanthia. I am very fond of some of my shorter fics too but it feels like cheating to mention them ^_^
4)What genre do you prefer writing?
I suck at doing any kind of research for writing, even when it's fanfiction I won't bother to check details which is why I have a tendancy towards being very vague, so you'd never catch me writing something deeply historical although I'll happily dabble round the edges based on what knowledge I hold in my head. I'm basically a fantasy writer because then the rules can be whatever I make them, society can function how I decide and if I want the sun to rise in the west and set in the east (which it actually does do on Ocenica) then so be it. Not that I have a superiority complex or believe that I should rule the world, really. This is basically why my two longest contributions to the Tenimyu fandom (NB and Narnia) are AUs. For all that I love writing one-shots based off blog images, interview translations and so on, I can't sustain that in the way someone like Rissa can when she's writing Closing the Distance. See, I'm a fantasy writer masquerading as a fanfiction writer and doing a debatably bad job at it!
5)What did you think about the States when you came here?
How long have I got? My short answer is that I found it to be like England in some ways and completely different in others! The really short answer is that America is BIG in ways that made me appreciate how small and cosy dear old England is ^_^; I don't think I know what the long answer is... but I wish I hadn't had to have been so cultural most of the time cause I would have preferred to have been spending time with Rissa, Court and Eli instead and getting to do the kind of things you're doing cause to be honest, historical recreations in America are a lot like the ones in England, its just that the guides have to assure you that when they say they're going to shoot the British they really, really don't mean the twenty of you standing in front of them!
1. What's your favorite kind of tea, and why?
Milk, one sugar, a Fair Trade teabag and lots and lots of very hot water. Some of my friends drink different varieties of tea in more flavours than I can name or remember, but I stick to the normal stuff and drink it by the bucket load XD Note to self: next time I go abroad - take tea bags!
2. As far as writing goes, do you feel like you spend more time on the creative process (plot development, brainstorming, etc.) or the mechanics of things, like editing?
Creative. I ummed and ahhed a bit about this but judging by the folders and folders full of notes, maps, family trees, plans and building layouts on the shelf beside me I do invest a lot of energy in figuring out where my characters have come from and where they're going. The editing stuff happens more or less as I go along because I usually don't feel capable of progressing with a story if the previous segment/chapter/paragraph isn't polished up.
3. How did you first become interested in Egypt and all of those crazy Blue Nile-type things? :D
When I was five I had a history book for kids that had four sections to it showing what life was like for a typical family in different places/periods. The first section was about the Vikings, the second about the Romans, the third was about the Egyptians and the fourth about Knights and Castles. That's when I became interested in history and specifically in Egypt and it all evolved from there. I still have the book (complete with examples of my early handwriting on the first page), goodness knows where the parents picked it up but it was originally published in 1976!
4. What's your favorite book/author? Terry Pratchett - my personal deity and the author of the Discworld series. My favourites tend to shift about a bit, but he's always so consistently wonderful, even when he has an off day he's better than a lot of writers are at their peak. And my hands down favourite of his is Night Watch because... Vimes ♥ ♥ ♥ As I seem to say on a regular basis, if I could ever write any character half as well as he writes Vimes, I would be a very, very happy writer *____*
5. How did you choose your LJ name?
Back when I took my first tentative steps into the realm of the fangirl I was setting up my yahoo email account and needed a name. I'd just finished writing the first draft of The War of Tremanthia and so was kind of dosed up on the Countess but I didn't have the guts to give myself a name entirely based on her because that seemed a bit egotistical so I took her first name (Alexandria) and chopped it down to Dria. "Uesugi" is an obscure reference to what dragged me into being a fangirl in the first place - it's Yuki Eiri's real family name (the angst-ridden writer from Gravitation) and as he was my first anime crush and the first character I ever inadvertantly wrote a fic about, it seemed appropriate ^___^ When I was told by Tayles to get myself an LJ in September 2004, I couldn't have Dria because someone had beaten me to it so I used my full email username and its stuck.
And now I need sleep ^_^
Edit: 1. How and when did you first found LJ?
My dear friend and then-flatmate tayles told me to get an LJ in September 2004 when we moved into our flat the main selling point of which had been the broadband ^_~ She'd had an LJ for a while and as I always used to do what she told me to do, I got started. Two and a half years later and I'm still here!
2. What's your opinion about the Royal family? Generally I feel sorry for them because of the way they're treated by the press. I have a smidgen of respect for the Queen but towards the rest of them I'm rather "blah". If the monarchy is removed then it wouldn't bother me one way or the other, but I realise that they're good for tourism!
3. If you could live anyone else's life, who would it be? (It could be anyone. Real, fake, dead, alive, famous, whatever.)
Hmm... Ramesses II? JK Rowling? The Countess? (one of my original characters) I don't honestly know, it'd be cool to go back to Ancient Egypt and live as one of them for a bit but I wouldn't want to make it permanent, ditto for a lot of other people. I'd love to be able to do the kind of things the Countess can do (ride a horse, fight with a sword or several, kick butt and generally be tough and argumentative) but I wouldn't want her problems and angst. Guess I'm more or less happy where I am I'd still like to be able to know how to use a sword though ^__^
4. Do you know a show called "Black Books"? And if you do, do you like it?
I do know the show you're referring to but I've never watched it. It was always on Channel 4 and had Bill Bailey in it from what I remember of the adverts.
5. What movie can you watch repeatedly but never get tired of?
In no particular order - Stiff Upper Lips, Persuasion, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Stargate, The Frighteners, and then some. I love my movie collection ♥