30 days on writing: Entry #14: Merde or, Young Geoffrey has been doing it wrong
More memeage: In this edition, Young Geoffrey ponders the words of folks he admires.
I had a couple of interviews yesterday - we'll see whether I qualify for a security clearance; if not, getting a decent job in Ottawa is going to prove a little, er, problematic (no, I haven't given up on freelancing. There's a possible ghost-writing gig coming up in September, but neither am I any longer willing to live on spit and promises to coin a phrase). Anyway, if I don't look too terrible, tomorrow you folks (all three of you?) might be lucky enough to see me as be-suited eye-candy.
Which is a roundabout way of overtly copping to the fact that I missed yesterday's entry to this meme.
I opened up the file and started typing, but found it too hard to concentrate, whether due to stress or to the many possible answers to today's question. Should I talk about the usual genre suspects like - Tolkien or Delany, or the more obscure, like Arthur Kostler or Mary Midgley.
But then, what about Peter Watts or Kim Stanley Robinson, Melville or Heller, Woolfe or Lapham or Klein?
The list of good published (and usually at least somewhat famous) writers who have impressed and/or influenced me - whom I "admire" - would get pretty long pretty fast.
So instead, I'm going to talk about a couple of you, Livejournalers whose words I've been reading for some years and whose thinking and craft I've watched (usually with pleasure) change and develop over more years than I care to admit.
15. Midway question! Tell us about a writer you admire, whether professional or not!
One of the great pleasures of the internet is perhaps one that younger folks are blind to, because they've grown up with it. For someone of my (ahem) advanced years, who remembers those days when the people one knew were almost entirely people within easy physical proximity, being able to "know" someone in Singapore or even the West Coast of North America simply through a serendipitouos click of a mouse button is something not to far off a miracle.
Nevertheless, the first writer I'm going to talk about here, "The Antisocial Socialist"
sabotabby, is someone I've met in person a few times, with whom I used to share a city and even some acquaintances (independently) in common. The internet can also bring together near-neighbours who might never have met.
sabotabby's journal is a mixed bag of the personal, the political, occasional fan-wanking (we share a fondness for Doctor Who, fer'instance) and somewhat more frequent snarking at craptacular pop-culture; her dismemberments of bad movies can be very funny indeed.
But for my money, the meat of her journal is in her political writings, whether when commenting on the larger world or when applying her analytical mind to things closer to home. Unfortunately, quite a bit of her journal is friends' locked, but what isn't is usually very interesting indeed.
colinmarshall is very nearly
sabotabby's blogging opposite.
Resolutely a-political, he is also apparently incapable of using a cut. If long entries on your reading page offend thee - cast him out!
Colin is very seriously interested in culture and philosophy and has engaged on a series of auto-didactic courses on same that have seen him thinking and writing about film and literature and the nature and causes of success and failure for several years now.
I said he doesn't use cuts and that quirk kind of exemplifies what he's up to. He doesn't talk about his own life and he doesn't pander. If you find what he's talking about interesting, you're welcome to read him. He's looking for readers, not friends (though I don't think he objects to the latter) and is working concsciously and conscientiously on developing his craft and his critical and creative powers.
If you're interested in film, in literature or simply in the ongoing self-aware examination of a developing critical mind,
colinmarshall is well worth your time and the space he'll take up on your reading page.
0. Explain yourself! In which Young Geoffrey explains the meme and his reasons for exploring it.
1. Tell us about your favorite writing project/universe that you've worked with and why.
2. How many characters do you have? Do you prefer males or females
3. How do you come up with names, for characters (and for places if you're writing about fictional places)?
4. Tell us about one of your first stories/characters!
5. By age, who is your youngest character? Oldest? How about "youngest" and "oldest" in terms of when you created them?
6. Where are you most comfortable writing? At what time of day? Computer or good ol' pen and paper?
7. Do you listen to music while you write? What kind? Are there any songs you like to relate/apply to your characters?
8. What's your favorite genre to write? To read?
9. How do you get ideas for your characters? Describe the process of creating them.
10. What are some really weird situations your characters have been in? Everything from serious canon scenes to meme questions counts!
11. Who is your favorite character to write? Least favorite?
12. In what story did you feel you did the best job of worldbuilding? Any side-notes on it you'd like to share?
13. What's your favorite culture to write, fictional or not?
14. How do you map out locations, if needed? Do you have any to show us?
16. Do you write romantic relationships? How do you do with those, and how "far" are you willing to go in your writing? ;)
17. Favorite protagonist and why!
18. Favorite antagonist and why!
19. Favorite minor that decided to shove himself into the spotlight and why!
20. What are your favorite character interactions to write?
21. Do any of your characters have children? How well do you write them?
22. Tell us about one scene between your characters that you've never written or told anyone about before! Serious or not.
23. How long does it usually take you to complete an entire story - from planning to writing to posting (if you post your work)?
24. How willing are you to kill your characters if the plot so demands it? What's the most interesting way you've killed someone?
25. Do any of your characters have pets? Tell us about them.
26. Let's talk art! Do you draw your characters? Do others draw them? Pick one of your OCs and post your favorite picture of him!
27. Along similar lines, do appearances play a big role in your stories? Tell us about them, or if not, how you go about designing your characters.
28. Have you ever written a character with physical or mental disabilities? Describe them, and if there's nothing major to speak of, tell us a few smaller ones.
29. How often do you think about writing? Ever come across something IRL that reminds you of your story/characters?
30. Final question! Tag someone! And tell us what you like about that person as a writer and/or about one of his/her characters!
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