Because I haven't done one in quite some time... "30 Days" entry!
Okay then... I'm at number 13 now and almost done with the first half. I'm not sure if I can finish it this year. Apparently, I couldn't even finish it within a year since I posted the first one on October 9th 2010. But I really do plan on finishing this meme and if it takes me another year. I usually finish what I start and until now I finished more challenges than not (the 10_ocs challenge is still open but its time will come, just like the other ones') and I promise, there will come a day when every question from the meme is up in the link list, not down on the to do list. Okay, on to the next.
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?
Oh fine, here's the next:
13. What’s your favorite culture to write, fictional or not?
First time I saw this question it made me go "Culture? What do you mean, culture? I don't write in cultures. OMG, I'm an uncultured person!" and it stayed like that quite some time. Until mackenziesmomma told me she was waiting for me to answer this one and I was forced to rethink my approach.
And then I realized that yes, I do write about a culture. I write about military culture, mainly and as a sociologist by training, I should have realized that long ago *sighs Anyway, that's what I write about most; soldiers and their culture; their mannerisms, their traditions, their rules. It's also what I read about most, be it fictional or non-fictional. It's what I can research for the easiest because I know their vocabulary and a bit of their mentality (having been one myself for a short time ten years ago still helps with that, amazingly) and it's simply what I like to write about most. It's like... coming home, somehow.
In stories by other people - no matter if books, movies or TV shows - I usually gravitate towards the soldier character if there is one or the character closest to being a soldier (Buffy probably being the lone exemption... I liked Riley but I didn't think he was the right one for Buffy and she wasn't the right one for him, either) and usually, that's also the character I end up writing or reading fanfic for and if there are more than one, I automatically search for a female military character (Trudy Chacon's the only character in Avatar I'd like to read fanfic about... I read two or three and they were all good... probably because, you know, she was the only character worth watching in that entire damn movie...), probably because those are the ones I connect the easiest to.
So this is why my own characters are usually soldiers or used to be at some point (although I don't think I have a retired soldier among my main characters in current stories... only Laura Cadman's father who's a retired USMC Gunnery Sergeant). I can relate the easiest to them and their concerns, fears and demons are those I can understand the easiest. Sometimes, I venture out into the world of other cultures but I have to admit it: the scientist community in Atlantis feels alien to me and the ones I can relate to most are not the hard sciences like physics or engineering that are usually shown on screen but those I studied; literature/linguistics, law, social sciences. The others... well.
So I guess you'll have to resign yourself to the fact that when it's about Stargate (and, come to think of it, Star Wars, too) characters and stories you'll get from me will most certainly be about military characters, with military mannerisms, traditions and stereotypes. Concerning other fandoms... well, there's a reason why I like Eliot best and why I still think Eliot is far more suited for Parker than Hardison. In Star Trek Enterprise, I never shipped (or was interested in) anything else than Malcolm/Hoshi, in BSG the political intrigue was interesting but the characters who really got to me were Helo and Shannon and Kara and Lee and their personal stakes in everything, in LOTR Eowyn is my favorite character... it's a pattern, and I guess I'm not going to break it anytime soon.
~*~
14. How do you map out locations, if needed? Do you have any to show us?
15. Midway question! Tell us about a writer you admire, whether professional or not!
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!
So... am I doing the whole military culture thing right? Anyone got something to tell me about that? Anyone know any culture they'd like me to feature more, despite my usual focus? I'm most interested!
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?
Oh fine, here's the next:
13. What’s your favorite culture to write, fictional or not?
First time I saw this question it made me go "Culture? What do you mean, culture? I don't write in cultures. OMG, I'm an uncultured person!" and it stayed like that quite some time. Until mackenziesmomma told me she was waiting for me to answer this one and I was forced to rethink my approach.
And then I realized that yes, I do write about a culture. I write about military culture, mainly and as a sociologist by training, I should have realized that long ago *sighs Anyway, that's what I write about most; soldiers and their culture; their mannerisms, their traditions, their rules. It's also what I read about most, be it fictional or non-fictional. It's what I can research for the easiest because I know their vocabulary and a bit of their mentality (having been one myself for a short time ten years ago still helps with that, amazingly) and it's simply what I like to write about most. It's like... coming home, somehow.
In stories by other people - no matter if books, movies or TV shows - I usually gravitate towards the soldier character if there is one or the character closest to being a soldier (Buffy probably being the lone exemption... I liked Riley but I didn't think he was the right one for Buffy and she wasn't the right one for him, either) and usually, that's also the character I end up writing or reading fanfic for and if there are more than one, I automatically search for a female military character (Trudy Chacon's the only character in Avatar I'd like to read fanfic about... I read two or three and they were all good... probably because, you know, she was the only character worth watching in that entire damn movie...), probably because those are the ones I connect the easiest to.
So this is why my own characters are usually soldiers or used to be at some point (although I don't think I have a retired soldier among my main characters in current stories... only Laura Cadman's father who's a retired USMC Gunnery Sergeant). I can relate the easiest to them and their concerns, fears and demons are those I can understand the easiest. Sometimes, I venture out into the world of other cultures but I have to admit it: the scientist community in Atlantis feels alien to me and the ones I can relate to most are not the hard sciences like physics or engineering that are usually shown on screen but those I studied; literature/linguistics, law, social sciences. The others... well.
So I guess you'll have to resign yourself to the fact that when it's about Stargate (and, come to think of it, Star Wars, too) characters and stories you'll get from me will most certainly be about military characters, with military mannerisms, traditions and stereotypes. Concerning other fandoms... well, there's a reason why I like Eliot best and why I still think Eliot is far more suited for Parker than Hardison. In Star Trek Enterprise, I never shipped (or was interested in) anything else than Malcolm/Hoshi, in BSG the political intrigue was interesting but the characters who really got to me were Helo and Shannon and Kara and Lee and their personal stakes in everything, in LOTR Eowyn is my favorite character... it's a pattern, and I guess I'm not going to break it anytime soon.
~*~
14. How do you map out locations, if needed? Do you have any to show us?
15. Midway question! Tell us about a writer you admire, whether professional or not!
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!
So... am I doing the whole military culture thing right? Anyone got something to tell me about that? Anyone know any culture they'd like me to feature more, despite my usual focus? I'm most interested!