The Interview Meme, Part II
What do you know? I'm on a roll!
From marinarusalka:
If for some reason you couldn't write anymore, what would you do for a creative outlet?
Draw, definitely. When I was in my teens I used to write at least one page and draw at least one sketch every day. Eventually the writing sort of took over, but every now and then I get the drawing bug back again.
Okay, you have a time machine. You can travel to any period in the past or future and come back safely. Where do you go?
I'd go to 12th century France just before the Third Crusade, and quiz the Albigensians about what their beliefs and practices really were. I'm still trying to sort that one out at the moment for an historical novel I've got on the back-back burner. So many of the witnesses are hostile, it's very hard to sift truth from slander...
Would the answer to #2 be different if the trip was one-way?
Erm, yes! Yikes, the thought of being stuck at the siege of Carcassonne... "Kill them all; God knows his own," are not words I would want to hear in person. Hmmm. One-way trip... nope, I don't think I'd go. The past is a lovely place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. (That's a quote, I know, but I can't seem to find an attribution. Anyone? Bueller?)
What's the most useful thing you ever learned as a writer?
How to use the semicolon. *hugs semicolon*
No, really, two things. I think it was a line from Kipling that Patricia C. Wrede quoted about a million times on the FidoNet WRITING group, "There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays / and every single one of them is right!" In other words, don't get your insides in a knot because you don't write or edit the same way as your favorite author X or bestselling novelist Y or the author of your favorite "how-to" book. Find out what works for you, and do it; and if something doesn't work for you, try something else until you find a method that does.
Also, an ounce of constructive criticism (provided you actually take it and do something useful with it, instead of just sulking) is worth a pound of praise.
Agh! That's three! I'll have to come in again. *bundles cardinals out the door*
The Earth is going to blow up tomorrow. You can preserve one book, one painting or sculpture and one piece of music. What would they be?
Book: The Bible.
Painting: Albrecht Altdorfer's The Battle of Alexander at Issus, because I love the colours and there's so much going on in there that it would take me a long while to get bored of looking at it. (That's a really shallow reason, I know, but I have never been particularly philosophical when it comes to visual art.)
Music: Can I count Handel's Messiah as one piece of music? I've got the whole score in one volume... *makes puppy-dog eyes*
Farther up and farther in...
From marinarusalka:
If for some reason you couldn't write anymore, what would you do for a creative outlet?
Draw, definitely. When I was in my teens I used to write at least one page and draw at least one sketch every day. Eventually the writing sort of took over, but every now and then I get the drawing bug back again.
Okay, you have a time machine. You can travel to any period in the past or future and come back safely. Where do you go?
I'd go to 12th century France just before the Third Crusade, and quiz the Albigensians about what their beliefs and practices really were. I'm still trying to sort that one out at the moment for an historical novel I've got on the back-back burner. So many of the witnesses are hostile, it's very hard to sift truth from slander...
Would the answer to #2 be different if the trip was one-way?
Erm, yes! Yikes, the thought of being stuck at the siege of Carcassonne... "Kill them all; God knows his own," are not words I would want to hear in person. Hmmm. One-way trip... nope, I don't think I'd go. The past is a lovely place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. (That's a quote, I know, but I can't seem to find an attribution. Anyone? Bueller?)
What's the most useful thing you ever learned as a writer?
How to use the semicolon. *hugs semicolon*
No, really, two things. I think it was a line from Kipling that Patricia C. Wrede quoted about a million times on the FidoNet WRITING group, "There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays / and every single one of them is right!" In other words, don't get your insides in a knot because you don't write or edit the same way as your favorite author X or bestselling novelist Y or the author of your favorite "how-to" book. Find out what works for you, and do it; and if something doesn't work for you, try something else until you find a method that does.
Also, an ounce of constructive criticism (provided you actually take it and do something useful with it, instead of just sulking) is worth a pound of praise.
Agh! That's three! I'll have to come in again. *bundles cardinals out the door*
The Earth is going to blow up tomorrow. You can preserve one book, one painting or sculpture and one piece of music. What would they be?
Book: The Bible.
Painting: Albrecht Altdorfer's The Battle of Alexander at Issus, because I love the colours and there's so much going on in there that it would take me a long while to get bored of looking at it. (That's a really shallow reason, I know, but I have never been particularly philosophical when it comes to visual art.)
Music: Can I count Handel's Messiah as one piece of music? I've got the whole score in one volume... *makes puppy-dog eyes*
Farther up and farther in...