It's all about meme.
Nabbed from apiphile and swear_jar, and if you're on my flist and you've written things, I think you should do it too. I love reading about how other people write!
1. When did you start writing?
Early grade school, I suppose. I don’t have any clear memories of my life that don’t include messing around with writing to some degree. You’d think I’d be better at it by noooooow…!
2. First drafts: Handwritten, typed, or some combination?
The vast majority is handwritten, except for NaNo, which I type up directly for the sake of time management. I go through a truly sick amount of notebooks every year.
3. Do you keep any kind of notebook or writer's journal, and if so, what kinds of things go into it?
Same one as above! What goes in it? Plots, rough drafts, drawings, diagrams, snippets of dialogue, things that strike me as hilarious, random insights… It’s an absolute nightmare trying to find things again when I need them.
4. Do you set any quotas for your work (number of words per day, number of hours per day, etc.)? Why or why not?
Nah. It doesn’t work, I’ve tried. My brain writes when it wants to write and I clearly haven’t the discipline to force it.
5. Are you most comfortable writing short stories, novels, or something else?
I seem to turn out stories hovering between about 4000 - 9000 words lately, but I aspire to write longer things! Damned if I can do drabbles comfortably anymore.
6. What's your favorite kind of story to write?
Upon reflection, I seem to have an embarrassing penchant for ‘here’s how they got together’ stories when it comes to fanfic. In terms of original fic, I tend to go for ‘rag-tag band of weirdoes on the run from something big and corporate and evil’.
7. Talk about a story of yours that was easy to write and one that was difficult to write, and why.
Y’know, just about everything I’ve ever written contains sections that were as easy as breathing and parts that I had to tear my hair over. The smaller fandom stories tend to be really easy, since I’m convinced nobody will read them and I avoid the stage fright factor. Drift Factor was a bastarding bastard to write, as my brain does not do time-travel naturally, I doubted my John Hart voice, and writing a bunch of Jack/Ianto previously had tricked me into thinking that a lot of people would read it. X-D
8. Which of your characters is closest to your sense of self? In other words, who do you most identify with in your own work to date?
Ahahaha. Probably poor ol’ Geo from last years NaNo. I loaded him up with all my worst flaws and then literally had to brutally kill his (and my) favorite dude for him to get over himself and do what had to be done at the end. And… probably Mikey in parts of Lyrics, weirdly enough.
9. What work are you most proud of right now?
At this very moment? Bleeds Like A Boy. Not so much for the big flattering response (I’ve had some Jack/Ianto stories get a big response too) but for the fact that it had the potential to be a trainwreck and I somehow managed to avoid fucking it up. *g*
10. What do you feel your strengths and weaknesses are as a writer?
Strengths: I can make people talk to other people! Sometimes I am funny. I make an earnest effort to work with any concrit I receive.
Weaknesses: I’m chickenshit when it comes to plots. *G* Sometimes I completely forget to describe what’s happen in my head and a scene turns in to Talking Heads In Space. Also, my discipline is non-existent. ALSO, I rush sex scenes because they make me uncomfortable.
11. Name a few writers who have influenced you or your work in some way.
Oh wow, don’t lump these names together in terms of quality, okay? Anne Rice (for introducing me to the world of fanfic in the first place, without which I suspect my writing wouldn’t have improved a jot since junior high), Stephen King (for making me think of writing as less of an airy-fairy ‘when the muse strikes’ thing and more like a job, where you sit down and make it happen), apiphile (for… jeez, for so many things. For her writing and her writing-about-writing and making me try harder), alizarin_nyc (for making me realize that the setting is just as important to the story as the people and can almost be another character itself when done right) and idyll (for teaching me that despite a sci-fi/fantasy setting, you’re still writing about people)… You know what? If I keep going like this, we’re going to be here for months.
12. Talk about something you've written that you later found embarrassing for some reason.
Wow. Um. Usually everything written prior to the last twelve months or so, with a couple of exceptions. And the ones where your self peeks through a little more than you intended. Reading those has always got that terrific ‘how long has my skirt been tucked into my pantyhose?’ feeling to it.
13. Talk about the earliest stories you remember writing. What were they about?
Oho! I’ve posted one on this very journal! So basically, spaceships and friendly monsters and elves and the occasional murder mystery and people that jumped through doors into other dimensions and… quite a bit about unicorns, I’m afraid. Unicorns that could be summoned to stab bullies through the heart. No, really.
14. If you knew you would be successful, what would you most like to write?
(I’m reading ‘successful’ here as ‘could finish it without dying from research or failing to do the idea justice’.) That damned dark Hansel and Gretel story. This blatant Stephen King knock-off from undergrad about paranoia and the way cats stare at you. This, erm, screenplay started even earlier in undergrad about a guy who jumps out of his office window in the first scene and all the other characters spend the rest of the play trying to figure out who made him do it before discovering that they pretty much all did. A better re-write of One-Way Streets.
15. What inspires you?
The world. Humans. Reading… everything, from good novels to bad novels to landlord notices. Boom-de-yada, dude. There’s inspiration everywhere.
16. How many projects do you tend to work on at once?
I usually have about three chugging along, which will inevitably get unceremoniously shoved aside in the face of some new shiny. Discipline: I lack it.
17. Who reads your work before it's released to the public? Do you have beta readers, a critique group, etc.?
A beta-reader if I’m particularly jumpy about something. I’m lazier with this than I ought to be.
18. When you're not writing, what do you do for fun?
Read, draw, watch tv, people-watch at the mall, play ridiculous computer games… All of my hobbies involve sitting on my ass and staring intently at things!
19. Advice to other writers?
There’s no such thing as being in the perfect mood to write. You’ll waste a lot of time if you keep waiting for it to happen.
20. What are you currently working on?
I WILL FINISH THIS STUPID FIC BEFORE NANO. D-:<
21. Share the first three sentences of a work in progress.
Summoning his ninja stealth and readjusting his grip on his chopsticks, Frank deftly snuck past Bob’s blocking elbow and stole the last piece of broccoli from his plate. Bob made a belated grab for his wrist and Frank fumbled; the broccoli bounced wetly off his knee and landed somewhere near Bob’s shoes with a splat.
“Five second rule!’ Frank called, and bent himself in half to grope around in the shoe-filled shadows under the table.
* * *
In unrelated news, I cleaned my glasses twice and actually started to clean my windows before realizing that, no, that's just the way the world looks when it's foggy out. Yeeeah. Not usually much of a fog-city, Edmonton.
1. When did you start writing?
Early grade school, I suppose. I don’t have any clear memories of my life that don’t include messing around with writing to some degree. You’d think I’d be better at it by noooooow…!
2. First drafts: Handwritten, typed, or some combination?
The vast majority is handwritten, except for NaNo, which I type up directly for the sake of time management. I go through a truly sick amount of notebooks every year.
3. Do you keep any kind of notebook or writer's journal, and if so, what kinds of things go into it?
Same one as above! What goes in it? Plots, rough drafts, drawings, diagrams, snippets of dialogue, things that strike me as hilarious, random insights… It’s an absolute nightmare trying to find things again when I need them.
4. Do you set any quotas for your work (number of words per day, number of hours per day, etc.)? Why or why not?
Nah. It doesn’t work, I’ve tried. My brain writes when it wants to write and I clearly haven’t the discipline to force it.
5. Are you most comfortable writing short stories, novels, or something else?
I seem to turn out stories hovering between about 4000 - 9000 words lately, but I aspire to write longer things! Damned if I can do drabbles comfortably anymore.
6. What's your favorite kind of story to write?
Upon reflection, I seem to have an embarrassing penchant for ‘here’s how they got together’ stories when it comes to fanfic. In terms of original fic, I tend to go for ‘rag-tag band of weirdoes on the run from something big and corporate and evil’.
7. Talk about a story of yours that was easy to write and one that was difficult to write, and why.
Y’know, just about everything I’ve ever written contains sections that were as easy as breathing and parts that I had to tear my hair over. The smaller fandom stories tend to be really easy, since I’m convinced nobody will read them and I avoid the stage fright factor. Drift Factor was a bastarding bastard to write, as my brain does not do time-travel naturally, I doubted my John Hart voice, and writing a bunch of Jack/Ianto previously had tricked me into thinking that a lot of people would read it. X-D
8. Which of your characters is closest to your sense of self? In other words, who do you most identify with in your own work to date?
Ahahaha. Probably poor ol’ Geo from last years NaNo. I loaded him up with all my worst flaws and then literally had to brutally kill his (and my) favorite dude for him to get over himself and do what had to be done at the end. And… probably Mikey in parts of Lyrics, weirdly enough.
9. What work are you most proud of right now?
At this very moment? Bleeds Like A Boy. Not so much for the big flattering response (I’ve had some Jack/Ianto stories get a big response too) but for the fact that it had the potential to be a trainwreck and I somehow managed to avoid fucking it up. *g*
10. What do you feel your strengths and weaknesses are as a writer?
Strengths: I can make people talk to other people! Sometimes I am funny. I make an earnest effort to work with any concrit I receive.
Weaknesses: I’m chickenshit when it comes to plots. *G* Sometimes I completely forget to describe what’s happen in my head and a scene turns in to Talking Heads In Space. Also, my discipline is non-existent. ALSO, I rush sex scenes because they make me uncomfortable.
11. Name a few writers who have influenced you or your work in some way.
Oh wow, don’t lump these names together in terms of quality, okay? Anne Rice (for introducing me to the world of fanfic in the first place, without which I suspect my writing wouldn’t have improved a jot since junior high), Stephen King (for making me think of writing as less of an airy-fairy ‘when the muse strikes’ thing and more like a job, where you sit down and make it happen), apiphile (for… jeez, for so many things. For her writing and her writing-about-writing and making me try harder), alizarin_nyc (for making me realize that the setting is just as important to the story as the people and can almost be another character itself when done right) and idyll (for teaching me that despite a sci-fi/fantasy setting, you’re still writing about people)… You know what? If I keep going like this, we’re going to be here for months.
12. Talk about something you've written that you later found embarrassing for some reason.
Wow. Um. Usually everything written prior to the last twelve months or so, with a couple of exceptions. And the ones where your self peeks through a little more than you intended. Reading those has always got that terrific ‘how long has my skirt been tucked into my pantyhose?’ feeling to it.
13. Talk about the earliest stories you remember writing. What were they about?
Oho! I’ve posted one on this very journal! So basically, spaceships and friendly monsters and elves and the occasional murder mystery and people that jumped through doors into other dimensions and… quite a bit about unicorns, I’m afraid. Unicorns that could be summoned to stab bullies through the heart. No, really.
14. If you knew you would be successful, what would you most like to write?
(I’m reading ‘successful’ here as ‘could finish it without dying from research or failing to do the idea justice’.) That damned dark Hansel and Gretel story. This blatant Stephen King knock-off from undergrad about paranoia and the way cats stare at you. This, erm, screenplay started even earlier in undergrad about a guy who jumps out of his office window in the first scene and all the other characters spend the rest of the play trying to figure out who made him do it before discovering that they pretty much all did. A better re-write of One-Way Streets.
15. What inspires you?
The world. Humans. Reading… everything, from good novels to bad novels to landlord notices. Boom-de-yada, dude. There’s inspiration everywhere.
16. How many projects do you tend to work on at once?
I usually have about three chugging along, which will inevitably get unceremoniously shoved aside in the face of some new shiny. Discipline: I lack it.
17. Who reads your work before it's released to the public? Do you have beta readers, a critique group, etc.?
A beta-reader if I’m particularly jumpy about something. I’m lazier with this than I ought to be.
18. When you're not writing, what do you do for fun?
Read, draw, watch tv, people-watch at the mall, play ridiculous computer games… All of my hobbies involve sitting on my ass and staring intently at things!
19. Advice to other writers?
There’s no such thing as being in the perfect mood to write. You’ll waste a lot of time if you keep waiting for it to happen.
20. What are you currently working on?
I WILL FINISH THIS STUPID FIC BEFORE NANO. D-:<
21. Share the first three sentences of a work in progress.
Summoning his ninja stealth and readjusting his grip on his chopsticks, Frank deftly snuck past Bob’s blocking elbow and stole the last piece of broccoli from his plate. Bob made a belated grab for his wrist and Frank fumbled; the broccoli bounced wetly off his knee and landed somewhere near Bob’s shoes with a splat.
“Five second rule!’ Frank called, and bent himself in half to grope around in the shoe-filled shadows under the table.
* * *
In unrelated news, I cleaned my glasses twice and actually started to clean my windows before realizing that, no, that's just the way the world looks when it's foggy out. Yeeeah. Not usually much of a fog-city, Edmonton.