Writing woes
I seem to have hit a bit of a dry spell. :( It's not that surprising: starting school/uni again always has this effect for a couple of weeks, but it still isn't a good thing, not when I've got about fifty bajillion plotbunnies (new ones every day!) for fanfics in various fandoms, and also my historical fiction Trilogy o' Doom sitting on my hardrive, which I haven't actually touched in months. It's the sort of dry spell where you want to write, but the words just don't come, like... like... hell, it's so dry I can't even think of a good simile!
Also, NaNoWriMo's just around the corner, and though I have signed up, I'm still not sure what I want to do for it, or even whether I feel like it. I kinda do, and kinda don't. I've never won (November is deadline month at uni), but I like having a project. And I do have a plotbunny I can work on, one that's been floating around my head for months and which might never otherwise get written, but... egh... I just don't know. On the one hand, the characters are there, in my head, solid and full-blooded and demanding to be written. On the other, considering the aforementioned fifty bajillion fanfic plotbunnies and Trilogy o' Doom, is it really a good idea to take up yet another project?
I think another problem is that I'm in a constant state of self-doubt - about most things in my life, but most definitely about my writing, and for some reason this has been particularly acute lately. I read other people's writing, professional or fanfic, and mine just seems so graceless and incompetent in comparison. Sometimes it motivates me to try harder, do better, but I'm having one of those times where I just get disheartened and consider chucking this whole writing lark altogether. Then I remember that I really can't do anything else, and that without writing, I'd be lost. That sounds melodramatic, I know, but that's the only way I can describe it.
Yeah, I know. BAAAAAW moar.
I don't like feeling this way, so I want to do something about it, preferably before NaNo starts. I don't want to get halfway through November and realise that I really do want to take part, only for it to be too late. But even more than that, I just don't like it that something I'm supposed to love can make me so upset.
Anyway, I found this writing meme, which looks quite interesting. It's supposed to be one of those question-a-day memes, but since there's just over two weeks till NaNo starts, I think I'll try to answer two a day. If I do ending up doing NaNo, I don't want my already precious writing time eaten up by answering memes.
So, this is something of an experiment. It might turn out that this is just one big exercise in procrastination, but on the other hand, maybe a bit of self-reflection and self-assessment is just what I need to get back on track.
So, for reference, here are the questions. Some of them look like they could be applicable to fanfic, but I think I'll focus on my original fiction.
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 charac ters?
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 world building? 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?
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 chil dren? 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 some thing 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!
Also, NaNoWriMo's just around the corner, and though I have signed up, I'm still not sure what I want to do for it, or even whether I feel like it. I kinda do, and kinda don't. I've never won (November is deadline month at uni), but I like having a project. And I do have a plotbunny I can work on, one that's been floating around my head for months and which might never otherwise get written, but... egh... I just don't know. On the one hand, the characters are there, in my head, solid and full-blooded and demanding to be written. On the other, considering the aforementioned fifty bajillion fanfic plotbunnies and Trilogy o' Doom, is it really a good idea to take up yet another project?
I think another problem is that I'm in a constant state of self-doubt - about most things in my life, but most definitely about my writing, and for some reason this has been particularly acute lately. I read other people's writing, professional or fanfic, and mine just seems so graceless and incompetent in comparison. Sometimes it motivates me to try harder, do better, but I'm having one of those times where I just get disheartened and consider chucking this whole writing lark altogether. Then I remember that I really can't do anything else, and that without writing, I'd be lost. That sounds melodramatic, I know, but that's the only way I can describe it.
Yeah, I know. BAAAAAW moar.
I don't like feeling this way, so I want to do something about it, preferably before NaNo starts. I don't want to get halfway through November and realise that I really do want to take part, only for it to be too late. But even more than that, I just don't like it that something I'm supposed to love can make me so upset.
Anyway, I found this writing meme, which looks quite interesting. It's supposed to be one of those question-a-day memes, but since there's just over two weeks till NaNo starts, I think I'll try to answer two a day. If I do ending up doing NaNo, I don't want my already precious writing time eaten up by answering memes.
So, this is something of an experiment. It might turn out that this is just one big exercise in procrastination, but on the other hand, maybe a bit of self-reflection and self-assessment is just what I need to get back on track.
So, for reference, here are the questions. Some of them look like they could be applicable to fanfic, but I think I'll focus on my original fiction.
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 charac ters?
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 world building? 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?
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 chil dren? 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 some thing 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!