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Writing Meme
16 years ago
1. When did you start writing?
Apart from class assignments, the first writing I did for fun would probably have been when I was 15. I could probably fill a Mead composition book or two with the half-baked stories I came up with, though none of them ever went anywhere.
2. First drafts: Handwritten, typed, or some combination?
It depends on where I am and what I have at hand.
3. Do you keep any kind of notebook or writer's journal, and if so, what kinds of things go into it?
No. Phrases and scenes will pop into my head now and again, and sometimes they're initiated by things I hear or see and want to incorporate into my work.
4. Do you set any quotas for your work (number of words per day, number of hours per day, etc.)? Why or why not?
No. Setting quotas implies that the writing is something that has to be completed by a specific time. This isn't homework anymore, it's a hobby; placing those constraints on a hobby makes it drudgery.
5. Are you most comfortable writing short stories, novels, or something else?
I used to write poetry, but looking back on it, the whole mess was ego-stroking emo nonsense. What I do write starts as a short story and blows up into a novel because I'm crap at editing.
6. What's your favorite kind of story to write?
The first one I'd written with any success (R.I.P.) was set 300 years in the future, in a mix of technology and magic.
The second (in progress) takes place in an Earthsea sort of vein, set in an era that would be equivalent to the late Renaissance.
The third (in progress) is a detective story that was supposed to be set in the 1930s, but is instead set in the 2030s (well, 2029, but that's just being picky).
If I can get into the environment I'm creating, then the storytelling becomes almost secondary. If I can immerse myself in what's going on in the story world, the story develops organically.
7. Talk about a story of yours that was easy to write and one that was difficult to write, and why.
Easy to write: Whoo...I think the easiest one would have been a short bit of stroke fiction called "Virginity Lost, Virginity Saved", available at the Nifty Archives. Based in fact, up until the "10 years later" segue. It was really an exercise in venting; after it posted, I got feedback...sympathetic feedback...from some of the guys who'd read it.
Difficult to write: Probably the first story that succeeded. The story itself wasn't difficult to write as much as it was difficult to continue, especially with the massive influx of characters and drastic scenery changes I had in mind. What was really creepy was the prophetic tone it happened to take regarding my friends: one dropped out of college, another got knocked up by an ex. I stopped before my parents ended up dead.
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?
Probably Dante; a stocky red-headed procyonid pyromancer. Body shy, nice guy, easily...excitable, intelligent with a darling streak of naivete. Good to and protective of his friends, the kind of guy about whom every mother says, "Why can't you be more like him?" Sounds like someone who warrants a good kicking? Perhaps, but he doesn't behave as he does to endear himself to others, or others' mothers; he does what he does because he knows no other way to be? He can be tempted to be naughty, so he's not an absolute good, but even with his flaws, he's the sort of guy that can serve as an example, no matter how boring that makes the story.
9. What work are you most proud of right now?
My detective story, because I've made more progress on that in the last three months than I have on the fantasy story in the last year.
10. What do you feel your strengths and weaknesses are as a writer?
Strengths: Character development, spelling and conventions
Weaknesses: Editing my own work
11. Name a few writers who have influenced you or your work in some way.
Ursula LeGuin -- got me interested in fantasy at a very early age
Richard Adams -- got me into the furry thing, really
Stephen Fry -- showed me how wordplay can be woven into a story to great effect
Alexandre Dumas -- showed me that editing is really not that important
12. Talk about something you've written that you later found embarrassing for some reason.
Poetry. My word, it was just awful. Stanzas after stanza of pissing and moaning -- you know how emo goth poetry can be? -- and keep in mind, this was after the Thurston and Columbine massacres, so I was avoided like the plague, as was every other social misfit. Being a pacifist (another trait I share with Dante), the fear-based respect disappeared after it became clear that I wasn't about to go on shooting spree.
13. Talk about the earliest stories you remember writing. What were they about?
Ooh, the earliest one I remember writing for a class (I had to be 7 or so) had something to do with a search for some rare flower that was needed to cure the sick in some island village. For fun, I think the first one I wrote had something to do with a bunch of teenage Druids, but it didn't go anywhere.
14. If you knew you would be successful, what would you most like to write?
Something like The Pillars of the Earth.
15. What inspires you?
Anything but the present.
16. How many projects do you tend to work on at once?
2 at most.
17. Who reads your work before it's released to the public? Do you have beta readers, a critique group, etc.?
I've tried to get some organized, but I'm so bad about getting my work edited and re-edited that there's no point.
18. When you're not writing, what do you do for fun?
Watch movies, read, make drinks, bake.
19. Advice to other writers?
Don't edit as you type. Give it a day or two and come back so you can look at it with fresh eyes. You'll be amazed how many mistakes you'll find that you would have mentally edited out as you typed -- you knew what you meant when you were typing, so your brain fills in the blank if something doesn't make sense.
20. What are you currently working on?
See question 6.
21. Share the first three sentences of a work in progress.
(from a journal)
Happy birthday to me? Would that it were. It's been at least a decade since I've had an enjoyable birthday, and today kept the streak alive.
Apart from class assignments, the first writing I did for fun would probably have been when I was 15. I could probably fill a Mead composition book or two with the half-baked stories I came up with, though none of them ever went anywhere.
2. First drafts: Handwritten, typed, or some combination?
It depends on where I am and what I have at hand.
3. Do you keep any kind of notebook or writer's journal, and if so, what kinds of things go into it?
No. Phrases and scenes will pop into my head now and again, and sometimes they're initiated by things I hear or see and want to incorporate into my work.
4. Do you set any quotas for your work (number of words per day, number of hours per day, etc.)? Why or why not?
No. Setting quotas implies that the writing is something that has to be completed by a specific time. This isn't homework anymore, it's a hobby; placing those constraints on a hobby makes it drudgery.
5. Are you most comfortable writing short stories, novels, or something else?
I used to write poetry, but looking back on it, the whole mess was ego-stroking emo nonsense. What I do write starts as a short story and blows up into a novel because I'm crap at editing.
6. What's your favorite kind of story to write?
The first one I'd written with any success (R.I.P.) was set 300 years in the future, in a mix of technology and magic.
The second (in progress) takes place in an Earthsea sort of vein, set in an era that would be equivalent to the late Renaissance.
The third (in progress) is a detective story that was supposed to be set in the 1930s, but is instead set in the 2030s (well, 2029, but that's just being picky).
If I can get into the environment I'm creating, then the storytelling becomes almost secondary. If I can immerse myself in what's going on in the story world, the story develops organically.
7. Talk about a story of yours that was easy to write and one that was difficult to write, and why.
Easy to write: Whoo...I think the easiest one would have been a short bit of stroke fiction called "Virginity Lost, Virginity Saved", available at the Nifty Archives. Based in fact, up until the "10 years later" segue. It was really an exercise in venting; after it posted, I got feedback...sympathetic feedback...from some of the guys who'd read it.
Difficult to write: Probably the first story that succeeded. The story itself wasn't difficult to write as much as it was difficult to continue, especially with the massive influx of characters and drastic scenery changes I had in mind. What was really creepy was the prophetic tone it happened to take regarding my friends: one dropped out of college, another got knocked up by an ex. I stopped before my parents ended up dead.
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?
Probably Dante; a stocky red-headed procyonid pyromancer. Body shy, nice guy, easily...excitable, intelligent with a darling streak of naivete. Good to and protective of his friends, the kind of guy about whom every mother says, "Why can't you be more like him?" Sounds like someone who warrants a good kicking? Perhaps, but he doesn't behave as he does to endear himself to others, or others' mothers; he does what he does because he knows no other way to be? He can be tempted to be naughty, so he's not an absolute good, but even with his flaws, he's the sort of guy that can serve as an example, no matter how boring that makes the story.
9. What work are you most proud of right now?
My detective story, because I've made more progress on that in the last three months than I have on the fantasy story in the last year.
10. What do you feel your strengths and weaknesses are as a writer?
Strengths: Character development, spelling and conventions
Weaknesses: Editing my own work
11. Name a few writers who have influenced you or your work in some way.
Ursula LeGuin -- got me interested in fantasy at a very early age
Richard Adams -- got me into the furry thing, really
Stephen Fry -- showed me how wordplay can be woven into a story to great effect
Alexandre Dumas -- showed me that editing is really not that important
12. Talk about something you've written that you later found embarrassing for some reason.
Poetry. My word, it was just awful. Stanzas after stanza of pissing and moaning -- you know how emo goth poetry can be? -- and keep in mind, this was after the Thurston and Columbine massacres, so I was avoided like the plague, as was every other social misfit. Being a pacifist (another trait I share with Dante), the fear-based respect disappeared after it became clear that I wasn't about to go on shooting spree.
13. Talk about the earliest stories you remember writing. What were they about?
Ooh, the earliest one I remember writing for a class (I had to be 7 or so) had something to do with a search for some rare flower that was needed to cure the sick in some island village. For fun, I think the first one I wrote had something to do with a bunch of teenage Druids, but it didn't go anywhere.
14. If you knew you would be successful, what would you most like to write?
Something like The Pillars of the Earth.
15. What inspires you?
Anything but the present.
16. How many projects do you tend to work on at once?
2 at most.
17. Who reads your work before it's released to the public? Do you have beta readers, a critique group, etc.?
I've tried to get some organized, but I'm so bad about getting my work edited and re-edited that there's no point.
18. When you're not writing, what do you do for fun?
Watch movies, read, make drinks, bake.
19. Advice to other writers?
Don't edit as you type. Give it a day or two and come back so you can look at it with fresh eyes. You'll be amazed how many mistakes you'll find that you would have mentally edited out as you typed -- you knew what you meant when you were typing, so your brain fills in the blank if something doesn't make sense.
20. What are you currently working on?
See question 6.
21. Share the first three sentences of a work in progress.
(from a journal)
Happy birthday to me? Would that it were. It's been at least a decade since I've had an enjoyable birthday, and today kept the streak alive.
