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Writing meme
16 years ago
1. When did you start writing?
About 20 years ago.
2. First drafts: Handwritten, typed, or some combination?
Back in the early days I used to put most stories out by hand and type them up later. This got gradually less common, mostly because I'm lazy. It is a good way to force oneself to actually redraft existing work.
3. Do you keep any kind of notebook or writer's journal, and if so, what kinds of things go into it?
I use Twitter for random stuff I think I might want to grab inspiration from later, but mostly it goes into my head and rolls around with all the other stuff in there, and that's the best way.
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, though I probably should. I write when the urge hits me, which doesn't lend itself to quota!
5. Are you most comfortable writing short stories, novels, or something else?
Short stories. They suit the pace of the online world perfectly, and most importantly, they fit within my attention span. They are good ways of producing content that does not need someone to take the plunge and invest their time unknowing of where it'll end. They're good for seeing if an idea, and the world around it, really has enough tenure to become a novel. Within the Azimuth stories I think I'm getting closer.
6. What's your favorite kind of story to write?
One with words in it.
7. Talk about a story of yours that was easy to write and one that was difficult to write, and why.
Let's stick with recent era stuff, it's just simpler. Tess was easy to write - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1825217/ - and it shows, since I still think it's my best one. If the prose is flowing well, it gives me so much more thought time to do interesting stuff with it. The hardest is probably the one I'm trying to write now, I've already thrown away one idea.
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?
Well, one of my personas is in one of the stories I posted, so.. this could have an obvious answer. ;) Or I could be different and say it's Azalea. She's very spirited and imaginative, her feelings are serious business, and she's not afraid to be expressive - a point I'm working on. Then again, she also takes what she wants and is a bit naive about where to go from there. Hmm...
9. What work are you most proud of right now?
My last NaNo attempt, that I finished. I'm not sure if I'm going to do it again this year; a month of writing causes 11 months of 'I don't need to write any more!' sometimes. But if I have a novel in mind I might do.
10. What do you feel your strengths and weaknesses are as a writer?
My strengths involve my characterisation and the ability to write them in any situation and genre for any reason. A story is just that, and goes where it likes, much like life. My weaknesses are laziness and the difficulty I find in redrafting on my own. Most of the work you see is written as-is, and I don't touch it again. Beginning to polish the work means I'll never stop, so often I don't. The difference is when I get people to read ahead of time; if I've written the word/line/story, then I'm probably happy to have typed it in the first place and need a second opinion anyway.
11. Name a few writers who have influenced you or your work in some way.
Mostly authors from over the years I've been writing: Stephen King. Roald Dahl. Douglas Adams. George R. R. Martin. Phillip Pullman. Anne McCaffrey. I used to read more writers online but I don't really do that any more. If we expand 'some way', that would include Azakir and Prometheus, for various contributions to things outside of story
12. Talk about something you've written that you later found embarrassing for some reason.
Pretty much everything before 2005. It's like baby photos. Riley's a bit embarrassing, but its gratuitous nature went down quite well here. ;)
13. Talk about the earliest stories you remember writing. What were they about?
Before I was 16 there was very little expression in my stories and I could well have been reciting words. Before 2001, there was very little point to them. Before 2005, there were interesting ideas, but handled far too melodramatically in many cases for my tastes now. It's like, if I was telling a ghost story, I'd be making the fake spectral noises and wiggling my fingers.
14. If you knew you would be successful, what would you most like to write?
I suspect I should be directing myself at SF, though I wander around fantasy and contemporary. I think the ideal story I have will mix them up. Really, though, I want to jump straight into surreal and postmodern. I want to tell a story in six dimensions, rising to 6.23 with inflation (and fluctuating with the Dow Jones); I want to describe a cat made of sunlight licking an iced moon on a stick ("I dated the moon once, you know. But, seasons change; she started staying out longer and longer, disappearing every month with not so much as a note. I said, this is no way for lovers to be, and I left her, and she cried the first rainy tears, of ice and diamond."
"Then she discovered they was marketable, and became filthy rich. Some gals got all the luck.");
... and so on. I have ideas I love but I can't make the words work, too.
15. What inspires you?
Everything, in careful doses. I do so many things!
16. How many projects do you tend to work on at once?
One, sometimes 2; I like to get things out of the way.
17. Who reads your work before it's released to the public? Do you have beta readers, a critique group, etc.?
I have a couple of nice beta readers for works on here, who I use on occasion, and for works I send to magazines I'll go around a collective of close friends.
18. When you're not writing, what do you do for fun?
I compose music, study meteorology, research tornados, travel, be convention staff, and do miscellaneous computing stuff.
19. Advice to other writers?
There's no such thing as a perfect story. The best way to be an author is not to mind that and write anyway. By the time you're done, people'll be having too much fun to notice.
20. What are you currently working on?
Story #14, based on a handful of suggestions I've compiled together for convenience and interest.
21. Share the first three sentences of a work in progress.
My current work in progress is blank. I should actually fix that. :(
About 20 years ago.
2. First drafts: Handwritten, typed, or some combination?
Back in the early days I used to put most stories out by hand and type them up later. This got gradually less common, mostly because I'm lazy. It is a good way to force oneself to actually redraft existing work.
3. Do you keep any kind of notebook or writer's journal, and if so, what kinds of things go into it?
I use Twitter for random stuff I think I might want to grab inspiration from later, but mostly it goes into my head and rolls around with all the other stuff in there, and that's the best way.
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, though I probably should. I write when the urge hits me, which doesn't lend itself to quota!
5. Are you most comfortable writing short stories, novels, or something else?
Short stories. They suit the pace of the online world perfectly, and most importantly, they fit within my attention span. They are good ways of producing content that does not need someone to take the plunge and invest their time unknowing of where it'll end. They're good for seeing if an idea, and the world around it, really has enough tenure to become a novel. Within the Azimuth stories I think I'm getting closer.
6. What's your favorite kind of story to write?
One with words in it.
7. Talk about a story of yours that was easy to write and one that was difficult to write, and why.
Let's stick with recent era stuff, it's just simpler. Tess was easy to write - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1825217/ - and it shows, since I still think it's my best one. If the prose is flowing well, it gives me so much more thought time to do interesting stuff with it. The hardest is probably the one I'm trying to write now, I've already thrown away one idea.
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?
Well, one of my personas is in one of the stories I posted, so.. this could have an obvious answer. ;) Or I could be different and say it's Azalea. She's very spirited and imaginative, her feelings are serious business, and she's not afraid to be expressive - a point I'm working on. Then again, she also takes what she wants and is a bit naive about where to go from there. Hmm...
9. What work are you most proud of right now?
My last NaNo attempt, that I finished. I'm not sure if I'm going to do it again this year; a month of writing causes 11 months of 'I don't need to write any more!' sometimes. But if I have a novel in mind I might do.
10. What do you feel your strengths and weaknesses are as a writer?
My strengths involve my characterisation and the ability to write them in any situation and genre for any reason. A story is just that, and goes where it likes, much like life. My weaknesses are laziness and the difficulty I find in redrafting on my own. Most of the work you see is written as-is, and I don't touch it again. Beginning to polish the work means I'll never stop, so often I don't. The difference is when I get people to read ahead of time; if I've written the word/line/story, then I'm probably happy to have typed it in the first place and need a second opinion anyway.
11. Name a few writers who have influenced you or your work in some way.
Mostly authors from over the years I've been writing: Stephen King. Roald Dahl. Douglas Adams. George R. R. Martin. Phillip Pullman. Anne McCaffrey. I used to read more writers online but I don't really do that any more. If we expand 'some way', that would include Azakir and Prometheus, for various contributions to things outside of story
12. Talk about something you've written that you later found embarrassing for some reason.
Pretty much everything before 2005. It's like baby photos. Riley's a bit embarrassing, but its gratuitous nature went down quite well here. ;)
13. Talk about the earliest stories you remember writing. What were they about?
Before I was 16 there was very little expression in my stories and I could well have been reciting words. Before 2001, there was very little point to them. Before 2005, there were interesting ideas, but handled far too melodramatically in many cases for my tastes now. It's like, if I was telling a ghost story, I'd be making the fake spectral noises and wiggling my fingers.
14. If you knew you would be successful, what would you most like to write?
I suspect I should be directing myself at SF, though I wander around fantasy and contemporary. I think the ideal story I have will mix them up. Really, though, I want to jump straight into surreal and postmodern. I want to tell a story in six dimensions, rising to 6.23 with inflation (and fluctuating with the Dow Jones); I want to describe a cat made of sunlight licking an iced moon on a stick ("I dated the moon once, you know. But, seasons change; she started staying out longer and longer, disappearing every month with not so much as a note. I said, this is no way for lovers to be, and I left her, and she cried the first rainy tears, of ice and diamond."
"Then she discovered they was marketable, and became filthy rich. Some gals got all the luck.");
... and so on. I have ideas I love but I can't make the words work, too.
15. What inspires you?
Everything, in careful doses. I do so many things!
16. How many projects do you tend to work on at once?
One, sometimes 2; I like to get things out of the way.
17. Who reads your work before it's released to the public? Do you have beta readers, a critique group, etc.?
I have a couple of nice beta readers for works on here, who I use on occasion, and for works I send to magazines I'll go around a collective of close friends.
18. When you're not writing, what do you do for fun?
I compose music, study meteorology, research tornados, travel, be convention staff, and do miscellaneous computing stuff.
19. Advice to other writers?
There's no such thing as a perfect story. The best way to be an author is not to mind that and write anyway. By the time you're done, people'll be having too much fun to notice.
20. What are you currently working on?
Story #14, based on a handful of suggestions I've compiled together for convenience and interest.
21. Share the first three sentences of a work in progress.
My current work in progress is blank. I should actually fix that. :(
