Happy Holidays and a Writer’s Meme

Happy Holidays all you lovely little readers! While I’m off celebrating all the wonders a holiday has to offer, I decided I should leave you with a little bit of light reading.

I stole this meme from Angela Ackerman over at The Bookshelf Muse and thought it might something fun to fill out since I don’t have any exciting news to share. I hope I don’t bore you too much.

What’s the last thing you wrote?
This morning I wrote a couple pages for a short story I began a few days ago. Nothing really to start squealing about yet.

Was it any good?
You know, I liked it. This may be a fun little project. A window into my wacky brain, if you will.

What’s the first thing you ever wrote that you still have?
Oh I have a bunch of poems, some of which are terrible. I don’t think I ever wrote stories as a child. I didn’t even write poetry until after what? 16? 17?

Write poetry?
I used to. Not so much these days.

Angsty poetry?
I wrote it mostly when I was a teenager, so yes, loads of angst. Angst that would put Harry Potter to shame.

Favourite genre of writing?
This is a really hard question for me to answer because I like a lot of genres. Can I just answer fiction? When I say I’ll read anything, I really mean it. I suppose I have a soft spot for fantasy novels and novels that revolve around history. I don’t care for straight romance novels. Or boring books. Does that help?

Most fun character you ever wrote?
I love writing villains. The villain in Spring of Innocents is quite delicious to write. Villains are so intelligent and calculating and more often than not, they’re the gorgeous bad boy or girl. It’s just so FUN to be evil. Not that I know…or anything…

I also really love Cale. To me, he’s a semi-villain in his own right. Evil. I love evil. Mwhahahahaha.

Most annoying character you ever wrote?
What? This is a preposterous question! I don’t write annoying characters! Never! Okay, I think Brynn is a little annoying but I tend to hate main characters and I’m really quite brutal to my own gender.

How often do you get writer’s block?
You know what? I really don’t. I get distracted easily, but I write easily enough. It sounds arrogant, but when I actually sit down to write, I really write. However, there are times when my self-loathing gets in the way and makes me feel like I don’t want to write.

How do you fix it?
I skip whatever I’m writing. Either I’ll write something new or move on to another scene. It’s the lame way out, I know. I never said I was good at this.

Music helps too.

Write fan fiction?
No. I’ve thought about it, but thankfully I never put those ideas to paper.

Do you type or write by hand?
Both. Writing by hand seems to make my mind flow a little better, but the convenience of typing sometimes outweighs the creativity in the former. I like to mix it up. Keep my brain on its toes!

Do you save everything you write?
Pretty much, yes. However, I’ve been known to lose things that I write by hand because I’ll sometimes write on loose bits of paper and well, those get lost.

Do you ever go back to an old idea long after you abandoned it?
It’s kinda what I did with Spring of Innocents. Only very very slightly. I took one thing and ran with it.

What’s your favourite thing that you’ve written?
Any scene with Elie in SoI. Goodness I love that little girl. There are few scenes where Cale redeems himself and I like those. Oh and the particularly evil scenes. Mwhahaha.

What’s everyone else’s favourite thing that you’ve written?
I don’t know. Anyone care to share in the comments? I haven’t written that much for people to know.

What’s your favourite setting for your characters?
Well I seem to have an obsession with the UK, and most of my stories or ideas take place there. I was born on the wrong continent.

What’s one genre you have never written, and probably never will?
I would have to say something really science fictiony. Like my impeccable knowledge of the English language? I’m not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to science and writing about the future and space and physics and chemistry and doctors and hygiene just really isn’t my thing.

How many writing projects are you working on right now?
Two. Spring of Innocents and one that is still untitled.

Do you want to write for a living?
That’s the dream.

Have you ever written something for a magazine or newspaper?
My poetry ended up in books and stuff for high school and in the IUP paper a few times for competitions and stuff. Never any of my stories.

Have you ever won an award for your writing?
The poetry won me quite a few things. I think all told I’ve won like $100 for my poetry. Sweeeeet.

Ever written something in script or play format?
I tried at one point in my life, you know during that Shakespeare obsession phase that all teenage girls go through. It didn’t end well. What? Most teenage girls don’t fantasize about Shakespeare and his plays? Ughhhhhh.

What are your five favourite words?
Names. I repeat people’s names a lot. “And” that’s a good word. “Brilliant” Dunno why I like that word. Reminds me of me I suppose. “Passion” And…..uhm…You guys fill in another one.

What character that you’ve written most resembles yourself?
There’s a character that I have named Rilna that is definitely all me. She’s a little more brave than I am, but yea, all me. I think as a writer you incorporate yourself in most of the characters you create. You know the inner workings of your brain the best so it’s the easiest experience to draw upon when writing.

Where do you get ideas for your other characters?
Usually they come to me out of just a sentence or two. I suppose it starts with one adjective that represents what I want that character to be and out of that they are molded into human beings. Sometimes I base them loosely off of people that I know.

Do you ever write based on your dreams?
Well, my dreams are what made me start writing a few months ago so I’d have to say yes. I don’t know if I write ABOUT my dreams, but sometimes things in dreams are so wonky (I use this word a lot, maybe it’s a favorite) that it’s hard not to use them. I think dreams infiltrate (like an army!) your brain in a way you can’t even begin to understand and in that respect give you ideas that you yourself would have never thought of. Does that make sense or am I just rambling now?

Do you favour happy endings, sad endings, or cliff-hangers?
I like all of the above. It depends on the story for me. I like endings that leave the characters and the reader better off for having read the story. I don’t particularly care for “And they all lived happily ever after” but I think in some cases that is justified.

Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write?
Obviously not. I try to make everything grammatically correct but sometimes perfect grammar detracts from a story and it makes characters sound…well, robotic. I think you need to inject a little realism into your grammar. Let’s be clear though, my mistakes are on purpose. For the most part.

Does music help you write?
I have to have music when I write. There are two things in this world I cannot live without, books and music (and the obvious things like food, sleep, and pizza). Music sparks my ideas. It puts me in the mood to write. I have certain themes for characters and sometimes certain songs will help me write a difficult scene.

Quote something you’ve written. The first thing to pop into your mind.

This is still first draft stuff. No judging. This is something I wrote for SoI a few days ago:

“There is one fact that most educated people know in this world: History is written by the victor. Even today when it is common for the average man to know how to read and write, we still lack the loser’s story.

Maybe because I am a woman I see the tides of history differently. I see the greatest civilizations as being nothing but groups of ruthless cowards who would kill to get ahead in life. Take first and ask later.

It is all under the guise of a “greater good,” but I’m afraid I only see greater good as their own good, a means to excuse their own wants and needs. No, not needs. Only wants.

I’m not naive enough to think the world will ever change. Thousands of years could pass and the world could be filled with many more advanced things than my mind can possibly fathom. Yet, there will still be greed. There will still be those that thirst for more. More power. More money. More everything.

I don’t doubt that while the world may look different, humanity will remain the same. Oddly enough, it isn’t even this thought that depresses me. Selfishly, I linger on my own ordeals.

Unfortunately The Red and his Wolves are just such men. Creatures rather. Heartless beings we read about that make all that I do and all that I have done nothing, not even a page in history.

Scientists will applaud his discovery, even at it’s cost. I will be one of the “savages” that stood in the way of human growth and failed in my attempt to thwart the “greater good.”

In essence, I have already lost. The history books and mankind are against me.

You would think that being a descendant of a god would put you on a pedestal and that life would be grand beyond measure. Yet, it brings me only the opposite – an eternity bound in shackles.

If it were me, only me to face this wretched fate, I would end it. Without my bloodline he would fail and die the same as me and every man before him. No more tests. No more torture.

But in my moments of passion I have created my greatest weakness – Elie.

Even if I ended my life, hers would be worse than I dare imagine. I stop the tears in my eyes as I will myself not to think on it any longer.

I must find another way. History may repeat itself but I’ll be damned if I let my daughter become a pawn in the throes of time. “

Advertisement