Jack tagged all her followers again and since tags are an easy post for one on vacation... I shall take her up on her tag!
I have to answer the following questions (they are all very writerly!):
1. When did you start writing?
I have been writing since before I knew how to write.
Wait, no, that's an oxymoron.
I have been creating stories and having someone else write them down since before I knew how to write (I was four or something).
Only last year did I start writing actual, long, novels.
2. Do you have a soft spot for a particular character (come on, be honest!)?
This is such a hard question because I have a soft spot for many characters!
Antonio, just 'cause he was my first real character.
Antony because he's funny.
Varina because of her past.
And Daniel. Daniel is probably my favorite character (Antony is glaring at me). I love him because he is so much like me - a geek and a piano player. He's also a genius but I don't take that title for myself. Hee hee. :P
3. If you had to choose between reading and writing, which would you choose?
I would choose reading. There are too many good books out there that need reading! I haven't decided how seriously I want to write yet.... So for now, I'd rather read.
4. How often do you have to "rush off" to write down an idea before it evaporates?
ALL. THE. TIME! I have so many little scraps of paper with one sentence ideas ("Story where two characters are in an old rickety train station") that it isn't even funny. The worst is when I have an idea in the shower or in the middle of the night - when I can't write it down.
5. Do you plot/outline your book or wing it?
Plan, definitely. If I don't have an idea of where I'm going, I can't continue. Usually I have a brief outline of the story and I follow it. Sometimes things get changed, things get added, characters get killed, characters mysteriously make it back into the book and I'm forced to kill another in their place....
6. Are you a sucker for happy endings or do you leave your readers in misery?
Here's the thing, I hate unhappy endings, yet, more often than not, I end my novels in some sort of misery. I love torturing my (invisible) audience, but I hate having it done to me.
Of course, not everything is left in misery. Most of the characters get happy endings.
7. How protective are you of your novel?
Hee hee hee.... Every time I start something new my friend asks me, "Oooh can I see?"
I reply with a sharp, "NO!" and clutch my notebook to my chest and cast suspicious glances around.
I am so afraid of plagiarists. So yes, I am very very very very very very very very very protective over my novels and characters.
8. Plans for publishing eventually? Self-publish or traditional?
This is back to the I-don't-know-how-seriously-I-write thing. Right now writing is my hobby. I write on the side. I know I'm good at it, and that God has given me a gift with the written word, but I don't feel that he's calling me to write full-time.
If I were to publish, however, I would probably go with self-publishing - at least with the After the Twelfth Night books. Once I finish my spy series and make it as good as it can be, I might see if a traditional publisher is interested (that's far in the future, though).
9. Are you guilty of using the old cliche plot element? How are you trying to make it fresh?
I don't like cliche plot elements, or cliche characters (such as... the girly girl falls in love with the nerd because they are forced to work with each other and it all ends happily ever after). I do, however, enjoy cliches such as... spies wear trench coats and stand under lamp posts, or pirates have peglegs and eye patches. Stuff like that.
10. Tell a little about a character you are currently fleshing out.
I am so bad at character development... Either that or I can't tell when I'm doing it. I don't really flesh characters out either... I just write a brief biography (or in Varina's case, a loooong biography) or keep their personalities in my head.
I guess the two characters that I'm thinking about the most are Caroline and Jamie-Beatrice, two sisters. Caroline is 21 and Jamie-Beatrice is 14. I have decided that Caroline wants to be a writer, but I don't know what Jamie-Beatrice wants to be. She's very fiery and strong so I was thinking maybe the debate team... Or maybe she's interested in government or sports, but none of those seem to fit.
Any ideas?
11. Which is the better chocolate? White, milk, or 75% dark?
Milk. =) White chocolate is alright, I haven't really had enough of it on it's own to decide. I strongly dislike dark chocolate.
Live long and prosper!
I'm bring over white chocolate so you can realize how very very good it is. *Grin*
ReplyDeleteI think I like Daniel too. I've not seen or read much of him, but he sounds like a really great character.
As for the picture of Jack and Isidore...I suppose one would have to ask Clair about that. *Grin* I'm not sure if she is revealing it, but she should, because it is really good.
Hope your holiday is going well!
Hehehe, your gasp after Darcy must mean you discovered who he is? (I've been dying to ask someone who didn't know before hand, did you guess before Steed told? Or was it very unexpected?)
ReplyDeleteI adore Kirk, if it is possible for one to adore their own character. There is a story behind him which gives me a reason to adore him. He's the best character an author could ask for.
I also became more fond of Tony when I did the final edit and realized just how devoted he is. (It would be nice if they told me all this BEFORE I started writing, but I gave up on all that.) That is cool you can read their accents in!
Aye, I enjoyed The Hobbit the second time and am dying to see it again. I noticed a lot more the second time around. Such as all the detail in the Dwarves cave.
Maybe we should carry boster seats to the movies so we can see over the tall people.
Oh, at least Kili and Fili don't die till the very end. That shall be less sad...I suppose. Maybe not less...but we get them for longer. I am excited to see the last battle! I liked it in the book.
(Killing Fred in Harry Potter was cruel. It is bad enough when a sibling dies. It should be forbidden to kill a twin.)
The chap who plays the new Kirk is rather cool. I like the actor too, what I know of him. And he voiced Jack Frost well. Has he been in many other things?
I think it is sad as well that the new movies rather forget what the original stories were about. Exploration and friendship. I think I could like them more if they brought all that back. I miss it in the movies.