Writer's survey and more writing blather
Jun. 16th, 2004 10:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayI'm going cross-eyed. I've been doing additional research for a paper on cyberspace and virtual communities and I'm going cross-eyed.
Update on the cold from hell: mostly gone....but now have an ear infection. My family health book kindly calls it 'a childhood disease'. How old am I? ::spits::
It hurts and I feel crappy ::sigh:: I have also lost a tape of West Wing episodes that I intended to watch and thereby catch up on season 4 before season 5 starts over here. I am annoyed with myself.
I had lots of insightful things to say about the nature of on-line life, the spirit of the Internet and how it relates to fandom, more thoughts about on-line identity...but they've temporarily been taken away and replaced with "Guh" in my mind. How annoying.
I can say that I finally have working titles for the two novel ideas, which should make it easier to actually think/write/talk about them. Not saying I'll get any more/less work done on them, but at least I won't be constantly attempting oblique references because they now have bad working titles. The one based on the Wolf Company in Serpents is Jeris's Tale. Oddly, that's the working title of the story I originally got the idea of Wolf Company for. Not so oddly when you consider that I'm basically writing the same story only I have the advantage of finally having a plot and a wider world-scape for it. Or something. It's got the first chapter, which is further than Jeris's Tale got on the first attempt.
The novel based on the short story mentioned in previous posts will now be imaginatively titled Mage Murders. The short story was titled Scholar's Return. My working titles all suck mightily. Mage Murders is progressing better than Jeris's Tale. I'm excited about both of them, but MM is writing itself in my head and JT...er...isn't. At the moment. So it looks like I've made my decision about which of them I'll be vigorously pursuing for now, although that may be subject to change if Jeris starts shouting down Medreth and Y'Pennf.
And having blathered pointlessly for a while, here's a cool survey from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
sfandf_writers
What's the last thing you wrote?
Completed? My 'so AU it's an original novel' Stargate fanfic Serpent in the Shadows. Unfinished? The next three pages of Mage Murders.
Is it any good?
Mage Murders will be good when it's finished and edited a lot. I'm a perfectionist. Serpent in the Shadows is something that I might actually still like in a year's time, so it must be one of my better works.
What's the first thing you ever wrote that you still have?
A short story I wrote for English class when I was fourteen - had to write a descriptive piece avoiding the use of 'very' or 'really' or 'nice'.
Was it any good?
For a fourteen year old? Having to expand her vocab a lot? Yeah :-)
Write poetry?
Not since English class at school.
Angsty poetry?
No.
Favourite genre of writing?
Fantasy - high and epic or small and personal, if it's got swords, sorcery, adventure and romance then I'm there.
Most fun character you ever wrote?
A talking cat called Kezia in my first unfinished novel. She had a sense of humour and took a lot of glee out of surprising the human she co-opted into feeding her.
Most annoying character you ever wrote?
Again it's the unfinished novel - Mikel. An arrogant, clever, chauvinistic womaniser that I would probably punch on the nose given half a chance.
Best plot you ever wrote?
Mage Murders, although saying anything about it would spoil the plot for anyone I might co-opt into reading it for me.
Coolest plot twist you ever wrote?
Again, Mage Murder. If you want finished stuff, the revelation of where the villains in Serpent came from was pretty cool.
How often do you get writer's block?
Rarely. Usually when I'm stressed about something that I can't do anything about so there's no point in procrastinating - writing fiction is my usual way of procrastinating about college work.
How do you fix it?
Wait until whatever is stressing me is over. Sometimes reading a good book that makes me go "yeah, I want to write something this good" helps. Especially LotR.
Write fan fiction?
Yes. Used to write Buffy, I now write Stargate slash fic. A lot of the lessons I've learnt from writing and publishing fanfic have helped to improve my original writing a great deal.
Do you type or write by hand?
Write by hand and then type onto computer, editing as I go. It provides a useful extra edit period and is the time I'm most likely to re-write entire sections.
Do you save everything you write?
Yup. Even the bad novel I wrote when I was fourteen.
Do you ever go back to an old idea long after you abandoned it?
Mage Murders was sparked from an old short story I wrote. Although the longer novel I attempted to write sucked mightily, the world was valid and the short story sparked a much better novel. Several elements of the Serpent in the Shadows universe came from the world I created for another abandoned novel called Jeris's Tale. Now that those elements have a complete world to inhabit, I've picked up and re-started JT again.
What's your favourite thing that you've written?
It's rare for me to like things I've written more than a month after writing, but I'm still quite fond of Serpent.
What's everyone else's favourite thing that you've written?
Fanfic? Serpent in the Shadows. It's rare that I let anyone see my original work.
Do you even show people your work?
See above.
Who's your favourite constructive critic?
My beta, Ali M. She won't let me get away with lazy writing, she points out anything that's out of character or completely anachronistic and she makes me think about what I'm writing more than I ever did before I found her.
Do you have a web site for your writings?
My fanfiction is on The Haven. My original writings go nowhere apart from my hard-drive.
Did you ever write a novel?
I'm counting Serpent, so yes. I've got several unfinished and destined to remain unfinished novels hanging around too (including a sci fi one and a murder mystery).
Have you ever written fantasy, sci-fi, or horror?
Well, Buffy is technically horror and Stargate is technically sci-fi. My original work is nearly always high fantasy.
Ever written romance or teen angsty drama?
There's usually romance as a plot thread in my writing, although I've never written an actual 'Mills and Boon' romance. Buffy might qualify as teen angsty drama.
What's your favourite setting for your characters?
Medieval fantasy style worlds. There is usually some form of university there because I can't resist putting some of my characters into one.
What's one genre you have never written, and probably never will?
Contemporary literature. I just have no spark for it.
How many writing projects are you working on right now?
Two novels, although one is on the back burner for now, and two fanfic stories. I have an outline for a sequel to Serpent but I want to get the other fanfic projects out of the way first.
Do you want to write for a living?
Yes.
Have you ever written something for a magazine or newspaper?
No.
Have you ever won an award for your writing?
I've been nominated for my fanfic, but so far haven't won anything. Voting hasn't closed in this year's awards though :-)
Ever written something in script or play format?
A nativity play when I was 11.
What are your five favourite words?
shimmering, susurration, moonlight, scholar, transliteration
Do you ever parody?
I wrote a parodied flame once (a friend asked for it) that turned out to be more of a prediction than a parody.
What's your favourite thing to parody?
Poor spelling and grammar.
Do you actually like that thing, or are you spitefully making fun of it?
Playfully mocking, but with a serious point behind it.
Do you ever write based on yourself?
Elements of things I'm thinking about or personality traits creep into characters, but I've never written a character that's actually me.
What character that you've written most resembles yourself?
Sorrela al'Para, in an unfinished novel I started six years ago.
Where do you get ideas for your other characters?
Elements or personality quirks of people around me, sometimes physical elements of actors (a character in Jeris's Tale looks like Bernard Hill in my head although the personality is completely different) and positions or character jobs that I need filled in a story and then get fleshed out beyond what I thought I'd need.
Do you ever write based on your dreams?
No.
Do you favour happy endings, sad endings, or cliff-hangers?
Overall I prefer happy endings, or at the very least bitter sweet happy, although I have a tendency to end chapters on cliff-hangers.
Have you ever written based on an artwork you've seen?
No, although some of the Victorian fairy paintings have sometimes sparked ideas that haven't actually made it to paper yet.
Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write?
Absolutely. Nothing annoys me more than consistent misuse of the English language.
Ever write something entirely in chatspeak? (How r u?)
Good good, no. Not even text messages.
Entirely in L337?
Was that some derivation of English?
Was that question completely appalling and un-writer like?
Yes. Yes it was. Don't ask it again. Couldn't agree more.
Does music help you write?
No, I find that I lose my 'ear' for my characters if I have music on. I prefer to write in silence.
Do you have a weblog or livejournal?
One LJ for my random blathering.
Are people surprised and confused when they find out you write well?
Anyone from RL that I dare to show my writing to (there's only a tiny number of them) seem surprised to find that I don't suck as a writer. Anyone that I know from on-line knows me as a fanfic writer, so the only surprises they get is me improving over the years. Hopefully.
Quote something you've written. The first thing to pop into your mind.
"That bad?"
"Worse. Be glad that one one will ever try to elect you to the council."
"Ah. I'm afraid that's what happens when your major area of study is political theory," Medreth said with a wry grin. "Everyone assumes that you're a politician."
This is the version not typed to computer yet, so very rough and likely to be completely rephrased, but it's from Mage Murders.
I am now going to bury myself in a book for a while and then go to bed. Too tired for sensible thoughts.
Update on the cold from hell: mostly gone....but now have an ear infection. My family health book kindly calls it 'a childhood disease'. How old am I? ::spits::
It hurts and I feel crappy ::sigh:: I have also lost a tape of West Wing episodes that I intended to watch and thereby catch up on season 4 before season 5 starts over here. I am annoyed with myself.
I had lots of insightful things to say about the nature of on-line life, the spirit of the Internet and how it relates to fandom, more thoughts about on-line identity...but they've temporarily been taken away and replaced with "Guh" in my mind. How annoying.
I can say that I finally have working titles for the two novel ideas, which should make it easier to actually think/write/talk about them. Not saying I'll get any more/less work done on them, but at least I won't be constantly attempting oblique references because they now have bad working titles. The one based on the Wolf Company in Serpents is Jeris's Tale. Oddly, that's the working title of the story I originally got the idea of Wolf Company for. Not so oddly when you consider that I'm basically writing the same story only I have the advantage of finally having a plot and a wider world-scape for it. Or something. It's got the first chapter, which is further than Jeris's Tale got on the first attempt.
The novel based on the short story mentioned in previous posts will now be imaginatively titled Mage Murders. The short story was titled Scholar's Return. My working titles all suck mightily. Mage Murders is progressing better than Jeris's Tale. I'm excited about both of them, but MM is writing itself in my head and JT...er...isn't. At the moment. So it looks like I've made my decision about which of them I'll be vigorously pursuing for now, although that may be subject to change if Jeris starts shouting down Medreth and Y'Pennf.
And having blathered pointlessly for a while, here's a cool survey from
sfandf_writersWhat's the last thing you wrote?
Completed? My 'so AU it's an original novel' Stargate fanfic Serpent in the Shadows. Unfinished? The next three pages of Mage Murders.
Is it any good?
Mage Murders will be good when it's finished and edited a lot. I'm a perfectionist. Serpent in the Shadows is something that I might actually still like in a year's time, so it must be one of my better works.
What's the first thing you ever wrote that you still have?
A short story I wrote for English class when I was fourteen - had to write a descriptive piece avoiding the use of 'very' or 'really' or 'nice'.
Was it any good?
For a fourteen year old? Having to expand her vocab a lot? Yeah :-)
Write poetry?
Not since English class at school.
Angsty poetry?
No.
Favourite genre of writing?
Fantasy - high and epic or small and personal, if it's got swords, sorcery, adventure and romance then I'm there.
Most fun character you ever wrote?
A talking cat called Kezia in my first unfinished novel. She had a sense of humour and took a lot of glee out of surprising the human she co-opted into feeding her.
Most annoying character you ever wrote?
Again it's the unfinished novel - Mikel. An arrogant, clever, chauvinistic womaniser that I would probably punch on the nose given half a chance.
Best plot you ever wrote?
Mage Murders, although saying anything about it would spoil the plot for anyone I might co-opt into reading it for me.
Coolest plot twist you ever wrote?
Again, Mage Murder. If you want finished stuff, the revelation of where the villains in Serpent came from was pretty cool.
How often do you get writer's block?
Rarely. Usually when I'm stressed about something that I can't do anything about so there's no point in procrastinating - writing fiction is my usual way of procrastinating about college work.
How do you fix it?
Wait until whatever is stressing me is over. Sometimes reading a good book that makes me go "yeah, I want to write something this good" helps. Especially LotR.
Write fan fiction?
Yes. Used to write Buffy, I now write Stargate slash fic. A lot of the lessons I've learnt from writing and publishing fanfic have helped to improve my original writing a great deal.
Do you type or write by hand?
Write by hand and then type onto computer, editing as I go. It provides a useful extra edit period and is the time I'm most likely to re-write entire sections.
Do you save everything you write?
Yup. Even the bad novel I wrote when I was fourteen.
Do you ever go back to an old idea long after you abandoned it?
Mage Murders was sparked from an old short story I wrote. Although the longer novel I attempted to write sucked mightily, the world was valid and the short story sparked a much better novel. Several elements of the Serpent in the Shadows universe came from the world I created for another abandoned novel called Jeris's Tale. Now that those elements have a complete world to inhabit, I've picked up and re-started JT again.
What's your favourite thing that you've written?
It's rare for me to like things I've written more than a month after writing, but I'm still quite fond of Serpent.
What's everyone else's favourite thing that you've written?
Fanfic? Serpent in the Shadows. It's rare that I let anyone see my original work.
Do you even show people your work?
See above.
Who's your favourite constructive critic?
My beta, Ali M. She won't let me get away with lazy writing, she points out anything that's out of character or completely anachronistic and she makes me think about what I'm writing more than I ever did before I found her.
Do you have a web site for your writings?
My fanfiction is on The Haven. My original writings go nowhere apart from my hard-drive.
Did you ever write a novel?
I'm counting Serpent, so yes. I've got several unfinished and destined to remain unfinished novels hanging around too (including a sci fi one and a murder mystery).
Have you ever written fantasy, sci-fi, or horror?
Well, Buffy is technically horror and Stargate is technically sci-fi. My original work is nearly always high fantasy.
Ever written romance or teen angsty drama?
There's usually romance as a plot thread in my writing, although I've never written an actual 'Mills and Boon' romance. Buffy might qualify as teen angsty drama.
What's your favourite setting for your characters?
Medieval fantasy style worlds. There is usually some form of university there because I can't resist putting some of my characters into one.
What's one genre you have never written, and probably never will?
Contemporary literature. I just have no spark for it.
How many writing projects are you working on right now?
Two novels, although one is on the back burner for now, and two fanfic stories. I have an outline for a sequel to Serpent but I want to get the other fanfic projects out of the way first.
Do you want to write for a living?
Yes.
Have you ever written something for a magazine or newspaper?
No.
Have you ever won an award for your writing?
I've been nominated for my fanfic, but so far haven't won anything. Voting hasn't closed in this year's awards though :-)
Ever written something in script or play format?
A nativity play when I was 11.
What are your five favourite words?
shimmering, susurration, moonlight, scholar, transliteration
Do you ever parody?
I wrote a parodied flame once (a friend asked for it) that turned out to be more of a prediction than a parody.
What's your favourite thing to parody?
Poor spelling and grammar.
Do you actually like that thing, or are you spitefully making fun of it?
Playfully mocking, but with a serious point behind it.
Do you ever write based on yourself?
Elements of things I'm thinking about or personality traits creep into characters, but I've never written a character that's actually me.
What character that you've written most resembles yourself?
Sorrela al'Para, in an unfinished novel I started six years ago.
Where do you get ideas for your other characters?
Elements or personality quirks of people around me, sometimes physical elements of actors (a character in Jeris's Tale looks like Bernard Hill in my head although the personality is completely different) and positions or character jobs that I need filled in a story and then get fleshed out beyond what I thought I'd need.
Do you ever write based on your dreams?
No.
Do you favour happy endings, sad endings, or cliff-hangers?
Overall I prefer happy endings, or at the very least bitter sweet happy, although I have a tendency to end chapters on cliff-hangers.
Have you ever written based on an artwork you've seen?
No, although some of the Victorian fairy paintings have sometimes sparked ideas that haven't actually made it to paper yet.
Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write?
Absolutely. Nothing annoys me more than consistent misuse of the English language.
Ever write something entirely in chatspeak? (How r u?)
Good good, no. Not even text messages.
Entirely in L337?
Was that some derivation of English?
Was that question completely appalling and un-writer like?
Yes. Yes it was. Don't ask it again. Couldn't agree more.
Does music help you write?
No, I find that I lose my 'ear' for my characters if I have music on. I prefer to write in silence.
Do you have a weblog or livejournal?
One LJ for my random blathering.
Are people surprised and confused when they find out you write well?
Anyone from RL that I dare to show my writing to (there's only a tiny number of them) seem surprised to find that I don't suck as a writer. Anyone that I know from on-line knows me as a fanfic writer, so the only surprises they get is me improving over the years. Hopefully.
Quote something you've written. The first thing to pop into your mind.
"That bad?"
"Worse. Be glad that one one will ever try to elect you to the council."
"Ah. I'm afraid that's what happens when your major area of study is political theory," Medreth said with a wry grin. "Everyone assumes that you're a politician."
This is the version not typed to computer yet, so very rough and likely to be completely rephrased, but it's from Mage Murders.
I am now going to bury myself in a book for a while and then go to bed. Too tired for sensible thoughts.
