Writing meme!

The Writing Meme:

What’s the last thing you wrote?
A bit of "Desperate Measures," I think. The last thing I finished was Day One.

Was it any good?
I think it is. Review-wise it doesn't seem to be, but I'm working my ass off on it and it's very close to my heart.

What’s the first thing you wrote that you still have?
Well, a lot of things that I wrote as a child. My mom's a compulsive saver. I think there's even still the story I wrote about two cardboard boxes falling in love... but the first actual recognizable story I wrote was something about a Sioux girl named Blossoming Flower that I wrote in first grade. I astonished my teacher by using swearing in it, but she was rather progressive and she still liked it.

Write poetry?
On occasion, yes. Sell it, too.

Angsty poetry?
Not...really... I mostly write sestinas and moment-snippets. So no.

Favourite genre of writing?
I pretty much solely write fantasy, but it varies there between contemporary fantasy, sword and sorcery, epic fantasy and historical fantasy depending on what I'm reading. My most recent novel project, however, appears to be a chick lit novel (I tried to make it fantasy, it wouldn't submit), and the last short story I finished was about a man in love with his twin sister and has no fantasy in sight at all unless you know the characters' backgrounds, which doesn't come up in the story.

Most fun character you’ve ever created?
For original fiction, a lady by the name of Felicity Bianchi. She's fun. Crisp, easily annoyed, very no-nonsense, and yet surprisingly vulnerable in a lot of ways. Her lover, Nicholas Dorset, he's pretty fun too, but not as fun as Felicity is.
For fanfiction, probably Jen. ...who is a lot like Felicity, actually, except different vulnerabilities, and a lot of her annoyance is due to her occupation as a choreographer, which usually requires that you be easily annoyed.

Most annoying character you’ve ever created?
Annoying to me, annoying to everyone else in character, or annoying to the audience?
None of my characters annoy me. I'm their mommy, after all, and however they may irritate me or creep me out (Thomas Cardew, WW!Theo, I'm looking at you), I still love them. Annoying to everyone else in character, quite a few. The most recent would probably be Heather Chesterton, who gets to slip in sideways and annoy the Doctor for a bit with starry-eyed hero worship before he plunks her right back down on her Da's doorstep. Annoying to the audience? I don't know. I hope no one.

Best plot you’ve ever created?
Either Holy Wars or Glass, since I can't claim to have created the plotline for my current Big Damn Project and am just fleshing it out a lot. Maybe not Glass, on second thought, since there isn't much of a plot and it's mostly just character exploration. So Holy Wars.

Coolest plot twist you’ve ever created?
Holy Wars! Specifically, killing off Murphy. I had fun with that one, and I got my favorite review ever out of it: "...keep talkin'."
Though I must say, a lot of people took a look at Jessie, went, "Hello, Messiah," and called the next chapter's events.

How often do you get writer’s block?
Frequently. Most often on whatever my current Big Damn Project is. Right now I'm fighting with Maggie's urge to RUN LIKE A BITCH and see if I can't get her to stick around long enough to chill with her love interest without making her look a) creepy or b) manipulative.

Write fan fiction?
All the time.

Do you type or write by hand?
I type, because my fingers move as fast as brain so I don't lose anything. I do keep notebooks beside my bed for notes. Before I sleep is when I have my best ideas and I can't shut my brain off until I've jotted them down.
<--This is actually awanderingbard's answer. I left it so I can say SIGNED IN BLOOD.

Do you save everything you write?
Yep. Sometimes I'll go back and delete stories I started like, a decade ago, but that's it.

Do you ever go back to an idea after you’ve abandoned it?
Sometimes. The story I just sold to Worlds of Wonder (pimp, pimp) was a reworked idea, or rather a reworked character. Beyond Words was a story I abandoned, took a look at, and figured I could whip into shape in time to keep the Archive from going completely dead. Stuff like that.

What’s your favourite thing you’ve written?
Confidence, definitely. Home to Felicity and Nicholas and my 2006 NaNo novel. *cuddles it* It's not revised yet, but I have the sneaking suspicion that when I do finish it and give it a hard edit, I can publish it.

What’s everyone else’s favourite story that you’ve written?
People seem to like stupid cracky stuff like If There's Going to be Any Hysterics... but things like the Sarie Tam series get some good reviews, and people rather surprisingly liked Glass.

Do you ever show people your work?
Well, all my fanfiction gets posted, obviously. My original fiction usually gets written with intent to publish someday (publish and be paid!). I have a dear darling beta reader for my fanfiction named Priscellie, but I still need to get a reliable second reader for my original fiction, since I don't want to inflict my huge epic novels on poor Pris.

Did you ever write a novel?
Yep, several times. Let's see, I've written (from the start) Beginnings, Firestorm, that untitled Sisters novel that I still need to look over and see if Faith and Eric are worth saving, Confidence (<3333), and most recently Anywhere But Here. I'm currently working on revising Confidence, and I'm writing two other novels, one tentatively titled "Oddities" and the other a strange chicklit sort of thing that I haven't titled yet, but it's mostly about fathers and daughters, sisters and friends, and the strange and blurry line between friends and lovers. There's several other novel ideas (the Gemworld, Enchantment, Lady Cassandra, Aikyla's story) that I'd like to revisit sometime as well.

Ever written romance or angsty teen drama?
Yep! Romance figures in almost everything I write. There's some angst as well, but I'm not sure there's any angsty teen drama... unless you count Maggie's 2.5 seconds of angst that her school won't let her go to prom with her girlfriend in Hold the Pig's Blood. I note here that she almost immediately decides on a Plan in favor of angst.

What’s your favourite setting for your characters?
Okay, here's a secret. I'm really, really bad at settings. I used to describe things in exhaustive detail, then for some reason I went back and deleted most of those descriptions, and now there's almost no descriptions in anything I write. I'm trying to fix it, but it's a long, hard road.

How many writing projects are you working on right now?
Lots. Those three novels, my Big Damn Project, Desperate Measures, a bit of fluff for two of my characters named Christa and Josh, as well as a piece describing how they met, a cracky, cracky version of Doctor Who that might plausibly be shown in the Avatar world, a story about a demon moose in Chicago (I haven't forgotten, Gus!), and an X-files story tentatively called Treasure Hunt (see, Kathsan, I didn't forget about that either).

Do you want to write for a living?
I'm going to write. I already do. I would love to be able to make a living off it, but realistically I don't know if I could (my entire income for writing last year was twenty dollars). If I could, though, it would be fantastic.

Have you ever won an award for your writing?
Yes, actually. I won the WorldCon Student Science Fiction and Fantasy Contest for Beginnings in 2002, and was a finalist in 2004 for The Crystal. My brother, incidentally, was a semifinalist the same year. He's following in my footsteps! *glee*

Ever written anything in script or play format?
Yep! A couple of plays that never got performed. One of them got cannibalized for bits of my Awesome Mental Fantasy World.

What are your five favourite words?
Currently? Gerrymandering, violet, silver (my new favorite description is "silver with cold"), mouse, tea.

Do you ever write based on yourself?
Not based on myself per se, though I will admit that a great deal of Julia's feelings in Desperate Measures (minus the pregnancy) are mine, but all of my characters have some of myself in them. It's how I emphasize.

What character have you created that is most like yourself?
Probably Amber. My favorite old Mary Sue for Harry Potter. Either her or Heather Chesterton.

Where do you get ideas for your characters?
They kind of just appear. I wish I could be more coherent than that, but to be any more specific would be a generalization. For example, Heather came out of my twin desires to a) throw one of Barbara and Ian's descendants on the Tardis and b) get a look at the Tardis myself. Maggie and Julia Dresden sort of developed themselves. Jen began as my desire to give Harry an ex-girlfriend who did not become an ex through some traumatic experience, and then she started dating Morgan and everything went screwy. Gabrielle came from my personal conviction that people can and do recover from childhood abuse. Stuff like that.

Do you ever write based on your dreams?
Not really. Though I've had what I like to call fanfic dreams, they're mostly either fixit dreams (COLD COMFORT I'M LOOKING AT YOU) or just strange things that it turns out my beta is writing. So I don't know.

Do you favour happy endings, sad endings or cliff-hangers?
I tend to prefer happy endings, but I will not write or read an ending that doesn't fit the story, so there you go.

Have you ever written based on an artwork you’ve seen?
Not since fifth grade, no, and that was an assignment.

Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write?
Yeah. I'm a grammar nazi, I admit it, and I read so much that I have a sense of spelling that's often better than the spellcheck (except for a few words; "resteraunt" and "enviroment" come to mind). Misspelled words or egregious grammar errors make me twitch, so I'll go back and fix them before I go on.

Ever write anything in chatspeak (how r u?)
No, ew. Chatspeak is like nails on chalkboard to me. See above.

Entirely in L337?
If I may quote the Grammar Nazi: 1ph j00 c@|\| r34d th1s, yo|_|'r3 4 f|_|c|<1|\|g |\/|oro|\|. So no. :D

Was that question appalling and unwriterly?
It was for me. You've traumatized. Well done, meme-writer-person.

Does music help you write?
Yes. It blocks out the world and helps me get on a roll. I've got a whole folder of instrumental or foreign-language music that I put on when I'm writing so I have something to distract my ears. It helps even more if I have headphones.

Quote something you’ve written. Whatever pops into your head.
Okay. Here's a snippet from "A Second Coming," my first and favorite Doctor Who fic. In Which the Doctor and Donna meet up with Martha and an old companion of the Doctor's. Complete with Scrubs reference! Though not in this snippet. In this snippet, Martha is late for rounds.

"Her intern had started somewhat guiltily away from a skinny man in brown pinstriped trousers, seated on an examination bed with his arm half done up in a cast and wearing disgruntlement like a cape. Beside him, a slightly pudgy redhead rolled her eyes and looked thoroughly exasperated.

“Sorry, Doctor Holloway,” Martha began.

“Grace!” The man in the suit jumped up, yelped, and was shoved back down by the combined efforts of Martha and the redhead.

“Sit!” Martha roared. “Or I’ll break your other arm!”

Grace, for her part, had taken a step back. “I’m sorry,” she said, carefully. “Have we met before?”

“I doubt it,” the redhead muttered, leaning all her weight on the man’s shoulder. “You’d remember him.”

Martha shook her head and continued winding the cast. “I lost track of time,” she continued. “I thought I’d be done with him in time for rounds, but he would jump and wiggle about...”

“I do not wiggle...” the man began.

“Donna, gag him,” Martha said, coolly.

“I never!” The man shut up, though he glowered at both Martha and the redhead, and stole several happy, measuring glances at Grace."