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mackenziesmomma asked for another "30 Days of writing" entry, and because she's a really fabulous beta, she will get her wish. Although I'm not quite sure how much I can answer to the next question because I never really thought about that part of writing before but just did it, which is, in light of the question's content rather weird...
(and if you're following Protect and Survive and Minor Characters only on LJ, please be warned of spoilers for both series)
Anyway, those are the first eight answered questions:
1. Tell us about your favorite writing project/universe that you’ve worked with and why.
2. How many characters do you have? Do you prefer males or females?
3. How do you come up with names, for characters (and for places if you’re writing about fictional places)?
4. Tell us about one of your first stories/characters!
5. By age, who is your youngest character? Oldest? How about “youngest” and “oldest” in terms of when you created them?
6. Where are you most comfortable writing? At what time of day? Computer or good ol’ pen and paper?
7. Do you listen to music while you write? What kind? Are there any songs you like to relate/apply to your characters?
8. What’s your favorite genre to write? To read?
And that's the current one:
9. How do you get ideas for your characters? Describe the process of creating them.
...what do you mean, process? It's a hostage-taking, that's what it is! They assault me from dark corners and then hold me hostage until I write them! Okay, sometimes, they retreat after a while but that never means they won't come back and haunt me again, even after years. Assholes.
Okay, and sometimes they also don't assault me. Instead, they creep into my stories and then refuse to be sent away again, like Sergeant Will Meyers did in Protect and Survive or Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Stoikov did in that one future Minor Characters story that I'd really love to finish. They were both supposed to be one time characters and both refused to be red shirts or at least be pushed out of the frame after maybe two or three scenes. Colonel Stoikov also insists on being smuggled into stories taking place before that future story... but currently I'm still holding my own against him. Ha.
Uh... what do you mean, you wanted to get some real explanation, like I go looking for what's important for the plot or something? I'm not joking, this is how it happens. I usually start out the story with a vague idea about needing this and that characters that have certain purposes but once I have a definite idea, I don't get much say in who they are anymore. They seem to take shape as if they're revealing stuff about themselves, over time.
Thomas Moore, for example, isn't very forthcoming with everything regarding that one year he spent in some Special Ops Command unit a year or two after the Academy to me (really, I mean it, I'm not saying that because I just can't come up with any stuff that might have happened there execpt one or two things), and quite frankly, that's very much in character for him. He wasn't really planned to be rather tightlipped about everything regarding his past and his personal life but he developed as such and it's very much like him to hold back stuff about his past even from his creator (that would be me, yes).
And that's really how it goes with the rest of my original characters (and sometimes also with canon characters). They aren't planned, they're written. There are some corner stones such as age, looks, kind of a background... but most of it develops over time. Some things are surprising to me (such as Sergeant Robert McPherson revealing himself to be divorced, for example), some things seem to be only logical in the course of the overall story (Captain Maureen Reece being a closet writer, for example, even if that was rather mac's idea than mine) but only a very small potion of them is clear right from the beginning to me. Yes, essentially, I write my characters like I write my plots: basically, I'm making it up as I go along. Yes, it really is that simple. No, I'm not joking. (and, yes, occasionally that way of character writing gets me out of corners I wrote myself into with that way of plot writing...)
10. What are some really weird situations your characters have been in? Everything from serious canon scenes to meme questions counts!
11. Who is your favorite character to write? Least favorite?
12. In what story did you feel you did the best job of worldbuilding? Any side-notes on it you’d like to share?
13. What’s your favorite culture to write, fictional or not?
14. How do you map out locations, if needed? Do you have any to show us?
15. Midway question! Tell us about a writer you admire, whether professional or not!
16. Do you write romantic relationships? How do you do with those, and how “far” are you willing to go in your writing?
17. Favorite protagonist and why!
18. Favorite antagonist and why!
19. Favorite minor that decided to shove himself into the spotlight and why!
20. What are your favorite character interactions to write?
21. Do any of your characters have children? How well do you write them?
22. Tell us about one scene between your characters that you’ve never written or told anyone about before! Serious or not.
23. How long does it usually take you to complete an entire story—from planning to writing to posting (if you post your work)?
24. How willing are you to kill your characters if the plot so demands it? What’s the most interesting way you’ve killed someone?
25. Do any of your characters have pets? Tell us about them.
26. Let’s talk art! Do you draw your characters? Do others draw them? Pick one of your OCs and post your favorite picture of him!
27. Along similar lines, do appearances play a big role in your stories? Tell us about them, or if not, how you go about designing your characters.
28. Have you ever written a character with physical or mental disabilities? Describe them, and if there’s nothing major to speak of, tell us a few smaller ones.
29. How often do you think about writing? Ever come across something IRL that reminds you of your story/characters?
30. Final question! Tag someone! And tell us what you like about that person as a writer and/or about one of his/her characters!
PS.: That just gave me an idea... if there's anything you ever wanted to know about the background of my characters - both canon and original, and all fandoms and series I have written for - but never dared to ask or would like to have a little ficlet highlighting a point in their past that I haven't written anything about yet: here's your chance. (mainly because I really love to talk about my characters' background for days on end... and because I'm looking for an excuse to write Evan Lorne, Thomas Moore and Charlie Williamson asoverambitious strapping young cadets, being mean to each other on the verge of becoming friends *coughs)
Edit: And theoverambitious strapping young cadets go tooo... ancient_leah who was the first to actually ask for them. But there are a lot of other ficlets still waiting to be written (except maybe for you, pingulotta because you just let yourself be convinced by certain people to make me write certain stories). Ask away.
mackenziesmomma asked for another "30 Days of writing" entry, and because she's a really fabulous beta, she will get her wish. Although I'm not quite sure how much I can answer to the next question because I never really thought about that part of writing before but just did it, which is, in light of the question's content rather weird... (and if you're following Protect and Survive and Minor Characters only on LJ, please be warned of spoilers for both series)
Anyway, those are the first eight answered questions:
1. Tell us about your favorite writing project/universe that you’ve worked with and why.
2. How many characters do you have? Do you prefer males or females?
3. How do you come up with names, for characters (and for places if you’re writing about fictional places)?
4. Tell us about one of your first stories/characters!
5. By age, who is your youngest character? Oldest? How about “youngest” and “oldest” in terms of when you created them?
6. Where are you most comfortable writing? At what time of day? Computer or good ol’ pen and paper?
7. Do you listen to music while you write? What kind? Are there any songs you like to relate/apply to your characters?
8. What’s your favorite genre to write? To read?
And that's the current one:
9. How do you get ideas for your characters? Describe the process of creating them.
...what do you mean, process? It's a hostage-taking, that's what it is! They assault me from dark corners and then hold me hostage until I write them! Okay, sometimes, they retreat after a while but that never means they won't come back and haunt me again, even after years. Assholes.
Okay, and sometimes they also don't assault me. Instead, they creep into my stories and then refuse to be sent away again, like Sergeant Will Meyers did in Protect and Survive or Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Stoikov did in that one future Minor Characters story that I'd really love to finish. They were both supposed to be one time characters and both refused to be red shirts or at least be pushed out of the frame after maybe two or three scenes. Colonel Stoikov also insists on being smuggled into stories taking place before that future story... but currently I'm still holding my own against him. Ha.
Uh... what do you mean, you wanted to get some real explanation, like I go looking for what's important for the plot or something? I'm not joking, this is how it happens. I usually start out the story with a vague idea about needing this and that characters that have certain purposes but once I have a definite idea, I don't get much say in who they are anymore. They seem to take shape as if they're revealing stuff about themselves, over time.
Thomas Moore, for example, isn't very forthcoming with everything regarding that one year he spent in some Special Ops Command unit a year or two after the Academy to me (really, I mean it, I'm not saying that because I just can't come up with any stuff that might have happened there execpt one or two things), and quite frankly, that's very much in character for him. He wasn't really planned to be rather tightlipped about everything regarding his past and his personal life but he developed as such and it's very much like him to hold back stuff about his past even from his creator (that would be me, yes).
And that's really how it goes with the rest of my original characters (and sometimes also with canon characters). They aren't planned, they're written. There are some corner stones such as age, looks, kind of a background... but most of it develops over time. Some things are surprising to me (such as Sergeant Robert McPherson revealing himself to be divorced, for example), some things seem to be only logical in the course of the overall story (Captain Maureen Reece being a closet writer, for example, even if that was rather mac's idea than mine) but only a very small potion of them is clear right from the beginning to me. Yes, essentially, I write my characters like I write my plots: basically, I'm making it up as I go along. Yes, it really is that simple. No, I'm not joking. (and, yes, occasionally that way of character writing gets me out of corners I wrote myself into with that way of plot writing...)
~*~
10. What are some really weird situations your characters have been in? Everything from serious canon scenes to meme questions counts!
11. Who is your favorite character to write? Least favorite?
12. In what story did you feel you did the best job of worldbuilding? Any side-notes on it you’d like to share?
13. What’s your favorite culture to write, fictional or not?
14. How do you map out locations, if needed? Do you have any to show us?
15. Midway question! Tell us about a writer you admire, whether professional or not!
16. Do you write romantic relationships? How do you do with those, and how “far” are you willing to go in your writing?
17. Favorite protagonist and why!
18. Favorite antagonist and why!
19. Favorite minor that decided to shove himself into the spotlight and why!
20. What are your favorite character interactions to write?
21. Do any of your characters have children? How well do you write them?
22. Tell us about one scene between your characters that you’ve never written or told anyone about before! Serious or not.
23. How long does it usually take you to complete an entire story—from planning to writing to posting (if you post your work)?
24. How willing are you to kill your characters if the plot so demands it? What’s the most interesting way you’ve killed someone?
25. Do any of your characters have pets? Tell us about them.
26. Let’s talk art! Do you draw your characters? Do others draw them? Pick one of your OCs and post your favorite picture of him!
27. Along similar lines, do appearances play a big role in your stories? Tell us about them, or if not, how you go about designing your characters.
28. Have you ever written a character with physical or mental disabilities? Describe them, and if there’s nothing major to speak of, tell us a few smaller ones.
29. How often do you think about writing? Ever come across something IRL that reminds you of your story/characters?
30. Final question! Tag someone! And tell us what you like about that person as a writer and/or about one of his/her characters!
~*~
PS.: That just gave me an idea... if there's anything you ever wanted to know about the background of my characters - both canon and original, and all fandoms and series I have written for - but never dared to ask or would like to have a little ficlet highlighting a point in their past that I haven't written anything about yet: here's your chance. (mainly because I really love to talk about my characters' background for days on end... and because I'm looking for an excuse to write Evan Lorne, Thomas Moore and Charlie Williamson as
Edit: And the
ancient_leah who was the first to actually ask for them. But there are a lot of other ficlets still waiting to be written (except maybe for you, pingulotta because you just let yourself be convinced by certain people to make me write certain stories). Ask away.