This post has been going around like the flu and I thought I might share my take on it as well. It is fun, everyone should catch this.
1. Are you a “pantser” or a “plotter?”
I would say mostly a pantser for my short stories. I like to see where the character will take a situation. For books I have to be a plotter, otherwise it becomes an unfinished book.
2. Detailed character sketches or “their character will be revealed to me as a I write”?
My characters usually reveal themselves to me as i write but i might know a few things about them before I start, usually academic and not personality.
3. Do you know your characters’ goals, motivations, and conflicts before you start writing or is that something else you discover only after you start writing?
I think this goes to question 2. I like to think I discover my character along the way.
4. Books on plotting – useful or harmful?
I've may have them on my shelf, but I have ignored every single one.
5. Are you a procrastinator or does the itch to write keep at you until you sit down and work?
I procrastinate until I get the itch. Once a story gets into my head it is head down and fingers going until I have to come up for air.
6. Do you write in short bursts of creative energy, or can you sit down and write for hours at a time?
I can burst for about 10-15 minutes at a time, take a half hour break and then go it again.
8. Do you write with music/the noise of children/in a cafe or other public setting, or do you need complete silence to concentrate?
*shhhh* Quiet, please. I'm writing.
9. Computer or longhand? (or typewriter?)
Notes get handwritten and then transferred to the computer before I can't read what I wrote anymore. Stories always get typed out.
10. Do you know the ending before you type Chapter One?
I have no clue where my short stories are going and if I don't know where a book is going I never finish it.
11. Does what’s selling in the market influence how and what you write?
Not really. I write what I like. I can't write were-beast stories but I can write a ghost story for example. I have never tried zombies (although I have a story coming out in a zombie antho later this year) and I really doubt if I could write a Nancy Drew Mystery but I might have good luck with the Hardy Boys.
12. Editing – love it or hate it?
It is nice to clean up a piece and make it presentable, but I really don't enjoy it as much as I probably should.
More Little boats: Poleacre and America's
2 weeks ago
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10 comments:
I have never tried zombies (although I have a story coming out in a zombie antho later this year)
Now I have to know more... :D
Ah, another person who prefers to write in silence! : )
Cate- It is for Library of the living Dead's Letters from the Dead. I never mention zombies in it.
Nat- noise is so distracting, kind of like the internet.
The LOTLD story sounds interesting. I like tales that "break" the rules in creative ways.
Writing in silence=purgatory for me. Glad it works for some.
My wife thinks I'm nuts when I INSIST not to be disturbed when writing! Is that nuts or what?
Aaron- Of all the personalized rules of writing, the noise factor is sacred.
Lawrence- I don't write when my wife is in the house.
It is exciting getting to know your characters as you go along, isn't it.
Danielle- I had one kill himself off tragically at the end of one story. Completely took me by surprise.
It's fascinating to see how different writers are. I cannot for one second imagine pantsing a short story--whenever I try, the story devolves into crap or gets really long. But obviously it works very well for you. :)
Awww the plague came to you! I'm so excited! Very cool to see the answers from someone who works in kind of the opposite way I do. It makes me want to try new things and see what I get from it.
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