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Monday, July 12th, 2010 10:23 am
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?


9. How do you get ideas for your characters? Describe the process of creating them.

Uh. Um. I don't really write OCs. BUT if forced at gunpoint, I would say that my OCs come as a result of plot, not as a driver of plot. What that means is that I'd develop the bare bones of the story first, complete with themes, and then pick and choose characters that would help bring across those themes.

So to use a current brainstorming example, I went "hmmm, I want to write a story where the last survivor of an alien race doesn't know EVERYTHING about said alien race!" And because I suck at names, I made the last survivor from Earth, with the following characteristics:

- Male, so that the aliens quizzing him about Earth's culture can ask him some tough gender questions, and he'd throw up his arms and go "never thought about it, don't know!" Females tend to be more interested in this kind of stuff. *wink*

- At least third wave immigrant, so that aliens can try to quiz him about his country of origin based on genetics, and he can go "uh, not actually from there, dunno." Most likely to be Chinese, since I actually know something about that.

- Teens to early twenties, old enough for the aliens to think that he'd know stuff, and young enough for him to only really be well-versed in things that he is interested in.

- A healthy dose of curiousity, since I want him to be more interested in learning about the alien's culture than being quizzed on what he knows

- Moderately self-aware, so he can admit he is WRONG when necessary, but self-absorbed enough to not want to bother with things that are likely to annoy him


As for the co-lead, I decided on the following:

- From the alien race, acts both as a foil to the main and as someone that he'd interact because she'll answer his questions

- Female. While there may be some leanings towards a ship, the main reason is actually because I was thinking of basing the alien race on ants, the majority of which are made of females, so. Probability of being female is higher? =D

- Young enough to not know better, old enough to be able to answer main character's questions satisfactorily. Basically, main character and co-lead end up interacting because they have answers to questions that the other wants - they want to learn about each other's cultures. Co-lead also needs to be an active challenge to ask why Main Character wants to know about her culture instead of (insert similar thing from human culture). There may be some taboos about sharing certain aspects of her culture with outsiders.

- Also very curious, since that's what makes her and the main character interact

- Very self-aware, to balance out the main character

As you can see, it's a pretty painful process, which is why I tend not to create OCs. At least in fanfic, I can leap into the stories I want to tell without the hassle of creating characters. It's like playing with a ready made dollhouse, instead of creating my own out of Lego.


Rest of the Questions:
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!
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