A response to Headburro Antfarm's questions about writing

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Headburro tagged me with this meme thing about writing. I'm only doing this because I like HB a whole lot. So if you send me something like this, or tag me in a meme and I don't respond, please don't take it personally. I doesn't mean I don't like you. It just means I don't like you enough to take the time to answer the questions...


1)What’s the last thing you wrote?
My virtual shotgun review.
What’s the first thing you wrote that you still have?
I still have a sort of fable thing called "Toulouse Mouse," that I wrote and illustrated in High School or early college.

2) Write poetry?
No

3) Angsty poetry?
Hell No

4) Favorite genre of writing?
Currently? Rp-based historical fiction

5) Most evil character you’ve ever created?
About ten years ago, I wrote a science fiction novel that had this slave-trader character who was about as despicable and loathsome as a character can be. He was pretty bad, but the really evil character in the story was the wife of the protagonist's mentor, who murdered her husband and framed the protagonist for the killing. I've since misplaced the manuscript so I can't say for sure how things ended up, but I think something ate the woman if I recall correctly.

6) Best plot you’ve ever created?
The murder of Al Husar

7) Coolest plot twist you’ve ever created?
I really like what happens with Al Husar's murderer.


8) How often do you get writer’s block?
Maybe once a week.

9) Write fan fiction?
Not if I can help it.

10) Do you type or write by hand?
I have to type it. My handwriting has really deteriorated over the years.

11) Do you save everything you write?
I try. But when you move as much as I do, shit gets misplaced.

12) Do you ever go back to an idea after you’ve abandoned it?
Yeah. I like to keep refining things. I think they get better with work.

13) What’s your favourite thing you’ve ever written?
My part of the scene where Sepp and Dio find one another again.

14) What’s everyone else’s favourite story you’ve written?
Fuck if I know. Ask them.

15) Ever written romance or angsty teen drama?
Yes and no.

16) What’s your favourite setting for your characters?
19th century US.

17) How many writing projects are you working on right now?
one.

18) Have you ever won an award for your writing?
other than some good people saying now and then that they like reading the shit that I write, no.

19) What are your five favourite words?
Feckless. Perspicacity. Goddam. Egregious. Fuck (I have lived places where it ain't a verb or a noun it's a fuckin' punctuation mark).

20) What character have you created that is most like yourself?
Dio, of course. Except that she's smarter, funnier and a better shot than I am.

21) Where do you get your ideas for your characters?
Life. People I know or have known, or have seen.

22) Do you ever write based on your dreams?
Christ No.

23) Do you favour happy endings?
Define happy. If you mean "happily ever after" type endings, then no, I don't. There is no happily ever after. Everything is transitory and cyclic. But if by happy ending you mean a point in time where there is a triumph of survival, or a worthwhile sacrifice, or where someone either loses or wins with dignity, then yes, I like those. I also like it when at the end, the most egregiously asshat-ish antagonist in the story gets the kick in the balls they so richly deserve.

24) Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write?
Depends on what I'm writing. if it's a training manual or a serious article, yeah. otherwise, I am more concerned about the voice than the structural bits.

25) Does music help you write?
No. I need quiet to concentrate.

26) Quote something you’ve written. Whatever pops in your head.
"I could shoot ye betwixt yer goddam eyes. But I ain't gonna. Just like I ain't gonna fix this election."

27) Now, who should I tag?
Marrant. And Rhia if no one has got her yet.

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