Thursday, May 7, 2009
Tag You're It! A Writing MeMe
Here’s ten questions geared toward the writer in you.
How old were you when you discovered you wanted to write?
I was eleven when I wrote my first story. I was 39 when I wrote the first story with the intent to publish.
Do you prefer to write in first person or third?
First person all the way baby! Deep first person POV is the best for me.
Do you write straight through, or tackle the scenes out of order?
I tackle whatever scene is tickling my muse.
Where do you write?
At my desk, or on my laptop in the living room. I write better with no background noise.
How do you come up with the names for your characters?
I pick favorite names, or cruise the name reference books.
Have you ever changed a character’s name in the middle of the story?
No.
Do you know how a story is going to end when you start it? With a HEA of course.J I usually have the end in mind before I have the beginning.
What do you do for writer’s block? Write something else, or read.
Name two authors who are your biggest influence as a writer?
Lisa Kleypas and Jane Green.
Is there a genre you want to tackle other than the one you are presently writing?
I would love to write a historical romance.
Now it’s your turn. If you can’t tackle all ten, give me your best!
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16 comments:
Discovered I wanted to write at the age of 13.
Prefer third. I write straight through, usually. But if I can't think straight through but a scene down the road, I write it.
I write in my room or in the living room with headphones on so I can't hear the TV.
I look up the meanings of my characters names... Sometimes because they are pretty names (Emma, Abby, Grace) I just liked them.
I have changed a characters name halfway through a book.
I never know how the story is going to end.
I don't get writers block, I tend to write myself in a corner. So I go back to the beginning and see if I can start tweaking to help me get out of the corner.
Biggest influence: Anna Campbell, DH Lawrence, Anais Nin, Eloisa James, Lisa Kleypas. Yeah, so that's five :)
Contemp para romance :)
OH, and I must say right here.....
CONGRATULATIONS to Tiffany Chalmers on her three book deal with St. Martins. :)
GOOO Tiff!!
Do you prefer to write in first person or third?
Third, but a deep third.
Do you write straight through, or tackle the scenes out of order? Straight through. I'm very linear like that.
Where do you write?
Wherever I can. Usually the couch in my living room in between juice box breaks and playing with trucks.
How do you come up with the names for your characters? Ethnicity this time. Nik is Nikias, a Spartan. Sarah is American and named after a great prophet in the Old Testament. But I just liked the names in my first MS.
Have you ever changed a character’s name in the middle of the story? Yes.
Do you know how a story is going to end when you start it? Yes. I'm a plotter all the way.
What do you do for writer’s block? Just keep swimming. Usually I'll look back over like Tiff and start tweaking, see if it's something specific that's stopped me up. Usually it isn't writer's block as much as that sub-consciously I know something's off and needs some attention.
Name two authors who are your biggest influence as a writer?
Hmmm.... Just two? Right now, I would say Sherrilyn Kenyon and JR Ward, though both have some characteristics to their stories that I don't do.
Is there a genre you want to tackle other than the one you are presently writing?
Maybe Romantic Suspense sometime?
How old were you when you discovered you wanted to write? I feel like I've always been writing but I would say in my 20s.
Do you prefer to write in first person or third? Third person
Do you write straight through, or tackle the scenes out of order? Definitely out of order. Scenes comes to me and then I have to string them together like a necklace.
Where do you write? In my home office at a computer on the desk. I have a hard time with laptops for some reason.
How do you come up with the names for your characters? Oh, they come from everywhere. Favorite characters, people I know, sometimes I'll look up meanings if I want to bring ethnicity into the equation.
Have you ever changed a character’s name in the middle of the story? Yes, constantly.
Do you know how a story is going to end when you start it? Same with you, Lisa - with a HEA of course! :) No I don't I know I want them together but I don't know how I'm going to make that happen.
What do you do for writer’s block? I don't write. LOL I know that's not the right/PC answer but there it is!
Name two authors who are your biggest influence as a writer? Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Mary Balogh.
Is there a genre you want to tackle other than the one you are presently writing? I would also love to write a historical romance.
Congrats again, Tiff!
I love when you do these things. It's so fun to hear out of everyone else about how they discovered their own creativeness. Not that I don't love hearing out of you.
Shit, that all came out wrong.
How old were you when you discovered you wanted to write?
I wrote my first non-required fiction at the age of 12. It was a poem about death and flowers. Very Edgar Allen Poe-ish meets Emily Dickinson. I was very into them at that time.
Do you prefer to write in first person or third?
I prefer to write in first person since that POV feels more personal to my writing voice.
Do you write straight through, or tackle the scenes out of order?
I prefer to write sequential. Usually the ending comes to me first and then I must start at the beginning to find my way to that end.
Where do you write?
When I first started out a couple of years ago, I wrote by candle light at the kitchen table. This was because I was writing in secret, obsessed with getting this scene out of my head so I could sleep at night. Then, I went to writing at my desk before anyone got home and after everyone went to bed. Then, I was gifted a laptop for christmas and had to give up my desk space for a treadmill, so now I write in the living room after everyone goes to sleep and it's quiet.
How do you come up with the names for your characters?
My characters tell me the names. I'm merely the puppet. Sadie's name was a fluke. I wanted to go with the penname of Kassie Matthews, but Sadie insisted her name was Sadie Michaels, and it would just seem weird with two first names used as last names.
Have you ever changed a character’s name in the middle of the story?
Negative.
Do you know how a story is going to end when you start it?
Usually the ending comes to me first. I know y'all think this smacks of plotting, but I swear, I write the end first and then have to figure out my way from the beginning to match the end.
Name two authors who are your biggest influence as a writer?
Kim Harrison- she's showed me that you can't be afraid to take chance on your writing if it's the direction that you have to go.
Janet Evanovich- only because she showed me my passion for characterization and writing in the first person.
Is there a genre you want to tackle other than the one you are presently writing?
This is going to sound weird, but I think I'd like to write a YA.
Yeah Tiffany! Congratulations on your book deal!
And feel free to list all of the authors who have inspired you. I have more than two, but I didn't get into JE because I get emotional when I think about Ranger and how he taught me to believe in my creativeness:) I didn't have time for emotions when I wrote this blog, so I did my favorite thing-I blocked it.
Marnee- You sound like me. I write between the kidlet's activities:) And I think you could write any genre, and do it fabulously.
Irish- I've missed you! It seems like forever since we had a cyber meet:) *blows kisses* We always have to have the HEA, although I have to admit I've often wanted to pull a Nicholas Sparks a time or two:) And I forgot SEP as one of my inspirations, thanks for reminding me.
Sin- You my dear would write a kickass YA. You could rewrite the phone book and I would read it:) And you write some of the best first person POV I've ever had the pleasure to read. So you are an inspiration as well. *batting eyelashes*
I'll be back, I have a bladder to save....
Congrats Tiff! That's awesome!
1. I'm a late bloomer - didn't realize I wanted to write until about 2 years ago.
2. 3rd, definitely, as deep as possible. I can't explain why, but I really struggle to read 1st person. I've used it in short stories, but nothing longer.
3. Out of order. I'm all over the place. I have to have special software just to keep me organized.
4. In bed on the laptop, or in the living room. Usually with headphones blaring to drown out all the chaos around me.
5. I use baby name websites, but I usually just go with my gut instead of any real meaning.
6. Never changed a name mid-way, but I did change the spelling of a name. A little girl named Grayson I changed to Gracyn to make it more feminine, since I saddled her with a boy's name.
7. I write RS, so I have to know how the suspense side ends before I can start. I at least have to know who the bad guy is, and who's taking him down. The romance side, I'm more comfortable letting it come to me as I write.
8. Writer's block? Ugh. Usually start gorging myself on books in another genre. I was totally stuck, went on vacation, read 7 Regencies, and came back ready to go on my spy-thriller :)
9. Sandra Brown and Jodi Piccoult
10. I'd like to do either a Western or a Regency. My first love has always been historicals, and while I think my voice is better suited to contemps, I would love to give it a shot.
Great blog Lisa - this is fun!
Thanks Lis! I think you could do a historical too! :)
This is a lot of fun. Great blog!
Tiff! Congrats! Yeah!
1. I knew I wanted to write in grade school, when assigned to work on the school 'paper'. Wrote a very bloody, Conan inspired short story. I'm amazed the nuns let me get away with it!
2. I generally write in deep third. I've tried first, but I cheat when I write in first. (Pirate!)
3. I start at the beginning and end at the end.
4. I do the bulk of my writing at a noisy table in one of my local Starbucks. Occassionally perched on the edge of my couch with laptop on lap.
5. Names...hmmmm. They pop up out my mind. I will use baby name books to help me out.
6. Ha! All the time! All the time! Never the main character...well, almost never!
7. Nope, seldom know the ending. Not even if it's going to a HEA or a HFN. I tell myself the story as I move along, baby.
8. Gots to go with the non-PC answer. I don't write. Well, I'll work on blogs, spend too much time on the internet, correspond with my sis, go the movies...
9. Charles de Lint, Elizabeth Arthur, Edgar Rice Burroughs... Especially ERB, honestly. Taught me to have fun and go for the adventure side of things.
10. I'd like to tackle a hot RS of thriller. I don't think I have the convoluted mind necessary, but I do come up with some nifty ways to kill people...which would be fun to wind into a book. Or romantic comedy...that would be cool.
Interesting blog! I've learned a lot about the crew today!
3.
What a fun blog! And congrats to both Tiff and Maggie Robinson for selling books!
How old were you when you discovered you wanted to write?
Six when I entered a poetry contest and won five dollars.
Do you prefer to write in first person or third?
Third.
Do you write straight through, or tackle the scenes out of order?
In order UNLESS a scene comes to me that I absolutely have to write down.
Where do you write?
On the couch w/ the laptop on my lap or on the pull-up coffee table/desk.
How do you come up with the names for your characters?
Either they come to me, or I start looking through lists to see which one jumps out at me. The heroine's name of the third book was picked and I was like why do I know this name; it dawned on me a couple of days later that the heroine's name was the same as someone from the Chocolate Mafia. Luckily, she is cool w/ it.
But last names are a big PITA for me.
Have you ever changed a character’s name in the middle of the story?
No. I tried doing so, and it always goes back to the original name.
Do you know how a story is going to end when you start it? With a HEA of course.
Yes. Sort of.
What do you do for writer’s block?
Don't let myself get there (experienced it in college and boy, painful) and write, even when I don't want to.
Name *three* authors who are your biggest influence as a writer?
Lisa Kleypas, Eloisa James, and SEP.
Is there a genre you want to tackle other than the one you are presently writing?
Nope. Love straight contemps.
Sorry I'm late
Wouldn't miss Lisa's blog for worlds.
And some of these posts are quite revealing!
How old were you when you discovered you wanted to write?
First story at about 7 I think (primary school). I was good at making up stories. *grin*
Only written short stories with any real intent to publish.
Do you prefer to write in first person or third?
Either depending on the story. Its horses for courses.
Do you write straight through, or tackle the scenes out of order?
Varies. It usually resembles a random walk with scotch breaks at regular intervals.
Where do you write?
I have several computers and usually use the machine running computer simulations. That way I can watch the output while my Sirens frolic. Keeps me cool you see!
How do you come up with the names for your characters?
I base them on people I know. My flighty siren is called Tiffita (guess who!) but my favourite more serious siren is Jangalore.
Have you ever changed a character’s name in the middle of the story?
Never. I would rather change the plot to fit the character.
Do you know how a story is going to end when you start it?
I usually have a vague idea, but the plot always evolves....its survival of the fittest with my characters. I have never forgiven myself for killing off that gorgeous siren who couldn't fit in.
What do you do for writer’s block?
Never experienced it. My head is always swimming with ideas for new siren exploits!
Name two authors who are your biggest influence as a writer?
Can't think of anyone that I try to emulate. I like to think that I am unique in the world of romance fiction. Sort of Avant Guard *grin*
Is there a genre you want to tackle other than the one you are presently writing?
I'm game for anything. If the characters in my head demand it then I will go for it.
I hope you are going to mark me out of ten Lisa.
I put my soul into that. :D
Hal- I'm impressed that you want to write a western! Awesome. I'm so glad you enjoyed a relaxing vacation, with lots of reading. Those are the best.
Chance- This is fun! I've learned a lot about all of you. A thriller sounds like something that is way too intimating for me, but I love writing evil characters. I don't writer either, if I could publish emails, I might have something:)
Q- *blushing* I've given you a perfect gold star for the full monty:) You put your soul in everything. I can't wait to read your published work, sirens and all:) And have no doubts you are unique in every way. I am envious that you have never experienced writer's block. You are blessed my friend!
Ely- I agree surnames are a real PITA. I'm impressed with your early contest win! Contest winner at 5, you rock!
You also have some heavy hitters in your inspiration list:)
Thanks for stopping by.
I follow this blog and love to read all your ideas. I'm always getting to this site too late to really dive in, but I'm jumping in - - even though late - - because this looks like so much fun. :)
How old were you when you discovered you wanted to write?
In my early teens, but I only finished my first complete manuscript oh, twenty-five or so years later!
Do you prefer to write in first person or third?
Definitely third person. I have experimented with writing in first person though as I found that recommended trick does work to stay in POV. Right now though, for the second ms, I've found the key not to head hop is writing in the POV of a ghost, who is the hero. That's really locking me in.
Do you write straight through, or tackle the scenes out of order?
Mostly out of order. For the ghost story, I wrote the first four chapters straight through with no idea how the happily ever after was going to be found. That seemed impossible until - - well, yesterday. :) Now I'm writing scenes all over the place and plotting to keep up. I really should get that software of Hal's.
Where do you write?
On a laptop - - currently at the dining room table. Plotting is usually at first hand written anywhere (often on the bus) and on anything I can find to write on. As often as I do this, it would make sense to keep a notebook with me, but that would mean I was planning to write something in it. No, I have to trick my stubborn mind. lol So it's store receipts usually. Then I have to try and make sense of the notes later. And if I ever have to return something I'm in trouble. :)
How do you come up with the names for your characters?
With very little thought. Currently my hero and heroine are Ben and Beth. Cringe. I know. But I can't change it now!
Have you ever changed a character’s name in the middle of the story?
Not yet. But I probably will at the end of this one. lol
Name two authors who are your biggest influence as a writer?
Lisa Kleypas and Penelope Williamson
Is there a genre you want to tackle other than the one you are presently writing?
I've just switched from a paranormal historical to a paranormal suspense. I think I might actually like to try a stright (no paranormal) story, but not sure if I could stop myself from sneaking it in.
This was fun! Thanks!
Oops. Guess I skipped over the "writer's block" question. Was that deliberate? Writer's block? What's that? lol
I agree with many answers here, such as Marnee saying it's your subconscious telling you something is wrong and needs you're attention. For me, that's usually a huge plot point which isn't making sense. And I mean huge - as in how to have a HEA when your hero is a ghost or, as in the first one, how the heroine is going to save the world or kill her father. Little things. :)
Or the other one that I put off is writing the love scenes. I'll go back to saving the world over that, which can make you really question your goal to write a romance! Oh, darn it anyway, I do get back to it eventually (which could be a very long eventually). Ultimately though, writers block for me is directly related to what's happening in my real life. No one will like this answer (I don't myself) but I suspect the only cure to a SEVERE case of writers block is fixing what's wrong in real life. Darn it anyway. :)
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