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apocalypsos) wrote2010-06-27 08:57 am
apocalypsos) wrote2010-06-27 08:57 am
Entry tags:
This is why we can't have nice things. And pie. We can't have any pie, either.
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.
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!
9. How do you get ideas for your characters? Describe the process of creating them.
I usually start my novels with a concept of something I'd really like to read. Like, with the Books of Boggs -- which I started before The Office began airing, urgh -- I wanted to write something set in Northeastern Pennsylvania, since there's not a lot of entertainment set in the Scranton area. And the thing is, putting magical creatures into the area sort of works for me. If you were a magical creature trying not to be noticed too much, it's a good area. If you want to live in the middle of nowhere, there are more than enough places close enough to the city that are still a mile or so from any neighbors, and if you want to live in Scranton or Wilkes-Barre or whatever you can still have a bit of room and places to hide if things go wrong.
Heroine Addiction was a bit of the same thing, albeit more character-focused from the start. "You know what I'd really like to see? A bisexual biracial plus-sized superhero." And it all sort of went from there. (Of course, I still haven't gotten to focus on the biracial aspect quite as much as I'd like in the first book -- the bisexuality takes more focus, I suppose -- although one of the side plots for the sequel hits on the racial aspect a bit more.)
Anyway, once I have the concept figured out, I start in on the characters. Right now, I'm taking the concept from Dead Men In Dark Suits, which I wrote a few years ago and which needs MAJOR work, and rewriting the whole damn thing with all of the crap scraped away, and the lead character completely changed, and the mythos seriously tweaked, and ... yeah, somewhere underneath is the same story, and a few of the same characters will show up, but it's definitely a major overhaul. Anyway, I'm completely rebuilding the main character. The first time, she was a successful white nightclub owner named Ashton. This time, she's a black factory worker in hiding named Cleo. So, yeah, I'm trying something different and we'll see how that works out.
Where was I? Oh, right, characters. Usually I start with the name and work from there, since a name can tell you a lot about a person. Sean Patrick Boggs gives me a better mental image of the lead character in the Books of Boggs, who's this frustrated guy in his mid-twenties who can't keep a job or go to college because he's a walking magical disaster area. It makes sense that he'd have this sort of hella-Irish name because, hi, he's from Scranton and would be the guy who hits the Bog on occasion and probably spends all of Parade Day in a T-shirt that says, "I'm sick of all of the Irish stereotypes. As soon as I finish this drink, I'm punching somebody," but still doesn't drink because getting seriously wasted would probably make him magically make the Jason Miller bust start projectile-vomiting. Yes, he's that guy.
Once I have the name, I work on a mental image of how they look. Sean looks like Dominic Monaghan. Gabriel from Dead Men In Dark Suits looks like Peter Wingfield in dreadlocks and tie-dye. Vera looks like Sara Ramirez in retro dresses. Davis looks like Heath Ledger. Once I know who plays them in the movie going on in my head -- I really don't care if they ever played them if the books were turned into movies (obviously that doesn't hold for Davis, alas), since I'm certainly no casting agent -- it adds one more dimension to them and makes them easier to visualize.
After that, it becomes a matter of fleshing them out and making them more real, giving them pets and quirks and pasts and whatnot. I haven't used characters charts in a while, which I really should get back into the habit of, but there's a couple here and here which are quite good. (I used to use the second one, but that first one looks even better.)
Eventually, I pick a few songs that really speak to me in regards to the characters. Three or four is usually enough. Then it's just a matter of sitting down with my eyes closed and my headphones in and letting myself visualize the characters and how they move and talk and express themselves and where they live. (I got really good with it with Sean over time. I can walk you around his apartment and tell you where he keeps everything in his kitchen by now.)
Usually by now I've already started writing, and once I dive in it's sometimes just a matter of discovering things I didn't know I hadn't hit on or which don't work once I put them into practice. Okay, his father isn't alive. All right, so maybe she ISN'T allergic to strawberries. Ah, I thought she wouldn't be the sort who'd like that TV show. Okay, then!
I don't know. I find the process of creating characters is sort of this ongoing thing that's constantly changing. I mean, hell, I'm still working on creating Sean, just because the Books of Boggs is plotted out for ten books in total (at least) and there's backstory aplenty to be had and more things to discover about who and what he is. The same with Vera, who really doesn't get a chance to hit on her Mexican background in the first book, and who's spent five years away from the world she grew up in. We haven't see her officially in action yet, and I'm not sure I won't find out something new writing her for the second book. (I already know she gets horribly impatient with people who cry and scream and freak out during dangerous situations, which should be fun to write. Heh.)
But, yeah. Character development! Woohoo!
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.
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!
9. How do you get ideas for your characters? Describe the process of creating them.
I usually start my novels with a concept of something I'd really like to read. Like, with the Books of Boggs -- which I started before The Office began airing, urgh -- I wanted to write something set in Northeastern Pennsylvania, since there's not a lot of entertainment set in the Scranton area. And the thing is, putting magical creatures into the area sort of works for me. If you were a magical creature trying not to be noticed too much, it's a good area. If you want to live in the middle of nowhere, there are more than enough places close enough to the city that are still a mile or so from any neighbors, and if you want to live in Scranton or Wilkes-Barre or whatever you can still have a bit of room and places to hide if things go wrong.
Heroine Addiction was a bit of the same thing, albeit more character-focused from the start. "You know what I'd really like to see? A bisexual biracial plus-sized superhero." And it all sort of went from there. (Of course, I still haven't gotten to focus on the biracial aspect quite as much as I'd like in the first book -- the bisexuality takes more focus, I suppose -- although one of the side plots for the sequel hits on the racial aspect a bit more.)
Anyway, once I have the concept figured out, I start in on the characters. Right now, I'm taking the concept from Dead Men In Dark Suits, which I wrote a few years ago and which needs MAJOR work, and rewriting the whole damn thing with all of the crap scraped away, and the lead character completely changed, and the mythos seriously tweaked, and ... yeah, somewhere underneath is the same story, and a few of the same characters will show up, but it's definitely a major overhaul. Anyway, I'm completely rebuilding the main character. The first time, she was a successful white nightclub owner named Ashton. This time, she's a black factory worker in hiding named Cleo. So, yeah, I'm trying something different and we'll see how that works out.
Where was I? Oh, right, characters. Usually I start with the name and work from there, since a name can tell you a lot about a person. Sean Patrick Boggs gives me a better mental image of the lead character in the Books of Boggs, who's this frustrated guy in his mid-twenties who can't keep a job or go to college because he's a walking magical disaster area. It makes sense that he'd have this sort of hella-Irish name because, hi, he's from Scranton and would be the guy who hits the Bog on occasion and probably spends all of Parade Day in a T-shirt that says, "I'm sick of all of the Irish stereotypes. As soon as I finish this drink, I'm punching somebody," but still doesn't drink because getting seriously wasted would probably make him magically make the Jason Miller bust start projectile-vomiting. Yes, he's that guy.
Once I have the name, I work on a mental image of how they look. Sean looks like Dominic Monaghan. Gabriel from Dead Men In Dark Suits looks like Peter Wingfield in dreadlocks and tie-dye. Vera looks like Sara Ramirez in retro dresses. Davis looks like Heath Ledger. Once I know who plays them in the movie going on in my head -- I really don't care if they ever played them if the books were turned into movies (obviously that doesn't hold for Davis, alas), since I'm certainly no casting agent -- it adds one more dimension to them and makes them easier to visualize.
After that, it becomes a matter of fleshing them out and making them more real, giving them pets and quirks and pasts and whatnot. I haven't used characters charts in a while, which I really should get back into the habit of, but there's a couple here and here which are quite good. (I used to use the second one, but that first one looks even better.)
Eventually, I pick a few songs that really speak to me in regards to the characters. Three or four is usually enough. Then it's just a matter of sitting down with my eyes closed and my headphones in and letting myself visualize the characters and how they move and talk and express themselves and where they live. (I got really good with it with Sean over time. I can walk you around his apartment and tell you where he keeps everything in his kitchen by now.)
Usually by now I've already started writing, and once I dive in it's sometimes just a matter of discovering things I didn't know I hadn't hit on or which don't work once I put them into practice. Okay, his father isn't alive. All right, so maybe she ISN'T allergic to strawberries. Ah, I thought she wouldn't be the sort who'd like that TV show. Okay, then!
I don't know. I find the process of creating characters is sort of this ongoing thing that's constantly changing. I mean, hell, I'm still working on creating Sean, just because the Books of Boggs is plotted out for ten books in total (at least) and there's backstory aplenty to be had and more things to discover about who and what he is. The same with Vera, who really doesn't get a chance to hit on her Mexican background in the first book, and who's spent five years away from the world she grew up in. We haven't see her officially in action yet, and I'm not sure I won't find out something new writing her for the second book. (I already know she gets horribly impatient with people who cry and scream and freak out during dangerous situations, which should be fun to write. Heh.)
But, yeah. Character development! Woohoo!
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