ratherastory (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ratherastory) wrote2011-10-26 12:25 am
ratherastory) wrote2011-10-26 12:25 am
Entry tags:
Meme time!
I did it 'cause I saw ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
harrigan do it and I thought it looked fun. Here's how to play:
Comment to this post with "THE VERY NERVE!" (that's all you need do to start, seriously!) and then:
1. Who was your hero when you were around 10 years old or so, and why?
If I recall correctly, when I was ten I had a serious case of hero-worship for Gordon Korman, whose books are considered classics in Canadian YA literature these days. Most English-speaking Canadians my age at least know of him if they haven't read his books. I attended a workshop that he led, brought there by my fifth grade teacher, and wrote a short story that he then read and critiqued for me. He gave me excellent advice on how to write plot and characters, told me I had a lot of promise, and encouraged me to keep writing. It was probably the best moment of that whole year for me. To this day, I often model my dialogue on the way he writes his.
2. Tell me about a favorite book - favorite childhood book, favorite book you've read lately, and/or all-time favorite book.
It feels like cheating to go with a Gordon Korman book at this juncture, doesn't it? ;)
I think a special mention needs to go to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I read it for the first time when I was about seven, if memory serves, and it was my first real introduction to fantasy. I loved the idea of stepping into a wardrobe and finding myself in a magical land where there were fauns and witches and talking animals, and Narnia resembled the outdoors of my childhood, full of snow and evergreens. It was beautiful and familiar and yet extra magical, and it filled me with a sense of wonder and adventure. It also tied in nicely with my really eccentric interpretation of Christianity as a child baptized Catholic but raised by an atheist and a non-practicing Catholic who is convinced to this day that God has forsaken North America in general.
3. I'm equally curious about your job, but I know some folks don't like to get too personal online, so you choose. Answer any or all of the following - what's your current career and what led you to it, and/or what did you dream of growing up to be when you were a kid, and/or if you weren't doing X professionally, what could you see yourself doing instead? (And if you answer writer - be more specific about the kind of things you would write!)
I work for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as a dispatcher. Yes, that's the Mounties. What led me here is a circuitous and actually slightly boring story. I started out as a literature student, studying 19th Century Romantic Literature. I wrote my honours thesis on Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads (specifically the Outsider, the nature of alienation and the use of liminal space therein, and yes, I realize just how boring and obscure that is, but I loved it). During my teens, I figured that I would go all the way through higher studies, get a doctorate, and become a university professor like my father. Everyone, myself and my parents included, expected me to take that route, no questions asked.
The short version of what transpired next is that I essentially suffered a psychotic break with reality, went more than a little nuts, and then sank deep into depression. I barely graduated university, struggled for another two years mostly on my own before getting a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder, and then struggled for two more years until my doctor and I found the right balance of medication, blah blah blah. I was out of work for several months, wrecked my credit rating, and then went through a series of jobs that never lasted very long (always, I might add, for outside reasons, and not because I couldn't hold down the jobs).
In December of 2005 I decided that I needed to change careers, because I was stuck in a dead-end job that was boring and unfulfilling. I looked at my strengths and my needs, and decided that since I am good with people and wanted a job that would not require me to lie to clients or sell anything to them, I should look into emergency dispatching. So I took a course (and that's a story in and of itself), which in turn led me to my first dispatching job at a private security company, which then led me to apply to the RCMP, where I have been ever since.
If I were a writer right now (and yes, that would probably be my career of choice if I weren't doing what I was doing now), I can see myself writing primarily horror and genre fiction. I lack the consistent world-building skills for science fiction and fantasy, but I do love horror and have a knack for it, so if I could work up the stamina for a proper novel-length work, that's what I would do. Unfortunately, the longest thing I've ever written clocked in at just under 120,000 words, which is a really short novel. I'd have to figure out a way to build more complex plots and worlds and characters in order to stand a chance at really making it as a novelist.
4. What are you afraid of?
On a metaphysical level? Failure. (I'm also not too good with heights, but that's kind of a boring answer) I suffer from Impostor Syndrome to a certain extent, and am constantly labouring under the belief/delusion that eventually everyone is going to figure out that I suck, and that I don't really deserve any of the apparent success I've obtained over my life, no matter how hard I worked for it. Yeah, I know, not exactly the pinnacle of mental health, here, but I think we established that, yes? So mostly I live in fear that one day I will be exposed as a total fraud. *hands*
There was also that one time when I was writing a novel about zombies and managed to scare myself. I had to play the "there-are-no-zombies-following-me-home-from-the-metro" game, even though I was a grown adult and knew better. Occasionally I am an embarrassment even to myself. ;)
5. Okay. What's your secret to being a successful writer? Do you carry a notebook and jot down ideas when they come to you all day long? Do you organize and plot before you start? Do you set aside specific times of day and chain yourself to your desk? Do you limit your reading time to make time for writing? Do you edit as you go so that your first draft is pretty good-to-go? Do you use photos of the characters around your writing place to inspire you? What's the hardest thing about writing? Don't feel obliged to answer each of these specifically - just whatever you feel like babbling about!
You speak as if I'm a successful writer. :P
I don't have a technique. Getting my shit done is all about momentum. If I start writing and don't stop, then it gets done. I have to write every day, and the more days in a row that I write, the easier it is. The more days in a row that I skip, the harder it becomes.
I do have a notebook, which I use sporadically. Sometimes I plot out my fiction, sometimes I jot down ideas as they come to me. Sometimes I just get an idea for a first or a last line in a story and write the story based on that. I am not a very visual writer: I don't have a good idea of what my characters look like, and it usually ends up not being important in the story. The same goes for descriptions of settings: usually I'll put in a detail or two about the backdrop that lends a hint of atmosphere, but I won't go out of my way to provide descriptions. I end up editing a bit as I go, which means that as a rule my "rough" drafts are usually presentable even without being beta'd, although having a beta go through my work inevitably makes it a lot better.
harrigan do it and I thought it looked fun. Here's how to play:Comment to this post with "THE VERY NERVE!" (that's all you need do to start, seriously!) and then:
- I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can get to know you better.
- You update your journal with the answers to the questions.
- You can include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions (but only if you want to).
1. Who was your hero when you were around 10 years old or so, and why?
If I recall correctly, when I was ten I had a serious case of hero-worship for Gordon Korman, whose books are considered classics in Canadian YA literature these days. Most English-speaking Canadians my age at least know of him if they haven't read his books. I attended a workshop that he led, brought there by my fifth grade teacher, and wrote a short story that he then read and critiqued for me. He gave me excellent advice on how to write plot and characters, told me I had a lot of promise, and encouraged me to keep writing. It was probably the best moment of that whole year for me. To this day, I often model my dialogue on the way he writes his.
2. Tell me about a favorite book - favorite childhood book, favorite book you've read lately, and/or all-time favorite book.
It feels like cheating to go with a Gordon Korman book at this juncture, doesn't it? ;)
I think a special mention needs to go to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I read it for the first time when I was about seven, if memory serves, and it was my first real introduction to fantasy. I loved the idea of stepping into a wardrobe and finding myself in a magical land where there were fauns and witches and talking animals, and Narnia resembled the outdoors of my childhood, full of snow and evergreens. It was beautiful and familiar and yet extra magical, and it filled me with a sense of wonder and adventure. It also tied in nicely with my really eccentric interpretation of Christianity as a child baptized Catholic but raised by an atheist and a non-practicing Catholic who is convinced to this day that God has forsaken North America in general.
3. I'm equally curious about your job, but I know some folks don't like to get too personal online, so you choose. Answer any or all of the following - what's your current career and what led you to it, and/or what did you dream of growing up to be when you were a kid, and/or if you weren't doing X professionally, what could you see yourself doing instead? (And if you answer writer - be more specific about the kind of things you would write!)
I work for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as a dispatcher. Yes, that's the Mounties. What led me here is a circuitous and actually slightly boring story. I started out as a literature student, studying 19th Century Romantic Literature. I wrote my honours thesis on Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads (specifically the Outsider, the nature of alienation and the use of liminal space therein, and yes, I realize just how boring and obscure that is, but I loved it). During my teens, I figured that I would go all the way through higher studies, get a doctorate, and become a university professor like my father. Everyone, myself and my parents included, expected me to take that route, no questions asked.
The short version of what transpired next is that I essentially suffered a psychotic break with reality, went more than a little nuts, and then sank deep into depression. I barely graduated university, struggled for another two years mostly on my own before getting a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder, and then struggled for two more years until my doctor and I found the right balance of medication, blah blah blah. I was out of work for several months, wrecked my credit rating, and then went through a series of jobs that never lasted very long (always, I might add, for outside reasons, and not because I couldn't hold down the jobs).
In December of 2005 I decided that I needed to change careers, because I was stuck in a dead-end job that was boring and unfulfilling. I looked at my strengths and my needs, and decided that since I am good with people and wanted a job that would not require me to lie to clients or sell anything to them, I should look into emergency dispatching. So I took a course (and that's a story in and of itself), which in turn led me to my first dispatching job at a private security company, which then led me to apply to the RCMP, where I have been ever since.
If I were a writer right now (and yes, that would probably be my career of choice if I weren't doing what I was doing now), I can see myself writing primarily horror and genre fiction. I lack the consistent world-building skills for science fiction and fantasy, but I do love horror and have a knack for it, so if I could work up the stamina for a proper novel-length work, that's what I would do. Unfortunately, the longest thing I've ever written clocked in at just under 120,000 words, which is a really short novel. I'd have to figure out a way to build more complex plots and worlds and characters in order to stand a chance at really making it as a novelist.
4. What are you afraid of?
On a metaphysical level? Failure. (I'm also not too good with heights, but that's kind of a boring answer) I suffer from Impostor Syndrome to a certain extent, and am constantly labouring under the belief/delusion that eventually everyone is going to figure out that I suck, and that I don't really deserve any of the apparent success I've obtained over my life, no matter how hard I worked for it. Yeah, I know, not exactly the pinnacle of mental health, here, but I think we established that, yes? So mostly I live in fear that one day I will be exposed as a total fraud. *hands*
There was also that one time when I was writing a novel about zombies and managed to scare myself. I had to play the "there-are-no-zombies-following-me-home-from-the-metro" game, even though I was a grown adult and knew better. Occasionally I am an embarrassment even to myself. ;)
5. Okay. What's your secret to being a successful writer? Do you carry a notebook and jot down ideas when they come to you all day long? Do you organize and plot before you start? Do you set aside specific times of day and chain yourself to your desk? Do you limit your reading time to make time for writing? Do you edit as you go so that your first draft is pretty good-to-go? Do you use photos of the characters around your writing place to inspire you? What's the hardest thing about writing? Don't feel obliged to answer each of these specifically - just whatever you feel like babbling about!
You speak as if I'm a successful writer. :P
I don't have a technique. Getting my shit done is all about momentum. If I start writing and don't stop, then it gets done. I have to write every day, and the more days in a row that I write, the easier it is. The more days in a row that I skip, the harder it becomes.
I do have a notebook, which I use sporadically. Sometimes I plot out my fiction, sometimes I jot down ideas as they come to me. Sometimes I just get an idea for a first or a last line in a story and write the story based on that. I am not a very visual writer: I don't have a good idea of what my characters look like, and it usually ends up not being important in the story. The same goes for descriptions of settings: usually I'll put in a detail or two about the backdrop that lends a hint of atmosphere, but I won't go out of my way to provide descriptions. I end up editing a bit as I go, which means that as a rule my "rough" drafts are usually presentable even without being beta'd, although having a beta go through my work inevitably makes it a lot better.
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1- Who in your family do you get along best with, and why?
2- If all the fiction in the world disappeared, what sort of stuff would you read instead?
3- Do you play a musical instrument? If not, what sort of music do you listen to the most and why?
4- Do you have pets? Why or why not?
5- What is your most vivid early childhood memory?
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1- What was your very first fandom, and what drew you to it?
2- Who in your family do you wish you were closer to?
3- What movie have you recommended the most to people, and why?
4- If you could go to any country/place in the world, no matter the cost or time or anything, where would it be and why?
5- Do you speak any languages other than English? Which ones, and how did you learn them? If you don't, which language would you like to know?
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2- Tell me about your childhood home. Either the physical location or the people around you, or anything you'd like to share.
3- What's on the top of your bucket list? Or what would be on top of your bucket list if you had one?
4- What book is sitting on your nightstand (or is currently first on your e-reader, if that's what you have these days)? Are you enjoying it? What are your thoughts?
5- Who has been the single biggest influence in your life to date?
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2- Do you take literary inspiration from a particular author? Which one(s) and why?
3- What's your current job? Do you like it? If you could have any job in the world what would it be?
4- How many kids do you have, and how many do you want? Elaborate.
5- What is your favourite trope in fiction?
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And you are a successful writer on so many fronts. I'd read your original fiction in a heartbeat. Or no heartbeat, if it involved zombies. :D
Oh, and THE VERY NERVE!
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1- Tell me ALL about your life in art. How did you start? Did you have formal training or are you just naturally awesome at it? What's your favourite medium to work in? Do you have a portfolio? Do you ever show your art publicly outside of the internet?
2- What is your favourite genre in cinema, and why?
3- Tell me about your kids. Whatever level you feel comfortable sharing on the internet. :)
4- Which parent do you get along with best? What's your relationship with them like?
5- I want to know how you feel about flowers. Do you like them? Cut or potted or out in the garden/fields? Do you have favourites?
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Also, I have struggled with the Impostor Syndrome myself many a time. It is a bitch, and may have kept me from jumping straight into a PhD, which probably isn't a bad thing unless you are my mother.
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1- So, what would you like your PhD to be about?
2- What is the most interesting place you have ever lived? Where would you like to live, if you could live anywhere?
3- What prompted you to start cataloging the clothes in SPN? Have wardrobe choices always been an interest of yours or is it something you came across in fandom?
4- Have you ever confided a secret (of your own) to someone only to regret it later? Feel free to elaborate as little or as much as you like on this one.
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2- Do you have siblings? What are they like? Do you get along with them?
3- When did you start writing? Do you write more original fic or more fanfic? Do you have a preference?
4- Do you have a talent that not many people know about? What is it?
5- What was your favourite movie as a child? Do you still like it? Why?
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Also,
On a metaphysical level? Failure. (I'm also not too good with heights, but that's kind of a boring answer) I suffer from Impostor Syndrome to a certain extent, and am constantly labouring under the belief/delusion that eventually everyone is going to figure out that I suck, and that I don't really deserve any of the apparent success I've obtained over my life, no matter how hard I worked for it. Yeah, I know, not exactly the pinnacle of mental health, here, but I think we established that, yes? So mostly I live in fear that one day I will be exposed as a total fraud. *hands*
OH MY GAWD YOU ARE DEAN WINCHESTER
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1- What's the accomplishment you are most proud of?
2- What story lives in your head that you haven't written yet but that you are dying to write? If such a story doesn't exist, then what story that's already out there do you wish you had written?
3- Who was your role model when you were a teenager?
4- What are your living arrangements now? Do you rent or own? If you live with someone, do you both have a say in decorating your home, or does one or the other tend to have their taste dominate?
5- Are you the type to have a really large circle of friends, or a very small group of close friends? Or a mix of both?
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THE VERY NERVE!!
(fair warning though, updates of this nature always go on my dreamwidth (ravelqueen.dreamwidth.org))
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2- Is your best friend now the same as the best friend you had when you were a kid? What has changed and what hasn't?
3- What's a little-known fact about yourself that always surprises people when they find out?
4- What's your first fandom? If it's SPN, what show would have been your first fandom if you'd known fandom existed at the time?
5- What sort of art do you have on your walls?
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I love being part of the Mounties. It's one of the things I'm most proud of so far in terms of my accomplishments.
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Oh, and I love The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. I have such great memories of that book :)
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2- Do you like traveling? Which places have you gone to are the ones that stand out most in your mind?
3- What do you look for when reading fiction? What is guaranteed to grab your attention and keep it?
4- Are you married? Do you have children? If not, would you like to? Why or why not?
5- Which season is your favourite and why?
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Also, your plots are plenty complex! *sticks tongue out* Any more excuses?
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Don't get me wrong... this is good news! I just want to be sure.
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I never realised that feeling like a fraud thing had a name. I've felt like that plenty...
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Okay. Interview questions!
1- Have you got pets? Tell me about them. If you have none, I'd like to hear why.
2- Who was your very first crush?
3- What was your favourite game as a kid?
4- Do you play a musical instrument? If not, what instrument would you like to play?
5- Have you ever participated in an official large-scale sporting event? If not, would you like to?
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2- What's the story behind your username?
3- Who is the greatest artistic influence in your life?
4- If you could spend an hour having tea/coffee/drinks with one person dead or alive and ask them anything you wanted, who would it be and why?
5- What is the historical event that fascinates you the most?
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And I always ♥ books recs! I wasn't familiar with Gordon Korman before. Is there anything of his in particular you'd recommend for a boy who probably reads at a fourth- or fifth-grade level? (I'm starting my Christmas shopping!)
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My favourites for Korman for that age are as follows:
This Can't Be Happening At MacDonald Hall (all the MacDonald Hall books are wonderful, but that's the first one and is a real gem)
Who Is Bugs Potter? (probably my all-time favourite)
I Want To Go Home (screamingly funny)
No Coins, Please (also hysterical)
His books are very boy-friendly, and they are readable from about a fourth-grade level, if memory serves.
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(I'm also not too good with heights, but that's kind of a boring answer)
I'm not good with heights too, but not of the distance between the ground and where you are, it's more of a scary thought that I would throw caution to the wind and just jump down from the edge. *shrugs* Yeah, a bit weird.
I'm glad you got help for your disorder. I think it's usually under-diagnosed and many people just thought it's normal and then their whole world turns upside down.
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I try to be as open about it as possible, because otherwise people still think mental illness is shameful, something to be hidden away and dealt with in private. I'm trying to do my part to get rid of the taboo we have about it in society. :)
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2- What's your favourite movie and why?
3- If you could be instantly knowledgeable about one subject in the whole world, what would it be and why?
4- Who is the person in life that you know personally whom you most admire?
5- Tell me about your dream vacation.
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Thanks for sharing your answers, I love learning more about people!
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2- What's your favourite part of being a parent?
3- What is the weirdest job you've ever had to do? (Paying or non-paying)
4- Apart from storytelling, do you have any other artistic pursuits? Or any that you wish you could do?
5- Tell me one random thing that annoys you but not most people. An odd pet peeve.
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BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA. Sorry. My longest work is, like, 50 thousand words. You've got me beat more than twice over.
The very nerve indeed.
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1- We've chatted about the theater before. I'd like to know all about your relationship with the theater: when it started, whether it's been a constant in your life, whether you're still involved with it now.
2- I love your little rants about G the wonder co-worker, but I realized I don't actually know what it is you do for a living. You don't have to answer in very much detail if this is too personal for the internet, but even a vague idea would be nice.
3- What was your favourite TV show when you were younger?
4- What did you used to do when you were a child that you no longer do but wish you still did/could?
5- Do you like your heroes heroic, or are you more of a fan of anti-heroes? What appeals to you in your protagonists?
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I love Gordon Korman. Not loved, love. I have sessions of cuddling-with-the-bunny-who-lives-in-the-basement-and-reading-the-books-that-live-in-the-basement-instead-of-on-the-bookshelf-in-my-room, and the Island and Everest series are frequent participants.
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Okay, questions.
1- What is your favourite activity outside the home when you have spare time?
2- What is your favourite musical instrument and why? Do you play it?
3- Are you married/shacked up/dating someone? For how long? How did you meet?
4- Who is the bunny that lives in the basement? Is it yours? What's the story there?
5- If you could meet any author, dead or alive, who would it be, and what would you want to know? Or would you just want to hang out with them for a few hours?
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THE VERY NERVE
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1- Fandom question. We saw Jimmy Novak and his family for all of one episode, and yet they seem to have really struck a nerve in fandom. What is it about them that appeals to you?
2- Where do you live? (Be as vague or as specific as you're comfortable with, since this is the internet) Have you always lived there? How many times in your life have you moved?
3- What is your favourite kind of TV show?
4- Describe your dream job.
5- If money were no object, what is the first thing you would do with your unlimited funds?
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I don't think I've ever talked to you before but I'm a lurker and you seem cool and I need to stop being shy, so, hi! Hope you dont mind a random person showing up!
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1- So, random lurker, what is your fandom experience? Have you been around long? Is this your first fandom? Do you write or make art or are you one of those rare people who is primarily a reader?
2- Do you have pets? If so, tell me about them.
3- What do you do for a living? Are you in school? Are you working and studying at the same time?
4- Who is the person you talk most to in life?
5- Who is the person you trust most in your life?
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GAH. Who knew so many of you would want questions? :P