Quid pro quo, Clarice.

[sarashina]

So I just came off a hellacious couple of weeks (which I will explain properly sometime soon) and I am feeling FREE AS THE WIND BLOWS. Best part? So many of my mental processes have been freed up, and I've been thinking about writing a lot more than I have been lately. Which feels so, so good.

I was thinking of a simple exercise I used to do with writing partners - I was actually telling moonsheen about it the other day - and I thought I'd put it up here so that we all could play.

Here's how it goes: you ask me a question about a writing project, I answer, and ask a question about yours. Simple as that! It could be about a specific project, or something in general (like, say, "Who is your most ____ character?" or something like that.) And the questions can keep going back and forth for as long as you like.

I've always found that it's easier to get enthusiastic about a project and dive right into it when you can share your enthusiasm with someone else. And there are my ulterior motives, of course - I get to find out about everyone else's writing, too.

Just to remind you all, my big projects are:

Completed:
In Descending Order
Grandmaster Draw

In progress:
Catalyst
The Imperial Guard
The Hungry Ground
Possession is Nine-Tenths of the Law

And there are also short stories like "The Mountain Sleeps" (and the not-yet-written universe based around that story), and cowriting and such.

Let's play?

Comments

[lacunarity.livejournal.com]

I'll bite!

What character surprises you the most when you write him/her?

[ruffwriter.livejournal.com]

Right now, definitely The Hungry Ground's protagonist, Kalinda. At first I didn't really know how I would do with her. I sort of decided to try to write her as the POV character on a whim because I haven't done a female POV character for a long time.

But she's not the usual type of character I write from the perspective of. She's not really outwardly snarky, and is a lot more thoughtful and serious in general. But when I actually started writing her, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. She's got a much more dry sense of humor that's a lot of fun to write, and when it comes down to it, she's probably ten times more of an alpha, protective type than the frat boy-ish male protagonist. She was unexpectedly my type of character after all, and I probably wouldn't have figured that out if I hadn't decided to try her as the protagonist.

All right, and for you, I would like to know about this rumored YA novel of yours. What's the setting?

[lacunarity.livejournal.com]

Set in a normal, boring American town that's unique only in that it has a somewhat thinner border between Earth and a particular section of hell, and that it's infested with little invisible demon blobs wandering around making that border even thinner. They're easily dispatched with a baseball bat or a combat boot, but the damned things just keep multiplying.

Also, the town has a surprisingly high population of angels and former angels, not that any of them actually realize that. :D


For you: how do you decide how to clothe your characters, and how to get their image across to the reader?

[ruffwriter.livejournal.com]

HEE. I am totally all over this story when you write it. It sounds like fun! ♥


I think I am probably the least specific when it comes to clothes! I usually only mention a few details when it comes to clothes - whether they're wearing a leather jacket, or a uniform, or what have you. Most of the time I don't make a conscious decision about how they should be dressed, but there are some cases where what the character's wearing is significant to the scene.


Okay, back to you: who's the protagonist of the aforementioned story? What's s/he like?

[noelleno.livejournal.com]

*BODYSLAMS THIS POST

What sort of antics would you like in future coprojecting?

[ruffwriter.livejournal.com]

Definitely more Office-funtimes! We haven't had the fab foursome working together in some time. We need some way to bring their plotlines together.

We haven't done much with the airship lately. I would love to throw Jasper and Charlie into a dire situation together to play with their dynamic more, maybe give Charlie a chance to shine and show Jasper that he's a little cooler than she thinks he is. And when are they going to find out about Nick's sudden but inevitable betrayal?

More de Rossi brothers to be sure - what's going on with Toni, and what are Amano and Angelo doing about it?

And of course, more Jasper/Angelo, Hannah/Ilario, and Sam/Marissa.

And for you - how did you come up with the concept for Elimay?

[noelleno.livejournal.com]

YES TO EVERYTHING we'll have to knock out some timelineyness to get to some of that hoohah yes indeed. AND WE'LL NEED SOME MORE BADGUYS as stuff heats up.


I have no idea actually. It devolved from some hideously cliche magical group adventuring thingie and then I ditched that and uhhhh
*SO HELPFUL



Who are your hardest characters to write :V

[sandvich.livejournal.com]

Oh, this looks like fun! ♥

What types of settings do you prefer to write? When you write fantasy, how much of your worldbuilding is done beforehand and how much of it is supplemented as you go along?

[ruffwriter.livejournal.com]

Though I'm not big on high fantasy, I love writing new worlds. I guess I start out with an image in my mind - the city built high above the ground in The Hungry Ground, for example - and I do really flesh things out as I write further and have the characters explore.


And for you: what's your preferred genre?

[sandvich.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if historical urban fantasy is much of a genre, but it is what I prefer to write! I love period settings, alternate histories, and examinations of cultural attitudes from various time periods; I also love zombies, faeries, and world mythology. It's a perfect compromise! ♥ Apocalyptic sci-fi also has a very special place in my heart (and my documents folder) but I have tend to have more fun with my urban fantasy stuff.

Which of your protagonists is your favorite? Why?

[evilsimon.livejournal.com]

How do you get a sense for how characters will interact? Does the relationship come before the fully-formed personality, vice versa, or simultaneously?

oh god incoherency

[ruffwriter.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I go into writing a relationship knowing which dynamics I'd like to have, but usually they sort of hit me by surprise after I flesh out the individual personalities. It really helps me dive further into the story when those sorts of relationships click: I didn't know Cat and Chris were going to be BFFs at first, and Kalinda, Dev and Isha didn't have any sort of relationship at first. But when I realized that those relationships would click, the stories got so much easier to write. ♥


What sort of character have you never written before that you'd like to try?

[evilsimon.livejournal.com]

I've toyed with this trope twice and both times their personalities went in a different direction, but I would really love to have an honest-to-god antihero with a heart of gold who is (perhaps even not-so-) secretly a total sweetheart. I am kind of a sucker for said trope because my longest-running D&D character is the walking embodiment of it, and I am fond of him. (He's an evil undead mage who came back for vengeance, and he's the nicest, most cheerful person in the party. what is this I don't even)

I tried to get there with both Edgar and Lucien, but Edgar ended up having far too much humanity and a support network, and Lucien is actually less of an antihero than his heroic counterpart in some respects.


What's one of the hardest things you've found yourself having to do to a character?

[ivory-and-horn.livejournal.com]

Have you ever unshipped any your characters? In the sense that the idea of them together provokes a reaction like "oh man that would be a train crash of EPIC PROPORTIONS".

[ruffwriter.livejournal.com]

Aidan and Tobias from In Descending Order were supposed to be a couple, but I decided that if it would ever happen, it would have to be years later when they got more used to each other. I also constantly vacillate on who Tuyen will end up with, and I occasionally entertain the notion that Cat will hook up with someone someday...


Have you ever written with an unreliable narrator?

[ivory-and-horn.livejournal.com]

A couple times! Ketterly, in the story I started recently called Capertown is rather unreliable re: his perception of how others see him (he's rather self-loathing). Koya is the POV character of a one-shot I wrote last year, Cables to Cobwebs, and his view of the antagonist (for a certain value of the word) is very definitely colored by his personal issues with the guy (...not that this part came through very well. Alas!).

The unreliability of these narrators has been fairly low-key, though -- more just a product of the fact that it's in their POV and so they're putting their own gloss on events, rather than a device for pulling one over the audience. I think it'd be cool to do something like that, though!



Okay, next question: What types of character dynamics do you find most interesting?

[glass-icarus.livejournal.com]

FAVORITE CRACK PAIRING(S)? ;D

[ruffwriter.livejournal.com]

Oh man. CAT/DAMIAN. They're always falling in love. Or falling off cliffs. One of the two.

One of the more interesting examples of my favorite crack pairings was Jasper and Angelo of one of my cowriting projects. She's an airship pilot with a hell of an alcohol tolerance and a dude's name, and he's a whiny Italian antihero who likes animals better than people. When they absolutely despised each other at the beginning of the story, I thought they would be the most hilarious couple ever. Then, naturally, he developed a crush on her, and now they're dating. They are, indeed, the most hilarious couple ever.


Your turn! What's your favorite kind of setting to work with?

[glass-icarus.livejournal.com]

ahahahah CAT/DAMIAN! &hearts

Hmmm. That's actually a difficult question! *g* It's very rare that I think of settings first; I tend to pick who I want to write about, and what concepts I'd like to play with/things that I would like to happen.

Now that I think about it, I think everything I've tried to build up from setting as opposed to from characters is unfinished. /o\ The most glaring culprits are the apocalypse!Merlin fic that I've barely scratched the surface of, the HP/Riddlemaster crossover, and the HP/Orpheus crossover; I've been picking at the HP ones for the better part of three years. WHY YES, I DO FAIL AT EPIC PROJECTS, WHY DO YOU ASK?

Most interestingly-repressed character you've ever written? (Random brain is random, heh!)

[cerine.livejournal.com]

Me, me! I wanna start insane comment chains wit' chu. <3

Um, um. Hhmmm. Are there any 'ships of certain characters that you'd absolutely would dislike? The ones that make you go "Dear gods, no, never, eeewww, where is my pumice stone?"

I swear I did not just have a brownie with coffee. I am lying, of course.

[ruffwriter.livejournal.com]

THE JESTER/LIAM oh God. The Jester/anyone really. Also Anwar/Cat. Basically any situation where the consent would become dubious. (... except for some reason I sorta find implied Radha/Tuyen hot? Probably because Tuyen wouldn't be broken like the above examples, at least.)


As for your ships, what ship do you love that you know will never happen?

[cerine.livejournal.com]

Yeaaah, I'm sorry, I totally ship Radha/Tuyen for some crack reason (i.e. Radha is hawt, man). The other pairings kinda make me want to hunt for the nearest purgative.

Oh wow, this is hard, actually! One I love is Yazem and Zalif (I can dig up uber old fanart to jog the memory if need be). Over the years, though, I realized it is never going to happen. The actual culture built up around them wouldn't break taboo even if Zalif came home a hero, because he is still technically a person forbidden by their god to be viewed as a human being. Only holy men are supposed to even go near one able to use 'the most vile magics'. Yazem would probably have been married off while he was out journeying, too, because her family's business and status within Esgal's political system is far too high to throw her to some no-name-magic-tainted bastard. I apparently like denying really nice characters happiness in love.

Return round: How many of your characters actually have siblings that are present in some form (actually in the story or they influence a character)?

[quatredeathlady.livejournal.com]

This looks like fun! I read most the other comments to try and not repeat a question, but...there are a lot of questions already, so I might. If you've answered this already, I'll come up with another. XD

How organized or disorganized do you consider your writing process, and why do you think that process works well for you? (For example, do you plot everything out very meticulously before you sit down to write anything, or do you just write and see where it goes and tweak later, etc.)

[ruffwriter.livejournal.com]

I always try to plot everything out in my head before writing an individual scene, but how far ahead I plan always depends. I tend to have most of the important plot points in order when I start writing a story so I can add foreshadowing, but as I go from chapter to chapter, a lot of the other scenes are subject to changes - some at the last possible second. So depending on the day, I can be very organized or very disorganized!

Which of your protagonists is most like you?

[quatredeathlady.livejournal.com]

I always love hearing about people's writing processes, because they're all always so different! And I've read a lot from big-name authors on what their processes are and why it works for them, and sometimes I think about how it would never work for me (or how I should adopt some of their methods ASAP). So, thanks for sharing! :D

Damn, your question is really hard, and I don't have nearly as many characters as you do! XD Overall, I think that all my protagonists have at least one prominent trait that I have (or like to think I have :x), but I actually think that Andy is the most like me (He's the narrator in Untilted #2 in my Works in Progress meme post, just for point of reference XD) in personality. He's fiercely loyal and protective of his friends and doesn't really care what other people think about him. He also kind of has a temper and is antisocial. And while I have never punched someone in the face, I certainly would if I thought it was necessary. >.>

Next question: How do you come up with character names, and the titles for your stories? And, if you don't mind a double question, which character name and story title are your favorite? (This seems like a simple/boring question, but good Lord I am terrible at coming up with titles especially, and I think your titles are awesome. TELL ME YOUR SECRET XD)