Writer's Meme

[dreamflower]

Taken from pandemonium_213 and rhapsody11

Questions and answers behind the cut:

1. Of the fic you’ve written, which are you most proud of?
Currently, I'd say my WIP, "Ancestress", as I believe I have been able to get in a lot of headcanon in that one that I've wanted to express for years.

2. Favorite tense (past/present/future)
Favorite in the sense of "most frequently used", past; I occasionally use present. Oddly enough, it seems I nearly always use first person when I use present. I don't know why.

3. Favorite POV (first/second/third/etc)
Third. And not necessarily the currently in vogue limited third.

4. What are some themes you love writing about?
Friendship; loyalty; family; mercy and compassion.

5. What inspires you to write?
Well, the books Tolkien wrote, mostly, but also just about everything else. Nearly everything reminds me of hobbits, which is only one step from a plot bunny.

6. Thoughts on critique.
Love it, unless it's obnoxious. Then I put on my super-polite Southern belle fangs.

7. Create a character on the spot…. NOW!

Lando looked at the letter. This was the sixth letter this week the Master had written to that Took lass, and the last two messengers sent off had yet to return. He supposed he'd better saddle up old Strawberry and take this one himself. Sooner there was a wedding the better; they'd nearly worn a new road through the Shire these last few months.


8. Is there a character you love writing the most? The least? Why?
Bilbo Baggins. He's absolutely awesome.

Least favorite? Villains. It makes me feel icky to write certain POVs.

9. A passage from a WIP.

22 Foreyule, S.R. 1311

Bilbo had never been so tired in his life. The first few days of his parents' illness he had brought endless cups of tea and tumblers of water and mugs of broth to them; as for himself, he had made a pot of pease porridge, and that had served him for every meal until this morning. He ate stale bread for breakfast, and decided that he'd make another pot of potato soup for his supper and his parents'.

Between times, he dozed fitfully in the chair beside their bed, or made occasional trips to the woodpile by the back door. They were running short of wood there, and he knew that perhaps in another day he'd have to shovel his way out to the big woodpile and fetch more. He wasn't sure he'd be strong enough to split so much as he had before-- he was so weary!

His mother suddenly was taken with a fit of coughing; it was long and hard and frightened Bilbo very much. She sat up, coughing and struggling to catch her breath. Bilbo turned her pillow, and helped her to settle back against it. She was so feverish! He went to the washstand and wrung out another flannel in cold water to place upon her brow. She turned to Bilbo and held out a shaking hand to him. "I'm so sorry, son...so sorry..."

Bilbo pressed a kiss on the hand and tucked it back under the covers. "It's all right, Mama, it will be all right." And he fought back tears and hoped as hard as he could hope that he was not telling a lie.

Then his father began to cough. His coughing, if anything was harder and worse than that of his mother. Bungo was sweating and shivering and trying to throw off the covers. He did not even seem to know Bilbo, and was muttering under his breath. Finally Bilbo got him settled as well, and his father passed into a fitful and restless sleep. Once he was sure that both of them were finally sleeping soundly, he went to fetch more water. Thank goodness, he thought, that Bag End was a modern smial and had a pump in the kitchen, one which had so far not frozen up.

What was he going to do? Bilbo wondered. The supply of willow-bark powder was dwindling. The pile of soiled linens and handkerchiefs was growing. There was less food. There was more snow. He had not seen anyone but his parents for at least two weeks. He sometimes wondered if they were the last people in the Shire. He tried very hard to shut off the horrid and unthinkable thought that his parents might not survive their illness. What would he do? No! No, he could not, would not think about that.

Yule was supposed to be coming, but Bilbo supposed they would not have any Yule this year. This year could not turn soon enough for him!

He trudged back to the bedroom with a pail of water, and filled the pitcher by the bed and the ewer on the washstand, and put the remaining half-a-pail next to the hearth. Then he went back to the kitchen to fetch more wood.

Exhausted, he fell back into the armchair by their bed, and tried to get some sleep. He needed to sleep so badly.

Suddenly he heard the last thing he expected to hear: a pounding at the front door of Bag End!

(From "Eleventy-one")

10. What are your writing strengths?
I think I'm fairly good with characterizations.

11. What are your writing weaknesses?
Procrastination; a tendency to bog down in the middle; repetitiveness.

12. What’s your favorite place for writing, resources?
My big desk.

(though with my new computer--that's my old one in the pic.)

Which is also where I keep my favorite resources. My favorite resource is the Appendices of LotR, and of those, Appendix B, the Tale of Years, and Appendix C, the Hobbit Family Trees are my "most favoritest", LOL!

13. Who are your favorite writers?
Fiction: J.R.R. Tolkien; C.S. Lewis (his adult fiction more than the children's books); Charles Dickens, Alexandre Dumas, Dorothy Sayers, J.K. Rowling, Ellis Peters, Mary Monica Pulver.

Non-fiction: C.S. Lewis; John Garth; Colin Diurez; Fleming Rutledge;Humphrey Carpenter, David Harris, Aidan Meehan.

And lots and lots of wonderful fanfic writers! (Many of whom are on my flist!)

Comments

[litlover12.livejournal.com]

I'd like to see your super-polite Southern belle fangs!

[dreamflower]

They consist of being just on the saccharine side of sweet, and just on the condescending side of snark; but subtle snark. And never ever show anger, just a sad disappointment that the object of it didn't know any better.

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

Southern belle fangs! Eek! Those sound very dangerous. Great meme. I enjoyed reading yours.

[dreamflower]

Thanks! It was fun! (Though I realized this morning I forgot to paste in my WIP snippet--which I've done now.)

Southern belle fangs are quite dangerous.

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

I like this meme!

Then I put on my super-polite Southern belle fangs.
Hee! This cracked me up for some reason. Yep, I hate icky, obnoxious critique or something pointless, like, if, for example, you don't like or read mpreg or slash, then why comment on it at all? That's what summaries and warnings are for!

On writing villians...I feel the same way, although I get sort of a high from it sometimes, like getting to think in a way that is totally opposite of myself or what I think of as good or right. I do find it difficult, though.

Oh, I'm just now feeling the LOTR fan fic love again after WAY too long a hiatus, and it's wonderful to read about this. You've always been a quintessential hobbit writer to me! :)

[dreamflower]

When someone really gets hold of the wrong end of the stick it annoys me. But, bless their heart, they can't help it if they don't know any better! LOL!

After I write a character like Gollum or Saruman's POV, I just feel like I've been sticking my hand in a slimy stagnant pool of ickiness. But I do feel good about my writing when I think I get it right. Still, I then have a need to read and write some uber-fluffy fluff!

Thank you! I just love my hobbits to pieces!

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

And not necessarily the currently in vogue limited third.

Is that in vogue? It's actually my favorite, second only to 1st person, but I have a hard time finding anything (outside fanfic) written from that POV. At least in the fantasy and mystery/thriller genres, everyone's going the "every chapter is a different character" route, which I don't like as well as sticking with one protagonist throughout. I get especially annoyed when the story hops into the head of the villain. I guess a lot of people like that, but I prefer sticking with the hero. :D

Love it, unless it's obnoxious. Then I put on my super-polite Southern belle fangs.

"Well now, those reviewers, bless their hearts, they just don't know good writing from a hole in the ground..." *g*

[dreamflower]

Actually I like experimenting with POV. Omniscient third works for me with longer stories, but also going to alternating limited third, occasional first person, and also experimenting with surface POV and deeper POV. One thing I enjoy is experimenting with two (or more) thinking about the same thing at the same time. A lot of it depends on the length of the piece and the character involved. I just remembered I've even done a second person--but it was only a little dribble!

It's experiments like that which probably would never get published in traditional fiction--but I write fanfic for fun, so I play around all I want.

I do dislike a villain's POV. I do it sometimes, but only for short periods. I always feel like I need brain bleach afterwards. Gollum especially freaks me out.