Writer's Meme

Hi!  Welcome to the writer’s meme.  First, describe yourself in three to five words.

Capricious.  Pragmatic.  Spirited.  Amused.  Inspired.

OK, good!  Now, how long have you been writing for?

Probably since 4th grade.  It was assigned for school, but since then I’ve been writing more or less constantly.  So about 9 years.  Mostly poetry, but I have started a couple stories, which – hopefully – will become longer novels or some such.  I’ve written several short stories over the years, but I’m only proud of a couple of those.

There’s always the dreaded subject of  “writer’s block.”  What do you do to overcome it?

Poetry doesn’t really suffer writer’s block, but I do tend to write less when I’m happy and/or content.  With the stories, I do have writer’s block, but I generally don’t have time to write anyways… so I haven’t really overcome it.  >.<

In regard to my stories, I think the main cause of my writer’s block is lack of confidence.  I write my stories, and I’ll vacillate between liking and disliking my work.  Sometimes I think my writing is too melodramatic or fantastic.  Only one of my stories is up here, though, since most everything I have are works-in-progress.  

So, what do you most like to write about?

My emotions.  I don’t know if I LIKE-like writing about them, but I do most of the time, so… yeah.  I do like to write about lots of stuff, though.  

Do you have a favorite—FAVORITE—author?  Or just someone/something that inspires you to get motivated?

Author-wise, I can’t say I have a favorite.  I have books which I love, but I can’t name a favorite  author.  As a poet, I like Emily Dickinson.  I didn’t like her for a long time, but within the last year or so I’ve grown to respect her and really appreciate her poetry.  

Inspiration-wise, I think I’m inherently motivated, so I draw inspiration from pretty much everywhere.  It just depends on my mood.  Anywhere I am, if something strikes me, I have to jot it down.  I guess you could say I’m constantly ambushed by inspiration.  hahaha

Writers tend to “baby” certain characters.  What one or two characters could you simply not live without, currently?

I would say that most of the characters in my poems are… not really defined.  Since I write about my feelings, most of the speakers are probably… me?  So, my poetry characters don’t really work for this question.

In the way of story characters, I haven’t added to the stories for a couple years, now.  So I don’t really have any characters I can’t live without.    I just haven’t been living with them, so I guess I’ve been living without them.  I wouldn’t want to kill any of them, though.

*GASP*  You’re faced with the dilemma of killing off one your characters!  Which one is it, and why?

I have a work in progress which I haven’t put up here, and I think I would kill off one of the parents of the main character.  Don’t know which one, but the reason would be to add conflict to further develop the main character.  

Finally, you’re stuck on a deserted island with one of your characters.  Which one is it and why?

I would say Vassy or Ian.  Both of them (as yet undeveloped) are definitely more-than-meets-the-eye characters, and I would love to get to know them better.