the_rck

Remaining questions from

silverr:

The most useful piece of writing advice you've ever received (or puzzled out for yourself)?

I don't usually seek out writing advice because it tends to confuse me. I mostly write by instinct rather than by plan (which comes back to bite me from time to time). The things I've picked up that have stuck with me are basic technical things like picking a point of view character for a scene and sticking with them the whole time or not being afraid to use the word 'said' or the characters' names. I used fangirl Japanese in the first couple of things I posted. I'm unlikely to do that now. Though I do still often use honorifics when writing anime/manga fandoms. I think they're important bits of characterization. I'm always afraid of not doing them right, but I think they're necessary in a lot of cases.

I think, though, that the most useful thing I've learned is to tell the story that speaks to me. Even if I'm writing a story for a specific other person and trying to match their tastes, I need to find something in the story that works for me in order to be able to write well. Even if I'm writing a character or trope that never appealed to me before, I have to find something about it that works for me or the story will be hollow. I have learned that pretty much any character can fascinate me if I dig far enough. There are still some I'm not comfortable writing because I'm not sure I can write them well, but there's always something I can latch on to, some place I can start.

Things that aggravate you the most?

That's pretty simple-- People saying they'll do something and then not doing it and not telling me that they won't be doing it. I understand that circumstances change and that things come up. Sometimes we all promise things we can't deliver on. I just-- It frustrates me to no end to be relying on someone for something and have them not come through and not tell me that they can't or won't do it. There are usually alternative avenues I can pursue if I know. When I don't know, I wait and wait and whatever it is ends up not done at all because the time when it could be done is past.

Favorite food or type of cuisine?

This is hard. Most cuisines tend to use ingredients I can't handle-- Peppers, tomatoes, peanuts, eggs, and various troublesome spices turn up all over the place, often with no warning. Usually, there are only a few things on the menu that I can safely eat, and half of those are things I'm pretty sure I won't enjoy. I haven't found any particular cuisine that reliably has a lot of options I can eat without getting sick.

I suppose my current favorite would be Ethiopian food as served at Blue Nile (I don't know about Ethiopian food elsewhere. I haven't tried it). I know very clearly there which things I can safely eat and which I can't, and it's all very, very tasty. But we went in once and discovered they'd temporarily changed their menu. That was difficult because, once again, I had no idea what I could safely eat. The menu descriptions either didn't help or told me that I definitely couldn't eat what was offered.

Favorite fictional critter (striped or not)?

I didn't try to dig into my library in the basement to find candidates (though I'm sure I'm forgetting some I really love). I just skimmed over our DVDs and the books upstairs and drew a bit on my own memories. Honorable mentions go to Ein (Cowboy Bebop), Stitch (Lilo and Stitch), Mogget (Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series), the fire lizards in general (Anne McCaffrey's Pern books), Gromit (Wallace and Gromit), Perry the Platypus (Phineas and Ferb), and Totoro and the Cat Bus (My Neighbor Totoro).

I settled, however, on Gonzo the Great. I've known him since childhood and have always loved his willingness to try new and unexpected things. He's never put off by failure, even spectacular failure. A lot of his ideas are things no sane person would follow through on, and he does anyway. He never seems to get discouraged.