Ask me things! Sexy things! Or whatever.

[sulwen]

Stolen from gypsy_scribbles

The problem with LJ: we all think we are so close, but really, we know nothing about each other. So I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away.

Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you.

And remember, NOTHING is taboo, absolutely nothing! (In fact, the jucier the better! :D )

I am not shy, so don't ask unless you really wanna know!

Comments

[sulwen.livejournal.com]

First of all...AWWWWW!!! I wish you were here right now so I could hug you and grin at you and tell you how much that means to me. I don't feel like I can ever express it well enough through text. <3

I've been writing since before I can remember. There are folders and folders of paper stored away in boxes that I can't bring myself to throw away, some handwritten, some done on a typewriter (I had one when I was a kid and I loved it!), some printed out from computer after computer, with more saved on various hard drives. I've always loved to read more than anything in the world, and I think that's what made me start telling stories of my own.

Now, that's not to say that I've always written on a consistent basis. I've gone years without writing a word...but it's something I've always come back to.

Influences...well, my mother always pushed me toward writing. I started college as a music major, French horn performance. When I ran into some serious struggles with that, she asked me to really think about why I wasn't doing something with writing, since it comes so naturally to me. I did, and ended up switching to a creative writing major. I'm as good as finished with it now, after several slow years of balancing work and school.

As far as literary influences, Tolkien was my first true love. After him it was Stephen King. I would say that I idolize the two of them equally, for very different things. My current favorite author is definitely Patrick Rothfuss.

I think my writing has improved greatly over the years, and I hope it will continue to do so. Reading work from only a year ago is almost painful, and I just want to edit it like crazy. If I had to choose one aspect that's improved the most, it would be dialogue. Description comes the easiest to me, while dialogue is the hardest. I've worked for a long time to be able to write natural-sounding speech, and I'm still not happy with it, though it's getting better.

As far as grammar goes...the short answer is no, I haven't really studied it, not beyond your typical student. I might know a little more than most people due to my English degree, but I honestly think the most important thing here is how much I read. I don't do grammar by rules - I do it by feel. I don't even really think about it as I write most of the time. It pretty much comes out just as you see it on the screen. I think that I've just read so much in my life that I have a sense of what's right and what's wrong. You may have noticed that I break with traditional grammar rules quite a lot, particularly when it comes to run-on sentences. That's part of what I mean by writing by feel. If a run-on feels right, I'm gonna leave it in. It seems to be working. :)

I got into fanfiction - reading it, anyway - way back in seventh grade, over ten years ago. I don't remember exactly how I discovered it, but once I did, I was totally hooked. I've been an active participant in a multitude of fandoms ever since then. However, this fandom is the first one I've written for in any significant amount, as you can see by my fic index. I don't know what it is about Adam and Tommy, exactly, but they've really opened the floodgates for me, and I love how it feels to be writing this much this easily.

Anything else that's relevant...let's see. I wish I was better at writing long pieces. I've been attempting to write novels for many years now, and I've never managed to finish even one draft. Either the story doesn't hold my attention for long enough, or the writing just gets so terrible that I can't bring myself to look at it anymore. This is a big problem for me, since writing and publishing novels is my big dream. That's why I sometimes feel bad about writing fanfiction. I love doing it, but it's not going to help me at all with my potential career. So if you see me angst over fic, that's why.

And HOLY CRAP this got long! If I haven't bored you to tears yet and you think of any more questions, let me know! :)

[medea-aries.livejournal.com]

Sorry to jump in, but this was really interesting. Just for the record, I think you are an amazing writer too, and I love your fic.

The trying to write longer pieces kind of caught my attention. See, once I heard a writer say she was teaching a class on creative writing, and one of the biggest problems she had run into was that everyone wanted to be good, so they backed off from exploring interesting ideas for fear of... well, you know. So, she got an idea, and from then on, started the semester by telling her students that, as their assignment, they were going to write a bad novel. Something just for themselves, something self indulgent that they loved, even if it wasn't good.
So, maybe you could try writing a bad novel? You can fix it when you are done, or not.

[sulwen.livejournal.com]

Lol, no worries! You can jump in wherever, bb. And thank you. :)

I've done that. The bad novel thing. It's a lot of the theory behind NaNo (www.nanowrimo.org if you haven't heard of it), which I've won three times. It doesn't seem to be enough to get me all the way through - my self-talk becomes so distressingly negative that I have to stop. Someday...maybe. Thanks for the tip, though!

[medea-aries.livejournal.com]

Three times? Wow. Also, I don't think you know quite how many people adore your writing. You are awesome. Someday, we will be able to convince you too.

*cheers you and your hubby on for your writing* You two sound like you are great together, by the way.