Questionnaire about writing!

My friend Christina over at Consider the Coffee tagged me to answer a few questions about writing!  Without further adieu, here are my answers:

What word do you use too much in your writing?

your basic filler words, mostly: than, said, I, the main character's first name,



Which words do you consider overused in stuff you read?

depends on the genre and time period it was written in. ... although, most of the books i've read recently have been pretty good about word diversity. it bothers me, though, when an author uses a really good word, and then overuses that word. ruins it.


What's your favourite piece of writing (written by you)?

at the moment, my favorite piece is "Awake", even though it's only in its outline stage. but i've had the plot around me for quite a long time and i'm in love with that little world ;)


Regrets, do you have a few? Is there anything you wish you hadn't written?

there is one, and it's been published! i have a feeling it might have gotten me out of a few legitimate jobs because when you search my name in google, it's the first thing that comes up.


How has your writing made a difference?

for me, other than God and my earthly relationships, writing is my absolute favorite thing to do. it takes me out of whatever might be bothering me ... a quiet little place in my head in my own world with my own fabricated people.


Favourite words

snarky. it just sounds like exactly what it is :)


Least favourite words

i'll have to say "swear words" too ... sadly, they've got their place sometimes (a time for everything, right?), but when they're over-repeated (such as in some movies), it takes me right out of the story.
... and it's not one word, but when a "bad guy" says, "time to die!" it just smacks of cheesiness.


Do you have a writing mentor, role model or inspiration?

it keeps changing. i like Jhumpa Lahiri a lot for modern stuff. Oscar Wilde has always been my favorite "classic" writer. and as strange as it might sound, the TV show Lost has inspired a lot of my writing ... it's an incredibly crafted plot!


Writing Ambition?

I would love to be published and be able to quit my day job ;) maybe it'll work out better than my rock star ambition!

Outlines, Audiobooks, and other rambling stuff

The Outline (again)

Yes, I got my outline to 50,000 words (and worked much too hard to make the number exact). It's excessive, and I'm guessing the finished product won't be much longer than that. Although, I've got to add all the dialogue, so that could take up a few thousand more words. I think the story itself is nice and solid now. When I wrote it before, I only got up to 40,000 words, and there were way too many plot gaps for it to be considered good at all. Ask me on December 1st if the monstrous outline was worth it.

Audiobooks

In an effort to keep my brain happily occupied at work while I'm doing things that don't require much thought, I've been looking for something worthwhile to listen to. I found a very good website called LibriVox, which specializes in making public domain (i.e. classic) books available free to the public. Today, I started listening to the German version of The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the guy who reads it makes me love the German language more than I thought I would (very expressive ... beautiful voice).

Yes, I understand a little German. In listening to this book (got through 3 and a half chapters before I went home), I understood about half of it. It helps a lot that I'm familiar with the story already.

But the website (LibriVox) has mostly English books. I haven't listened to any of the others yet, but I'm looking forward to letting my brain occupy itself with some classics while my hands sort the mail/email at work.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

I'd really forgotten how much I enjoyed this story. I've read it 2 or 3 times already, and saw a movie version of it (from 1945). I didn't like that movie because Dorian didn't show any emotions ... I don't think that's an accurate portrayal of the character because even though Dorian became evil, that doesn't necessarily mean he's got a blank face all the time.

I even got to thinking that my current project, Awake, is sci-fi/fantasy in the same way that The Picture of Dorian Gray is sci-fi/fantasy. That is, a tiny plot point is supernatural, and the rest of the story is rooted in reality. I enjoy reading things like that because I don't have to learn a completely new world or alien races, etc. (such as Lord of the Rings -- which I loved, by the way).

Awake is also a mystery in the same way that the TV show Lost is a mystery. There's no "whodunnit" to figure out, just a big "what the heck just happened??" As such, it's extremely difficult to categorize my story. Is it urban fantasy? mystery? literary ... something? Ah, you guys don't know because I'm not giving out any plot details, am I? I like that to be a secret because ... I just do.

I guess genre placement doesn't matter a whole lot, and I'm not worried about it. But when it comes to submission (It'll get to that point probably this time next year once I'm done with the tedious and numerous edits), it helps to pick out who to send it to. Anyway. Doesn't matter. Thanks for reading all this rambling!