The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

30 Days of Writing: Day Six

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

Where are you most comfortable writing? At what time of day? Computer or good ol’ pen and paper?

I’ve got that wonderful ability that I can write anywhere at any time of day. I like writing in the afternoon to night best. I find I come up with my best turns of phrase later in the day, but if I get the urge to write at 4 am, I will.

I write wherever I can. On a bus. On a boat. In a car. Sitting in a museum. Lying in bed. In the library. At my desk.

I can write on the computer, but I prefer using pen and paper. I love journals–I got several lovely ones during my sojourn in Florence. I always use the same pen. I’ve written with this type for years…going on three, I think. I’ve only had one explode on me, and that was earlier this week. That’s a pretty good track record.

Writing on computers makes me think of writing papers for school. I don’t mind it, but I find my brain works best when I’m physically forming the letters, not typing. Trouble is, I type faster than I hand write…typing is more at the speed of my brain.

30 Days of Writing: Day Five

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

By age, who is your youngest character? Oldest? How about “youngest” and “oldest” in terms of when you created them?

Oldest by age, Geoffrey, my sadly neglected character. He’s immortal and has been around for a very long time. The official age is “older than dirt.” I like writing him. He’s seen the world, but just wants to be a normal guy. As normal as he can be. Plus it gives me an excuse to use the historical information I’ve found out through my life. He’s hung around with the Levites, the Romans, the Celts…great fun.

Youngest by age, I think is Beatrice, who makes her first appearance as a toddler. She’s the daughter of another character. The story she’s in now, she’s about six or seven. She’s boisterous, sweet, kind of adorable (if I do say so myself).

The character I’ve been writing the longest is Geoffrey. I created him in seventh grade, and I’ve been writing him ever since. Alas, he never gets a story of his own, poor guy. Mostly just short scenes that want to be part of a larger work.

The character I’ve been writing for the shortest period of time is a guy named Simon Drake. He’s got a fun history, and he’s got a lot of potential. But, like Geoff, he’s got a case of ‘good character sans plot’.

30 Days of Writing: Day Four

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

Tell us about one of your first stories/characters!

Where to begin? With my epic stories I’d tell myself when I was a little kid, acting them out with my Barbies and action figures? The plethora of stories I wrote in the first grade (including my simplistic history of the American Revolution)?

No.

My fourth grade class started publishing work. My teacher would select the works she liked best and we would edit, rewrite, and illustrate the books to be bound and put in the school library, where they would be available to check out.

I wrote a story called Hike, Champion, Hike! It was about a lovable Siberian husky named Champion who’s owner Catherine enters a sled race. Champion was the lead dog.

I don’t remember much of the story. I was big into the Iditarod at the time, and set the story in Alaska (despite having never been there. Which is still true). It was cute.

One of these days I’ll see if the book is still at the library.

30 Days of Writing: Day Three

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

How do you come up with names, for characters (and for places if you’re writing about fictional places)?

Most of the time, I slap a name on a character and hope it works.

In my misguided youth, I thought I could create names like JRR Tolkien. After many pseudo-Tolkien names, I realized that I do not accurately create languages. I also realized that names reflect the culture, so I determined that rather than force awkward names on my characters, I should work on creating cultures and family traditions. My hero of The Continent has a Roman name (Livius) despite not being Italian because it’s something his family has done for generations.

My names are often allusions to other works or people–I have a current character named McGoohan for Patrick McGoohan, who played Number Six in The Prisoner. Another character is Bradbury, for Ray, author of Fahrenheit 451. Sometimes, as in the cases of McGoohan and Bradbury, these allusions work. Other times, they border on the ridiculous. I named a character Orlando for Shakespeare’s character (and also Orlando Bloom, because I was thirteen when I came up with this character). It didn’t fit, and the poor guy wandered around with an uncomfortable name until he happened on one that suited him. That name was Geoffrey (for Chaucer).

Some characters, like Geoffrey, ‘name themselves’. They stumble about with names that don’t fit until, somehow, they find one that fits. A more recent character (gasp, a female!) was stuck with Louisa until she asserted herself and said, “Listen Beth. My name is Penelope.” Which is just better for her.

My most commonly used name at the moment is Simon. My RAF story has a primary character named Simon Reed, another Simon (surname: Drake) is currently in search of a story, and a few more have Simons as secondary characters (and Simon is one of Geoffrey’s middle names).

For fictional places, I use allusions as well. In The Continent‘s original form, it took place in a solar system that had been populated, primarily, by Italians (why not), so the planets were all named for regions of Italy. The cities and towns were transferred onto the planets as well. Kind of weak, but I thought it would work. Of course, the names should change a bit, to reflect the changing language (as Haarlem became Harlem and so forth).

I’m trying to name an English country house right now. It’s not a terribly big house, a cottage, really. I’m kind of thinking Shangri-La, but that’s just cliche.

30 Days of Writing: Day Two

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

How many characters do you have? Do you prefer males or females?

A two part question deserves a two part answer.

How many characters do I have?

As many as I need.

I can’t put a number to the horde. It depends on the story. I’ve written some quite well with two characters, one was within a single character’s head, and others (my more ambitious) with casts of thousands, each with their own subplot that intricately connects with other characters’ plots.

I collect characters like a kid does Pokemon cards.

Phew.

Do I prefer males or females?

I prefer males. There’s no particular reason for it, I just create more male characters. I’ve created several female characters whom I’m quite fond of, and definitely want to write more about, but…the stories I’m trying to tell call for male characters.

Maybe one of these days I’ll surprise myself and write a completely female-centric story. I have one in mind…

30 Days of Writing: Day One

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

Tell us about your favorite writing project/universe that you’ve worked with and why.

Hmm…that’s a tough one. The one that I’m working on now is pretty awesome (alas, not my RAF one), but I’m cowriting that one and didn’t come up with the world, so we’ll go with The Continent.

The Continent, my unstuck in time story, has changed it’s world so many times. In its inception, it was a solar system, then it became a planet, and then, I determined it would be best placed on Earth.

It’s a future, an undetermined distance forward in time, where continental Europe has fully become one country to, in the infinite wisdom of the politicians, prevent war. This ticks off the main character, whose brother is one of those politicians. My main story arc follows the members of the Resistance.

I enjoy coming up with the situations surrounding the world, from the political to the every day social. I enjoy history, so I’m researching different historical periods (from Napoleonic to WWII) to determine how I want this world to function socially.

I don’t want to share too much about the other world, because that one’s still in the planning stages. It’s so fun to plan, though.