• Mood: quixotic
• Music: Random play on my iPod.

Writing meme! BECAUSE I CAN.

I snagged this from the lovely la_marquise_de_, who is taking the much more sensible "one question a day" approach to things. Being as I am so rarely sensible, I'm just doing it all in one great whack. But I'm doing it behind a cut-tag, which helps at least a little.

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

Really, my favorite universe is Toby's. I love all my worlds, but hers is the one that I've really committed to, the one where I've said "yeah, all right, I can live here for as long as necessary." It's comforting, because I know it so well. It's also terrifying, because I know it so well, and because it's based so much on my actual reality; walking home while half-asleep can result in some very upsetting corner-of-my-eye daydreams! Or daymares, really...

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

I...honestly have no idea how many characters I have. The Velveteen universe alone is somewhere close to a hundred, if not past that point, what with all the minor heroes and villains I have running around. Each Super Patriots team is between four and eight people, and there are a lot of teams.

As for males vs. females, I don't really have a preference. I've only recently started having male POV characters, but their numbers are increasing as time goes on. I prefer that characters be the gender they're supposed to be.

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

Some characters come with their names already in place. Others require naming. For the former, I guess all the work is done for me. For the latter, I tend to look for names that fit them, either in precise meaning, or in the way that they sound. "Clady," for example, is both a little exotic, like Clady herself, and sounds a little bit like "Lady," which is usually a dog's name. As a werecoyote, this is perfect for her.

4. Tell us about one of your first stories/characters!

Oh, wow. Okay. When I was in middle school, I wrote this really depressing post-nuclear war novella called "Heart of Silver," about teenagers who got mutant powers from the nuclear blast. It was incredibly morbid. I bet my mother still has a copy of it somewhere. Not that you'd want to read it, because damn.

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

By age, the oldest character I'm currently writing about is the Luidaeg, who's probably somewhere in the four-to-five thousand range. The youngest is technically May, who's existed for less than a year (it's complicated). The oldest in terms of "time spent actively writing" is Toby, who I first came up with years ago, and the youngest is Cole, the main character in a short story I'm currently working on. She's scary.

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

I prefer to write on computer, when I can, because I type so much faster than I hand-write, especially these days. I don't really care what time of day it is; I've been known to roll out of bed and get straight to work, and also to leave off working until noon, then work past midnight. I can do long-hand when I have to, I'd just rather not if I can help it. My iPod and my Netbook mean that I can turn anyplace that I happen to be into a portable "working author is working" zone.

It is my dream to someday write in the center of a haunted corn maze.

7. Do you listen to music while you write? What kind? Are there any songs you like to relate/apply to your characters?

Oh, constantly. I have playlists for most of my projects (sometimes more than one), but a lot of the time, I just leave my MP3 collection on shuffle. Individual characters have "their" songs, and I tend to listen to those over and over when I get stuck working with the characters that they apply to.

8. What's your favorite genre to write? To read?

To write, urban fantasy. To read, whatever I haven't read yet that happens to be in the "to be read" pile. If I must pick one, probably horror.

9. How do you get ideas for your characters? Describe the process of creating them.

I...don't create them, so much. They just sort of show up, unpack their bags, and force me to write multi-book series for them. It's disconcerting. I envy authors who get an actual say.

10. What are some really weird situations your characters have been in? Everything from serious canon scenes to meme questions counts!

Velveteen kicked a supervillain's ass using a bear-shaped bouncy castle. Georgia jumped an onrushing zombie mob on her motorcycle. And Toby gets out of bed every day. That's weird enough.

11. Who is your favorite character to write? Least favorite?

I love love love writing Georgia Mason. Most characters take a little while to "click," but not George. She was there from the top of page one, and she never left me alone again. I do not, however, really enjoy writing Sparkle Bright, at least not in the modern continuity. She's difficult, for a lot of reasons.

12. In what story did you feel you did the best job of worldbuilding? Any side-notes on it you'd like to share?

I think the Newsflesh universe has the most solid, reasonably simple world basis, because I was able to use so much that already exists. I like Toby's reality better, but it's a lot bigger and harder to understand. As for side-notes...read all the reference material you can. That's what I did.

13. What's your favorite culture to write, fictional or not?

The Aeslin mice. CHEESE AND CAKE!

14. How do you map out locations, if needed? Do you have any to show us?

Usually, on Post-It notes, which I then tape to things until they are no longer needed. I don't have any that I can share, unfortunately. When I need road trip directions, I use Google Maps, and drag things around until I have a suitably creepy, zombie-infested route.

15. Midway question! Tell us about a writer you admire, whether professional or not!

Stephen King. I pray to someday have his discipline and ability to focus.

16. Do you write romantic relationships? How do you do with those, and how “far” are you willing to go in your writing?

I do! I'm pretty decent with them, I think, although I could improve. As for how far I'm willing to go...that depends on the characters. Some characters are perfectly willing to have me write about them having sex. Others aren't, and since I'm often first-person POV, I try not to push it.

17. Favorite protagonist and why!

Alice Price-Healy. She has a lot of guns.

18. Favorite antagonist and why!

The Super Patriots, Inc. Marketing Department. Oh, you have no idea...

19. Favorite minor that decided to shove himself into the spotlight and why!

Tybalt. He was originally supposed to be a one-off character who exited at the end of book two. Joke's on me, huh? Pushy kitty is pushy.

20. What are your favorite character interactions to write?

I love writing Tybalt and Toby, Alice and Thomas, and Shaun and Georgia. They just fit so well together, it's wonderful to wind them up and watch them go. Like little robots made of snark.

21. Do any of your characters have children? How well do you write them?

Several. As to how well I write them...it varies, I suppose. I do pretty well with Alice's kids. The jury's still out on Toby's. I like to think I handle Mitch and Stacy's children well.

22. Tell us about one scene between your characters that you've never written or told anyone about before! Serious or not.

The first time Rose Marshall got to the Last Dance Diner, and met Emma, she was still very disoriented, and very tied to her riders. She stumbled inside, half-corporeal and crying. And Emma made her a malted and a tuna melt, and sat her down, and told her the facts of death. It was a big thing. It's why they're so close, and why they probably always will be.

I should really write that someday.

23. How long does it usually take you to complete an entire story—from planning to writing to posting (if you post your work)?

It depends entirely on the story. Novels can take a while. Feed took two years to write, because it required so much establishment work. Some stories take a day or two. It's all very relative.

24. How willing are you to kill your characters if the plot so demands it? What's the most interesting way you've killed someone?

I am very willing to kill people, I'm afraid. I don't really have a choice. The most interesting way I've killed someone is probably the whole "feeding somebody to a dragon" thing, in a world where dragons were technically extinct at the time.

25. Do any of your characters have pets? Tell us about them.

Toby has two half-Siamese cats and a rose goblin named Spike. Corey has an iguana named Rocky. Clady ate the family cat, so she's not allowed to have pets anymore.

26. Let's talk art! Do you draw your characters? Do others draw them?

I draw some of my characters, usually for reference purposes. I get a lot of art from Bill Mudron and Amy Mebberson, both of whom are awesome and wonderful and amazing. And, of course, my cover artists draw my characters. Which still freaks me out more than a little bit.

27. Along similar lines, do appearances play a big role in your stories? Tell us about them, or if not, how you go about designing your characters.

Yes, and no. Some characters, it doesn't really matter, and they just sort of roll merrily along. Other characters, it matters a lot. Corey, for example, gets into a lot of trouble because she happens to have the right looks to be the girl who plays Babylon Archer in the movies. Toby mostly just looks like she wasn't even supposed to be here today.

28. Have you ever written a character with physical or mental disabilities? Describe them, and if there's nothing major to speak of, tell us a few smaller ones.

Jan needs glasses. The Claw is half-lobster. Sarah Zellaby is allergic to bug spray and is also prosopagnosic. Dianda is in a wheelchair, but she's also a mermaid, so that's a bit more nebulous.

29. How often do you think about writing? Ever come across something IRL that reminds you of your story/characters?

Yes, all the time, and yes, all the time. I pretty much run on writer-mode almost constantly, and things are always making me go "wow, that makes me think of..." It's a thing.

30. Final question! Tag someone! And tell us what you like about that person as a writer and/or about one of his/her characters!

I don't really tag people, per se. But I respect Jim Hines as a writer because of his flexibility, dedication, and bravery, and I love his Snow White for being sex-positive, flirty, and a realistic person. It's awesome.