writing meme

[kindkit]

I am, believe it or not, trying to be Cheerful and Positive, fannishly and in other aspects of life. *laughs* Yeah, not one of my natural talents, but it's worth a try occasionally. So, in the spirit of cheerful positivity, a meme.

Ask me any of these questions:

1. Of the fic you’ve written, of which are you most proud?
2. Favorite tense
3. Favorite POV
4. What are some themes you love writing about?
5. What inspires you to write?
6. Thoughts on critique
7. Create a character on the spot... NOW!
8. Is there a character you love writing for the most? The least? Why?
9. A passage from a WIP
10. What are your strengths in writing?
11. What are your weaknesses in writing?
12. Anything else that you want to know... (otherwise known as Fill in the Blank)


ETA: Because this is crossposted, some of my responses are on DW and some are on LJ.

Comments

[malnpudl]

I'd love to see you do #7, if it would please you.

[kindkit]

With the caveat that I'm not very good at instant characters (I need to write them and get to know them slowly--it's like the difference between reading someone's dating profile versus spending time with them):

Alan Michael Shore, 26 years old in 1947, from Birmingham (England). His father was (is--he's still alive) a shop foreman in a chemical plant. Alan's the second youngest of four and attended grammar school on a scholarship. He joined the RAF in May 1940--there hadn't seemed to be any point during the "phony war"--and hoped to be a pilot. Everyone hoped to be a pilot, but Alan's reflexes just weren't fast enough. He washed out after nearly wrecking a plane on his first solo and was then trained as a navigator. He went on 20-odd operational flights and was made a Pilot Officer, having started out a sergeant, before being wounded by German fighter fire over France in 1941. Luckily his plane was on its way back so he got medical treatment before he could bleed to death. He was grounded after that, mostly because he didn't push hard not to be; bombing German cities may have been necessary for the war effort but his conscience was never entirely at ease with it. After that he worked in radar and technical things I'd have to research, spent a miserable year in the Pacific, and finished the war a Flight Lieutenant. He wasn't demobilized until mid-1946, which was just as well because he soon found there was no civilian job for him. His technical skills weren't easily transferrable, his class origins showed in his accent so he didn't have a hope of getting a professional job, he didn't want to teach and while his father offered to wangle him a job in the factory, it wasn't what he wanted. In the end he had to accept, though, but he's taking night classes in the hope of qualifying as an engineer.

He's gay, of course (I have no interest in writing straight men) and used to be troubled by it. The one good thing the war did for him was help him accept himself, partly because he met other gay and bisexual men and partly because who he went to bed with didn't seem very important in comparison to the war. He had a couple of affairs during the war as well as a lot of casual sex, and postwar he'd like to meet someone he could really be close to and trust. He doesn't think of himself as romantic, but he'd like to be able to trust someone and talk to him about anything. It's not easy, though. Everything's a lot more constrained and nervous than it was during the war, and living at home doesn't help.

[lilliburlero]

I like Alan, half-formed notwithstanding. Rather a lot. :-)

[st_aurafina]

Yay, I like him! And I suspect he's not going to like the fifties very much at all, poor guy.

[malnpudl]

Oh, lovely. I can see your Alan so clearly, and I feel for him. I would like to know him better.

You don't do simple or superficial. I love that about your writing.