A Writing tag I found

1. When did you start writing?

I have been writing since I understood the concept. However, I didn't start writing seriously until the first Narnia movie came out and I decided that they did a terrible job. So when a friend suggested that we write and preform our own version, I thought it a great idea. And since I was the most adamant about the plot (as well as the eldest of the three of us working on it ... We were going to find more people to play the rest of the parts - honest!) I was elected to do the actual writing.

That play has slowly morphed into what is now The Rizkaland Legends. Very little of Narnia remains.

2. Do you have a soft spot for a particular character (come on, be honest!)?

Um ... let me think about this question ...

Yes.

Her name is Maryanne, and she can get me to do anything she wants me to do. It's a good thing that she has (as a friend put it) a strange sense of fun, and loves it when bad things happen so that she can go on adventures.

I've worked with her from age one and a half to in her late forties/early fifties. She's fun at pretty much any age.

3. If you had to choose between reading and writing, which would you choose?

Oh, grr ... must I chose?
Probably writing. I'd go bonkers if I didn't write.

4. How often do you have to "rush off" to write down an idea before it evaporates?

I don't do this as often as I should ... which results in me loosing so much excellent stuff ... but, usually I just think on the good idea for several minutes to an hour (or all day long if it's really good) until it's crystallized and I don't think I'll forget it. It's not often that I forget something that is too terribly good.

5. Do you plot/outline your book or wing it?

I plot, but it's mostly in my head. I've been known to write down summaries, but that's not terribly often. I know where I'm going, but it's not likely that you're going to see where I'm going.

6. Are you a sucker for happy endings or do you leave your readers in misery?

And they all lived happily ever after ...

I love a good happily ever after - especially the sort that have a wedding or two involved. Sometimes they're a bit bittersweet, or more of a cliff hanger, but usually it's a happily ever after. Not always the happily ever after you might have expected ... but, still, a happily ever after.

7. How protective are you of your novel?

Not very.

Would you like to read over Infiltration or The Ankulen? Feel free to email me (You can find my email on my FAQ's page). Please note that what I'm offering are the rough drafts, and that they're both horrid (especially near the beginnings) and the final form will probably be nothing like what I have. Or, at least, very little like.

8. Plans for publishing eventually? Self-publish or traditional?

*cough, cough* Do I HAVE to answer this one?

9. Are you guilty of using the old cliche plot element? How are you trying to make it fresh?

Oh yes. I live and thrive on cliche. Princesses with RPS (rebellious princess syndrome)? Send 'em here. Knocking kids into magic worlds and telling them they have to save it? I've got several. Self inserts? I'm the master.

However, just because I use cliche doesn't mean that how I use it is cliche. For instance, I always make sure that my my princess has a good reason for rebelling (She accidently got her gift swapped with her twin brother, she caught RPS, her mother was secretly a dragon ...), and self inserts ... well, if they're handled properly, they're fine. Tiger, for instance, is the personification of one of my goals - she's an herbalist. I'd like to be an herbalist. However, I decided to draw the line and not give her my other skills (in early versions she was also a knitter and a baxter (female baker). Now Snap's the baxter ...) and I made sure that she had my flaw.

10. Tell a little about a character you are currently fleshing out.

Oh grr ... umm ... Lillillil or Rikkard ... Lillillil or Rikkard?

I'll do Rikkard. I want Lillillil to remain in mystery for a while longer.

Rikkard is an Alivock, which is a Vulcan-like people who live on the planet Silivock. Like Vulcans, Alivocks prize logic and knowledge, and are telepathic  Unlike Vulcans, they do not shun emotion. However, they feel that it can cloud judgement, so they merely let it have it's place - in privacy. They're also shorter, smaller, and have rounded ears.

Rikkard is a teacher. In specific, a high-thoughts teacher (a rough translation - the Alisili word doesn't translate well to English). This means that he is one of the smarter Alivocks - and for a people who Mensa is dumb ... well, that's saying something.

He's also an explorer, so he decides to make a trek into the unknown. Unfortunately he'll meet with the Silions (a people who prize spontaneity and fun. Physically they're just like the Alivocks, only they're more empathetic and, as I've said before, prize spontaneity. They're plenty smart ... they just don't always seem to use their smarts) and end up their prisoner. He ends up the private tutor to Princess Lillillil (who is convinced that he is in love with her. She's in love with him.) and hilarity ensues.

11. Which is the better chocolate? White, milk, or 75% dark?

White. And if they have peppermint mixed in ...

Let's just say, I got some of those candy cane Hershey kisses for Christmas, and I guard them things with my life.