What’s Your Writing Style?

1. Are you a “ pantser ” or a “ plotter? ”

Though I don't entirely know what ' pantser ' means, I figure its slang for just whipping out a story as you write. I guess most of my work is thought of on the spot, but when I truly start getting into a story, if it has hope, I over-think it and want to plot out the rest. And its then that I go wrong, because I can't THINK of a plot, and it puts a halt to my stories.

2. Detailed character sketches or “their character will be revealed to me as a I write”?

Its a funny process that I think is repetitive with me: The main character I write in pretty much any of my stories is just as mysterious to me as I am to myself. I don't know who they are, just as I don't know entirely who I am and what I'm capable of. I learn as I go. On the other hand, I tend to have a more detailed formation of the characters surrounding the main character of whom I want to write about. Its weird, I know, but I seem to have a better handle on a story if I know whats going around the main character, esp. if I don't fully understand the main character on its own.

3. Do you know your characters’ goals, motivations, and conflicts before you start writing or is that something else you discover only after you start writing?

Generally I develope the main character as I go, which includes conflicting elements and how they'll react to certain plot points. And I guess that sort of makes it more fun writing, because I don't always know whats going to happen!

4. Books on plotting – useful or harmful?

Can't say I've read any, but I'd rather develop my own process somehow instead of trying to learn someone else's.

5. Are you a procrastinator or does the itch to write keep at you until you sit down and work?

I write when inspiration strikes, but it comes to a complete halt when I start to over-think where the story should go, and from there on, its procrastination, sadly.

6. Do you write in short bursts of creative energy, or can you sit down and write for hours at a time?

Both.

7. Are you a morning or afternoon writer?

I think I can be more of a seasonal writer, actually, lol. But also, mostly, a night writer, definitely.

8. Do you write with music/the noise of children/in a cafe or other public setting, or do you need complete silence to concentrate?

Sometimes complete silence can distract me, but if I was surrounded by people chatting, that would be extremely annoying. Music is the way I go, foremost.

9. Computer or longhand? (or typewriter?)

My brain works far faster than my hand can follow, and that leaves me frustrated to get it all down before it leaves again, therefore I am most DEFINITELY a computer writer. However, I do have one story going in a notebook right now, because it will be a comic, and I draw around the words in some places.

10. Do you know the ending before you type Chapter One?

When I start writing, I don't have a plot. But when I start to think of how the plot should be, I instinctively think of how it will end, and then fill in the middle. I think I should try to do it differently, because this way is NOT working for me, lol.

11. Does what’s selling in the market influence how and what you write?

Ugh. It definitely puts pressure on me. Thoughts run through my head like "Well, shitty writing like Twilight hits the most fans, maybe I should just make my story uber-gooshy" or "Oh no, this writing seems too much like the movie ________ or the book _______" and those thoughts keep me from just WRITING. So I have to stop and reflect and just tell myself that I NEED to just write for ME to make myself happy and thats all that matters. I think far too much just about what will SELL and what won't, when I don't even know if my book will make it to shelves, but I shouldn't even worry about that now or ever.

12. Editing – love it or hate it?

To tell you the truth, it makes me feel better. I try to expand my vocabulary so I can get more interesting words inside my stories, so sometimes I go back through pieces of them and re-word things. Other times I just like reading what I write and then I'll catch a mistake and fix it right then. I don't really view it as a chore, that I NEED to edit, I just happen to edit while I am reading my stuff. I hear its bad to re-read what you've written before you finish something, but bah... we all have a system, and this just might be how mine works.










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