Writer's survey

So I chanced to see this on Karla Nellenbach's blog, who got it from Raven's blog, who got it from someone and then from someone. I'm not really sure where this chain started, but I decided to go ahead and answer the questions to the best of my ability. If you want to play along, answer the questions and leave a link in the comments section. I'll be sure to check yours out.

1. What's the last thing you wrote? What's the first thing you wrote that you still have?
So, not counting NIKKI's WISH, which I'm still in the process of writing, the last thing I wrote was/is a novel called The Last Castrato - it's about a 16 year old male opera singer who trades his soul to the devil in order to keep his voice only to find out later that he was destined to become a guardian angel. It's shelved for now, but the MC, Daniel makes a cameo appearance in NIKKI's WISH at the very end, and if I ever manage to finish NW, then I think that I'll try to re-write his story again.

The first thing I wrote that I still have, and I'm cheating a bit here because I think that it's stuffed in a box somewhere in the basement - would be a short story that I did back in ninth grade. It was about a naughty little boy who was always getting into things and just happened to be in the bathroom digging around in the medicine cabinet when he came across his mother's chocolate flavored Ex-lax. You can imagine what insued after that!!

2. Write poetry? Sadly, no. But I'm thinking of giving it a try because I think it'll really help me with my descriptive writing.

3. Angsty poetry? Again no.

4. Favorite genre of writing? YA, and more specifically paranormal YA.

5. Most annoying character you've ever created? Aw, this is a hard one because most of my characters are likeable, except for the villain in NW, but I wouldn't necessary call her annoying, just bitchy. I guess if I had to choose it'd be the mother from BETTINA, and this is because she stands by and watches while her son gets beaten up by her husband and she doesn't say anything. She's very weak, and she thinks it's God's will that she (and her son) be punished. So that is rather annoying.

6. Best plot you've ever created? I'd probably say my original version of BETTINA - it's mostly plot driven, everything happens for a reason. Though I'm thinking of doing a massive re-write of it.

7. Coolest plot twist you've ever created? Wow, tough one, and I'm not really certain if I have one, though I do have one in mind if I ever do a re-write of BETTINA. So I guess you could say it's in my head right now.

8. How often do you get writer's block? Hasn't happened for a while. My writing's been slow going for the past few months just because I don't like doing revisions, but i wouldn't call it writer's block. Just me procrastinating.

9. Write fan fiction? No.

10. do you type or write by hand? Type! Type! Type! I love the ability to erase things I don't like with a quick keystroke, and my hand cramps so badly when I hold a pen.

11. do you save everything you write? Yep. I think that I have about 20 different versions of BETTINA.

12. Do you ever go back to an idea after you abandon it? Oh yeah. BETTINA is one example. I have a really good idea of what I'm going to do with it now, but I want to get a polished draft of NW finished first so that I can go through the whole query phase.

13. What's your favorite thing you've ever written? NW, definitely.

14. What's everyone else's favorite story you've ever written? Well, I haven't shared a whole lot of my writing with the outside world yet. I did post first chapters for both NW and BETTINA and I've gotten great compliments on both.

15. Ever written romance or angsty teen drama? NW is a paranormal romance.

16. What's your favorite setting for your characters? My favorite setting is going to come from NW, though I'm torn between the opening scene which happens at the top of Minneapolis's Foshay Tower or a later scene which happens at a creek.

17. How many writing projects are you working on right now? Mainly just NW, but I have things playing in the back of my mind for some re-writes of other things I've done and I have a few ideas for MG books.

18. Have you ever won an award for your writing? Gosh, wouldn't that be sweet?

19. What are your five favorite words? EEK! No, that's not one of them. Let's see... beguiling, flutterby, coercive, calamity and beta-mercaptoethanol (I had to sneak one scientific word in there, and yes, I love how that rolls off the tongue).

20. What character have you created that is most like yourself? Nikki, hands down. though I certainly didn't set out to do that, it was just kind of like, what would she do in this situation, and I find myself thinking yeah, that's what I'd do too. She's a bit naive, a bit of an idealist, a hopeless romantic, makes jokes that no one gets but her, and has a tendency to over think things. She also has a lot of traits that I wish I had - she's much stronger than me, more outgoing, more adventurous and braver all around.

21. Where do you get your ideas for your characters? Mostly I don't think of the characters first, I think of the situations or the theme of the book, then I just write and the characters emerge. The only one I really thought a lot about was the character of Erik for BETTINA, because his character is the theme of the book - what would happen if a gangster were reincarnated?

22. Do you ever write based on your dreams? Haven't yet, although I have a SNI that might emerge from dream - something to do with traveling to parallel words. It'd probably be a MG novel and I haven't given it much thought yet.

23. Do you favor happy endings? I do, and I think that comes from me being a very optimistic type person.

24. Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write? I have automatic spell check on my computer so it alerts me when I've spelled something wrong. As for grammar, I don't worry about it too much because it mostly just comes to me, like that's how it's supposed to sound.

25. Does music help you write? I'm probably the odd person here because I find it distracting and prefer still silence when I write. Though with three kids, I don't get that either.

26. Quote something you've written. Whatever pops in your head.

"Happy Valentine's day, Dr. Soong."

Context: Nikki is responding after just hearing Sam explain how he created "sex-toy" androids for his master, Maxine.