Tag, I’ll Do It!

tiger tackleBlame Murphy. I’m not usually one for joining memes but this sounded interesting, and I wanted to blog anyway.

So the way it works: answer the questions, come up with eleven of my own, and tag more people to keep the game going. Sort of a chain letter but more interesting. 🙂

Right then. Here goes.

 1.) Which one of your characters is your favorite to write? Why?

Oh, start with a tough one! Ouch! Umm…that changes depending on who I’m writing. I love writing Taro because it’s so easy. Just charge forward. Taro is about as Aries as one can get, so picture the ram charging forward, butting his head on anything in the way, and you know that leads to some awesome (from an observer’s point of view!) situations.

I love writing Joss because he’s wild. Joss does what Joss wants to do, and that too leads to some fun scenes.

Then there’s Lukas, who I’m writing now, who is rock-solid and steady usually, but Alan has him all spun ’round and their clashes make me grin and giggle… Yeah, I can’t answer this.

2.) Name something you and this character share.

Uh oh. Umm…sometimes I charge forward without thought for the consequences. Sometimes I just have to break free, like Taro. Joss…I’m not gonna cop to wanting to do some of the things Joss just goes ahead and does, but I will admit that we share a love of reading, of learning things. Lukas–well, sometimes I’m capable of day-by-day, slow-and-steady wins the race? Writing is probably the only place in my life that (somewhat) works that way, actually. I will plant my butt in the chair pretty much every day, and I may only creep forward by two hundred words, but creeping /will/ occur. Alan– *g* well, I’ve been known to challenge inanimate objects to duels too. (The difference? Alan wins. >_> )

3.) How did you get bit by the writing bug?

I used to make up elaborate daydreams, and I got tired of forgetting them. So I started writing them down.

4.) What’s the weirdest medical affliction you’ve ever suffered from?

My second year in Arizona, I started getting these brown patches on my skin. Like huge spreading freckles inside my right elbow, around my neck, my left armpit… It wasn’t painful or itchy or anything, but it caught a lot of attention and some people were nervous about touching me. Eventually it stopped spreading, then faded, and now only I can see where it was. Also, I once had to get a series of shots because I got bitten by a guy at work, but that’s not really an affliction, I guess.

5.) Cats or dogs? I promise I won’t judge.

You better not! I have cats. I like dogs, but I don’t have time for one. Cats are easy, especially when you have a child to put in charge of litterbox cleaning. At various times, though, I’ve kept dogs, cats, rats, a cockatiel, and co-habitated with iguanas. Of them all–I prefer cats. They are much quieter than dogs and birds, I’m not allergic as I am to rats, and they do not poop everywhere as iguanas do.

6.) Opinion on country music, please.

Some of it’s good? But I don’t listen to it often. Much of it is depressing, and also there’s a lot of mindless jumping on the holier-than-thou wagon crap. That stuff pisses me off. (This is more my image of Christ, which I came to through the simple expedient of actually reading my Bible.) (and don’t start with “I love all ppl, just hate the gay lifestyle” because if you hate something that is an integral and important part of someone…well, if you can’t see the problems in that we’re never going to see eye to eye.)

*ahem* I love this song and this one, and oh! this one. Actually, pretty much all Terri Clark, and also Alan Jackson as he writes amazing songs, Alabama ’cause I love me some harmony, and–well, here’s a playlist you can check out if you’re that interested. (okay, okay, biggest reason I don’t listen? There you are, doing something perfectly commonplace, and a song comes along and pounces, making you bawl like a 2yo denied candy.)

7.) What’s a historical event would you like to write about or have written about?

I’m not much into re-writing things, and I don’t have an obsession with any particular event. I like to tie history into my work, though. Right now I’m writing about Lukas and Alan, which is a story mostly about them falling in love, but part of that picture is how their relationship is not legitimate in the eyes of society. How they don’t have the same rights everyone else does. I’m not going to compare it to the civil rights movement, but I will be presenting aspects of it in a subplot that I hope will invite thoughts on the main plot. (Also I’m using the Underground Railroad because people should be reminded of the awesome that was the Underground Railroad.)

8.) Have you ever been in love? How would you describe it?

I’m very odd about “in love.” I like it just fine–for other people. I write stories where characters fall in love and it changes their lives, but it’s more a catalyst for self-change than a “omg I’m in love and life is beautiful!” thing.

I loved my husband very much. I’m not sure I was “in love” as people recognize it or that I ever have been. Or maybe it’s just because society has made love out to be this huge amazing thing that most real-life relationships can’t possibly live up to. I also don’t think head-over-heels in love till you die is for everyone–or that we should all think we’re missing out if we don’t have it. Why is loving one person in one certain way the only thing that makes life worthwhile?

9.) Do you like Calvin and Hobbes?

No. Not at all. >_>

10.) What’s a memory that still makes you smile?

Just one? Umm…my first time in San Francisco. My friends and I didn’t have much money, and we didn’t know the place at all, but we were determined to have an Adventure, and we did. It involved bus rides, train rides, an adorable Portuguese college student, a rose garden, a tea house, a twisted knee and one helluva walk, but we Adventured. And it was awesome.

11.) What’s your take on the Fae? (Yes, fairies and the like.) Do you lean more towards the scary mythology version, or the Tinkerbell version?

Definitely the mythology version, though I wouldn’t leave Tinkerbell out of that. She’s an independent and sometimes contrary actual character, not one of these sanitized sparkly fae that only exist to be beautiful and help people.

The Fae (in my opinion) are beings with thoughts and plans and feelings of their own. NO person, in ANY story, should be there simply to serve the plot. They need to be real, and real Fae have their own reasons (that you’d better pay attention to!) for anything they do, whether it be scary or helpful.

My turn! And I’m tagging my fellow Turtleduckers, Siri Paulson, Erin Kendall, and Kit Campbell! Because it’s fun. 😀

So! My questions. We’ll start fairly straightforward.

1.) Of your characters, who would you most like to have as a real-life friend?

2.) Which would you not want to be around anywhere but in the pages of a book?

3.) When a song bowls you over and you have to hear it again and again, what is probably the reason? (Great voice, real emotion, clever lyrics, et cetera)

4.) Of everywhere you’ve been, where was your favorite place to be? (Home is a perfectly acceptable answer!)

5.) Where do you want most to go?

6.) What is the meaning of life? (okay, okay–YOUR life.) What do you think your life is about?

7.) What’s the best thing about what you do for a living?

8.) What do you do when you need inspiration?

9.) When you need some time for you, where do you go?

10.) Plotter or pantser?

11.) To close with a (fairly) easy one–talk about a book. Any book. 🙂

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