The writers do lunch
Mar. 30th, 2004 06:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vaneramosAnother thought-provoking meme from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lisalemonjello
1. Do you call yourself a Writer (capital W) and, if so, when and how did the transformation from being someone who writes to becoming a Writer occur?
As early as grade 2 I was working on a novel. I have always written creatively except for during my university years. I got my first job as a journalist when I was 24. I always wanted to be an author more than anything, but not until I was 30, started writing prolific poetry and sensed that it was good, did I allow myself to take literary writing seriously. I still sometimes describe myself as a Nature Writer who would like to publish fiction and poetry.
2. Do you write in more than one form (i.e. short fiction, poetry, essay, novel) and, if so, how is the process different one to another?
I write all of those forms. My most inspired work is written quickly with few revisions. I have discovered this is the best approach to fiction, otherwise I never finish anything. Sometimes I use the same approach for essays, but sometimes work more slowly. My poems have always been written in a stream-of-consciousness approach, but recently I have begun returning to them days, months or even years later and revising them.
3. What Writers have been the biggest influence on you?
Nature writing: Annie Dillard
Poetry: Rumi, Walt Whitman
Fiction: In the past, J.R.R. Tolkien, but my tastes and interests have broadened, and I haven't yet found what approach I want to take. I find Robertson Davies and Timothy Findley particularly inspiring. My Nanowrimo novel was influenced more by Lewis Carroll more than anyone else.
4. Would you rather be commercially famous or admired by other writers?
Admired by other writers, but I would like to be successful enough to make a living at it.
5. What is your successful image of a Writer. If you become successful what will (or does) that look like to you?
I want to make enough money to make a modest living and do some of the travelling I dream about.
6. Does it matter to you if people interpret your work in ways you never intended?
No, it often excites me when people see meanings beyond the ones which I was conscious of when I wrote.
7. How honestly do you critique the writing of others?
From writers workshops I have learned, when giving a critique, to look for one thing I like and one thing I don't like. Sometimes it's hard to find one or the other, but I always do my best. Even if I strongly dislike a piece of writing I don't have to say so, because usually I can find one aspect in which the writer deserves praise. I find this approach the most constructive. If a writer isn't interested in hearing the bad with the good, then what is the point of commenting except to stroke his or her ego? I don't like to do that. In those cases I generally don't say anything unless I particularly like the work.
8. Do you worry about plagiarism when you write creatively on-line?
Not as much as I should. It hasn't happened to me, as far as I know, but I am aware of it happening to friends. I am becoming more protective of my work.
9. Can writing be taught? How important is a formal education to making the writer?
It's not necessary but beneficial. I wish I had studied literature at university so I would have a wider knowledge of other writers. The more you know about art, the more tools you have at your disposal for creating it.
10. Writing Workshops: What is your opinion of them? Have you ever been to one?
Many years ago, and they were beneficial. Interacting with other writers increased my self-esteem about my own talents.
11. Inspiration or perspiration?
It starts with perspiration. I have to put my pen to the page and make it move, move, move. Endlessly, repeatedly, habitually. Otherwise, inspiration will never have a chance to hit, or perhaps I'll be elsewhere doing something different like roasting potatoes or playing parcheesi.
12. What form(s) do you prefer - past, present, future, genre, time period, style?
Any. I am nervous about approaching historical fiction because of the research it would require, but would love to write something set in an earlier historical period.
13. When writing, do you outline first or just begin and see where it takes you?
My first novel was written without any outline whatsoever, and I enjoyed the freedom of letting my characters determine the plot.
14. How do you develop your characters? Settings? Plot?
I like to explore these in preliminary writing exercises, which give me a chance to experiment and see what works.
15. How much do you take from real life and does a writer have the right to tell the stories of people they know?
My poetry is often autobiographical. My fiction characters come from real life. If I tried to imagine them all, they would all be aspects of me, which would be boring. It's better, when faced with a turn in the plot, to ask myself, "What would so-and-so do?" Whether or not we have the right is almost a pointless question. Unless we take inspiration from real life, our writing will be trivial and irrelevant.
16. What kind of research do you do for your writing?
I didn't do enough research before writing Tendril Through Cyberspace. It was difficult to anticipate what questions I would have. Now I want to gather more information and do a thorough revision. Most of my research has been done on the Web, but I'm dissatisfied with it. I would like to interview experts to generate fresh ideas and inspiration. I have in mind visiting museums and archives to get information for another book idea.
17. Do you have a process for re-writing?
I plan to rewrite Tendril the same way I wrote the first draft, almost as if from scratch. I will reread my previous work and keep it on hand for reference, along with information I have gathered, then put my pen to the page and let it rip. My language is fresher when I work this way. Inevitably I will need to revise it for spelling and grammar, or to rework places where I lost control of the story. I see my first draft as an experiment to explore characters and subplots.
18. What is your writing schedule?
I do three pages in a handwritten journal every morning. Mostly this just hashes over the events of my life. Whenever I am ready to start a new project I will simply expand the time commitment. While working on Tendril I dropped the journal, but that was a bad idea. It's my foundation, and I had trouble resuming the habit afterwards.
My best time of day for creative writing is between 3 and 9 p.m.
19. What are your writing weaknesses and strengths?
My weaknesses are anxiety and self-doubt. They lead me to procrastinate and avoid starting anything. I also have trouble concentrating enough to do the research that is necessary. The best thing I have going for me is a capacity for creative exuberance unhampered by perfectionism. I know how to go with the flow and leave the details until later, which produces fresh and vivid writing.
20. Who, if anyone, do you let edit your work?
I'm generally open-minded toward constructive criticism, and have sought it out on occasion from anyone with writing or editing experience, but have not had the benefit of seeing any of my literary work go through a serious edit.
21. Are there any writing taboos for you (for instance, swearing or graphic sex)?
No.
22. How do you avoid stereotypes in your writing and do you feel you are able to capture the truth in characters who are of a different gender or ethnicity?
A female friend who read Tendril told me I was good at getting inside the head of a teenage girl. I've spent way to much of my life worrying about what other people think. It hasn't served me well personally, but in writing this habit allows me to pretend I'm someone completely different, not the way I judge them, but compassionately, the way I imagine they experience themselves. I have even had dreams in which I was a woman, and it didn't feel unnatural. But I can't imagine writing much about people of different cultures without a lot of research, because that is too far from my personal experience.
23. Are there stories that are so close to you or others near you that you won't write them? If so, why won't you?
I hesitate to write about some of my most difficult life experiences because I want to approach them, and the people involved, without bitterness. I say hesitate, because I hope to write about them someday.
24. How has your writing improved with time?
I used to write with too many passive verbs and other stylistic annoyances. Critiques from other writers helped me weed some of them out. Journalism taught me to use shorter sentences, and that has benefited my creative writing as well.
The biggest improvement came when I realized that to write powerfully, I had to be willing to say things that would make people uncomfortable, including myself.
Learning the tool of free writing was also essential: working without stopping or editing as I go.
25. Do you feel that you have found your voice?
In poetry and non-fiction, yes, to some extent, but I'm still not sure about fiction writing.
26. What is the most important advice you can give to other writers in 5 words or less?
Write three pages every day.
27. Would you keep writing if you knew that no one else would ever read what you wrote?
Yes, otherwise I would go mad.
28. Is there a question that wasn't asked that you'd like to be asked about your writing, writing in general, or writers?
Longhand or keyboard? Why?
lisalemonjello1. Do you call yourself a Writer (capital W) and, if so, when and how did the transformation from being someone who writes to becoming a Writer occur?
As early as grade 2 I was working on a novel. I have always written creatively except for during my university years. I got my first job as a journalist when I was 24. I always wanted to be an author more than anything, but not until I was 30, started writing prolific poetry and sensed that it was good, did I allow myself to take literary writing seriously. I still sometimes describe myself as a Nature Writer who would like to publish fiction and poetry.
2. Do you write in more than one form (i.e. short fiction, poetry, essay, novel) and, if so, how is the process different one to another?
I write all of those forms. My most inspired work is written quickly with few revisions. I have discovered this is the best approach to fiction, otherwise I never finish anything. Sometimes I use the same approach for essays, but sometimes work more slowly. My poems have always been written in a stream-of-consciousness approach, but recently I have begun returning to them days, months or even years later and revising them.
3. What Writers have been the biggest influence on you?
Nature writing: Annie Dillard
Poetry: Rumi, Walt Whitman
Fiction: In the past, J.R.R. Tolkien, but my tastes and interests have broadened, and I haven't yet found what approach I want to take. I find Robertson Davies and Timothy Findley particularly inspiring. My Nanowrimo novel was influenced more by Lewis Carroll more than anyone else.
4. Would you rather be commercially famous or admired by other writers?
Admired by other writers, but I would like to be successful enough to make a living at it.
5. What is your successful image of a Writer. If you become successful what will (or does) that look like to you?
I want to make enough money to make a modest living and do some of the travelling I dream about.
6. Does it matter to you if people interpret your work in ways you never intended?
No, it often excites me when people see meanings beyond the ones which I was conscious of when I wrote.
7. How honestly do you critique the writing of others?
From writers workshops I have learned, when giving a critique, to look for one thing I like and one thing I don't like. Sometimes it's hard to find one or the other, but I always do my best. Even if I strongly dislike a piece of writing I don't have to say so, because usually I can find one aspect in which the writer deserves praise. I find this approach the most constructive. If a writer isn't interested in hearing the bad with the good, then what is the point of commenting except to stroke his or her ego? I don't like to do that. In those cases I generally don't say anything unless I particularly like the work.
8. Do you worry about plagiarism when you write creatively on-line?
Not as much as I should. It hasn't happened to me, as far as I know, but I am aware of it happening to friends. I am becoming more protective of my work.
9. Can writing be taught? How important is a formal education to making the writer?
It's not necessary but beneficial. I wish I had studied literature at university so I would have a wider knowledge of other writers. The more you know about art, the more tools you have at your disposal for creating it.
10. Writing Workshops: What is your opinion of them? Have you ever been to one?
Many years ago, and they were beneficial. Interacting with other writers increased my self-esteem about my own talents.
11. Inspiration or perspiration?
It starts with perspiration. I have to put my pen to the page and make it move, move, move. Endlessly, repeatedly, habitually. Otherwise, inspiration will never have a chance to hit, or perhaps I'll be elsewhere doing something different like roasting potatoes or playing parcheesi.
12. What form(s) do you prefer - past, present, future, genre, time period, style?
Any. I am nervous about approaching historical fiction because of the research it would require, but would love to write something set in an earlier historical period.
13. When writing, do you outline first or just begin and see where it takes you?
My first novel was written without any outline whatsoever, and I enjoyed the freedom of letting my characters determine the plot.
14. How do you develop your characters? Settings? Plot?
I like to explore these in preliminary writing exercises, which give me a chance to experiment and see what works.
15. How much do you take from real life and does a writer have the right to tell the stories of people they know?
My poetry is often autobiographical. My fiction characters come from real life. If I tried to imagine them all, they would all be aspects of me, which would be boring. It's better, when faced with a turn in the plot, to ask myself, "What would so-and-so do?" Whether or not we have the right is almost a pointless question. Unless we take inspiration from real life, our writing will be trivial and irrelevant.
16. What kind of research do you do for your writing?
I didn't do enough research before writing Tendril Through Cyberspace. It was difficult to anticipate what questions I would have. Now I want to gather more information and do a thorough revision. Most of my research has been done on the Web, but I'm dissatisfied with it. I would like to interview experts to generate fresh ideas and inspiration. I have in mind visiting museums and archives to get information for another book idea.
17. Do you have a process for re-writing?
I plan to rewrite Tendril the same way I wrote the first draft, almost as if from scratch. I will reread my previous work and keep it on hand for reference, along with information I have gathered, then put my pen to the page and let it rip. My language is fresher when I work this way. Inevitably I will need to revise it for spelling and grammar, or to rework places where I lost control of the story. I see my first draft as an experiment to explore characters and subplots.
18. What is your writing schedule?
I do three pages in a handwritten journal every morning. Mostly this just hashes over the events of my life. Whenever I am ready to start a new project I will simply expand the time commitment. While working on Tendril I dropped the journal, but that was a bad idea. It's my foundation, and I had trouble resuming the habit afterwards.
My best time of day for creative writing is between 3 and 9 p.m.
19. What are your writing weaknesses and strengths?
My weaknesses are anxiety and self-doubt. They lead me to procrastinate and avoid starting anything. I also have trouble concentrating enough to do the research that is necessary. The best thing I have going for me is a capacity for creative exuberance unhampered by perfectionism. I know how to go with the flow and leave the details until later, which produces fresh and vivid writing.
20. Who, if anyone, do you let edit your work?
I'm generally open-minded toward constructive criticism, and have sought it out on occasion from anyone with writing or editing experience, but have not had the benefit of seeing any of my literary work go through a serious edit.
21. Are there any writing taboos for you (for instance, swearing or graphic sex)?
No.
22. How do you avoid stereotypes in your writing and do you feel you are able to capture the truth in characters who are of a different gender or ethnicity?
A female friend who read Tendril told me I was good at getting inside the head of a teenage girl. I've spent way to much of my life worrying about what other people think. It hasn't served me well personally, but in writing this habit allows me to pretend I'm someone completely different, not the way I judge them, but compassionately, the way I imagine they experience themselves. I have even had dreams in which I was a woman, and it didn't feel unnatural. But I can't imagine writing much about people of different cultures without a lot of research, because that is too far from my personal experience.
23. Are there stories that are so close to you or others near you that you won't write them? If so, why won't you?
I hesitate to write about some of my most difficult life experiences because I want to approach them, and the people involved, without bitterness. I say hesitate, because I hope to write about them someday.
24. How has your writing improved with time?
I used to write with too many passive verbs and other stylistic annoyances. Critiques from other writers helped me weed some of them out. Journalism taught me to use shorter sentences, and that has benefited my creative writing as well.
The biggest improvement came when I realized that to write powerfully, I had to be willing to say things that would make people uncomfortable, including myself.
Learning the tool of free writing was also essential: working without stopping or editing as I go.
25. Do you feel that you have found your voice?
In poetry and non-fiction, yes, to some extent, but I'm still not sure about fiction writing.
26. What is the most important advice you can give to other writers in 5 words or less?
Write three pages every day.
27. Would you keep writing if you knew that no one else would ever read what you wrote?
Yes, otherwise I would go mad.
28. Is there a question that wasn't asked that you'd like to be asked about your writing, writing in general, or writers?
Longhand or keyboard? Why?
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Date: 2004-03-30 06:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-30 07:21 pm (UTC)Also, thank you for the lovely card! Water -- yes. Most definitely my favorite. And your handwriting is beautiful.
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Date: 2004-03-30 08:08 pm (UTC)Re: hey!
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Date: 2004-03-30 08:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-30 08:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-31 05:53 am (UTC)Re: how does one email
Date: 2004-03-31 07:39 am (UTC)