Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Blog Survey

I discovered this set of useful questions in a Problogger post:

  • What was the reason you came to this blog?
  • Did you find what you were looking for?
  • What else would you like to see at this blog?


    • I'm interested in hearing your thoughts.
    Tags: blogging
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    • 51 comments
    ...go 8 levels up... Expand
    gumnut

    gumnut

    October 9 2008, 12:16:39 UTC 12 years ago

    I've only ever derived one character from myself and that was for a fun role playing exercise. When I picked the character up and moulded it into its own universe and prepped it for writing a novel, I removed most of my character traits from it. I've never really been able to put whole chunks of me into a character.

    However, having said that, I could be lying or misinterpreting, as I have put single aspects of myself into individual characters. One of the useful things in my brain is its logic circuits. I can be very logical in certain situations. But I also have a very whacked emotional side that can go own its own little trips. I've found it useful to throw the logic into one character and the emotion into another and then pit them against each other in a buddy type relationship. Makes for good arguments and great banter. Also shows just how whacked my brain can get.

    The Zone! Oh, tell me of a writer who doesn't worship The Zone. When you can find it, it is bliss. when you find it and are interrupted, it could be cause some crime ending in -cide. Love The Zone :D

    Second person? You use a lot of 'you's? Interesting choice and a difficult challenge. I'm a bit boring in that my natural voice is point of view third person. I like to ride around in my characters' heads.

    Overly verbose? I've been accused of writing hyperbole. But I'm proud of the way I write. I know it is at least decent. Perhaps you should ask someone for some feedback? It can be very useful.

    Yes, I be female and don't worry, you're not the first person to think I'm male. Apparently apart from writing very visually, I also write like a guy. Which isn't surprising since my main genres are sci-fi and action adventure. I like blowing things up, racing cars and spaceships, that kind of thing. But at the same time I can be an emotional sop at the drop of the hat, so the female part of me still has na influence. If I ever publish, I'll use my initials and my surname like J.K. Rowling did, cos apparently guys don't like reading female authors and I write some male stuff.

    Nice speaking to you. Would you like to friend?

    Nutty
    (it has been a long day)
    fayanora

    fayanora

    October 11 2008, 09:06:12 UTC 12 years ago

    I've only ever derived one character from myself and that was for a fun role playing exercise.

    All of my characters have something in common with me. (Yes, even the villains.) It's really the only way I can come up with characters. For 10 years of my childhood, the only person I could relate to was me. Even now, I filter relations with other people through the filter of how things relate to me. Not egotism, just... I don't know any other way to be. Even compassion and empathy is mostly through the filter. Sometimes I can feel a person's emotions but not understand their reason, but unlike a friend of a friend, I don't need to understand the reasons.

    When I picked the character up and moulded it into its own universe and prepped it for writing a novel, I removed most of my character traits from it. I've never really been able to put whole chunks of me into a character.

    Yup. And I've never been able to make a character that didn't have *something* in common with me. Oh, I've tried. Never succeeded. All my attempts yield flat, shambling, mindless, soul-less creatures. Which would be good for a zombie character, but not people. So, since I don't know how to give characters soul any other way, I give them a piece of mine. How big that piece is depends on how much I like the character and what their role in the story is. But all of them have at least a sliver of my soul.

    However, having said that, I could be lying or misinterpreting, as I have put single aspects of myself into individual characters.

    Misinterpretation seems the answer. I don't generally "mary sue." Most of the time, unless someone knows me REALLY REEEEEELY well, they can't tell there's a piece of me in the character. And often, I obfuscate the pieces of me I put in by changing the details. For example, take Nokwahl, my main character in my novels. Like me, she has a lot of experience living through pain and psychological issues/damage. But her symptoms are different from mine, how she deals with them are different, and the cause is different. My problems were caused by being bullied and by my reaction to the bullying, which was to withdraw into a fantasy world of my own making. *Her* problems were caused by being raped as a child, something I have never experienced. So she has what, to me, is a big piece of my soul in her, but it expresses itself differently. Of course, it helps that I have a rather flexible self image.