Monday, January 19, 2009

Writing Questions

On the Writer's Digest Website, I found an exercise about finding your writing juice. There were different questions about your writing style and what you like about writing, etc. I answered the questions as if I were answering questions in an interview. I encourage other writers to answer these as well. If not in a public forum like this, then at least for themselves.

1) What are you passionate about?
-
Not much, not really. My boyfriend, I guess. Reading. Knitting, maybe. I get
really into something for a while, then it just kind of fades. Hard to distinguish
hobbies from passions.

2) What do you care about so deeply or get so excited about that you talk about it to anyone who will listen?
- Besides my boyfriend? Sometimes whatever I'm knitting at the moment, or
reading.

3) Do you love the process of writing itself?
- Yeah, I'd say so. I like the idea of getting whatever is in my head down on
paper. Sometimes outlining can be fun, too. Amazingly enough.

4) Who has encouraged your writing?
- Who hasn't, really? My mom doesn't really say much about it, but I don't
really tell her much about it.

5) Who would be proved wrong if you wrote and succeeded with your writing?
- Anyone who doesn't think writing is a real career.

6) Who has criticized, cursed, or discouraged you to the extent that it makes you want to prove them wrong?
- I'm lucky that no one has said anything negative about my writing. There was
one snarky girl in a Short Story Writing class a few years ago, but her writing
wasn't that great either, and I can't even remember her name.

7) What upsets you so much that you are compelled to write about it or include the theme in your work?
- To quote Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 film version of Pride and Prejudice:
"The more I see of the world, the more I am dissatisfied with it." I usually just
write about whatever pops into my head. Relationships are usually the theme.
Not because I'm in a bad one right now, but I guess because I'm in a great
one and yet I'm still really insecure about it. I don't really write about anything
intentionally. Like I said, it usually just happens to be whatever pops into my
head.

8) When have you or someone you cared about been disrespected in a way that makes you want to write?
- Well, sometimes at work I can have rude or dense customers that make me
blog about their behaviors. Nothing worth including in a story, at least not yet.
They wouldn't even really be worth mentioning. I have kinks in my relationship
I've tried working out in my writing, but to no avail. All it got me was a nasty
headache. My friends have been treated lousy by guys, which is probably also
another subconcious reason for writing about relationships.

9) Where have you been luck enough to be in the right place at the right time regarding your writing?
- Any time I'm in a writing class, I get crazy inspired.

10) What could you do to increase the odds of being lucky in respect to finding inspiration?
- Read more, write more, find a writing group, and multi-task. Oh, and
actually stick to my creativity schedule.

11) What are you afraid to write but know is a deep truth?
- I'm not afraid to write anything. If I have a good idea, I'll put it on paper.

12) Who are you afraid will disapprove of your writing or be upset by it?
- My grandma might be upset by the language and some situations. But I
write for myself.

13) What are you afraid will happen if you write?
- I think I'm afraid of success, because then there is all of this pressure to
keep producing the same kind of successful, marketable material, and I
worry about being a one-trick pony.

14) What fears could you write and perhaps work through by writing?
- A lot of my stories are about relationships. I'm in a happy, healthy, and
stable relationship with my dream man, but I still have insecurities. I think
those stories allow me the chance to work out my issues, but I have yet to
come to any resolution.