Sweet Soliloquies

I found this writing meme at Writing Wrongs and thought I’d give it a go. I believe it’s been floating around for some time now.

What’s Your Writing Style?

1. Are you a “pantser” or a “plotter?”

I would say that I’m a plotser. It helps me to have an idea of how the story will begin and end with a few pivotal points in between. I don’t need to plot every moment but want an idea of where I’m going so I don’t travel way off course. Although, some groovy stuff can be discovered that way! It also helps to have my hero or heroine fairly fleshed out some so I’ll have some idea how they’d react to various situations. Other than that, it’s fun to do a little pantsing around from point A to point B.

2. Detailed character sketches or “their character will be revealed to me as a I write”?

I’d say a little of both. Just like the reader, I want to discover more about my character as I go along, however, his or her core values and beliefs must be known by me from the start so I have something to work from.

3. Do you know your characters’ goals, motivations, and conflicts before you start writing or is that something else you discover only after you start writing?

I don’t think you can know everything unless you’ve plotted every moment of your story. As I stated before, I like to have some idea of what the characters are like so what I’m writing will make sense, but their reactions could change if your story changes. I think it helps to be flexible in this respect.

4. Books on plotting – useful or harmful?

Both. Take what you can and leave the rest. It’s important to get some guidelines and ideas but reading too many books on plotting, or any other aspect of writing, can be confusing and I believe can also stunt your progress. You don’t want to end up just reading about writing and never actually writing. I speak from experience!

5. Are you a procrastinator or does the itch to write keep at you until you sit down and work?

I’ve been battling procrastination since birth partly due to fear, boredom, lack of training, what-have-you. The desire is always there; the energy and clear focus isn’t as consistent.

6. Do you write in short bursts of creative energy, or can you sit down and write for hours at a time?

I’m the short bursts of creative energy kinda gal. Working full time outside the home and caring for my family only leaves so many minutes in the day for this type of focused creativity and I’m trying to get better about capitalizing on that time.

7. Are you a morning or afternoon writer?

It’s funny but I feel most focused when writing early in the morning when my brain is foggy to everything else. Maybe that’s because there aren’t a million and one practical and responsible thoughts vying for my attention.

8. Do you write with music/the noise of children/in a cafe or other public setting, or do you need complete silence to concentrate?

I’ve tried writing in a noisy cafe but the sound was too distracting. I’m like my mother and son in having a sound sensitivity where I can hear everything going on around me but will miss what’s being spoken directly to me. Don’t get me wrong, I think I’m a good listener, but if there’s a lot of sound going on around me, it can drown everything else out and I find myself getting agitated and eager to leave that space.

9. Computer or longhand? (or typewriter?)

Computer, hands down! My sophomore art teacher required that we print everything in capital letters and now that’s how I write my signature (albeit a bit curvy), so it takes too long to get my thoughts on paper. Using the computer is not as romantic as writing longhand in a beautiful journal, but it’s the only way I can write for any length of time.

10. Do you know the ending before you type Chapter One?

I may not know the exact ending, but I prefer having a general idea to shoot for.

11. Does what’s selling in the market influence how and what you write?

You should write what you’re inspired to write. If a story is superb, it will get published at some point but you might have to wait longer than you’d like. I do, however, think it is important to know what is selling and what people are interested in reading.

12. Editing – love it or hate it?

Love it! I much prefer editing to the initial first draft. Editing is proofreading and playing with words, two things I’ve had to do for years in my day job and have always enjoyed. In fact, maybe I should have been an editor…