So, I was thinking about a series of questions about writing and thought I'd pose them here.
What do you find _______ about writing?
Hardest? For me, it's character.
Easiest? World building.
Most fun? Making stuff up--the actual sitting down and writing time. I love the work.
Most Tedious? The business side. Submission and rejections, accounting, market tracking, promotion, etc. This may be the best thing about having an agent, I've got someone who does a good bit of that stuff (at least for novels).
Coolest? Getting to make stuff up for a living, though fan mail is pretty damn cool too.
Least cool? Not getting paid for stories that were bought and published. Right at the moment I have three short stories I haven't been paid for, two more than three years published. The third is, I think, just a misunderstanding soon to be fixed. But having to dun my publishers sucks.
Best? Knowing that I'm doing exactly what I want and love.
Worst? Knowing that so many other people, many of them every bit as good or better at this than I am, aren't following the dream.
Anyone else want to play? I'll happily throw in and answer more questions too.
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13 comments:
Interesting answers. I haven't dealt too much with the publishing side (most of my stuff is published through a small press that I help run), so my answers were a bit different... I posted over on my own blog: http://timsusman.blogspot.com/2007/08/writing-meme-from-wyrdsmiths.html
Nice answers, Tim. One of the reasons I thought it might be a fun meme is that I suspect the answers will be very different for different writers at different stages of their careers.
Will post up my answers on my blog here: http://harlanvampires.com - there's a link along the top.
Cool, Mari, I'll look forward to it.
I spotted the meme in Tim's blog (above), and decided to try my hand at it, too. I'm something of an amateur, myself, though I have managed to sell a handful of short stories in the last couple of years.
http://rikoshi.blogspot.com/2007/08/writing-meme.html
Rikoshi, hi thanks for stopping by, nice answers.
Mari, yours are fun as well, and yeah that "that's my book" thing is a fabulous moment.
I played too!
http://tatehallaway.blogspot.com/2007/08/wyrdsmith-writing-meme.html
Hardest? Making sure the plot makes it to the surface of the story.
Easiest? Dialog and character tics.
Most fun? Breaking the rules, with malice aforethought, and making it work.
Most tedious? Submissions. I'd much rather just write, but I know I need to keep measuring myself against the higher standard to make myself improve.
Coolest? Discovering that maybe I did know how to do that after all. It's always nice when I hit the dreaded bit and just write right through it.
Least cool? Knowing that in some ways, I'm ten to fifteen years behind the trends in my genre.
Best? Being able to scratch that creative itch and know that what I made beats the hell out of any sticker-laden, ribbon-bound, specialty-sheared, cutesy, disposable scrapbook.
Worst? Never quite grasping what I'm reaching for.
Thanks, Steph,
Tate, in a couple of days do you want to post this over here. I'd love to have all of us front page this.
Thanks for the good meme. Found this by blog hopping (saw meme on Fangs, Fur, and Fey). You can read my answers on my blog.
Hi Mary,
Thanks for stopping by, and I totally agree on the passage of time, it can be really miserable to deal with.
I thought of a follow-up to this meme this morning:
Phrase used too often
I did a word search in my latest manuscript. If I see "long, graceful fingers" or "long, slender fingers" one more time, I think I'm going to scream. Oh, the sentence I used too much? "He hooked his hair behind his ears with his long, slender fingers." Or some variation. >.<
I posted my responses over at my LJ account:
http://swords-and-pens.livejournal.com/46182.html
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