30-Day Writing Meme

Days 4-7

4. Tell us about one of your first stories/characters!

The first real, involved story I wrote was Daemon's. Oddly enough it actually started with his great grand niece, and then expanded to include him.

The story centered on a young teenage girl who was part of a familial werewolf pack. She was a direct descendant of one of the first wolves (Daemon's sister Adriana), and inherited special powers and the blessing of Artemis. I hadn't come to a real solid decision about the particular events of the story before Daemon poked his head in.

Initially he was supposed to be a supporting character, come to help train the young girl as she was so similar to his sister. Then as I began to write the scenes and give more details about Daemon, his character outgrew hers! So now we have Daemon as the focus and his great grand niece as a supporting character in some future story.

5. By age, who is your youngest character? Oldest? How about "youngest" and "oldest" in terms of when you created them?
Age-wise Uriel is by far the oldest of my characters. I haven't even really pinned an exact age on him, but essentially he goes back to early creation. Youngest would probably be either Azkadellia or Maggie. As with Uriel I haven't decided on an age for Az, but I know she's young. Maggie is thirteen, making her the youngest with a definite age. In terms of creation, Daemon is the oldest and Nowell the youngest.

6. Where are you most comfortable writing? At what time of day? Computer or good ol' pen and paper?

I write almost constantly, both with pen and computer. My preference is to be somewhere quite I can concentrate with my laptop, as I can type as fast as I can think and edit easier. However when it comes to writing on the fly, pen and paper is the best.

Time-wise I like to write a lot at night, perhaps because I've always been a bit of a night owl. Otherwise I like to scribble a few words during class breaks or when it's slow at work.

7. Do you listen to music while you write? What kind? Are there any songs you like to relate/apply to your characters?

Of course! Music is very pervasive in my writing, be it for background noise or active inspiration. I tend to listen to instrumental music most of the time as it's lack of words doesn't distract me. However once I get to know a character better and can figure them out a bit, I will often play “their” music. This might be songs they like or would listen to, or just music that defines their own intentions/life.

Specifically I like to listen to music like Night Wish, Within Temptation, Immediate Music, and so on. As for specific character-related songs there are things like Daemon's love of Within Temptation, Uri's connection to Love the Way You Lie (PII), and Nowell's naming song What Child/Noel.