Get to know the Author Meme

ntldr asked: 13, 17, and 25!

13) Your strengths as an author. Hmm. I think one of my strengths (and also weaknesses - interview questions ahoy!) is my ability to write realistic dialogue… I think? But that also means that my drafts are filled with lots of ellipses… as people think… because I am hearing them talk in my head… And the characters insert a lot of “well”s and “um”s and other delay words that everyone uses when they’re talking, but that you never hear. So I end up having to edit (most of) all that crap out of my drafts. :) 

17) If you could give your fledgling author self any advice, what would it be? Do you want to write smut? Do it. Do you want to write serious, plotty fiction that requires spreadsheets and charts to keep track of? Have at it. Do you want to write incredibly self-indulgent fluff? By all means, do so. Because you’re writing it for you. If other people like it, great!! But if you want to get all those stories out of your head and into a more tangible form, you have to write them. It’s possible that no one will like them, or even read them. But no one will EVER read them or like them if you never write them. 

25) Copy/paste a few sentences or a short paragraph that you’re particularly proud of. Oh gosh, I have a hard time with these. Do I want to share the fun puns/double entendres I sometimes add to things, or something extra pithy, or interesting descriptions, or fluff, or something funny? …. Hmm, ok, have something funny. :)  This is from The Colour of Your Optics, slightly edited

Frowning, Sunstreaker grabbed his comm pad. He saw about half a dozen missed messages from Sideswipe. “I told him I was spending the night,” he grumbled. Then he saw that they were all from the past groon or so.

Morning, Sunshine! Give me a ping back when you’re up.

Hey Sunny, page me when you get this.

Holy Primus, are you two still fragging? There’s no way. Give me a ring when you get up.

Helloooo? Are you there? Did you forget to charge your pad?

Come on, Sunny. Pull yourself away from your cute little Praxian for a klik and answer me.

I tried comming you, but you’ve got yourself set as Do Not Disturb. Starting to get worried. Give me a call!

That’s it. I’m messaging Bluestreak. If it turns out he’s a serial killer and you’re stuffed in a garbage chute, I’m going to be really mad.

Sunstreaker looked up at Bluestreak, an indignant expression on his face. “He said he was going to message you because I wasn’t picking up,” he said.

Bluestreak waved his pad. “Yup, that’s how I know he tried messaging you first.” He read from his comm pad. “He said, ‘If you’re done blowing my brother’s breakers, can you please have him comm me right away?’” 

Get to know the Author Meme

harutemu asked: 13 and 16 for the author ask. ^ ^

13) Your strengths as an author. I answered this one already, but another one that I think I have is the ability to piece together random shit into a story. Like, The Renegade and the Hound literally came out of a prompt of “In a fairy tale” and then a question “What happened then” and holy shit suddenly I was writing an epic adventure. Other stories have sprung out of just a single image, or a line from a song… Maybe I just have an overactive imagination?

16) Are there any characters who haunt you? Gods, yes, and one of the worst is Senator Shockwave. I have some ideas for a story with him and Orion Pax, but nothing concrete yet. And my gosh, if you haven’t read Unravel by @feluff yet (and you’re ok with lots of smut) please go read it. It destroyed me and I loved/hated every moment of it.

Get to know the Author Meme

fuzipenguin asked: know your author meme: #2 and 23

2) What work of yours, if any, are you the most embarrassed about existing? Oh yeah. I know the exact answer to this. It has no title, but it’s currently sitting in a carton down in the basement. It’s the self-insert Dragonriders of Pern fan fiction that my best friend and I wrote in high school, starring ourselves and our crushes. So, you can imagine what it’s like. It goes on for hundreds of handwritten pages, man. 

I can’t throw it away… (All that time spent!) And I’m certainly not posting it anywhere. So I’m just waiting for the house to burn down or something and take my embarrassing fan fic with it.

23) Any obscure life experiences that you feel have helped your writing? Helped? I’m not sure. Inspired? Sure. 

Many years ago I met someone online and moved to another country. It made sense at the time, and I really don’t regret it. But it was a huge upheaval in my life, and I’ve realized that a lot of the longer, more plotty fics I’ve written has “leaving your comfort zone” or “leaving others behind” or “striking out alone” or “you can never go home again” as a theme. I’m thinking my subconscious wasn’t quite as cool with my big move as it seemed to be.

All of the main stories in the Black on White on Black series has Jazz and Prowl being separated in some traumatic way. The Renegade and the Hound has Bluestreak leaving behind everyone and everything he’s ever known and loved as a starting condition, and the “you can never go home again” piece is cropping up in the sequel I’m working on. And now I’m working on A Thousand Years, which has Sunstreaker being separated from Sideswipe, and having to be self-sufficient without his twin. 

So I guess I’m mining my past experience for story ideas. :)