The Review Club Forum Getting to Know You

OK, now I know I lot of us already know each other to varying degrees or another, but I want EVERYBODY to know EVERYBODY. So I'm going to start this, post some ice breaker questions, answer them myself, and hope everybody else will do the same and keep talking on this thread. I hope to at least see you all posting here once.

1. Where did you grow up? i.e. state, city (if you want to share), big town, small town, foreign country, whatever.
2. Top three favorite novels AS A READER.
3. Top three favorite authors (I don't know about you, but the people that I respect most for a total body of work don't always have my favorite single novels within their pantheons).
4. Some books that you think are critical for writers to read (I don't mean Strunk and White and grammar guides, necessarily).
5. What your favorite thing about being a writer is.
6. What your least favorite thing about being a writer is.
7. What your goals as a writer are.
8. What sort of feedback you want.
9. Where you are as a writer (how long you've been writing, whether you're published, how many bad novels you've written, etc.).
10. What you think your greatest challenges as a writer are right now.
11. What inspires you?
12. One fact about yourself that's fun and unique.

I know that's a lot. Answer one question at a time, in chunks, or all at once.

And here's my answers.

1. I grew up in Denver, CO. In the city (and yes, I know it's not a big city like Chicago or New York, but it's still a real city). Spent two years of my childhood in San Francisco. Still looking for the right story to set there.

2. House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski), War of Peace (Tolstoy), Les Mis (Hugo).

3. Honore de Balzac, Joyce Carol Oates, Seamus Heaney (I know he's a poet, but I will still love him forever for his Beowulf).

4. A Moveable Feast by Hemingway, Fight Club by Palahnuik, Running with Scissors by Burroughs.

5. THE END. That feeling when you write the last word of a first draft, the last trip through on revision, the rush that you've completed a novel. Second favorite thing is the excitement at the beginning of a new story.

6. The middle. I hate the middle of novels, because I always get writers block about 3/4 from the end. So I guess what I really hate is writer's block.

7. Be published and sell enough books to be a writer for a living. Quit the day job (not like I have one at the moment, but I will soon enough).

8. Depends on where I am in a piece, but, as a general rule, whatever you want to give me. I love ideas on ways to make something even better, push it further, whatever. Asylum is a first draft, so story comments are particularly helpful, whereas tone and individual lines are more important to me on Things. I try to leave an idea of what I want in the notes before the first few chapters of a work.

9. I've been writing for 7-8 years, since I was 17-18. Not published, at least, not as a fiction writer (although I have been published as a law student/lawyer). Haven't really tried that hard until recently because I didn't feel like I was ready. Let's see, I've completed or almost completed (or wrote enough that the work was novel length) 9 novels. All but 2 of them are TERRIBLE. You all will never see them. I have burned most although I keep a few on the top shelf in a closet as a reminder that while you don't always see your own progression or feel like you're improving, as long as you keep writng, you are.

10. Finishing Asylum? OK, fine, that's a cop out. Writing action-intensive climax scenes. Plotting (I've always been terrible at plotting). Navigating the gap between the literary projects I want to do and the commercial projects I want to work on.

11. Everything. Great movies. Great books. Loud, angry music. Conversations with you all. I'm weird about finding my inspiration, because usually I'll start with a single image, scene, or theme concept, even a single line, and build a short or novel around that. Heaven Ain't Close (50k of novella) started with the bare image of a man with a fallen angel tattooed on his back. Asylum... or, rather, the bad novel that was it's inspirational predecessor... started with the scene where Cassie meets Jalen and the idea of a mental hospital. Things started with the title. I find a simple thing that resonates with me for whatever strange reason and blow it up.

12. I have two 10 gauge piercings in my lower back. It looks like I have 4 rivets in the small of my back. I love them.

There. Now you know way more about me than you ever wanted to. Gratify my urge to know way more about you than I ever expected.

-cc

1. Where did you grow up? Urbandale, Iowa (yes that is the actual name of the town)

2. Top three favorite novels AS A READER. Cannery Row by Steinbeck, The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner, The Last Good Kiss by Crumley

3. Top three favorite authors John Steinbeck, Raymond Carver, Dennis Lehane

4. Some books that you think are critical for writers to read any Faulkner, any Ray Carver. As for books specifically on writing: Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maas.

5. What your favorite thing about being a writer is. an excuse to be left alone a couple hours every day and disappear into a fictional world

6. What your least favorite thing about being a writer is the lack of money

7. What your goals as a writer are. make some money

8. What sort of feedback you want. any and all from big issues like theme to nit picks on grammar. Usually the feedback that I think is most stupid, turns out to be, upon further reflection, the best

9. Where you are as a writer i used to write feature articles for the Des Moines (IA) Register. Wrote several unpublished short stories in my early 20's and am polishing some off now. Have written one and 1/10th of a novel so far. (first draft) I've co-written a few screenplays including one that goes into production this fall. The one before that played the festival circuit and got great reviews by about 20 papers and one bad review in Minneapolis.

10. What you think your greatest challenges as a writer are right now. writing characters that people find interesting and want to follow through the story

11. What inspires you? getting feedback

12. One fact about yourself that's fun and unique. i have a few piercings too, though I won't get into the details of where those might be ::smile:: other than that, I left Iowa with 700 bucks and a pickup camper and traveled the country for a year working odd jobs and hitting food banks before settling in Seattle.

Gloves off:

1. Where did you grow up? i.e. state, city (if you want to share), big town, small town, foreign country, whatever. Texas and NC mostly. Dad was a college basketball coach, so we moved several times with the progression of his career. Mostly in mid-size towns or suburbs of large cities. ie- Dallas, Charlotte.

2. Top three favorite novels AS A READER. Considering that I can count how many books I have actually read on my hands with a few digits left over I feel like I'm cheating. But, I have read these three more than twice each.

1. To Kill a Mockingbird (5 or 6 times)
2. Crime and Punishment (3 times)
3. Catcher in the Rye (I've lost count. Usually if I'm home alone and can't write, I'll just read it in one sitting instead of watching a movie or something. H and I are tight. I can call him "H")


3. Top three favorite authors (I don't know about you, but the people that I respect most for a total body of work don't always have my favorite single novels within their pantheons).

Pretty much the authors of the three above. Currently reading a collection of short stories by Dostoevsky that is supposed to be the 'best translation to date' and enjoying it very much when I have the time. Plus, I just like saying his first name: "Fyodor".


4. Some books that you think are critical for writers to read (I don't mean Strunk and White and grammar guides, necessarily).

The only one I have been able to actually read/finish and found awesome: Stephen King On Writing

5. What your favorite thing about being a writer is. It's a whole lot of work and I don't mind not getting payed a penny for it.

6. What your least favorite thing about being a writer is. Finding the time where motivation and available time meet.

7. What your goals as a writer are.

Not really sure yet. Just writing at the moment and seeing what happens.

8. What sort of feedback you want.

Honest. Grammar and spelling aren't concerns as I know they're problems in areas... all my stuff is first off mental vomit. I am more concerned with if a reader is intrigued, hooked, interested and feels involved.

9. Where you are as a writer (how long you've been writing, whether you're published, how many bad novels you've written, etc.).

As in my profile: Unpublished. Started writing a year ago and then took a year off. Back now and riding it while it lasts.

10. What you think your greatest challenges as a writer are right now.

Slowing the brain down to effectively convey the image and/or feeling into well percieved words.

11. What inspires you?

My kids and the reflection it gives me to my lost childhood. Allowing myself to let my inner child out and seeing it reflected in my writing.

12. One fact about yourself that's fun and unique.

I was a featured guest on Oprah twice in the late 90's and we still keep in touch.

-norm

Okey dokey.

1. Where did you grow up? Where did I grow up. For almost my entire life I grew up in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, which was a small city of about 200,000 as a child and is now over a million people. I spend 3 years in Halifax, Nova Scotia to attend Dalhousie Law School -- the oldest common law law school in Canada (Laval in Montreal is the oldest in Canada, but that's civil law -- Quebec is Civil Code). Influences as growing up were clearly growing up on the plains/prairies with the mountains a stone throw away. Landscape has such a huge impact on me.

2. Top three favorite novels AS A READER. I would see this as more a question of impact on me. Probably, Candide - Voltaire, has always had a huge impact. I love the Monty Python, absurdist reality. Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker, once again, for the absurdist nature of it. Proulx's The Shipping News -- only because, quite frankly, I stopped reading for pleasure years ago, and only returned back to it in the past few years. She was a huge influence on my interest in fiction again a few years ago. I literally stopped reading fiction while a graduate student in the early 1990s because my entire life revolved around reading texts, monographs, articles, etc. to do my thesis -- I seriously thought if I read every major work and read every source in the bibliographies of the books I read, sooner or later I would've read everything there was on my area eventually. But the more I read the more there was to read, and it was never ending. Into law school -- who has the time to read for fun? It wasn't until I'd settled into my career that I started reading for leisure again.
3. Top three favorite authors. Once again, about impact on me. First, is always going to be Shakespeare, because he is the flashpoint in English literature. Second, is Kafka because I love nothing more than the impossible circumstance. Third, is probably going to be a joint collection of fairytales and myths, simply because there's something magical about them. They are the source of all stories to me. Everything having a moral or a lesson.
4. Some books that you think are critical for writers to read (I don't mean Strunk and White and grammar guides, necessarily). At one point I would've pointed to the huge collection of writing books, such as Gardner, Swain, and Burroway, and said those are the critical books, but now I believe it to be a good dictionary and thesarus. Presuming you have a decent grasp on writing fiction it becomes about finding the right word or phrase to carry the image.
5. What your favorite thing about being a writer is. Being understood.
6. What your least favorite thing about being a writer is. Being misunderstood.
7. What your goals as a writer are. To be publishable and to be considered to have written something important or that really mattered. Eventually, to produce a decent and thought-provoking novel. To make a decent livelihood from writing would be good too.
8. What sort of feedback you want. Only the most honest feedback.
9. Where you are as a writer (how long you've been writing, whether you're published, how many bad novels you've written, etc.). Hmmm. I was a writer when I was young. I was going to be a writer one day. I lived and breathed writing. I read voraciously. Throughout my teen years and early twenties, absolutely. It waned in my late twenties. I managed to get a short and a poem published in lit mags, but the amount of effort involved was really discouraging back then in the world of the SASE and wait 'til hell freezes over. I dropped it completely. Not a word for 15-16 years until the summer, when inspiration flew into my lungs again. Ironically, I started writing poetry in December, mostly as a way to avoid working on larger things and keep the mind running -- and now people think I'm a poet. 6 of 9 submissions have been taken by lit mags. Imagine. I think my technical writing is decent right now, fiction wise, but forming a strong story is another matter altogether. I need to work on my story telling skills.
10. What you think your greatest challenges as a writer are right now. Boredom. I've always had a short attention span. To stay focused to get to the end, especially of longer works. Make the words work -- which have always been like the notes of a musical piece to me.
11. What inspires you? Crisis.
12. One fact about yourself that's fun and unique. I was born deaf in the right ear. I can appreciate stereo but have never experienced it. Nothing worse that putting on a set of headphones and only getting half of the music. ;-)

1. Where did you grow up? i.e. state, city (if you want to share), big town, small town, foreign country, whatever.

That would be Merrimack NH. It was featured three times in the national news during the mid-90s because the school board passed a law banning teachers from talking about homosexuality in a positive light. (This is no joke, it was kind of a scary time). Grew up in a middle class suburb in a lower middle class family, which has a lot to do with some of the things in my writing.

2. Top three favorite novels AS A READER.

Damn, this is the toughest question ever. And the only fair way to answer it is to divide it into genres.

Literary: Shampoo Planet by Douglas Coupeland, The Risk Pool by Richard Russo and Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem.

Fantasy: The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever or Mordants Need by Stephen R. Donaldson and Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams (although War of the Flowers is damn good too).

Mystery: The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler, Sacred by Dennis Lehane and The Black Ice by Michael Connelly.

3. Top three favorite authors (I don't know about you, but the people that I respect most for a total body of work don't always have my favorite single novels within their pantheons).

Niel Gaiman, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald (although this is subject to change)

4. Some books that you think are critical for writers to read (I don't mean Strunk and White and grammar guides, necessarily).

In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway, The AP Stylebook and really any novels.

5. What your favorite thing about being a writer is.

Losing myself in the story. And dragging a few other people with me.

6. What your least favorite thing about being a writer is.

Not getting that one damn line right and having it throw an entire paragraph into smoking ruins.

7. What your goals as a writer are.

Well get published would be the easy answer. But mostly get better. There are a lot of fronts I feel I need to improve on.

8. What sort of feedback you want.

Any. Honestly I think the greatest honor anyone could give me is spending the time reading my stuff and thinking about it enough to leave their opinions. But generally with most of my stuff I really want the big picture type of stuff since my revisions tend to be pretty significant when I do them.

9. Where you are as a writer (how long you've been writing, whether you're published, how many bad novels you've written, etc.).

Geez. Okay, well I've been writing off and on since I was in fifth grade. I've been writing halfway understandably since I was 22 and I went to work for the Daily Evergreen at WSU. Now I had given up on fiction about a year prior to that and decided that the only way I was going to get to write for a living was being a reporter. (And scary enough I'm pretty good at it). But such things were not to be. So for a few years I neither wrote fiction or news articles, and then in a fit of craziness I took up writing again in December. And I've been doing it since. Still have my good days and bad days.

10. What you think your greatest challenges as a writer are right now.

Theme and conflict.

11. What inspires you?

Lets see, strange stuff. Generally the fall and winter. I loathe summer. I mean the only place that has a good summer is Seattle and the rest of the year there blows. Other than that, reading good stuff.

12. One fact about yourself that's fun and unique.

Lets see. I've lived in four states, both coasts and the middle of the country in the twelve years since I graduated high school. And even with writing more than 300 articles for the Daily Evergreen the only SPJ award I won was for a column.

1. Where did you grow up? i.e. state, city (if you want to share), big town, small town, foreign country, whatever. USAF Military Brat. I�ve been in every state except north of Virginia and east of Illinois � the northeast corner of the country. I�ve also lived in the Philippines and Okinawa.

2. Top three favorite novels AS A READER. Hmmm. I�ve always loved �Ivanhoe�. Other than that, I�m stumped.

3. Top three favorite authors (I don't know about you, but the people that I respect most for a total body of work don't always have my favorite single novels within their pantheons). Pushkin, Shakespeare, Danielle Steele (j/k on that last one. Just seeing if anyone�s paying attention this far. Hehehe)

4. Some books that you think are critical for writers to read (I don't mean Strunk and White and grammar guides, necessarily). Thesauraus! Sorry that it's so plain, but I run to mine ALL the time. Other than that, I've never used a writer's guide. I've taken classes, but no texts.

5. What your favorite thing about being a writer is. Creating other worlds, living in other times.

6. What your least favorite thing about being a writer is. Having to stop and do the dishes. ::mad::

7. What your goals as a writer are. To be read and found enjoyable, entertaining, thought provoking. Then, to have people ask me if my next book is ready yet.

8. What sort of feedback you want. I want to know where the plot weakness may be. Many times, I�m stumped by the question � why did the character do (or say) that? Geeze, I knew in my mind. You want me to TELL you?

9. Where you are as a writer (how long you've been writing, whether you're published, how many bad novels you've written, etc.). I�ve written all my life � songs, poems, columns for newspapers, short stories and, lately, novels. Bad novels? � depends on who you ask. Hehehe I thought my first published novel was the absolute end! Not any more. I�ve learned sooooo much since then. It is a good first effort, but that�s about all.

10. What you think your greatest challenges as a writer are right now. Getting motivated to finish a very difficult rewrite. Grrrr.

11. What inspires you? Music. Getting a scene running over and over and over in my mind. Having a character �show up�.

12. One fact about yourself that's fun and unique. I lived in a tipi (constructed for dry Great Plains dwelling) for six months in the rainforest of the Pacific Northwest Cascade Mtns. NOT a brilliant move � especially when I found a dead slug in my hair. Eewwww. When the wolves howled and the bears lumbered by � no joke � I had no front door to close. ::suprised::

Wow, what a interesting group. Slugs in hair, crazied reporters, weird cities in Iowa, lawyers, and friends of Oprah. I feel so lame in comparison.

1. Where did you grow up? i.e. state, city (if you want to share), big town, small town, foreign country, whatever.

The great city of Cleveland, Ohio. Thank God, I moved to Denver, CO at the age of 13, and have lived here ever since.

2. Top three favorite novels AS A READER.

Christopher Moore: Lamb
Tim Dorsey: Topedo Juice
Harper Lee: To Kill a Mockening Bird

3. Top three favorite authors (I don't know about you, but the people that I respect most for a total body of work don't always have my favorite single novels within their pantheons).

Christopher Moore: Funniest writer EVER
Jerry Stahl: He has an extensive body of work including CSI scripts, autobiographical novel (permanet midnight), novels, and columns.
Maya Angelou: I love the strong female voice.

4. Some books that you think are critical for writers to read (I don't mean Strunk and White and grammar guides, necessarily).

Stein on Writing

5. What your favorite thing about being a writer is.

Escaping the daily grind

6. What your least favorite thing about being a writer is.

Living under a bridge.

7. What your goals as a writer are.

To constantly improve, and one day to publish a novel.

8. What sort of feedback you want.

Any and all. I love everything from edits to ideas. I take everything into account.

9. Where you are as a writer (how long you've been writing, whether you're published, how many bad novels you've written, etc.).

I've been writing since September 2001. I have a poem and two short stories published in literary magazines. I have 1 1/2 bad books written before DSL, which is the book I am currently querying to agents.

10. What you think your greatest challenges as a writer are right now.

Waiting. The waiting game is rough. Having an ms out there, and wondering if and when the hammar will drop and the rejection will come.

11. What inspires you?

Other writers like you guys. I love this group and hope you find the same to be true.

12. One fact about yourself that's fun and unique.

I once stalked Tanya Harding (the skater who kneecapped Nancy Keragan). No, I'm not crazy. I worked as a PI for 4 years. I also stalked two NFL football players, and one rockstar (but that was for sheer pleasure ::biggrin:: )

Great forum cc!

1. Where did you grow up? i.e. state, city (if you want to share), big town, small town, foreign country, whatever.

First seven years, Baton Rouge LA. Then moved to the Washington DC area, then back and forth between the Middle East and the US. Too many cites to list. From the Age of 21 on I�ve been living in Baton Rouge.

2. Top three favorite novels AS A READER.

Shite! That is hard. Can�t answer it.

3. Top three favorite authors

I�d have to put L. Ron Hubbard, even though I probably never read another one of his books. I started his deckology at age 11 and finished by age 18. Anyone that can have me keep coming back for 8 years deserves to be a favorite.

Khalil Gibron, His writing was beautiful and simple. Truly a classic.

And Yes (rolls eye�s) Stephen King. The things he pulls off sometimes floor me. He is worth the 60mill he pulls in a year. The thing that astounds me is so far I haven�t seen him do anything that is purely original. He just weaves in so many things well that�s it is magic. Not saying all his novels are like that, there are a few I could finish.

4. Some books that you think are critical for writers to read

SK a Memoir of the craft. I�m looking for others.

5. What your favorite thing about being a writer is.

All the free DOPE and free meals! (joking but you got any?) Writing is so many things to me. But really the ability use my creative mind for something with more tangible results than just fantasies in my head.

6. What your least favorite thing about being a writer is.

Finding the voice. The time that it consumes. That I have to work a real job�

7. What your goals as a writer are.

To finish a Novel and to see my book in a book store�.

8. What sort of feedback you want.
I�m learning. Any instruction I can get.

9. Where you are as a writer

I wrote a few months when I was 23. Then I stopped and picked it back up when I was about 29/30ish. All told maybe I�ve written 200k.


10. What you think your greatest challenges as a writer are right now.
Time and sticking with a project.

11. What inspires you?

Scraping dry boogers off the bottom of other people�s desks at work� (man what a crazed coworker that would be) Anything can inspire me. As long as I�m not bogged down with life and I allow myself to take the time to sink into my mind I can get inspired. Inspiration comes easily for me, the stamina to stay with it doesn�t.

12. One fact about yourself that's fun and unique.

I speak 3 languages, 2 dialects, and can read and write in 4. Eww that�s three and not fun. Hrmm I put Bruce lee to shame with nunchucks.

1. Where did you grow up? i.e. state, city (if you want to share), big town, small town, foreign country, whatever.---I was born and primarily raised in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, I moved around a bit when I was really young but I always return to the dark city.

2. Top three favorite novels AS A READER. Right now my favorite three books are The Prince of Nothing Trilogy. But I am reading A book right now that may bump one of em... American Gods.

3. Top three favorite authors (I don't know about you, but the people that I respect most for a total body of work don't always have my favorite single novels within their pantheons). R. Scott Bakker

4. Some books that you think are critical for writers to read (I don't mean Strunk and White and grammar guides, necessarily). Anything that has had success within the genre you are writing in.

5. What your favorite thing about being a writer is. Being able to creat a world in which anything is possible.

6. What your least favorite thing about being a writer is. Staying dedicated

7. What your goals as a writer are. To finish a novel

8. What sort of feedback you want. I want to know what works and where my weaknesses are.

9. Where you are as a writer (how long you've been writing, whether you're published, how many bad novels you've written, etc.). I'm a baby... been writing seriously for less than a year.

10. What you think your greatest challenges as a writer are right now. Pushing through and maintaining a story.

11. What inspires you? Good emotional anything.

12. One fact about yourself that's fun and unique. I can do one hell of a butt dance.

Hey everybody!

I know it's been a while since most of you heard from me...just wanted to say I still drop by every now and then...checking out the forums and reading just a bit. Still haven't had much time to invest into full reviews/active duty, but hopefully soon...one more month of grad school and four more months of wedding planning. Whenever I get the chance, I've been doing some major re-editing of The Secret Era, so I hope to get that posted eventually. Anyways, I figured this would be a nice study break, so here it goes:

1. Where did you grow up? i.e. state, city (if you want to share), big town, small town, foreign country, whatever.

Chicago...formative years spent in Bolingbrook, a very small burb on the outer reaches of Chicagoland, a transition point between city and farmland.

2. Top three favorite novels AS A READER.

I'm guessing I'm not as voracious of a reader as many of you, but if it indicates anything:

1984, George Orwell
Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
Lord of the Flies, William Golding (high school reading, believe it or not, was very influential to me).

3. Top three favorite authors (I don't know about you, but the people that I respect most for a total body of work don't always have my favorite single novels within their pantheons).

J.K. Rowling: I may not fit in the typical demographic for Harry Potter, but either way, she knows how to tell a story.
John Steinbeck: The Joads on the road still haunt me.
Roger Ebert: Odd choice I know, but reading his critques on film, in an indirect way made me really think about storytelling technique.

4. Some books that you think are critical for writers to read (I don't mean Strunk and White and grammar guides, necessarily).

On Writing, Stephen King: Regardless of opinion regarding King's body of work, his gives sound advice, and shares a really good memoir.
Hmm...drawing a blank after that...

5. What your favorite thing about being a writer is.

Getting the chance to create something different, personal, new. Developing characters that have their own history, persona, etc.

6. What your least favorite thing about being a writer is.

1. Sharing it with others. Strange thing to say in a workshop, but I think it's different here since we don't see each other in person. If my close friends ever saw what I was writing I'd be mortified. To me, it would be worse than being naked. At least with being naked, there's always the excuse that "we were born that way." I haven't even shared most of my writing with my fiance.
2. I wish that writing wasn't such a solitary discipline. Granted, we get to discuss our work in a workshop. But actual writing in itself is done in solitude. I see some of my friends, and I think they're so normal, because they play sports, etc. It sucks that I can't get a bunch of people together and say, "hey, let's all write together at the same time..."

7. What your goals as a writer are.

1. To be able to think critically and creatively on life issues. I hesitate to define myself as liberal or conservative (even after having a Christian background/foundation). I'd much rather take a step back and examine things, if possible from a different vantage point. And I'd like to be creative not just for the sake of expression or individuality...more than anything I really appreciate innovation. Walking through Target is just as interest to me as the Art Institute of Chicago...so many innovative products.
2. To write well enough in order to connect with readers, regardless of the subject matter, or the context of the situation.
3. To complete a good novel.

8. What sort of feedback you want.

I'd like to know:
1. If the story is compelling (and why) or not interesting (and why).
2. Personal impression...did it surprise? Was it moving?
3. Glaring grammar/spelling issues.

9. Where you are as a writer (how long you've been writing, whether you're published, how many bad novels you've written, etc.).

I first got into writing 10 years ago, during my last year as an undergraduate. I took a narrative writing class, and I remember really liking it after my first short story. I dabbled in it a little after graduation, but working full time diverted much of my attention. It wasn't until I started busienss school that I found myself needing a counterbalance to all the stogy business concepts I was learning...if I ever get around to re-posting The Secret Era, you could probably see the result.

10. What you think your greatest challenges as a writer are right now.

Simply finding time to invest in writing, reading, and reviewing.

11. What inspires you?

Simply put, good storytelling, whether it is a book, movie, audiotape, etc. After a good story, I just sit back and wonder how the author did what he did.

12. One fact about yourself that's fun and unique.

Generally speaking, I come from a very creative background from my family. I have an uncle who's a published author. My father's an architect. My brother was a graphic designer for Playboy...he's really good with Photoshop. As for me...I had two years of Art & Design training, and I play music by ear (can't read sheet music) on top of writing...

...okay back to studying...hope to be back soon...

Quote:


That gave me a good laugh.

Yeah...I didn't realize it but it kind of contradicted #1 of that same question...

I'm catching up on the forums..

As usual I wrote a monogram on this but here we go�

Malenkov:

1. Where did you grow up?
Born in Angola. Grew up in Essex, England. Living in Frankfurt

2. Top three favorite novels AS A READER.
Dune, Fight Club, Harry Potter series

3. Top three favorite authors .
Huxley, T.C Boyle, Doestevsky

4. Some books that you think are critical for writers to read
Shaping the story, Writing fiction, What If? , Revising Fiction, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, The Creative Writer's Style Guide , On Writer's Block , A Writer's Book of Days, The writers Book of Hope, Bird by Bird

5. What your favourite thing about being a writer is.
Stating a truth in a way a philosopher never can.

6. What your least favorite thing about being a writer is.
The hard grind of revision. The discipline and will power. Athletes have it easy.

7. What your goals as a writer are.
To master the craft, to write the way I imagine it.

8. What sort of feedback you want.
First, and primarily: the honest reaction as a reader.
Where I twang, where I don�t.

Second constructive criticism.
To know my strengths What specifically?
To know my weaknesses with concrete suggestions on how to improve them.

9. Where you are as a writer :
Been at it a bit over one year. I've not published. Focusing on stories.

10. What you think your greatest challenges as a writer are right now.
Getting the story right, finishing, polishing

11. What inspires you?
Courage, perseverance and vision in others. My daughter's smile.

12. One fact about you that's fun and unique.
At my wedding it was so impromptu, and I was so blindly in love, and poor, that I didn't even have a ring, and had to use an old irish one lent by a girlfriend. We read an Oscar Wilde story about a nightingale that gets trampled under a wheel, which reduced half the guests to tears and the guests thought we were completely mad. But we had a whale of a time. Needless to say the marriage ended but it was a good innings as we Brits say...