Well, seeing as it is the end of the year and I feel as if I ought to be doing something end-of-year-ish, this is my 2012 view on this little writerly questionaire. Wishing you and yours a happy writing year in 2013. 

Makes you think, hmm? 

Do you have a pen/pencil collection? How many of those are chewed?
I have a new set of pens by Papermate, because there was a purple pen involved. Five new pencils with giant sparkly comfort grips. I have now officially stopped chewing on them…mostly because I’ve developed something of a habit for eating for tic-tac every five seconds. In Wintergreen. 

Do you prefer handwriting or typing furiously?
I am still typing furiously. Honestly, I don’t think this will ever change. I am far too ingrained with my fingers on a keyboard, be it virtual or real. Handwriting is still a part of my scribbling life, but it only factors in when I want some extra headspace. 

How often do you get inspiration?
Every time I close my eyes…and considering I’m an insomniac, that says a lot. I always find inspiration, I just have to stop thinking about the 1,001th thing in my life and then I have enough to work with. Sometimes I want to hammer the ideas out and then it takes a little longer, but still. There’s no such thing as writer’s block. 

Are you blogging this on a computer or laptop? 
Laptop!

Do you get inspiration more in the early morning or late at night? 
Early morning…like 4am kind of early morning. It’s amazingly weird and I don’t have any regrets at all. I do wish I could get some sleep, but I guess I can’t complain about the writing part. Inspiration is lovely and it makes my dreams interesting. 

Do certain movies/books/music inspire you? 
Music is it, this year. I find that it’s very easy to be inspired by some of the recent songs, my new favorite by Of Monsters and Men, is a song called “Little Talks”.  There is an amazing music video that goes with it and the lyrics are lovely. It’s actually based about an old couple and the band talks about the inspiration behind it in an interview. It’s worth a listen.

How do you incorporate God into your stories? 
With a prayer. This year, it’s usually one of those italicized prayers from the MC’s head and I find that those are some of the hardest pieces to write.

Do you kill off your villains or make them repent? 
I’m killing most of them off, lately, because they are far to reprehensible to be redeemed. *shudder* and in all honesty, you wouldn’t want me to. You’d think I’d gone spare.

Are the majority of your characters magical beings, humans, or halflings? 
Er, how about still not-quite-human? I’m partial to Elves and Dark Fae at the moment. (Dark Fae because they are storm fairies, duh!) ~_^ and dragons. I have a thing going on about dragons right now…

What genre of writing are you most comfortable in? 
Fantasy. But lately I’ve been thinking about little slice of life bits and pieces and due to University, I’ve been forced to write poetry. It’s been interesting, but I wouldn’t say that I like it anywhere near as much as I do my fiction. My poetry tends to be dark and broody–which is actually not that surprising when I think of it. Oh well. 

Do you work better alone or with someone else? 
I still prefer to work alone. It’s just easier. Just tell me what you want done and let me have at it. I’ve been backlogged a little bit with keeping up with projects and betaing and all of that work. My apologies to anyone who’s still waiting on me. 

Do your stories make sense, or do they ramble wildly? 
I haven’t done as many stream of consciousness pieces as I normally would and the recent pieces, I’m told. Make sense, which is good. 

Are your characters mostly Renegades, Peacekeepers or a mish-mash?
Still mish-mash. I think it’s best that way. I do want to write a few peacekeeper types though, but I think that would be more of a challenge than my sleep-deprived brain could handle at the moment.

Are you a sucker for good grammar? 
For spelling more so than the grammar, what I know, I know, what I don’t. Well. *shrug* 

How is your handwriting?
Still the same. Probably with more connectedness inside of it than usual and more shorthand. I’m working on cutting out the vowels. Hmm. When I do write “nicely” though, it looks as it always has, very neat and pretty.

How evil are your villains? 
Oh they’re bad alright. I like last year’s note of “can’t purify bad blood” kind of bad, so I’m going to use it again, because that’s kind of the premise I use for it. Nice. 

Are you long-winded or succinct? 
Still long-winded. I can make a story out of anything, just give me the chance and the time.

Do you have typical writer traits such as ink stains on your fingers or a pencil behind your ear? 
I have my  modern writer traits, the callouses on one specific finger and the short fingernails.

Would someone walking past you on the street consider you normal?
Yes. I look quite normal in the sense that I don’t have my writer oddities showing… ~_^

Do you write mostly poetry, stories, novels or a mixture? 
A mixture. I write everything. Literally everything. Get used to it. 😛

Do your characters vary in accents, appearance and attitude or are they mostly the same? 
They vary! I do try to follow some of the little things in my FMC’s that are well-received, because a strong female heroine is strong, no matter what changes around them. The appearance, accents and such do change though.

Do real people and/or places inspire your writing? 
This year, they have. I’ve been drawn to many photographs of lovely, wonderful places that I may never visit in my lifetime, if only because I don’t know that I’d have enough time in my life to visit all of them! It’s inspiring and amazing. 

What is your favorite character? Or do you choose to remain unbiased in case of a revolt? 
My dark fae warrior known as Eviankia, short for Inkia. She’s a lovely, smart-mouthed little thing and has a knack for working with shadows and electricity. 

Do you talk to your characters? Do they talk back? 
Yes and Yes. They never shut up. 

Are you more comfortable with girl or boy main characters? 
Lately, I’ve been writing male characters. I’m told I do a very nice, “tall, dark and brooding” character. Hmm. 

Do you follow basic overused plot lines with new twists thrown in or do you depart from the norm all the time? 
I use the same plots with my own twists, and lately, I’ve been delving far away from the norm. 

Do you feel God has called you to be a writer/poet? Will you grasp the power of the pen? 
Yes, I have and by His grace, I continue to write. 

Happy New Year!

~Sara