Writing And Other Such Forms Of Insanity

I mercilessly stole these question, mainly as I found them very interesting and I love to ramble about writing.

1. Do you outline?
Not on paper, I used to, but I normally keep it all in my head.

2. Do you write straight through a book, or do you sometimes tackle the scenes out of order?
I have to write them straight through, I think I work better when I'm following the characters through their journey.

3. Do you prefer writing with a pen or using a computer?
Mostly computer for stories, scripts and some poems. I write on paper only for my journal and personal poems, I just think writing on paper is more intimate and immediate.

4. Do you prefer writing in first person or third?
I'm not sure, it varies depending on the story. I do love all the fun you can have with first person narrators, especially unreliable ones. I did have a phase where anytime I used a narrator they would either be lying or insane.

5. Do you listen to music while you write?
Absolutely! It's a very important factor to me to help me write! I try to listen to music that fits the mood of the piece, like for out-and-out horror I like to some fast rock and bombastic pieces of classical music (like 'O Fortuna'), and then for my play 'Stand+Deliver!' I listened to lots of punk rock to go with the rebellion theme. For the short 'Wild Is The Wind' (which, coincidentally, is just below this post- so why not read it???) I listened to lots of Nina Simone to get a jazzy 50's mood.

6. How do you come up with the perfect names for your characters?
With great difficulty! Naming characters is as important as naming children! I try to draw on mixing of names, for example in 'Wild Is The Wind' (shameless plug because I'm going to post the second part of it soon) I named the narrator Jack Redgrave because on the day I started writing I saw the film version of 'The Importance of Being Ernest' (of which I once was in a production of), in which Michael Redgrave played Jack Worthing... thus Jack Redgrave! In my play 'Berlin' I named the double-crossing CIA agent Matthew Bellamy after a certain rock star I have a great disdain for.

7. When you’re writing, do you ever imagine your book as a television show or movie?
Well, we all see stories in our head, so I imagine it like that.

8. Have you ever had a character insist on doing something you really didn’t want him/her to do?
Sometimes. I think it's good when they do, it proves they're alive. I once have a character escape death when they were fated to die. The Grim Reaper caught up with them 3 chapters later to punish them with eye-gorging.

9. Do you know how a book is going to end when you start it?
Most of the time. I think it's important to have an idea of an end point, but sometimes I purposely don't think about the end until I come to write as it's more surprising.

10. Where do you write?
At my desk primarily. Though sometimes I like just to take my notebook out and do some jottings in the park.

11. What do you do when you get writer’s block?
get annoyed and grumble to myself a lot.

12. What size increments do you write in (either in terms of word count, or as a percentage of the book as a whole)?

13. How many different drafts did you write for your last project?
I'm an awful editor of my own work. I'm lucky if I see a second draft completed, let alone a third one!

14. Have you ever changed a character’s name midway through a draft?
Yes. In 'Berlin' after five scene Charles Franklin decided to become Charles Bennett.

15. Do you let anyone read your book while you’re working on it, or do you wait until you’ve completed a draft before letting someone else see it?
I try to wait till I'm finished with the first draft.

16. What do you do to celebrate when you finish a draft?
I generally just feel very contented and tip a glass of coke to my laptop.

17. One project at a time, or multiple projects at once?
I try to stick to one at a time, but I become easily distracted by other idea.

18. Do your books grow or shrink in revision?
Generally grow when I do revise.

19. Do you have any writing or critique partners?
Not really, unfortunately. I worry that people aren't really interested in what I've written.

20. Do you prefer drafting or revising?
Revising.