So, it looks like there’s been a popular blog-hop going around, and it appears that I’m the newest target participant. Marie Bilodeau, Matt Moore, K.W. Ramsey, and Adam Shaftoe and many more have all taken part, asking each other questions, posting responses, and tagging three others in turn to contribute to the hop. I got tagged by K.W. Ramsey. Comparisons to Ponzi schemes and pyramid schemes have already been made, so let’s liken this instead to a zombie plague! Where will the outbreak spread next?
I’m just gonna answer the same questions that K.W. did on his blog. Here we go:
1. If you could time travel and steal somebody else’s novel/short story/film for yourself, what would it be?
I think I’d steal the first Dresden Files book by Jim Butcher. Not because I want to keep it for myself, but because I couldn’t stand it even while I was reading it (I gave up on the series halfway through the second book), and I’d want to protect others from such dreck.
2. What writing sin do you actively have to struggle against in your own work?
“Sin” is probably too strong a word here, but let’s say that it’s monotony. I see a lot of tics in my own writing. I use lots of dashes to denote changes in thought – this happens in my fiction writing, my blogging, and my personal corrrespondence! I also tend to over-punctuate with commas, write lots of compound-complex sentences, and so forth. I need to learn how to vary my sentence length and structure for greater impact.
3. Pick three writers, past or present, that you would want to have dinner with. Why those writers?
Hmm. Let’s go with Catherynne M. Valente (whom I’ve mentioned before), Neil Gaiman, and Shakespeare.
I would invite Catherynne M. Valente because then she could give me a blood transfusion by which I would absorb some of her writerly awesomeness.
Neil Gaiman I’d invite because he seems like he’d be an amazing raconteur, and he also seems genuinely friendly. (Plus, if the Valente blood transfusion didn’t work out, he’d be the backup.)
Shakespeare I’d invite because that’s so obvious I shouldn’t even need to provide an answer.
4. You have forty-two words, write a story.
Spring came, then summer, and then fall. But not winter; she’d gotten bored of it. Gotten so long ago, in fact. But at least there wasn’t anyone left to tell her what to do. She’d gotten bored of people long ago, too.
Tag, you’re it
So now here comes the fun part where I spread the zombie plague tag three others to take part: Léonicka Valcius, Carolyn Charron, and Rabeya Merenkov!
I want you guys to answer these questions and then find 3 other people to tag in your response posts:
- What is one thing you’ve learned about writing that you wish you knew when you started?
- If you could go back in time to witness one particular historical event (knowing that your presence wouldn’t alter the timeline), what would you choose?
- If you could delete 3 words from the English language, what would they be?
- What is one piece of writing advice that you think is really overrated? Why?
