Blogging About Writing, Part 4

OK, last set. It hasn't been quite as interesting as I hoped, but it's helped carry me through a stretch where nothing seems to be coming out.

31. Write a short love letter to your readers.

Thank you for the time you allocate to reading my writing. Knowing you deemed my thoughts worth some of your finite lifespan is both surprising and appreciated.

32. What is a line from something you return to? How did you find it? What does it mean to you?

"I believe it's the duty of the press to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable." It's from Inherit the Wind, so I found it because I watched it with my dad. It means I write people in power as untrustworthy asshole and kill them whenever I can bend the story that way.

33. Do you practice any art besides writing? Does it ever tie into your writing, or is it separate?

I sketch, as people on this blog are aware, though I haven't done any of that in a couple of years. I have tried on occasions in the past to draw scenes from my stories. Such as Calvin and Clever Adolescent Panda arguing while Deadpool blows up part of a road, or Adorable Baby Panda being attacked by a pirate penguin. It never turns out well, so I stopped doing that. I don't have a strong enough sense of my characters' designs (or I lack the skill) to put them on paper and not be disheartened by how they look.

34. Thoughts on the Oxford comma, go.

Had to look it up to make sure it was what I thought. It was. I don't really care. I'll use as few commas as I can get away with, but if other people want to use an extra one, it's not getting my nose bent out of shape.

35. What's your favorite writing rule to smash to smithereens?

All of them? I see a lot of posts on tumblr about how you should never do "X", or stop doing "Y" when you write. Don't skip over a scene you're struggling with to write one you already have prepared. Don't refer to characters by their hair color. That kind of shit. Because I'm a contrary person, my reaction every time is, "Don't tell me how to write my stories."

I can write reports for work following the rules, even if refraining from sarcasm is really hard, but when I'm writing for fun the only thing I care about is that I'm happy with the end result. However I get to that point is fine. So fuck all the rules.

36. They say Write What You Know. Setting aside this is terrible advice. . .what do you know?

Wildlife biology. Sports trivia and comic book minutiae. Basic farming stuff. Westerns. Habits of dialogue and tics in noirs. Sarcasm. Self-doubt. Isolation. Slapstick comedy.

37. If you were remembered only by your words on page, what would the historians think of you?

I didn't know how to write romance. I like settling things with violence. I'm a bizarre mixture of fatalism and optimism.

38. What is something about your process you think is really weird? Or, if you aren't comfortable talking about that, what do you think cats say about us?

I have no one to judge against, so nothing about my process seems weird to me. As I understand it, cats think we are also cats. So they think we are the dumbest, ugliest, most hopelessly incompetent cats around.

39. What helps you when you feel like giving up?

I hate giving up on things because it feels like failure. This is why I finish books I hate (Tristam Shandy, come on down and get chucked in a compost heap!), or watch shitty Netflix horror movies all the way through. Well, that and because I think I might get something of use out of them. So I just force myself to keep going. I have stopped working on a story for about a year before, but I still came back to it when it was all said and done. So, stubbornness drives me forward. That, or the knowledge the idea will just sit in brain, annoying me, until it's done.

40. Please share a poem with me.

Uch, really? Fine. 'Land of ivory waves, Your kings conceal old secrets, Secret of ancients.'

I cobbled that haiku attempt together for a story. At least haiku don't have to rhyme.