Five Questions
Jul. 14th, 2010 10:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ravensweptSeems to be the latest meme, though substantially more thoughtout. Mine were gotten from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
limiinal. Comment and I give you five new questions, and so on and so forth.
1. Do you have any recurring themes or concepts in your creative projects? If so, what are they and why?
Not really that I can think of. It helps that I usually don't try to repeat myself, but most of what I'm working on don't have too many overlapping ideas. Those that do tend to be born from the same cloth, so I don't quite count those as they're just the same idea told in different ways.
Actually, I take that back; one theme I find is trying to find your place in the world. Several works-in-progress have the character trying to figure out where they stand, whether it be with what they grew up with or, feeling different from those around them, with others who share the same qualities.
2. What did you hate most about working as a waiter?
...okay, at first I thought that was "writer", but limi does read my journal so now it makes more sense. Also, at no time in the following is my use of the possesive "you" directed at you, it's the royal usage so please don't think I'm pointing fingers.
John Q Public for the most part. Few people know what actually goes on inside a restaurant, and not enough think about what your server has to go through in a day. "Don't you just take orders, bring drinks, and clear tables?" Yes, and it's not that simple. On some level, you have to entertain. The people who enter didn't want to cook for themselves, but still feel that because it's their money, they can act how they want. So I'm forced to put on a happy face, regardless of how my day is going, and crack stupid jokes to keep a light mood. If the food is bad, I'm the go-between, and the rule of "don't take it out on the messenger" isn't kept in mind when they wanted their steak medium-rare with fries and the cook made medium-done with cheese fries. The cook apologizes, but he has five orders of parties of four, and if in the rush either he misread a ticket, or the wrong plate was grabbed, what the fuck do you care your order was just either paid for or reduced, maybe you got a free dessert, shut up I have other tables to deal with.
On top of that, most of the time, your jokes aren't funny. Yes, yes, we've all heard it, ha ha, yes it is just a tiny bit busy, how observant of you. No, really, I can make a "dinner and a show" joke all by myself when I break a glass, thank you. It's not that the attempt to lighten the mood isn't appreciated, it's that coming from you it isn't all that funny. Let us make those corny jokes; it shows we're not going to take it hard and be nervous the rest of the meat around you, and it allows us to break the our own tension. You want to help? A few extra bucks at checkout time would help, most of us live off our tips and state law rarely supports minimum wage for servers.
On top of that, you're not my only table, depending on the time of day I could be juggling anywhere from one to twelve tables, not counting the counter seats or the seasonal outdoor tables. That's somewhere in the range of 60+ people who I need to seat, drink, move to the next, bus, order, send orders to kitchen, restock salads and beverages, re-drink, handle mistakes, bring out your food, bus, clear tables, set tables, print checks, wash, rinse, repeat at the same goddamn time. Jesus I'm glad I got out of that!
3. Is there any book, movie, play, or episode from a show that has or continues to scare you shitless?
Mmmyes and no. I remember being scared a lot when I was younger, which lead to me being a big "where's mom and dad" kid growing up. There was the opening of Nightmare Before Christmas, the opening alone freaked me out the first time I saw it; seeing only the melting faces of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and only that scene without any context did a number on my psychi.
But still to this day?...noooot really. There's the Saw series, but that's more of "ew, god, ew, ew, ew" than scary. There are certain concepts that freak me out, but most of the time it only works once.
4. Which appeals to you more, speculative fiction or literary fiction? Why?
What the Sam Hell is "literary fiction", isn't that just "the fiction of literature"? Let's see here, Wikipedia...speculative...okay, "literary fiction focuses more on style, psychological depth, and character, the plot may or may not be important". Ah hah.
Speculative, hands down. I'd rather be attracted to things that actually make up a story and be snuck up on by the themes and subject matter, instead of reading something where the definition of it is that the writer is trying to write something obviously of worth. You know what that is? It's called "the Great American Novel", and no one ever achieves it. It's the goal of people who get into writing for all the wrong reasons shoot for, because they want their work to "mean something" and "have worth" and mainly talk about something without saying anything. Literary fiction, to my mind, is masturbation with a pen, literary self-gratification.
Speculative fiction may not outright deal with the issues of our day, but they're gonna be damn more entertaining.
5. What is the earliest memory you can remember, and how old were you?
Texas. I was born in Washington state, but I only know that because I know that. I lived in Texas, San Antinio more precisely, sometime after birth until I was five, when we moved back to Washington (my dad was in the Air Force). Right now I can't think of too much in a linear timeline, but I can pick out pieces from back then.
One that I didn't remember until my mom reminded me is probably one the best. Texas, for anyone (actually) reading this might not know, is pretty lightning-pretty in the summer time. Huge electrical storms. Awesome. Anywho, my mom would take me on walks through the neighborhood and to a local football field/park area. She'd do this before a storm would actually come overhead, so I would hear the thunder and, once at the field, could see the lightning in the distance. She'd do this multiple times over the year, mainly depending on if she was home at the time and if she knew the storm was coming. But, alone with the 4th of July, sometimes we'd get Chruch icecream bars, climb to the top of the bleachers, and watch the lightning.
I didn't remember this for a long time, until I mentioned I missed the awesome lightning storms from when we visited relatives in the mid-west. She mentioned she took me on walks so I wouldn't be frightened of the storms, because I guess one of her sisters was scared of thunder storms as a kid. So she brought me up so I wouldn't be. Which is cool, because it gave me a new story idea, Lightning's Child, and also makes me crave the few times thoughtout the year I can just relax in a chair and listen to the rain and all the flash and boom of the storms.
limiinal. Comment and I give you five new questions, and so on and so forth.1. Do you have any recurring themes or concepts in your creative projects? If so, what are they and why?
Not really that I can think of. It helps that I usually don't try to repeat myself, but most of what I'm working on don't have too many overlapping ideas. Those that do tend to be born from the same cloth, so I don't quite count those as they're just the same idea told in different ways.
Actually, I take that back; one theme I find is trying to find your place in the world. Several works-in-progress have the character trying to figure out where they stand, whether it be with what they grew up with or, feeling different from those around them, with others who share the same qualities.
2. What did you hate most about working as a waiter?
...okay, at first I thought that was "writer", but limi does read my journal so now it makes more sense. Also, at no time in the following is my use of the possesive "you" directed at you, it's the royal usage so please don't think I'm pointing fingers.
John Q Public for the most part. Few people know what actually goes on inside a restaurant, and not enough think about what your server has to go through in a day. "Don't you just take orders, bring drinks, and clear tables?" Yes, and it's not that simple. On some level, you have to entertain. The people who enter didn't want to cook for themselves, but still feel that because it's their money, they can act how they want. So I'm forced to put on a happy face, regardless of how my day is going, and crack stupid jokes to keep a light mood. If the food is bad, I'm the go-between, and the rule of "don't take it out on the messenger" isn't kept in mind when they wanted their steak medium-rare with fries and the cook made medium-done with cheese fries. The cook apologizes, but he has five orders of parties of four, and if in the rush either he misread a ticket, or the wrong plate was grabbed, what the fuck do you care your order was just either paid for or reduced, maybe you got a free dessert, shut up I have other tables to deal with.
On top of that, most of the time, your jokes aren't funny. Yes, yes, we've all heard it, ha ha, yes it is just a tiny bit busy, how observant of you. No, really, I can make a "dinner and a show" joke all by myself when I break a glass, thank you. It's not that the attempt to lighten the mood isn't appreciated, it's that coming from you it isn't all that funny. Let us make those corny jokes; it shows we're not going to take it hard and be nervous the rest of the meat around you, and it allows us to break the our own tension. You want to help? A few extra bucks at checkout time would help, most of us live off our tips and state law rarely supports minimum wage for servers.
On top of that, you're not my only table, depending on the time of day I could be juggling anywhere from one to twelve tables, not counting the counter seats or the seasonal outdoor tables. That's somewhere in the range of 60+ people who I need to seat, drink, move to the next, bus, order, send orders to kitchen, restock salads and beverages, re-drink, handle mistakes, bring out your food, bus, clear tables, set tables, print checks, wash, rinse, repeat at the same goddamn time. Jesus I'm glad I got out of that!
3. Is there any book, movie, play, or episode from a show that has or continues to scare you shitless?
Mmmyes and no. I remember being scared a lot when I was younger, which lead to me being a big "where's mom and dad" kid growing up. There was the opening of Nightmare Before Christmas, the opening alone freaked me out the first time I saw it; seeing only the melting faces of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and only that scene without any context did a number on my psychi.
But still to this day?...noooot really. There's the Saw series, but that's more of "ew, god, ew, ew, ew" than scary. There are certain concepts that freak me out, but most of the time it only works once.
4. Which appeals to you more, speculative fiction or literary fiction? Why?
What the Sam Hell is "literary fiction", isn't that just "the fiction of literature"? Let's see here, Wikipedia...speculative...okay, "literary fiction focuses more on style, psychological depth, and character, the plot may or may not be important". Ah hah.
Speculative, hands down. I'd rather be attracted to things that actually make up a story and be snuck up on by the themes and subject matter, instead of reading something where the definition of it is that the writer is trying to write something obviously of worth. You know what that is? It's called "the Great American Novel", and no one ever achieves it. It's the goal of people who get into writing for all the wrong reasons shoot for, because they want their work to "mean something" and "have worth" and mainly talk about something without saying anything. Literary fiction, to my mind, is masturbation with a pen, literary self-gratification.
Speculative fiction may not outright deal with the issues of our day, but they're gonna be damn more entertaining.
5. What is the earliest memory you can remember, and how old were you?
Texas. I was born in Washington state, but I only know that because I know that. I lived in Texas, San Antinio more precisely, sometime after birth until I was five, when we moved back to Washington (my dad was in the Air Force). Right now I can't think of too much in a linear timeline, but I can pick out pieces from back then.
One that I didn't remember until my mom reminded me is probably one the best. Texas, for anyone (actually) reading this might not know, is pretty lightning-pretty in the summer time. Huge electrical storms. Awesome. Anywho, my mom would take me on walks through the neighborhood and to a local football field/park area. She'd do this before a storm would actually come overhead, so I would hear the thunder and, once at the field, could see the lightning in the distance. She'd do this multiple times over the year, mainly depending on if she was home at the time and if she knew the storm was coming. But, alone with the 4th of July, sometimes we'd get Chruch icecream bars, climb to the top of the bleachers, and watch the lightning.
I didn't remember this for a long time, until I mentioned I missed the awesome lightning storms from when we visited relatives in the mid-west. She mentioned she took me on walks so I wouldn't be frightened of the storms, because I guess one of her sisters was scared of thunder storms as a kid. So she brought me up so I wouldn't be. Which is cool, because it gave me a new story idea, Lightning's Child, and also makes me crave the few times thoughtout the year I can just relax in a chair and listen to the rain and all the flash and boom of the storms.
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no subject
on 2010-07-15 01:40 pm (UTC)Heh, I didn't watch that until I was in my late teens, but I do remember seeing Beetlejuice as a kid and being freaked the fuck out by Delia's sculptures coming to life. There's something about clay animation that's just uncomfortable to watch.
Also, coooomment.
no subject
on 2010-07-15 08:20 pm (UTC)I loved Beetlejuice! Never scared me though, strange.
1) Is there any aspect of your writing you hate, or at least extremely dislike? Not the process, but any part of the actual product?
2) Assume that, for some reason, you could never draw or paint ever again; how do you think that would affect your creative process?
3) Do you remember the first thing that made you feel really guilty? What was it?
4) You have to define yourself and your writing by a single genre, one that isn't what you normally work with or under. Which would you feel you could best work under?
5) I'm coming for an unannounced visit Saturday; do you quickly clean up a space on the couch, nod happily while trying to figure out where to put me, or lock the doors, bar the windows, and get out the shotgun?
no subject
on 2010-07-15 10:03 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2010-07-16 02:36 am (UTC)1) A rip in time and space opens in front of you; a wizard, or someone of equal or higher mysticism, says that you are the only hope for their world, and you must come with him to save everyone. You have no idea if this is a oneway trip, or what kind of world you'll be entering, or even what kind of fiasco you're getting yourself into; do you go?
2) When was the last time you intentionally did something hurtful to someone else, and felt justified for doing so?
3) Would you rather publish one book, that while not your best will be the highlight of your career, make you tons of money, and never be able to ever top, regardless of gained ability; or would you like to have a non-eventful path, publishing books that don't make headlines or even appear that often in the public subconscious, but you feel great for having written?
4) Name a fantasy race you'd like to see in the real world; assume that they've always been around, not just having recently popped up.
5) Have you ever written anything that embarrassed you? Not you wish you hadn't written, but is on a subject matter that you'd rather not let others know you have because you like it?
no subject
on 2010-07-16 01:11 am (UTC)no subject
on 2010-07-16 01:11 am (UTC)no subject
on 2010-07-16 02:44 am (UTC)Harass back!
1) Look at the animals around you; if you had to choose, which would you rather be allergic to, and would you keep them and take the pills that don't always quite work, or give up keeping that kind of animal?
2) Your art appears on the cover of [insert here]! You gain fame and fortune! Did you deserve it?
3) You're pregnant! Boy, girl, twins, both of one or one of each, litter, what do you hope for? And what do you lesson do you hope to teach them at, say, age 10?
4) Fantasy magic is real, in whatever form you've choosen. What kind is it, and where do you rank, if you do, in the pecking order?
5) Are there any surprises you've noticed when you create something, or any underlying threads that connect them that you didn't notice until afterward?