Not sure if we can ask multiple ones? If not, just pick one :) I'm just too curious to be able to limit it to one. So how about 10, 14, and 38?
Multiples arenāt a problem! If I answered them before, i;ll just link to my answer :) But I donāt think Iāve answered any of these!
10. Do you brainstorm things alone or with others?
Both! Though I mostly brainstorm things alone while on the way to work or at the gym. Iāve got one of those brains thatās always thinking about magic or fiction, so I have a lot of ideas! I take the best of those, make fuller outlines of them and then trap my sister and best friends in person/on the phone and make them listen to them!Ā
Iām extraordinarily lucky that I have such a creative/supportive group of people around me who get just as pumped as I do when talking about fiction!
14. Do you have a favorite writing related quote?
I have a few! But the one that really rocked my world was from The Master and MargaritaĀ by Bulgakov! In it, Woland tells the master that he canāt have burned his manuscript becauseĀ āManuscripts donāt burn.ā
The meaning is that once something is written/shared/conceived, you canāt destroy the idea. That had a strong impact me in high school because I often felt that my writing didnāt mean anything. It was just silly stories that I made up and scribbled in my math notes. But the quote made me feel that writing meant something and that the contents could impact the world.
A little high and mighty, lol, but Iām probably going to get it tattooed somewhere on my person, I love that quote.
38. Whatās one piece of writing advice you try -- but fail -- to follow?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA ALL OF IT. Just....all of it.Ā There are exceptions to every bit of advice and I exploit them ruthlessly and, perhaps, excessively.
People give me advice about commas all the time!Ā āUse less of themā orĀ āAre you sure you know what a comma is?ā orĀ āyou understand that you donāt need a comma here.ā I like my sentences to read a certain way so I comma it up. Even when I try to pull back itās, like, endless commas.
My next biggest problem is probably adverbs. Not as much anymore because Iām training it out of my writing style, but words likeĀ āsuddenlyā arenāt really necessary. If the door is thrown open and a character jumps at the sound, the reader generally knows that the door is suddenly thrown open. Itās a nit-picky thing that my writing groups love to point out. I should be grateful to them though, it makes me a better writer!