[Welcome meme] Getting to know each other...

[sterling]

We're all relatively new to DW, and that means we're likely going to meet a lot of new people. But, where to start? How can we break the ice and get to know each other?

Perhaps a quick friending "meme" would be just the thing. Copy and paste the below as a reply to this thread, and let us know what kind of writer you are. Answers can be as vague or as specific as you'd like.

meme
<u><b>General</b></u> <b>- Name:</b> <b>- Age:</b> <b>- Location:</b> <u><b>Reading</b></u> <b>- Your favorite genre/s:</b> <b>- Your favorite author/s:</b> <b>- Your favorite book/s:</b> <b>- Your favorite character/s:</b> <b>- Least favorite book/s:</b> <b>- Least favorite characters:</b> <b>- Recommended reading:</b> <u><b>Writing</b></u> <b>- What do you write:</b> (ex: fiction, poems, songs, etc.) <b>- Your favorite genre/s to write:</b> <b>- Do you write fanfiction?</b> (if yes, what fandom?) <b>- Do you write original fiction?</b> <b>- Current project:</b> <b>- An area you'd like to improve in:</b> <b>- An accomplishment you're proud of:</b> <u><b>Other</b></u> <b>- Hobbies:</b> <b>- What's in your journal?</b> <b>- Why did you move to DW?</b> <b>- Favorite energy drink?</b> <b>- Anything else?</b>

link back to the meme in your journal
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Comments

[sweet_sparrow]

General

- Name: Shanra
- Age: 20-something
- Location: the Netherlands

Reading

- Your favorite genre/s: Fantasy
- Your favorite author/s: Please, don't ask me this question. I fail at answering it. I don't Do favourites. Some authors I've enjoyed a lot over the years are Paul Biegel, Enid Blyton, George RR Martin, Diana Wynne Jones, Terry Pratchett, the brothers Grimm, Elizabeth Knox, Lord Byron, John Keats, William Shakespeare, Guy Gavriel Kay, Basho, Jane Austen. I could go on like this. But favourites? I've no idea.
- Your favorite book/s: *points up* Books I'd happily recommend to anyone, though, are The Vintner's Luck, Howl's Moving Castle, Het gulden vlies van Thule (The Golden Fleece of Thule), Briar Rose, The Butterfly Lion, Tigana... (Etc, etc)
- Your favorite character/s: One of my friends'. She's unpublished, though.
- Least favorite book/s: Now this... This I could work with, but I'm not going to name names. Instead, I'll tell you that I have issues with books that adopt the motto "Tell, don't show". Or the motto "Let's bludgeon the reader to death with my opinion (even though it's detrimental to the story)!".
- Least favorite characters: I... can't think of any right now. My memory is made of fail. ^-^;
- Recommended reading: Ah, er, I filled this in when you asked my favourites already... Sorry.

Writing

- What do you write: Fiction, poetry, the occasional non-fiction piece... Mostly it's prose fiction, though.
- Your favorite genre/s to write: Fantasy and its subgenres. I, er, seem incapable of writing something without at least falling into magical realism, actually. Thankfully that doesn't bother me! ^-~
- Do you write fanfiction? Nope. I used to, a long time ago. (Thief, Dungeons and Dragons, I think that's it.) It's what got me into writing.
- Do you write original fiction? Yep. 's all I write nowadays.
- Current project: Juggling several projects as the mood strikes. High fantasy Bildungsroman, steampunky adventure story that drives me mad, steampunky fairytale retelling, superhero/magical girl urban fantasy, fey-infested urban fantasy... and anything and everything thats strikes my fancy and introduces itself.
- An area you'd like to improve in: I'd like to improve on all areas, but description is my main beef. Well, in my opinion. I Fail at descriptions.
- An accomplishment you're proud of: The story I wrote for my BA thesis. It got a 9 (out of 10). That's roughly equivalent to an A. I had a lot of help, though. One day I want to be able to replicate it without the wonderful friends-who-serve-as-editors' aid.

Other

- Hobbies: Reading. I also enjoy singing and gaming. And watching the occasional tv show.
- What's in your journal? Mostly nattering on my life, but I also use it as a (locked!) writing journal when I have something finished enough to post and share.
- Why did you move to DW? LJ has done far too much to annoy me. All I'm lacking for a permanent move is that all my friends like LJ and I don't want to force them to move along with me.
- Favorite energy drink? Er... Tea? Is tea an energy drink? Because if it isn't, I don't have one.
- Anything else? I ramble when I'm nervous. Or happy. Or upset. Otherwise I'm fairly quiet. I'm still learning how to hold discussions. Beyond that... Hi! ^-^

[wilhelminabenedict]

General

- Name: Carla
- Age: 18
- Location: Washington State, US

Reading

- Your favorite genre/s: Fantasy, science fiction, adventure--although really, anything with compelling characters. It's the people that do it for me.
- Your favorite author/s: Anne Bishop
- Your favorite book/s: Black Jewels series.
- Your favorite character/s: What, I have to pick? Jaenelle Angelline, Torin Kerr, Surreal SaDiablo, Kate Daniels, Dante Valentine, Jill Kismet, Angua, Susan Sto Helit, Susan Pevensie, Fleur Delacour, Alanna, Joanne Baldwin, Malveria, Helen Marshall, November, Red...um.
- Least favorite book/s: The Haunted Vagina
- Least favorite characters: Edward Cullen
- Recommended reading: I don't really know how to respond to this, given how vastly some people's tastes differ....Janet Fitch's White Oleander, I think.

Writing

- What do you write: (ex: fiction, poems, songs, etc.) Fiction. I write a little poetry sometimes, but just for personal fun.
- Your favorite genre/s to write: Fantasy, sci-fi, adventure.
- Do you write fanfiction? (if yes, what fandom?) Yes, and.....a lot of fandoms. Black Jewels Trilogy, Labyrinth, Dark Angel, Baccano!, L.J. Smith, Pirates of the Caribbean, the list goes on and on and changes on my whim.
- Do you write original fiction? Yes.
- Current project: Getting back into writing after a stressful quarter, basically.
- An area you'd like to improve in: Plot and the like in long stories.
- An accomplishment you're proud of: Finishing two novels, one for a contest in three days.

Other

- Hobbies: Reading, writing, outdoors activities, languages, playing with cats, music, falling down stairs...
- What's in your journal? Fanfiction, musings.
- Why did you move to DW? I didn't feel comfortable on LJ anymore.
- Favorite energy drink? I've never had one and never intend to.
- Anything else?

[ilthit]

General

- Name: Hyel
- Age: 30 since last week omg no.
- Location: Belgium (originally from Finland)

Reading

- Your favorite genre/s: historical fiction, fantasy, "classics" (19th century pop lit mostly)
- Your favorite author/s: let's be honest: Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Lois McMaster Bujold, R. A. Wilson. It's not that I don't heartily appreciate, say, Patrick O'Brian and Virginia Woolf, but I don't go to bookstores specifically cruising for their stuff, you know? It's funny - my favourite books were not necessarily written by my favourite authors.
- Your favorite book/s: Lord of the Rings, The Illuminatus! trilogy, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit etc
- Your favorite character/s: Samwise Gamgee, Sam Vimes, Miles Vorkosigan, Cordelia Naismith etc. I feel like I'm mentioning the obvious ones (though perhaps Sam Gamgee is not that obvious).
- Least favorite book/s: Other People by Martin Amis
- Least favorite characters: I can't name one at the moment, but they'd be some of those superpowered bastards authors sometimes put forward as their avatars, to say his opinions where he can't, seduce the women he can't, and kill the people he dislikes in his real life. Some of the most acclaimed novels out there seem to be centered on some stone-cold asshole's magically invincible alter ego. I hate them more than any other types of Mary Sueish characters.
- Recommended reading: Reading that I recommend? R.A. Wilson, whether you agree with him or not; Stephen Fry (read a few other books between them, though!); nonfiction. There was a nifty fiction-faction mesh book I read recently called The Floathing Brothel. RagePruFrock's Merlin epic fanfic "Drastically Redefining Protocol" for anybody whose idea of unashamedly romantic fiction is restricted to Harlequin and "romantic comedies".

Writing

- What do you write: Fiction, blog, the rare essay; like all who have once been teenagers I also used to write poetry.
- Your favorite genre/s to write: Let's be honest: fanfiction! Usually but increasingly less it's romantic fanfiction. Recently it seems I prefer to write dark metaphorical stuff, subversive fanfiction or plain old smut. Often the fic ends up being all three...
- Do you write fanfiction? See above! :D I write for a lot of fandoms, many obscure ones, and often just once if I just had this one idea related to a book I just read or a film I just saw. LotR and Discworld are kind of big for me.
- Do you write original fiction? Yes, but rarely. I find it hard to keep interested in my own characters and scenarios. It's more fun to try and fit your ideas into the existing, unyielding grid of canon than just make everything up.
- Current project: Sort of on hiatus, but I'm co-writing with Jem the sequel to our big Wicked private eye AU Bad Green Apple. There's also the beginnings of an original wartime novel that I'm beginning to lose faith in - it was shouldered aside by BGA originally, and as I meant it to be a romantic novel at first (something to pitch to Harlequin) and I've since actually read Harlequin romantic novels, I can now tell my approach was all wrong.
- An area you'd like to improve in: Writing longer fiction and writing original fiction. I seem to have broken through the first shortcoming (hah) thanks to Jem and Write or Die, but the second still persists. Also finding a balance between a natural feel and concern for form, as well as shearing off the cheese (except if I do mean to write that romance novel). I've got my work cut out.
- An accomplishment you're proud of: Bad Green Apple. I had never before written anything over 20,000 words long (that was finished; anyway), and here we have 43,000.

Other

- Hobbies: Drawing (silly fanart), coding (just html), crafting (little dolls), and apparently since this month, collecting My Little Ponies. I seem to have turned twee in my old age and am not even ashamed.
- What's in your journal? I have a separate one for daily blather and fiction+art+icons+dolls+other productions.
- Why did you move to DW? I didn't move as such. I still have my LJ and read my LJ flist. I went for it because it was shiny.
- Favorite energy drink? Teho! Omg! Every time I go to Finland I just wish I could stock up on it. Belgium has nothing like it. Here it's either coffee (after which I sip Coke Zero just to get the taste out of my mouth; I really don't like coffee) or whatever happened to be on hand.
- Anything else? I have tried to get through this meme without either being or sounding too pretentious, and may not have been entirely successful at not ranting a little. Apologies.

[ex_stereo814]

General

- Name: stereo
- Age: 18
- Location: France

Reading

- Your favorite genre/s: fairytales, fantasy, young adult, classics, romance
- Your favorite author/s: Philip Pullman, Stephen King, Vladimir Nabokov, Ernest Hemingway, Guy de Maupassant
- Your favorite book/s: Lolita, The Shining, His Dark Materials trilogy, the LOTR trilogy, The Bell Jar, White Fang, Une Vie
- Your favorite character/s: Mercutio (Romeo and Juliet) and right now I can't think of any others.
- Least favorite book/s: I don't really have one. When I don't like a book, I just stop reading it. :D
- Least favorite characters: Hmm I don't know.
- Recommended reading: Those above. :D

Writing

- What do you write: (ex: fiction, poems, songs, etc.) original fictions and
- Your favorite genre/s to write: romance and young adult I guess
- Do you write fanfiction? (if yes, what fandom?) No. I used to though. I remember writing this 32,000 words-long fanfiction (I've just checked the aproximate number, but I'm somehow too "scared" to read that again, I was 14 when I wrote that :x )
- Do you write original fiction? Yes.
- Current project: I have a few in minds, but I've actually only really started one.
- An area you'd like to improve in: A bit of everything wouldn't hurt. But I sometimes have the tendency to have it hard to focus on writing so it would be good if I could concentrate more.
- An accomplishment you're proud of: I haven't dropped my current project so far, and I'm at around 12,000 (my aim is to write around 62,000 words for it). I know it's not a lot, but it's only been a few months since I started writing again so I guess it's a good start! I actually also don't hate what I'm writing.

Other

- Hobbies: writing, daydreaming, and I love pretty fountain pens and nice bottle of various colored inks. :D
- What's in your journal? random rants and personal stuff.
- Why did you move to DW? I didn't move, I still have my livejournal.
- Favorite energy drink? If tea doesn't count, nothing, redbull sounds disgusting imho. But if tea counts, then I'm a real tea-freak, no joke.
- Anything else? Hello~

[38thparallel]

General

- Name: Jen
- Age: 30
- Location: Louisiana, USA

Reading

- Your favorite genre/s: historical fiction, historical mystery, classics, gothic lit
- Your favorite author/s: James Joyce, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen, Anthony Trollope, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ariana Franklin, and Deanna Raybourn
- Your favorite book/s: Ulysses
- Least favorite book/s: Tess of the d'Urbervilles
- Recommended reading: The Lady Julia Grey series

Writing

- What do you write: Fiction
- Your favorite genre/s to write: historical fiction
- Do you write fanfiction? Not often -- I've written for Shutter Island and Pirates of the Caribbean.
- Do you write original fiction? Yes.
- Current project: Trying to motivate my arse to attempt my own historical mystery!
- An area you'd like to improve in: Developing a strong narrative voice.
- An accomplishment you're proud of: Surviving graduate school.

Other

- Hobbies: Reading, running, history and tea!
- What's in your journal? Mostly original writing, book reviews, fannish drooling, and musings about the writing process.
- Why did you move to DW? I am a livejournal defector who has outgrown the rabid advertisements, games, and networking capabilities. I just want to write, dammit!
- Anything else? Hello!