Lack of organization. I end up wasting time going back and rereading chapters to keep track of details. I think if I were better organized and used a nice notecard system or what have you, I'd do better!
17) if you could give your fledgling author self any advice, what would it be?
Write the story YOU want to tell and don't worry quite so much about pleasing readers and don't worry about the readers who choose not to give your stuff a go. If you write the story well, you'll find readers for it, and face it, you don't read every single type of fiction out there, either, so it's nothing personal if someone doesn't give yours a try!
23) any obscure life experiences that you feel have helped your writing?
Hmm. In general, I think my family's bent toward gallows humor as a coping mechanism has informed some of the comic elements in my writing. As for specific events... I wrote an Adam-12 fic centuries ago that I used my fear of railroad bridges to help create a sense of dread and tension for a scene where the police officers had to chase a suspect into a railroad tunnel. That was both fun and mildly terrifying to write (and in no way cathartic... I still have a fear of being on a railroad bridge or tunnel with no way to get out of the way of an oncoming train). The specific incident I based the story on was when I was in police training and we were looking for a missing senior citizen. My group was assigned an area along railroad tracks and at one point I had to choose whether to scurry across a railroad trestle or go down and then back up an icy, rock-lined ravine. :/ I chose the bridge but YIKES that was scary (even though I knew for certain there wasn't a train coming).
My palms are sweating even now as I type this. LOL
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Lack of organization. I end up wasting time going back and rereading chapters to keep track of details. I think if I were better organized and used a nice notecard system or what have you, I'd do better!
17) if you could give your fledgling author self any advice, what would it be?
Write the story YOU want to tell and don't worry quite so much about pleasing readers and don't worry about the readers who choose not to give your stuff a go. If you write the story well, you'll find readers for it, and face it, you don't read every single type of fiction out there, either, so it's nothing personal if someone doesn't give yours a try!
23) any obscure life experiences that you feel have helped your writing?
Hmm. In general, I think my family's bent toward gallows humor as a coping mechanism has informed some of the comic elements in my writing. As for specific events... I wrote an Adam-12 fic centuries ago that I used my fear of railroad bridges to help create a sense of dread and tension for a scene where the police officers had to chase a suspect into a railroad tunnel. That was both fun and mildly terrifying to write (and in no way cathartic... I still have a fear of being on a railroad bridge or tunnel with no way to get out of the way of an oncoming train). The specific incident I based the story on was when I was in police training and we were looking for a missing senior citizen. My group was assigned an area along railroad tracks and at one point I had to choose whether to scurry across a railroad trestle or go down and then back up an icy, rock-lined ravine. :/ I chose the bridge but YIKES that was scary (even though I knew for certain there wasn't a train coming).
My palms are sweating even now as I type this. LOL