The Ramblings of my Disorganised Mind

Ben Peek's Meme

As a part of his "Week of Whoring" (pimping your stuff), Ben Peek has posted The Interview Meme (Go On, Subject Yourself to Five Questions)

Basically, it goes like this:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."

2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.

3. You will update your livejournal/blogger/website with the answers to the questions and leave the answers as comments here (or at least provide a pointer to your site).

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

So, to be interviewed by, leave me a comment, even if you don't have a blog. You have a forum. Yes, I'm talking to you. :-)

Pop over to Ben's Blog and have a look. Trent is there. Trent rules. Trent is a Capricorn, he would. So is my Arch Nemesis, Stu, who has an SF Cookbook out (Don't ask. I don't know, honestly. Stu is a bit strange sometimes :-P Buy the book though. It's only AU$11.00. Less than the cost of an American cup of coffee. Sorry, coughed-upon. Sorry, geshundheit).

My questions brought to you by Tessa.

1) Mary Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth are mud wrestling. Do you a) bet on Mary, b) bet on Liz, or c) join in? Why?

Hmm. B.

Why. Hmm. Because I strive for historical accuracy in all things, and Elizabeth won. And Elizabeth was more likely to actually enjoy the whole mud thing, from what I hear tell. I also think, of the two women, Elizabeth was the cattier. She didn't play fair. Mary was too easy to dupe.

2) You suffer from writing diaorrhea, and your short stories aren't very short. Why is this?

Well, gee, thanks for giving away my big secret. :-P Why aren't they short? Because I suffer from writing diaorrhea, silly (and I know you only asked me this so you could legitimately use the word "diaorrhea", you aren't fooling me).

Seriously, it's because whenever I start a short story, one of two things happens.

a) I end up with something stupid inviolving fake unicorns and chooks, or
b) I get so involved on the project keep adding bits, planning more world building, more characters, more complication, more political stuff, more motivation and it... sorta runs away with me. I'm not fond of reading short stories for the most part, because the really good ones leave me unsatisfied. I always want to know more.

An example is a story called "The Final Battle", by Scott Robinson, which appeared in the anthology Encounters, put out by the CSFG. The first time I read it in a crit session, I hated it in the way I hate all good short stories. I said to the author, "THIS is an example of exactly why I hate short stories." You see, it's a snapshot of a couple of characters and you knwo there's this whole backstory to the characters and the world and the battle, and you want to know more, but you've been sitting there for five minutes and just as you get interested in the characters, they're gone, and you'll (probably) never see them again. Cory Daniells writes similar stories, you want to see more of the world, they're so wonderfully detailed. So does Margo Lanagan.

I like to spend time with the characters ghetting to know them. I'm the same with my friends in RL. And, I'm the same with my own characters. Beth (the main char in my current SF books) has been with me for a long time, she's part of me. Or vice-versa, it can be hard to tell.

So I guess, in short, it's because I'm nosy. Or lonely. Or just too bloody verbose for my own good.

3) You are granted one purely materialistic and selfish wish. What is it?

I don't want to say this, because it's so gob-smackingly unoriginal, but I'd go for the million bucks. Not because I never want to work for the rest of my life, but because, given everythign that is going on right now, I don't ever want to worry about getting, or keeping, a roof over my kids' heads again. Hmm. That's not really selfish enough is it? OK. And I want a horse. No, two horses. A black, imported pure-bred Friesian mare. And a pure-bred Arabian stallion, Crabbet, please, with a wee bit of Polish blood.

4) What are you most proud of?

More gob-smakingly unoriginal, but my kids, and how they've handled the whole divorce thing. My boys are growing up, and the best thing is, they're maturing as well as growing. My daughter is the same, except for the being a girl part. Hey, my three year-old vacuums. Ya gotta love that.

But if you're talking of something I'm proud of myself for? That would be finally having the guts to stand on my own two feet and divorcing my ex. See, that's changed the kids, they're happier now.

5) You get to be a Mary Sue in a story of your choosing. Give us the gory details.

I don't know how gory it would be, I'm not a violent Mary Sue. ;-) Oi, this may be hard, It's been a long time since I wrote any sort of fanfic... although I suspect the original Beth was a Mary Sue... ;-)

• My name is Bethgael Amberhair, I am an elf. I am leggy, tall, redheaded. I am well-loved, popular with men and have a pet unicorn who I can telepathically communicate with. I'm a great singer and also otherwise musically inclined. I have guilt issues. (Oh, dear).
  
• I never finished my magical training because I wanted to do something better, forbidden, like fall in love with the bad guy. So I have guilt issues. (Oh, dear).
  
• Despite this, I have the potential to be the bestest mage ever, even though I don't want to acknowledge this. I am supposed to be the bearer of prophetic wisdom, though, and because I fail at this, I have guilt issues. (Oh, NO!).
  
• Then one day, when I really need it, my magical potential shows itself in a huge, powerful way (Oh, thank goodness. This doesn't happen in the books. :-D) and I save the world, even though I am still a young elf and fulfilling the Prophecy (Yup, this also doesn't happen in the books. Prophecy shmophecy. Insert sigh of relief here).
  

Hoi, that was hard. :-S

posted by Heather @ 9:54 pm