Ask-Meme for Writers! (EN)

So I've found a writer quiz!! I really like some questions, so I decided do it. ^_^

01:When did you first start writing?
About ten years ago, so when I was 12 years old. It was a Harry Potter fanfiction that I never got to publish, sadly. :P

02:What was your favorite book growing up?
I read hundreds of books during my teen years, I'm not even kidding. I used to contest with a friend for the one who'd read the most books in a year. I won, of course. You can only imagine that I didn't have a favorite book, but I've always loved the Vampires Chronicle by Anne Rice, I read it growing up and Lestat was always on the back of my mind ever since, that elegant ruthless child of the night.

03:Are you an avid reader?
See the previous question. I do read less than before, but I still do - whether it's fanfictions, original books on Wattpad, etc.. I'm currently reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldon and the latest book of Anne Rice, Prince Lestat.

04:Have you ever thrown a book across the room?
Not really, perhaps when I was younger. 

05:Did you take writing courses in school/college?
Other than the obligated ones, no. I learnt all of my tricks by myself!

06:Have you read any writing-advice books?
Not books, no, but articles on the internet about specific scenes. Kissing, smut, how to write a good ending, that kind of stuff.

07:Have you ever been part of a critique group?
No, but I was a beta writer for a few authors once.

08:What’s the best piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten?
A lot of feedback that I receive is positive, to tell the truth, but what I really enjoy is when someone tells me that my story keeps them on edge all the way through. This is what a writer lives for.

09:What’s the worst piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten?
A feedback is never bad, it's always constructive, unless it's someone along the lines of "Your story sucks balls!" I think I once received a review about how I didn't follow a character's personality, but that's about it.

10:What’s your biggest writer pet-peeve?

Writer specific pet-peeves? I hate when they write "it's" instead of "its", even though it's a common mistake. Other than that, I can't really think of any, except for mine. I know I tend to write long sentences with many coordinators, and I hate it. I like to diversify as much as possible, even if I'm probably the only one looking at that stuff.

11:What’s your favorite book cover?

The latest one I really enjoyed was Anne Rice's Prince Lestat. It's really neat, red on black, and the cover is made of that velvety paper that can get scratched easily but is really soft and superb otherwise.

12:Who is your favorite author?

Dean Koontz and Anne Rice in ratio of the number of their books I've read.

13:What’s your favorite writing quote?

"The Beautiful is always strange", by Baudelaire. He's my all-time favorite poet, but other than that, we share a lot of common opinions (he disliked children as well). In my opinion, his quote means that what is beautiful may not appeal right away to the common eye. Too many "bad" features; a crooked nose or wide jaw, yet the whole face is still beautiful. That originality, singularity is what makes a person or a piece of art beautiful. Also the fact that many artists' works are sometimes too early for their time and they become famous only after their death.

14:What’s your favorite writing blog? c;

Mine, of course. Look at that layout!

15:What would you say has inspired you the most?

All the books I've ever read. I've always had that need to write though.

16:How do you feel about movies based on books?It depends, but usually they're not that good. Some are good when taken on their own because the universe is just too big. but some rarities are good, like Clockwork Orange, Fight Club, Trainspotting and the whole Hannibal serie of movies.

17:Would you like your books to be turned into TV shows, movies, video games, or none?

I'd love to! I couldn't be happier to witness an universe taken from my little brain brought in some other people's hands for them to examine and convert for other people to see. Imagine a video game with my characters, that'd be awesome! (Gays everywhere!)

18:How do you feel about love triangles?

I think they're overused, especially when in the end it comes to the one caught between the other two to choose who gets rejected and who "wins". It's stupid for me to even think about waiting for someone, I guess, so that must be why I think the whole concept is useless.

19:Do you prefer writing on a computer or longhand?

Both! I feel like I lose less time when I'm writing on paper, or longhand (whatever that means), but I go more quickly when I'm on computer if I'm actually focused for it. I have some concentration problems, and I actually write better when it's dark outside - not easy when you have a day schedule!

20:What’s your favorite writing program?

ZenWriter for Windows or WriteRoom and Bean for Mac to really focus, but also the good old Microsoft Word. The thing when I used ZenWriter was that I was customizing my background and stuff and not focusing on my writing. You see my problem now.

21:Do you outline?

I do! At first I thought it wasn't necessary, but I found it very useful when I wrote Teardrops Burn, which was my first try at a mystery thriller/film noir story. Even though I don't necessary follow it while I write, it helps me to know where I'm going and what elements I have to include in order to reach the ending I want. Other people might think it's a waste of time, I also did at first, but it's not, because the time you take to write your outline down, you'd waste even more trying to figure out what comes next in your story or adding parts because you need to want a new element in your story for the plot to develop. I guess it also depends why you write the story, whether it's a long-processed idea you want to put down or just something spontaneous during a sleepless night. I'll just say that my outline for my NaNoWriMo is 3,5k words.

22:Do you start with characters or plot?

Once again, it depends on what kind of story I'm going for and the idea that creates the whole story. I usually think of a situation rather than a character, but they quickly come together, because for me the personality of the persons influences the story. If I do a pairing, for instance, I rarely do two cheerful characters together, it doesn't fit the mood I'm looking for. TL;DR I start with whatever I feel inspired by.

23:What’s your favorite and least favorite part of making characters?

Nothing really. The characters are the essential part of your story, so if you don't take the time to create a realistic personality for them, a background and even some ridiculous details about them to make them more credible, it doesn't give that human feeling to your story, if I can say. A character has to have weaknesses and problems, otherwise people can't relate to them. I feel like this ask-meme is me telling my opinion on main points of any story instead of really answering the questions, my bad!

24:What’s your favorite and least favorite part of plotting?

The transition between two main events for big stories. I want everything to move smoothly, but sometimes my mind just doesn't know what to write to make it happen.

25:What advice would you give to young writers?

Write for yourself, and not for the others. Writing what you want is what matters most, and if people likes it, then it's a plus. Also, there's always room for improvements, so don't compare to the others' writing, because nobody writes the same way. Instead, compare your current stories to your old works, notice the improvements. I've always been really hard on myself, but I realize that things I dislike in my writing isn't noticeable by my readers, and writing your best is what's important.

26:Which do you enjoy reading the most: physical, ebook, or both?
Both. Nothing will ever beat the smell of paper and the weight of a book in my hands, but reading a good story on my cellphone doesn't bother me either. Words are words, whichever way you read them with.

27:Which is your favorite genre to write?
Science-fiction! I rarely write non-fiction. (Wow I didn't write a whole paragraph for this answer)

28:Which do you find hardest: the beginning, the middle, or the end?
The end. Where to finish exactly to give the most feelings.

29:Which do you find easiest: writing or editing?
Editing for sure.

30:Have you ever written fan-fiction?
Of course, I've written like 80 or something. You can find me on FFN and AO3.

31:Have you ever been published?
Sadly no, but I'm planning on it!

32:How do you feel about friends and close relatives reading your work?
I really like it, I think it's more awkward for me to show my work to acquaintances instead. What I write represents a lot of my thoughts and opinions, so it's like baring a part of me right from the start when I usually prefer to stay secret when I meet someone new. For friends and family, I don't mind, for I know what I write is good stuff  anyway. *brush imaginary dust off my shoulder*

33:Are you interested in having your work published?
Yes! I know it's a lot of work, but I'm slowly putting it together. Participating in the NaNoWriMo helps me a lot.

34:Describe your writing space.
Messy, to say the least. I'm working with a MacBook Pro, but I have a 23" display and an USB keyboard because my other one doesn't work anymore. It's actually a miracle my laptop even works still after I dropped water twice on it.
I also have coffee with me, always. When I'm writing on paper, however, I can write about anywhere.

35:What’s your favorite time of day for writing?
When there's no sun left to distract me.

36:Do you listen to music when you write?
I do, with my good old pal 8tracks.

37:What’s your oldest WIP?
Back in 2008, I began a book about a witch of some backwater village who could see the future and had to prevent the death of the Prince. Basic plot, right? I still wrote 14 chapters before leaving it in the depths of my folders.

38:What’s your current WIP?
I have a lot of WIPs: Teardrops Burn (that I first published during my 100 Theme Challenge), The Sadler Contract that I'm publishing on Wattpad, and The Fountain of Urd, which is my NaNoWriMo book. 

39:What’s the weirdest story idea you’ve ever had?
A remake of the Red Riding Hood involving a ginger gay boy who had sex with the wolf... I was 15. I was young and wild.

40:Which is your favorite original character, and why?
... D: I love them all! They're my babies, how could I love one more than another? 

41:What do you do when characters don’t follow the outline?
I make the story still works. 

42:Do you enjoy making your characters suffer?
I do, actually. Life isn't all smiles and happy endings, mistakes and flaws are what makes people more human. Their suffering is what makes them stronger... except when they die.

43:Have you ever killed a main character?
... :D

44:What’s the weirdest character concept you’ve ever come up with?
The main character of a zombie story I was working on that never saw the rays of light. His name was Elwin, son of crazy scientists who'd built a zombie-proof house. He was emotionless yet felt that his mission was to save humanity? I don't even know.

45:What’s your favorite character name?
Probably Eibhilín from one of my 100TC's stories.

46:Describe your perfect writing space.

A calm place with calm music, with no window because it could distract me, and a beverage with me, be it water, tea or coffee.

47:If you could steal one character from another author and make them yours, who would it be and why?
Probably Jamie from Outlander, because he's just clueless about some things but so damn smart about other things, and he's just a sweet muscular cuddly guy with dimples and ginger hair. Who wouldn't love him?

48:If you could write the next book of any series, which one would it be, and what would you make the book about?
I think I'd write a book based on one of the stories I wrote for my 100TC, even if it's not a serie. I got so many ideas, and I'd love to expand some of them.

49:If you could write a collaboration with another author, who would it be and what would you write about?
I'd like to write something with one of my sisters, a suspense story would be interesting with people dying. Let's see if one of them take on my bait. :P

50:If you could live in any fictional world, which would it be?
What's up with the difficult questions... It's not a book but I'd live in Final Fantasy VII's world, 'cause materia and Cloud.

I hoped you enjoyed this Ask-Meme! I know I did.