Writers. Got Some Questions For You?

2011-02-07 23:51:13 UTC

1) What program do you use to write?

Cath's Notebook And Pencil (tm). Once I get to the second draft stage, either an older version of Word or Frontpage (which makes much friendlier html to post online).

2) What font do you use? What size is it?

TNR 12.

3) What percent do you have your page set to. e.g. 80% zoom, 100%, 70%

100%

4) When writing something and your parent/friend/sibling etc walks in, do you minimize it and act like you're doing something else?

Nah. If I was too embarrassed to show people who know and like me what I was writing, it wouldn't bode well for complete strangers wanting to read it.

5) Do you come up with a title before you start writing, when you're writing ot after you've finished everything?

I don't think I've ever come up with a title before I've started writing. Usually it comes to me while I'm writing, but sometimes I've actively had to think one up at the end.

6) When you can't think of a title for a story, what do you name it as for the mean time?

Something which means I'll be able to find it later. I currently have one called "Crossover 2". Just occasionally it sticks - I started off naming my sidestories with the character's name and "Tale" (so "John's Tale") and ended up leaving them like that.

7) Get up your first ever story you've written (if you still have it) and write the first few lines of it. Don't be embarrassed because I'm sure mine is a lot worse! If you don't have it, get the earliest story you do have and write it.

I no longer own it, but I still remember the first line of my first "serious" story. It read "Commander Mark strode down the corridor."

"Back in 2006"? I'm pretty sure mine was written in 1979.

The first I wrote to post online?

“G-2, approach on foot. Fuel everywhere. Might explode”. Definitely Keyop’s voice.

Mark opened his eyes experimentally and instantly wished he hadn’t. Most of the visual symptoms of concussion, but even his blurry, doubled vision didn’t account for the crazy shape now adopted by the nose of the G-1. He turned his head to see what other damage he’d done to his beloved jet, and the world spun before going black again.

8) Now, get up your newest story and write the first few lines of that one.

"Alouita and Jarrald, my office please."

Jason looked up from the basic flight manual he was reading with barely concealed unenthusiasm. Beside him, Mark abandoned whatever it was he was doing equally hastily, and the two of them got to their feet and followed Commander Nykinnen out of the Team Seven common room and down the ten feet of corridor to his office.

"I've been asked to put together a grading team for the Academy's younger karate specialists," Nykinnen said with no preamble as he took his seat. "It's on the fifteenth. Barring unforeseen incidents, are you two interested? Congratulations on the second Dan, by the way, Jason. Past due, from what I hear."

9) Well, yes - it's called fanfic, and if the two excerpts above weren't fanfic I wouldn't have posted them. No, I don't consider myself "a fail" for doing so. It's not like it makes me incapable of writing original fiction too.

RedStar

2011-02-08 03:43:24 UTC

1) What program do you use to write?

Word 2007

2) What font do you use? What size is it?

Courier 12pt

3) What percent do you have your page set to. e.g. 80% zoom, 100%, 70%

Depends if my eyes are tired or what glasses I'm wearing

4) When writing something and your parent/friend/sibling etc walks in, do you minimize it and act like you're doing something else?

No... because I'm not 12. Parents, friends and siblings don't come to my house uninvited, and if they did, I can't see why I'd care if they saw me writing something.

5) Do you come up with a title before you start writing, when you're writing ot after you've finished everything?

I almost never even bother to think about a title until after I've finished.

6) When you can't think of a title for a story, what do you name it as for the mean time?

Usually just a keyword that relates to the theme or whatever.

7) Get up your first ever story you've written (if you still have it) and write the first few lines of it. Don't be embarrassed because I'm sure mine is a lot worse! If you don't have it, get the earliest story you do have and write it.

I was three years old and it was 32 years ago, so I don't still have it.

8) Now, get up your newest story and write the first few lines of that one.

I'm at work, so I can't. In any case, I haven't written the first few lines yet - I didn't start at the beginning.

9) This is the last question so I'll make it a good one.

I've written fanfic before, if that's what you mean. I don't now, but I'm not embarrassed about it. If you mean, have I based characters on existing ones, changed their names and pretended they were my own, no, I've never done that.

Kathryn W

2011-02-07 23:27:27 UTC

1) What program do you use to write?

- Microsoft Word 2008 for Mac

2) What font do you use? What size is it?

- Times New Roman, size 12 font

3) What percent do you have your page set to. e.g. 80% zoom, 100%, 70%

- 150%

4) When writing something and your parent/friend/sibling etc walks in, do you minimize it and act like you're doing something else?

- Only if I don't want the other person to read it.

5) Do you come up with a title before you start writing, when you're writing ot after you've finished everything?

- During. Usually it just comes to me.

6) When you can't think of a title for a story, what do you name it as for the mean time?

- I use the lead character's first name.

7) Get up your first ever story you've written (if you still have it) and write the first few lines of it. Don't be embarrassed because I'm sure mine is a lot worse! If you don't have it, get the earliest story you do have and write it.

- No idea where it is. I was probably only a kid.

8) Now, get up your newest story and write the first few lines of that one.

- He is watching me. A pair of yellow eyes pierce the darkness. Several metres, an old gum tree and the odd bit of shrubbery are all that separate me from the large, growling beast.

9) This is the last question so I'll make it a good one. Have you ever based characters of your own of characters you've seen on TV or read about?

- When I was younger, I did. I think it's normal and is something that we grow out of as we become more experienced writers.

R.I.P. Dobby a Free Elf.

2011-02-08 20:01:00 UTC

1. What format do I use.

Pen/paper.(sometimes I transfer to plan word processor microsoft)

2) What font do you use? What size is it?

I hand write (times new roman 12 font double space if I re-type it though

3) What percent do you have your page set to. e.g. 80% zoom, 100%, 70%

Hand write(100 if I type)

4) When writing something and your parent/friend/sibling etc walks in, do you minimize it and act like you're doing something else?

No I just change if they try to read it.

5) Do you come up with a title before you start writing, when you're writing ot after you've finished everything?

After I decide most of the major details(I suck with tittles)

6) When you can't think of a title for a story, what do you name it as for the mean time?

I have about 6 different versions of New Story. This includes:

I just leave it untitled if you mean typing just story

7) Get up your first ever story you've written (if you still have it) and write the first few lines of it. Don't be embarrassed because I'm sure mine is a lot worse! If you don't have it, get the earliest story you do have and write it.

Don't have it.

8) Now, get up your newest story and write the first few lines of that one.

It's not typed and I don't feel like getting my notebook.

9) This is the last question so I'll make it a good one.

No

Dιαηηє✿ StillMoansALot

2011-02-08 13:43:26 UTC

1) What program do you use to write?

Microsoft Word 2007

2) What font do you use? What size is it?

Times New Roman, size 12 font

3) What percent do you have your page set to. e.g. 80% zoom, 100%, 70%

Mine is zoomed in 110% because I prefer to see the words enlarged. The largest my computer can zoom is, I think, 170%. Let me go check....

Wait, never mind. It's 500%. Wow.

4) When writing something and your parent/friend/sibling etc walks in, do you minimize it and act like you're doing something else?

Depends on the person. If it's one of my parents or brothers, I continue doing what I was doing. They know I write and they don't really care. However, if my sister comes in, I pretend to be doing something else. I can't stand her. She always has to peek over my shoulder and someimes *gasp* even read things out loud in this obnoxious voice that digs into your brain when she speaks.

5) Do you come up with a title before you start writing, when you're writing ot after you've finished everything?

I don't come up with a title until after I've finished everything...which is currently far from happening. That way, I won't have to worry about coming up with a really good title, only to realize that it doesn't fit the story when I'm complete (My story has changed a lot over the course of writing)

6) When you can't think of a title for a story, what do you name it as for the mean time?

I have about 6 different versions of New Story. This includes:

Usually, I'd assign it a number. Since I can never remember numbers, I dub it something I'll remember, such as "The story about the bluebird," or "the story about the computer hacker,"

7) Get up your first ever story you've written (if you still have it) and write the first few lines of it. Don't be embarrassed because I'm sure mine is a lot worse! If you don't have it, get the earliest story you do have and write it.

Here goes:

"Serena walked into the school, flipping her long, black raven hair. Today was the first day of school and she was nervous. There were so many people. Would they like her? Serena could see the popular girls standing by their lockers, gossiping. They made Serena want to puke."

I still think mine's worse. :)

9) This is the last question so I'll make it a good one.

Have you ever based characters of your own of characters you've seen on TV or read about?

Not that I know of. However, when I was seven, I used to base characters off Disney princesses and write about them. That makes me cringe. :P

маяа

2011-02-08 08:47:38 UTC

1. What program do you use to write?

Microsoft Word 2007

2. What font do you use? What size is it?

Candara, 10

3. What percent do you have your page set to. e.g. 80% zoom, 100%, 70%

I go 100 percent. I set my page in a way that I see everything even at a 100 percent setting. It's a neurotic thing that I have.

4. When writing something and your parent/friend/sibling etc walks in, do you minimize it and act like you're doing something else?

Yep. I love my mom but she just becomes so nosy about my things. I let it slide most of the time but my stories is the one thing that I don't share easily.

5. Do you come up with a title before you start writing, when you're writing or after you've finished everything?

I come up with titles first even if my stories are just ideas because it helps me organize the plots. I can't work with an untitled project, it makes me uncomfortable.

6) When you can't think of a title for a story, what do you name it as for the mean time?

Dude, I am so neurotic that I can't write until I have a title but if push comes to shove then I just go with the old fashioned 'Untitled'.

7) Get up your first ever story you've written (if you still have it) and write the first few lines of it.

Uhm. No thanks.

8) Now, get up your newest story and write the first few lines of that one.

Sorry, I can't!

9) This is the last question so I'll make it a good one.

Have you ever based characters of your own of characters you've seen on TV or read about?

Sure.

Siân Mary

2011-02-08 01:37:12 UTC

1) What program do you use to write?

Open Office, and I also write on a private Proboard for back-up

2) What font do you use? What size is it?

Times New Roman, size 13 font

3) What percent do you have your page set to. e.g. 80% zoom,

Normal I think.

4) When writing something and your parent/friend/sibling etc walks in, do you minimize it and act like you're doing something else?

I actually hate people looking over my shoulder when I write (that stems from childhood, when I became hysterical at people reading my writing.) But these days, my b/f knows what I write, so I don't care, although I do stop to talk to him.

5) Do you come up with a title before you start writing, when you're writing or after you've finished everything?

Usually before.

6) When you can't think of a title for a story, what do you name it as for the mean time?

I can always think of a title.

7) Get up your first ever story you've written (if you still have it) and write the first few lines of it. Don't be embarrassed because I'm sure mine is a lot worse! If you don't have it, get the earliest story you do have and write it.

OMG, I would have been about ten, and it would have been several houses ago, on paper -- long ago thrown out.

8) Now, get up your newest story and write the first few lines of that one.

It's already on an archive, so all-right.

The gathered wood crackled with blue flame, dessicated to tinder-dryness by the cold.

9) This is the last question so I'll make it a good one.

Have you ever based characters of your own of characters you've seen on TV or read about?

I write fanfic, so I do use canon characters, although my main OC's (original characters) are my own invention. They just *happened.*

2011-02-08 00:07:06 UTC

1) What program do you use to write?

Microsoft Word 2007. I do though sometimes scribble random notes of my stories in notepad.

2) What font do you use? What size is it?

Times New Roman, size 12 font

3) What percent do you have your page set to. e.g. 80% zoom, 100%, 70%

98%

4) When writing something and your parent/friend/sibling etc walks in, do you minimize it and act like you're doing something else?

Haha yeah. I hate it when people read over my shoulder and stuff! And idk why I really minimize it ;p I'm sorta embarressed to have people read my stories. Stupid, I know.

5) Do you come up with a title before you start writing, when you're writing ot after you've finished everything?

I'm HORRIBLE at titles. It will come at the very end or the middle of the story.

6) When you can't think of a title for a story, what do you name it as for the mean time?

I usaully have a character's name as the title or like something that has to do with the story ;p

7) Get up your first ever story you've written (if you still have it) and write the first few lines of it. Don't be embarrassed because I'm sure mine is a lot worse! If you don't have it, get the earliest story you do have and write it.

Dear Jasper,

I miss you.

Jasper Henderson stared blankly at the note in his hands. It wasn’t signed by anyone but he knew who it was from. He frowned at it, reading it over and over again, memorizing every word in his head (not that it was so hard.) He cursed; muttering a bunch of swear words under his breath. Why did she even think about writing him?!

hahahah this was written a couple of years back.... Pathetic storyline. After I got my new computer I was still working on this and it's the only story I bothered to actually "Save" and keep working on.

8) Now, get up your newest story and write the first few lines of that one.

In my dream I was running.

I don't know why, or what I was running from. All I knew that I had to get away from there.

9) This is the last question so I'll make it a good one.

Have you ever based characters of your own of characters you've seen on TV or read about?

Haha I did that when I was a kid too! ;p

Alanna

2011-02-08 00:08:21 UTC

1) What program do you use to write?

Microsoft office 7, windows 7

2) What font do you use? What size is it?

calibri, size 11

3) What percent do you have your page set to. e.g. 80% zoom, 100%, 70%

I have mine on 80%

4) When writing something and your parent/friend/sibling etc walks in, do you minimize it and act like you're doing something else?

I used to, but now I really couldn't care less (my family already thinks I'm nuts.)

5) Do you come up with a title before you start writing, when you're writing ot after you've finished everything?

After I finish it, so I can find something suitable.

6) When you can't think of a title for a story, what do you name it as for the mean time?

When I hit save, it automatically enters the first sentence as the title. I just leave it at that.

7) Get up your first ever story you've written (if you still have it) and write the first few lines of it. Don't be embarrassed because I'm sure mine is a lot worse! If you don't have it, get the earliest story you do have and write it.

I always see her. When she walks down the halls with the big jock boyfriend of hers. It was lunch time at King high and as usual I sat alone but I guess that comes with being the new girl.

(ugh, the first lines from my first fanfiction nearly three years ago (this is the earliest thing I have...All my other stuff is locked away by my grandparents for when I get older.))

8) Now, get up your newest story and write the first few lines of that one.

Spitting the flesh from my mouth, I lunged again, this time biting his wrist as he tried to push me away. I released it and shoved it away hastily. Frantic beats of my heart urged me on. If only he would stay still! I thought angrily.

Wow...that was gruesome.

9) Have you ever based characters of your own of characters you've seen on TV or read about?

Yes, I do still get basic ideas from them (like names, hair colours, anything I think I could use to create my own characters) but I've never taken the exact character from a TV show or book or movie etc. and only changed the name. I use it for ideas only.

some person

2011-02-08 00:43:45 UTC

1) OpenOffice 3.0 on Windows 7

2) Times New Roman, size 12

3) 100% - I am VERY picky about this, too

4) Yep. I get rather annoyed too. Because when all I want to do is write someone will come in. If my mom falls asleep on my bed I will write, otherwise, no living thing other than my dog is allowed to be in my room while I write. I use heavy cursing and suggestive themes, stuff I really don't want them to see.

5) I will come up with a title for the document, but that is not usually the name of the story. I usually make a title for the story whenever.

6) I don't name it anything, or either I put something at the top that pertains to the story

7) Once apon a time there lived a beutiful girl who could not go to church. She had a stepmother, a stepfather, and she didn't like her stepsister named Esibel, and the smallest out of all Hannah. But the beutiful girl had only two who really cared. And that was Hannah and her Stepfather. Her Stepmother just called her girl. Her Stepfather called her Anastasia. (Talk about MAJOR weird story! You don't even know! I wrote this when I was like 8 or 9!)

8) I would, but I have to pass, as I don't put any of my new stuff on the web, Sorry!

9) I don't base my characters on other characters, but I DO get inspired by other characters to make my own that may have similarities.

ApocalypticZombie

2011-02-07 23:41:14 UTC

im using microsoft word 2007 for windows vista

right now its set to calibri (body) 11 point font...its surprisingly readable

100%

yeah but mostly because i don't want to share the story until its way more finished than it is now

after i've finished...i have a better sense of what will fit that way

right now i have my story saved in two different parts...beginning and the end (i'm a little scatterbrained so i write out of order and piece it together later)

i lost it when my computer crashed...i'm sure it was abominable

Annie Gardner turned in her test and trudged out of the classroom. She was sure that she had failed that test; she was possibly the worst test taker ever. At least it was Friday and she was done with classes for the week, but why in the hell would a teacher force them to take a test on a Friday? It was beyond Annie’s willingness to comprehend.

i did the same when i first started too...not gunna lie