Five Questions

[aadler]

8:00PM Central Afghan Time

I followed ludditerobot into this meme. Rules as follows, then the questions I was asked and answered.

1. Leave a comment saying you want to be interviewed.


2. I’ll reply and give you five questions to answer.


3. You’ll update your LJ with the five questions answered.


4. You’ll include this explanation.


5. You ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed. And it just keeps going, and going, and going.

1) You’ve been to Iraq. You’re in Afghanistan. How do you think we’re doing?

My Iraq experience is from two years ago, and so may not be fully pertinent now. But when I compare my experience here with the reports I hear from there, I think things are going quite well in both places. Afghanistan just finished its parliamentary elections; Iraq just finished national voting on a constitution. These are the only two functioning Muslim democracies in the world, and you’d better believe the Al Jazeera target audience is paying close attention to how things are going in those countries. However much these people may dislike the notion of American forces on Arab soil, they’re also not crazy about being ruled by military despots, corrupt royal families, and 12th century theocracies.

As long as we’re here, there will be people fighting us. But both countries truly are coming along well enough that we won’t have to stay here.

2) You’ve been to Iraq. You’re in Afghanistan. Personally, I imagine Riley bouncing around all over there. Have you seen anything that might inspire Buffyverse fic?

Nope. I’ve seen one pretty effective story (“While the Women Came and Went”, by Mosca), but have had no ideas of my own. I hadn’t personally considered Riley in this venue, and would expect him to be active in the Middle East only if there were a supernatural threat requiring response. If I were doing a story about a Slayer over here … well, the American military females who can’t hack it are an embarrassment and give the rest a bad name, but the ones who do have what it takes are totally freaking awesome; I’d have our theoretical guest Slayer taking inspiration from these tough, unflinching, non-superhuman but indomitable women.

3) You’re a Reservist. What do you do when you aren’t using your language skills for Uncle Sam?

I fell into the military life almost by accident, and discovered that I loved it. I’m a Reservist because of age (only in the Reserves can I stay in long enough for retirement), but I do my best to stay on active duty orders of one kind or another. I got a Master’s in Health Information Systems in August of 2001, and watched the WTC towers come down a month later; I raised my right hand and took the oath on September 18th, and I’ve never looked back.

4) Which Buffyverse character do you find hardest to write? Which do you find easiest to write?

That’s not easy for me to answer, because I suspect that the hardest characters would be the ones it’s never occurred to me to tackle. Basically, whether or not I write about a particular character depends mostly on whether or not I have a story to tell about him/her. I’ve dealt relatively little with Buffy herself (it used to be a standing joke with my kids that I was a Buffyfic writer who avoided the title character), but over the last couple of years she’s found her way into this and that. Of the main core, I’ve probably used Willow the least; she was one of an ensemble in “In Ev’ry Angle Greet”, and I had a hard time capturing her vocal rhythm. I’ve had several characters express opinions about her, but she herself hasn’t really featured heavily in any of my stories. On the other hand, I’ve never used Angel at all (unless you count Angelus’ appearance in “All Ye Who Enter”).

Probably the biggest and most obvious absence would be Spike. I don’t actually dislike the character, but I got heartily sick of the monomaniacal focus on Spike in fanfiction. He’s made minor appearances (he was seen in my very first story, “Point of Focus”, and had a bit role in “Each Proud Division”), but nothing substantial. That might change, but I’m offering no guarantees.

Easiest … hmm. I find Buffy easiest to write if it’s action, because I love to do fight scenes, and there Buffy rules. Giles and Wesley are most natural for me in terms of dialogue, because they have a precision of language that I can easily reproduce. I probably identify most closely with Joyce, and have used her several times. Ethan Rayne, though — and my own independent development of Sheila — are the characters with whom I most enjoy working.

5) I am musically oriented and tend to think of characters in terms of what they listen to. When I visit someone, I'm bound to scan their CD racks first thing. What do you use to define characters?

I define characters by my best understanding of them from canon, and sometimes by the writing of my favorite fanfic authors. (But never the “authorized” writings. Every single authorized Buffy book I’ve ever read was competent and flat; none of them captured the least tinge of what I saw as the real essence of the people or situation.) In general, I follow the development of a character through the series, and use that as my benchmark.

On the other hand, though I never thought of using it to define characters, music has played a substantial part in my stories. No less than six — “Come to My Window”, “Twilight’s Last Gleaming”, “Morning’s Echo”, “Solitaire Till Dawn”, “Each Proud Division”, and “the Human Touch” — derive their titles from song titles or lyrics, and sometimes I’ll have a sense of tune or lyrics in the background to give me the mood of a scene. (For instance, the song Xander and Buffy were dancing to at the end of “Dusk Over Pompeii” — though I didn’t say so — was “Nights Are Forever Without You” by England Dan and John Ford Coley, released around 1977.)


That’s it. Thanks.

Comments

[aadler]

Happy to hear from you! I spent part of yesterday browsing through your LJ since WriterCon, to get a feel for where you stood, and had contemplated dropping you a note. If I’m back in the States in July, I’ll definitely make WriterCon II a priority (though right now I’m awaiting the possibility of my tour being extended till this time next year). If I can be there, I’d like to volunteer for a panel or two, though I’m sure you have no shortage of people eager to participate.

Want to try out the “Five Questions” meme? I’m sure I could think of some passably intelligent things to ask.

Best of luck in all your endeavors.

[chrisjournal.livejournal.com]

Humph. LJ didn't email me this one...

Meeting you was definitely one of the highlights of the con for me in 04 -- glad to know you didn't come away scarred for life ;-)

We'd love to have you involved, if it works out for you. Heck, there are bound to be ways in which we can use your advice along the way even if logistics prevent actual attendance. And for that, ::fingers crossed::.

Five questions? I could probably do that, if there's not a time limit on responding. I have always passed those kinds of memes by in the past just because of time limitations and fear of not responding properly, but I do have some time on my hands right now, and it would be a good exercise.

Wishing you luck and skill in your endeavors, as well.

"Five Questions"

[aadler]

Okay. For the five questions, let’s try this:

1. What are your five best memories of WriterCon? (Not to include my presence there; even if it qualifies — yeah, right — I’m seeking information rather than positive strokes.)


2. You read, you write, you demonstrate the requisite modesty regarding the quality of your own work. What is the story you most wish you could write … and may yet, but you’re just not up to it at this point?


3. What is the greatest upside, followed by the greatest downside, of hosting a fan convention rather than just attending one? And the greatest upside/downside of attending rather than hosting?


4. If you could have one of the actual Buffy/Angel CHARACTERS (not the person playing that character) at WriterCon II, which one do you think would provide the biggest reward in ratio to the number of blood sacrifices you’d have to perform to make it happen? What function(s) would you want the character to perform in the convention: panel, lecture, Q&A, what? (No private recreation.)


5. In regard to the infamous “unattended drink” incident, did no one ever seriously consider the possibility (which honestly didn’t occur to me until weeks afterward) that the guy who was hanging around you through most of the evening just might have been a likely suspect?