Using my not so stubborn laptop
May. 26th, 2011 08:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
keykMy computer is being a stubborn ass and is refusing to tell me what's wrong with him. Hard disk errors? No. Virus? Nope. Memory? Nuh-uh! COMPUTER WHY WON'T YOU COOPERATE WITH ME YOU HAVE IMPORTANT FILES INSIDE OF YOU DON'T DAMAGE THEM. DDD8 He seems to have something against shutting down properly, and for some reason, a blue light on my tower stays on when the computer doesn't shut down properly (I don't know why. It's connected to the software somehow? D| WELL IT'S DUMB.), and it makes it exceedingly difficult for me to sleep. It'd be so much nicer if it were the red light, because that I can stand, but, no.
Based on all of the errors and symptoms my computer's been showing, memory seemed the most likely culprit, but the memory test shows there's nothing wrong with the memory. I'm lost, and I'm afraid of physically damaging my hard drive or memory by continuing to use it, but I...have to, so. :/a Sad day, computer.
I-I really need to write, but I got nothing. Just letting my fingers run loose. Nothing exciting here! (Read if you want though? 8Db;;;)
1. What’s your name? Tell me a bit about yourself.
I'm not giving my real name out, so I'll just say Keyk. Currently a college student and intending to enroll as a Computer Engineering/Computer Science (aka EE/CS) major. I love science, math, drawing, writing, reading, singing, acting (particularly voice acting), playing the violin--in other words, too much. Engineering is the closest to magic and well-roundedness I thought I could get, so I decided to become one. Good at any of it? Not necessarily, which smoothly transitions us to the next part. For personality, I'm easily stressed, a total loser, have relatively low self esteem--but I've learned to deal with my depression by working or doing something that requires thinking about something else.
2. When did you first find that you had a knack for writing?
Even though I scored well enough on the writing entrance exam to get into an honors class, I was getting D's and C's from freshman to sophomore year in high school. I managed to scrape by with B's in both classes, but I thought I was pretty hopeless in English...until junior year. All of a sudden I was getting A's on my papers, and then I had teachers complimenting my writing. I still wasn't satisfied. Senior year, I had one teacher knock points off of my paper because he enjoyed my writing enough and wanted to make me write more--so I did. He even asked me to consider becoming a writer in the future. I was flattered.
I still don't think I'm that great of a writer or even have a 'knack' for it, but some people apparently think I do. Now that I've embraced writing, writing several original drabbles almost weekly, I've found it an awesome outlet for my creative stress. So, back to the question, that "when" would be some time in late high school and into early college. I may not be good at it, but I love it.
3. Do you prefer poetry or prose? Why? Do you like both?
I love both. Poetry encases so much in so few words (usually), and it flows so wonderfully. Prose is awesome, and I can't go by more than a couple of weeks without some novel to occupy my time. I love reading stories and studying styles and pacing. It's all thanks to my super liberal-artsy high school--I probably never would've learned to love reading if I had found myself anywhere else. I was a pretty slow on jumping the whole books-are-awesome thing, so Iiiiii'm kinda behind. 8D;; CAN SHE STILL FIT THIS BETWEEN CIRCUITING AND CODING ALL DAY LONG? STAY TUNED.
4. What is it you enjoy most about writing?
Trying to convey the most out of each sentence as quickly and fluidly as possible. What colors, what tone, who the narrator is--every word in the sentence counts. I often get frustrated trying to fish out the right words and trying to pace the sentence in a way that just fits--and flows! Poetic devices are actually really useful in making paragraphs that read well. It's tough, but by gosh, it is so much fun.
5. Do you enjoy roleplaying? If you do, do you use your favorite characters for it or make up new ones?
No, not really. I can only roleplay if I'm around people I know well and it isn't strict roleplaying; that is, I can if I'm free to change around my character (because they're all still in development), make mistakes, and not get judged for it. I'm honestly not very good at roleplaying. I said above that I liked to act, but roleplaying is more difficult because none of my characters are completely finalized--personality, sure, I usually have that down, but circumstances (plot and such) are also extremely important. My characters are what their stories have subjected them to. When I'm given a play, the development is all there and you can trace it. With mine, it's kind of an open sea since it's not all down on paper.
As for roleplaying from other series? It's difficult--I have to make the character develop even though that character has already developed fully in his/her canon...and I'm not very creative when it comes to developing characters that aren't mine in circumstances that are beyond my control. It just doesn't feel right.
So, anyway, for the curious, when I do roleplay, it's with characters I love and important characters whose voice I just don't have down. Interaction does get the words flowing, and no one cares if their personality suddenly shifts because they're allowed to do the same.
6. When writing, do you think about the techniques you use and how they affect the reader, or simply write away?
I most definitely think about techniques and the reader. Heck, as proofreader, I'm a reader, too! If I just wrote away without much thought, it'd be awful. Technique is so important because all you have is words, just words and punctuation--and those words have to work in the best way possible, because everything else? It's up to the reader. You have to exert power over the reader if you want to convey your world well.
Rigidity is always important no matter what media, I think. Which is why I'm not the biggest fan of free verse in poetry. Yeah, I write in free verse, but I at least have some structure involved be it rhythm, rhyme scheme, or number of lines per stanza. If there's no bounds, it just comes out a mess. I think. Also why I'm not the biggest fan of some modern art these days.
7. Do you feel bad when you write your characters in danger?
HECK NO. I love putting them in danger. What's the point otherwise? It's the awful stuff that makes up a lot of who we are. It's important to suffer. It's how we learn. And it's therefore how the characters learn, too. It means my story and characters move if I can have them deal with dangerous situations. I get angry if my story becomes stagnant. A stagnant story is a bad story, and little irritates me more.
8. Do you have any particular influences?
My English teachers and philosophy teachers and history (history I've read, at least). In terms of style, the closest we can get is probably Kurt Vonnegut. His sarcasm and strange approach to introspection has really wormed its way into some of my works. Heck, if we step back a bit more, postmodernist and modernist writing in general has influenced me. As for story content, I shouldn't be ashamed to say anime and video games, because it's true.
9. Have you ever joined in a collaboration with friends? If not/so, why?
I technically have one with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
vodkabears, but we're having a hard time fitting it into our schedules what with the different time zones and busy college schedules. We've established two characters and their position in their, er, lab-mabob, but we're still working the kinks in our communication, so it's nowhere near complete at the moment. I did it because she was the first person to show interest in both my stories and art. She liked my stories, and I was flattered and ecstatic since she writes and reads a million times better (not to mention she's way smarter) than me. She DENIES THIS BECAUSE SHE'S SILLY, but I admire her a lot, so when she showed interest in collaborating with me, I jumped on it. It's going slow, but I swear, it'll be something one day.
10. Do you show friends your work even if it is not complete? Or do you prefer for it to be finished before showing off?
HAHA NO. HECK NO. I'd prefer them to be finished before I show them off. It's dang embarrassing. Most of my friends don't even know I work on my stories day in and day out. Heck, most of them don't know they even exist! Although, to be realistic, they're not really interested. So, well, one, people tend not to care, and two, I might be more reluctant to change something if I know someone likes it.
Three, I'll be honest, I'm afraid people will think it's trash. It probably is, but I'm decidedly fragile and I put so much effort into my stuff. This fact also means people are less willing to crit me, too, even though that's what I need. So I'll keep bashing my stuff as I always do, let myself grow, learn, and keep critting so it'll be a product I'm at least more than happy with.
————
1. Who was the first character you came up with? Describe them.
I believe she was Cindy. She kinda looked like a blond Ash Ketchum with a black cap, jacket, red shirt, black cut gloves, and blue jeans. She had brown eyes and shoulder-length hair. She was an ice Pokemon trainer (shut up), and was all around a cool trainer. A total palette-swap Ash. But waay cooler than Ash. Oh yeah.
2. Do you feel you know your character inside/out?
She? Nope. She was just a cooler Ash, and I was a first grader. I didn't make coherent stories or characters in first grade!
3. What makes your character angry?
Muuh. Uh, what did she--Oh! When people bested her. Like in battle and stuff.
4. Do you think about why they are as they are or are they so just because you want them to be?
Probably because I was the most uncool person as a kid (still am, except I'm a little less ashamed of it), I decided to make someone cool to counter it. Even my sister copied Cindy! And if my sister liked her, she had to be cool. I guess Cindy offered me some of the vindication I needed.
5. What do you like most about this character?
She wasn't the typical weakling, prude type--even though she was a girl! I gotta say, I made awesome female characters as a kid. B)
6. Does your character resemble you in any way?
More like she was the total opposite. Except that we both had fairly masculine tastes--at least with clothing.
7. Do you have any shamelessly Mary-Sue characters?
I don't think so. I always make sure my characters are flawed and that there's not one person who has a flawless record with relationships. There's no one perfect. And, well, Mary-Sue plots are just awful. If I do have a Mary Sue character, she/he isn't anyone all that central to the plot. Probably, Dusk is the closest though. :/a But he is SO UNCOOL and constantly out-shined by other people in plot, so, I guess not? He used to be one though. Oh, most definitely used to be one. He used to kill without problem and say witty things all day long--until I was all WELL THAT'S DUMB and reshaped him.
8. Where did you get the inspiration for this character?
You're assuming there was a yes to that last question! BUT ALL RIGHT. Dusk, of course, was based on me and what I wanted to do back when I made him, except he was successful. Well, I'm now his age, going into engineering, not writing, and I'm still in school, so we've split. So now, my inspiration for him is showing the reasoning behind his choices, how his relationships were affected by his choices, how he feels about being successful, and how he feels about dying in the middle of it. His story and current plot fodder is flat out philosophy. Imagination Fall is a philosophy story.
9. Do you have any tips for wannabe writers about creating a believable/good character?
Make sure your protagonists change and develop. Make sure the people around him/her aren't all just slightly skewed copies of the protagonist. Make them make mistakes, and don't let favoritism get in the way of development. Make SURE the character develops.
Don't write a copy of yourself, because that's where the Mary-Sues tend to follow; people try to write OC's as a form of self vindication and it all just goes wrong. If you're going to make a character based off of yourself, be realistic--you're probably not that awesome. I did it once--I did it with early Dusk, and it was awful. Watch yourself. Character-making is not easy. Also, let's be honest; clichés are not the best protagonists because the reader will get bored really fast, so watch for that, too. It's hard to say much more because it's all relative--to the setting, to his social rank, to his relations--so make good judgments and keep all factors in mind at all times, and it should go fine.
From here.
Based on all of the errors and symptoms my computer's been showing, memory seemed the most likely culprit, but the memory test shows there's nothing wrong with the memory. I'm lost, and I'm afraid of physically damaging my hard drive or memory by continuing to use it, but I...have to, so. :/a Sad day, computer.
I-I really need to write, but I got nothing. Just letting my fingers run loose. Nothing exciting here! (Read if you want though? 8Db;;;)
1. What’s your name? Tell me a bit about yourself.
I'm not giving my real name out, so I'll just say Keyk. Currently a college student and intending to enroll as a Computer Engineering/Computer Science (aka EE/CS) major. I love science, math, drawing, writing, reading, singing, acting (particularly voice acting), playing the violin--in other words, too much. Engineering is the closest to magic and well-roundedness I thought I could get, so I decided to become one. Good at any of it? Not necessarily, which smoothly transitions us to the next part. For personality, I'm easily stressed, a total loser, have relatively low self esteem--but I've learned to deal with my depression by working or doing something that requires thinking about something else.
2. When did you first find that you had a knack for writing?
Even though I scored well enough on the writing entrance exam to get into an honors class, I was getting D's and C's from freshman to sophomore year in high school. I managed to scrape by with B's in both classes, but I thought I was pretty hopeless in English...until junior year. All of a sudden I was getting A's on my papers, and then I had teachers complimenting my writing. I still wasn't satisfied. Senior year, I had one teacher knock points off of my paper because he enjoyed my writing enough and wanted to make me write more--so I did. He even asked me to consider becoming a writer in the future. I was flattered.
I still don't think I'm that great of a writer or even have a 'knack' for it, but some people apparently think I do. Now that I've embraced writing, writing several original drabbles almost weekly, I've found it an awesome outlet for my creative stress. So, back to the question, that "when" would be some time in late high school and into early college. I may not be good at it, but I love it.
3. Do you prefer poetry or prose? Why? Do you like both?
I love both. Poetry encases so much in so few words (usually), and it flows so wonderfully. Prose is awesome, and I can't go by more than a couple of weeks without some novel to occupy my time. I love reading stories and studying styles and pacing. It's all thanks to my super liberal-artsy high school--I probably never would've learned to love reading if I had found myself anywhere else. I was a pretty slow on jumping the whole books-are-awesome thing, so Iiiiii'm kinda behind. 8D;; CAN SHE STILL FIT THIS BETWEEN CIRCUITING AND CODING ALL DAY LONG? STAY TUNED.
4. What is it you enjoy most about writing?
Trying to convey the most out of each sentence as quickly and fluidly as possible. What colors, what tone, who the narrator is--every word in the sentence counts. I often get frustrated trying to fish out the right words and trying to pace the sentence in a way that just fits--and flows! Poetic devices are actually really useful in making paragraphs that read well. It's tough, but by gosh, it is so much fun.
5. Do you enjoy roleplaying? If you do, do you use your favorite characters for it or make up new ones?
No, not really. I can only roleplay if I'm around people I know well and it isn't strict roleplaying; that is, I can if I'm free to change around my character (because they're all still in development), make mistakes, and not get judged for it. I'm honestly not very good at roleplaying. I said above that I liked to act, but roleplaying is more difficult because none of my characters are completely finalized--personality, sure, I usually have that down, but circumstances (plot and such) are also extremely important. My characters are what their stories have subjected them to. When I'm given a play, the development is all there and you can trace it. With mine, it's kind of an open sea since it's not all down on paper.
As for roleplaying from other series? It's difficult--I have to make the character develop even though that character has already developed fully in his/her canon...and I'm not very creative when it comes to developing characters that aren't mine in circumstances that are beyond my control. It just doesn't feel right.
So, anyway, for the curious, when I do roleplay, it's with characters I love and important characters whose voice I just don't have down. Interaction does get the words flowing, and no one cares if their personality suddenly shifts because they're allowed to do the same.
6. When writing, do you think about the techniques you use and how they affect the reader, or simply write away?
I most definitely think about techniques and the reader. Heck, as proofreader, I'm a reader, too! If I just wrote away without much thought, it'd be awful. Technique is so important because all you have is words, just words and punctuation--and those words have to work in the best way possible, because everything else? It's up to the reader. You have to exert power over the reader if you want to convey your world well.
Rigidity is always important no matter what media, I think. Which is why I'm not the biggest fan of free verse in poetry. Yeah, I write in free verse, but I at least have some structure involved be it rhythm, rhyme scheme, or number of lines per stanza. If there's no bounds, it just comes out a mess. I think. Also why I'm not the biggest fan of some modern art these days.
7. Do you feel bad when you write your characters in danger?
HECK NO. I love putting them in danger. What's the point otherwise? It's the awful stuff that makes up a lot of who we are. It's important to suffer. It's how we learn. And it's therefore how the characters learn, too. It means my story and characters move if I can have them deal with dangerous situations. I get angry if my story becomes stagnant. A stagnant story is a bad story, and little irritates me more.
8. Do you have any particular influences?
My English teachers and philosophy teachers and history (history I've read, at least). In terms of style, the closest we can get is probably Kurt Vonnegut. His sarcasm and strange approach to introspection has really wormed its way into some of my works. Heck, if we step back a bit more, postmodernist and modernist writing in general has influenced me. As for story content, I shouldn't be ashamed to say anime and video games, because it's true.
9. Have you ever joined in a collaboration with friends? If not/so, why?
I technically have one with
vodkabears, but we're having a hard time fitting it into our schedules what with the different time zones and busy college schedules. We've established two characters and their position in their, er, lab-mabob, but we're still working the kinks in our communication, so it's nowhere near complete at the moment. I did it because she was the first person to show interest in both my stories and art. She liked my stories, and I was flattered and ecstatic since she writes and reads a million times better (not to mention she's way smarter) than me. She DENIES THIS BECAUSE SHE'S SILLY, but I admire her a lot, so when she showed interest in collaborating with me, I jumped on it. It's going slow, but I swear, it'll be something one day.10. Do you show friends your work even if it is not complete? Or do you prefer for it to be finished before showing off?
HAHA NO. HECK NO. I'd prefer them to be finished before I show them off. It's dang embarrassing. Most of my friends don't even know I work on my stories day in and day out. Heck, most of them don't know they even exist! Although, to be realistic, they're not really interested. So, well, one, people tend not to care, and two, I might be more reluctant to change something if I know someone likes it.
Three, I'll be honest, I'm afraid people will think it's trash. It probably is, but I'm decidedly fragile and I put so much effort into my stuff. This fact also means people are less willing to crit me, too, even though that's what I need. So I'll keep bashing my stuff as I always do, let myself grow, learn, and keep critting so it'll be a product I'm at least more than happy with.
————
1. Who was the first character you came up with? Describe them.
I believe she was Cindy. She kinda looked like a blond Ash Ketchum with a black cap, jacket, red shirt, black cut gloves, and blue jeans. She had brown eyes and shoulder-length hair. She was an ice Pokemon trainer (shut up), and was all around a cool trainer. A total palette-swap Ash. But waay cooler than Ash. Oh yeah.
2. Do you feel you know your character inside/out?
She? Nope. She was just a cooler Ash, and I was a first grader. I didn't make coherent stories or characters in first grade!
3. What makes your character angry?
Muuh. Uh, what did she--Oh! When people bested her. Like in battle and stuff.
4. Do you think about why they are as they are or are they so just because you want them to be?
Probably because I was the most uncool person as a kid (still am, except I'm a little less ashamed of it), I decided to make someone cool to counter it. Even my sister copied Cindy! And if my sister liked her, she had to be cool. I guess Cindy offered me some of the vindication I needed.
5. What do you like most about this character?
She wasn't the typical weakling, prude type--even though she was a girl! I gotta say, I made awesome female characters as a kid. B)
6. Does your character resemble you in any way?
More like she was the total opposite. Except that we both had fairly masculine tastes--at least with clothing.
7. Do you have any shamelessly Mary-Sue characters?
I don't think so. I always make sure my characters are flawed and that there's not one person who has a flawless record with relationships. There's no one perfect. And, well, Mary-Sue plots are just awful. If I do have a Mary Sue character, she/he isn't anyone all that central to the plot. Probably, Dusk is the closest though. :/a But he is SO UNCOOL and constantly out-shined by other people in plot, so, I guess not? He used to be one though. Oh, most definitely used to be one. He used to kill without problem and say witty things all day long--until I was all WELL THAT'S DUMB and reshaped him.
8. Where did you get the inspiration for this character?
You're assuming there was a yes to that last question! BUT ALL RIGHT. Dusk, of course, was based on me and what I wanted to do back when I made him, except he was successful. Well, I'm now his age, going into engineering, not writing, and I'm still in school, so we've split. So now, my inspiration for him is showing the reasoning behind his choices, how his relationships were affected by his choices, how he feels about being successful, and how he feels about dying in the middle of it. His story and current plot fodder is flat out philosophy. Imagination Fall is a philosophy story.
9. Do you have any tips for wannabe writers about creating a believable/good character?
Make sure your protagonists change and develop. Make sure the people around him/her aren't all just slightly skewed copies of the protagonist. Make them make mistakes, and don't let favoritism get in the way of development. Make SURE the character develops.
Don't write a copy of yourself, because that's where the Mary-Sues tend to follow; people try to write OC's as a form of self vindication and it all just goes wrong. If you're going to make a character based off of yourself, be realistic--you're probably not that awesome. I did it once--I did it with early Dusk, and it was awful. Watch yourself. Character-making is not easy. Also, let's be honest; clichés are not the best protagonists because the reader will get bored really fast, so watch for that, too. It's hard to say much more because it's all relative--to the setting, to his social rank, to his relations--so make good judgments and keep all factors in mind at all times, and it should go fine.
From here.
