lilfluff

From aldersprig's post, who got it from scribble_myname:

What it says on the tin: When you see this, post three lines from three wips you have

( Click here to see my snippets )

Voluntarily tagged by aldersprig I received the following questions

* So: Why Fox?

I've always been more of a cat-person than a dog-person, so this is actually a good question. Foxes don't seem to be as pack oriented as wolves, so that probably fits with the introvert in me. They're often shown as silly and/or tricksters which my sense of humor likes. RL foxes when not suffering from malnutrition or disease can be rather cute (Fennecs! Few creatures can give them a challenge in the cuteness competition). Then of course there are kitsune, from traditional to modern interpretations - not always nice even when not villains, but usually reserving their largest cruelties for the deserving.

I'm not certain when exactly it happened by somewhere between the mid-90s and mid-00s foxes ended up near the top of my preferred critters list.

* Favorite story/world/author as a child?

I got bit by the third incarnation of Tom Swift after a cousin got me the first three books as a Christmas present. A young inventor, from an inventor family, who lives on a space station, and has adventures in space? What wasn't for a young geek to love? The rest I only got to read by way of the library, but I held onto those first three. Even rescuing them after my mother tried to put them in a yard sale box. I still have them on one of the bookshelves in my room.

* And now?

Today is a harder question. I enjoy the Honorverse books by David Weber and Co., Jim Butcher's Dresden novels are pretty much buy-on-sight, and I love the blending of genres that Charles Stross brings to The Laundry stories (think a blend of Ian Fleming, Douglas Adams, and H.P. Lovecraft -- The Bond stories if the agency was under funded, the spy was a computer geek, and Lovecraftian horrors waited to be unleashed by something as simple as running a fractal screen saver on just the wrong part of the Mandelbrot Set).

* One thing you don't regret at all

All the hours I "wasted" as a kid on first our old Apple //e and then an IBM PC (I used that PC XT with 10 MB hard drive right up until 91 or so, long after it was obsolete). Learning to get stuff to run (often without direct access to manuals) is a large part of how I built up the problem solving skill set that got me the job I have today.

Only regret there would be that I didn't add more programming, even in BASIC, to that "wasted" time.

* If you had to split your time between a fictional 'verse and this one, which 'verse would it be?

I'm not sure I'd really want to drop into many of my own fictional realities, many of them are Not Very Nice. My Galactic Academy setting could be fun assuming I actually had a source of tuition funds. On the other hand even a short visit to the Star Trek setting could probably see a number of health/body issues dealt with (they've apparently got a medicine that can in a few doses fix all but the worst cases of near/far-sightedness). I'm not going to even go within the multiversal neighborhood of S.M. Stirling's Draka series without an entire fleet to back me up (and some anti-matter hooked up to a deadman switch) (The Draka, just about the one thing you can get people on the Spacebattles forum to agree on is that the Domination of Draka is in good need of a curbstomping).

That said, I'll go for the online shared universe of Fen Space. A setting created on the Drunkard's Walk forums in which science fiction and fantasy (and other genres but mostly those) get hold of honest-to-goodness unobtanium and migrate to space. It could be a very fun place to visit so long as you avoid the villains and don't taunt the catgirls.

- - - - -

If you'd like, leave a comment and I'll leave five questions for you. Quoting from Aldersprig's journal:
"• I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can get to know you better.
• Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
• Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions. (<- let's make that optional"

So, on a whim I decided to run through one of those online personality quizzes. Usually on them and the official test I come back as INTP. From time to time, INFP. Today's an INFP day.

Results (using the quiz at Human Metrics:

• very expressed introvert


• slightly expressed intuitive personality


• slightly expressed feeling personality


• moderately expressed perceiving personality

At Keirsey.com they call this type the Healer (from the Idealist group), while my usual INTP is the Architect (from the Rational group). "Healers present a calm and serene face to the world, and can seem shy, even distant around others. But inside they're anything but serene..." "For Architects, the world exists primarily to be analyzed, understood, explained - and re-designed."

And I found an amusing INFP 'motivator' poster: INFP: walking the fine line between cute and creepy (Caution, extreme close up a fuzzy spider or similar bug :))

I think my favorite personality test result was on a test I took in college where I scored high on both logic and aesthetics. It assaulted the stereotypes others unconsciously have. Quite a few people responded, "But, but surely that's not a valid result," and had trouble with it even after it was pointed out that the test (I sadly can't remember which personality profile test it was now) put logic and aesthetics on separate scales. Which meant that yes, someone could score high on a preference for both.

I generally don't take these too seriously, but it's amusing to review them from time to time.

Snagged from celli

It's National Book Week. The rules: Grab the closest book to you. Go to page 56. Copy the 5th sentence as your status. Don't mention the book. Post these rules as part of your post.

"The three modes are design mode, run mode, and break mode."

. . . . .

Meanwhile celli asked, "Sort of relatedly - those of you who write, do you have a routine? How do you fit it into working/commuting/spending time with your loved ones? Every time I think I have a plan I end up not following it, and besides working on my general focus and willpower, I wonder if there's an approach I haven't tried yet."

I'm afraid I don't really have a set routine yet other than stealing scraps of time. When I've got something I'm working on I try and leave the in-progress document open in a window so I can easily get to it whenever I have some time.

I keep hearing that it is good to have a set time, however long, that is your writing time. Such as getting up early and writing between 5 and 6 am. Or perhaps saying, "Okay, every night I'll start writing at 8pm and write for at least a half hour." But I haven't managed to build that habit yet.

And early morning? I am so not a morning person. I would end up back asleep with my face on the keyboard.

This a Flashfic based on a prompt from ravenswept's 30 Days of Flash Fiction Meme

My 30 Days of Flashfic Index Page

Day 22 - Prompt: Write a scene with children

Setting: The colony I really ought to get around to naming, post Day 1's Hello, before Day 10's Music Therapy.

Called to School

( CUTTEXT )

On one hand it feels like it ought to go at least a little more. On the other hand everything I've tried continuing with feels like it's stretching it too far.

This a Flashfic based on a prompt from ravenswept's 30 Days of Flash Fiction Meme

My 30 Days of Flashfic Index Page

Day 15 – Prompt: Shots fired

Making use of the Tales of the Mascot setting from Day 3: Write a query letter for a fantasy series.

( Enough peacetime to practice, underneath the cut )

Thoughts a third and a thirtieth of the way through Ravenswept's 30 Days of Flashfic

I was going to do an, "A Third of the Way" post, but yesterday got a touch busy and next thing I knew it was Oh-My-Goodness-Way-Too-Late O'clock. So, an extra thirtieth of the way in, here are my thoughts.

The original post called for 250 +/- 50 words a day, but I quickly discovered that my mind isn't wanting to work at that size (which means I'll probably work at doing some that size later, as a sort of mental muscle stretching). So I've switched to a target size of 1/2 to 1 page at OpenOffice Writer's mostly default settings (I have done a few things like switching off smart quotes). Based on a quite check of three days I'll say I'm averaging around 550-600 words. Hey, come November that's already almost a third of the rate that would be needed for NaNoWriMo.

While I have had a few days where I tossed out the first try or two (or three) at a prompt where they either wouldn't fit within the size or just weren't coming together, I have been able to complete each day. After the first day I thought I'd do more sooner with the characters I came up with then, although I did return to them on day ten. More of a surprise was how much fun I had going back to an old RP character from a short attempt at a superhero game.

Mainly for my own use, under a cut I've got a summary of the eleven days scenes.

( A summary of the previous days )

I'm not planning on doing more with Tonya immediately. Although who knows, on some of these days I haven't decided just what to do until sitting down and starting the file. Day 10 was pretty much in mind from the moment I finished Day 1. I will probably make a post sometime soon with some notes for the setting for those two days. Tomorrow's prompt, "Write a scene in a sushi bar," looks to be one of the days where I will have no idea what I'm going to write until I sit down and start writing. On the other hand, day 14's "Write the final scene of a romance novel 'Never Been Caught'" has had an idea percolating in my head from pretty much the start. I'm also hoping my idea for Day 26 "Write a personalized rejection letter for the YA novel 'Sparkle Lust'" will be well received.

It's been fun so far. Quite looking forward to the next nineteen days.

This is from ravenswept's 30 Days of Flash Fiction Meme

My 30 Days of Flashfic Index Page

Day 3 - Write a query letter for a fantasy (any kind) novel

( Fantasy Query Letter under the cut )

(Yes, this is actually posted on June 22nd. I am pre-dating it so it will show up before the Day 1 post.)

This is the Index or Landing Page for my go at ravenswept's 30 Days of Flash Fiction Meme

Here are the prompts, which I'll make into links as they are posted.

1) Write a scene saying “hello”
2) Write a scene with a drunken mythological creature
3) Write a query letter for a fantasy (any kind) novel
4) Prompt: a hostage situation
5) Write a scene entirely in dialog
6) Write a scene with people talking, but without any actual dialog
7) Write something dirty (take that how you will)
8) Write a scene as a cat
9) Write a scene working from the title “Roses are Red, Violets are Dead”
10) Write a scene focused around a musical instrument
11) Prompt: a dragon and a princess
12) Write a scene at a sushi bar
13) Prompt: underwater
14) Write the final scene of a romance novel “Never Been Caught”
15) Prompt: shots fired
16) Write a scene on horseback
17) Write a scene with a character in a foreign land, unable to speak the local language
18) Prompt: the name “Thomas Daniel”
19) Prompt: in the marketplace
20) Write a scene with the opening line “I hate you; I just want you to know that”
21) Write a scene with a drink(ing) of some sort
22) Write a scene with children
23) Prompt: falling
24) Write a scene on a movie set
25) Prompt: noir style
26) Write a personalized rejection letter for the YA novel “Sparkle Lust”
27) Prompt: trapped
28) Prompt: overhearing a conversation
29) Write a scene about a [person] and their [animal]
30) Write a scene saying “good bye”

The original directions specified 250 words +/- 50. But I'm going to go with a minimum of a half page, maximum of one page, on OpenOffice Writer's default settings. That should be somewhere around 200-400 words.

From part 18 of A Thin Veneer:

"We get signal!"

Acaltha turned in his chair and directed a sharp look at his communications officer. "Mr. Vickers, I believe I mentioned something previously about a certain officer trying break the tension on the bridge by reviving three hundred year old Terran jokes?"

Mr. Vickers felt a vague unease. "Ahh.. yes sir. You did."

"And what was it I said at the time? Please refresh my memory."

"That if it happened again, I'd be assigned to Commander M'Zell as her sparring partner during personal combat practice?"

"That sounds about right. Now, you were saying?"

Vickers deflated slightly. "Subspace transmission directed to this ship, sir."