W1S1 January Blog Chain

Izz

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Last month we did a blog chain on our plan of attack for 2012.

This month the blog chain topic is 'An interview with a character.'

I was going to do up a list of questions, but haven't had a chance, so why not a free for all? If you're a noveleer, then you could interview the POV character of your current WIP, and if you're a short story architect you could interview a character from one of your current crop of stories.

Let's try to keep our posts to a reasonable length. Maybe a 1k upper limit?

Not sure what questions to ask your character? Here's a few random links i found (i'm such a keen researcher! ;)):

http://donnacsmith.hubpages.com/hub/The-Character-Interview-as-a-Writing-Tool

http://www.autocrit.com/websitepublisher/articles/73/1/Four-Methods-For-Interviewing-Characters/Page1.html

http://www.writingclasses.com/InformationPages/index.php/PageID/106--particularly Questionnaire 2.

Now, i was thinking we could kick off this blog chain on the 12/01/12. That should give us all time to get back from holidays, etc, as well as time to conduct the interview.

Like last month, we'll go in the order of signing up (i'll maintain a list in this post), and once the first person posts, then the next will have 2 days to get their post up and so on. If someone can't get their post up in that timeframe (life has a habit of getting in the way of things, doesn't it?), the chain will move onto the next person and the person that missed will slot in again at the end of the chain.

In our post, if possible, can we link to the blogs/posts of the people above and below us in the chain, as well as to this thread, so readers can get the whole list.

Once our post is up, can we let everybody know here, with a direct link to the post? Don't worry if you need to double-post to do so.

So, who's keen?

January participant list:

Kick-off 12/01/12

Izz: Post Up
PriyankaB: Post Up
rialrees: Post Up
bettieliee: Post Up
Hunter Emkay: Post Up
Amberly: Post Up
Aggy B: Post Up
defcon6000: Post Up
Annie Colleen: Post Up (guest post at Izz's blog)
soapdish: Post Up
DiannaG: Post Up
KitCat: Post Up
bdwilson: Post Up
Misa Buckley: Post Up
JenniferB: blog--post not up yet
 
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AnnieColleen

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Not necessarily this month, but at some point - how about guest posts for us non-bloggers?
 

Izz

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What a good idea! Sure, we can do that :) You can write up a post and PM it to me, and i'll post it on my blog as a guest post as part of the chain.

Did you want to do it for this month's chain?
 

sky warrior books

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What a good idea! Sure, we can do that :) You can write up a post and PM it to me, and i'll post it on my blog as a guest post as part of the chain.

Did you want to do it for this month's chain?

Okay, how does this work? :Wha: Please explain (in small words for those of us who are overworked and sleep-deprived). :Huh::e2zzz::e2writer::e2shrug::D I think this is something I want to do, but the brain isn't engaged. (We need a clueless smiley)
 
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Izz

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Okay, how does this work? :Wha: Please explain (in small words for those of us who are overworked and sleep-deprived). :Huh::e2zzz::e2writer::e2shrug::D I think this is something I want to do, but the brain isn't engaged. (We need a clueless smiley)
:) Basically, the blog chain is something where all the participants do a blog post on a chosen subject, and then post on their blogs/journals/etc in the order assigned, while linking to other blogs involved in the chain, thus hopefully creating some sort of chain-like effect. Here's the thread for last month's chain.

The addition Annie is suggesting is great for those who don't have blogs (or don't have a personal writing blog), but still want to participate. They can sign up for the chain, write up a post in their word processor and then private message it to me, or to someone else in the chain who has a blog, and we'll post it on our blog, but credit it to their name. The blog post title might read: 'W1S1 Blog Chain: Interview Your Character--Guest Post by sky warrior books' (or M.H. Bonham, or whatever name the person wants the guest post attributed to).

Does that help clear things up? :)
 
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rialrees

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Sounds like fun, count me in. Just have to remember to get my blog set up... been meaning to for a while now!
 

Izz

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I'm interested in signing up! :)
Awesome! You'll be our second participant (i'll go first to give everybody an extra couple days to get their posts sorted).

Sounds like fun, count me in. Just have to remember to get my blog set up... been meaning to for a while now!
Great! Once you've got the blog set up leave a link in this thread so we all know where your post will be. You're our third participant!
 

rialrees

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Good stuff! Got me blog up and started: rialrees.blogspot.com :) Bout darned time too!
 

Izz

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Sweet! I'll add you to the list now :)

(btw, the link in your siggy goes to the admin log-in page of a blog called Imagination's Lullaby, rather than to your Cas Webb blog)
 
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AnnieColleen

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Did you want to do it for this month's chain?

Umm, sure, I'm in. Let me know when.

I'll have to figure out how to go about it, since I don't usually do character interviews. I have a feeling mine will get somewhat meta-fictional.
 

Izz

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w00t, Aggy, defcon and Annie!

Aggy, i'll try to let everybody know (via a post in this thread) when it's their turn. Once it's your turn you'll have two days to get your post up before it moves onto the next person.

I've never interviewed a character before either, Annie. I think i'm gonna use Questionnaire 2 in the third link i provided in the OP. Maybe. Or else i'll just make it up as i go along :D
 

AnnieColleen

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I'll have to figure out how to go about it, since I don't usually do character interviews. I have a feeling mine will get somewhat meta-fictional.

And as soon as I posted that, Kim wanted to talk. Free-form, not at all meta-fictional, but from a specific point in the book (only knowing what's happened up to that point).

...I'll have to go through it later to make sure it makes sense to anyone but me. Add footnotes, maybe.
 

AnnieColleen

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I still might do a metafictional version...or add that onto the current one. Because metafiction is just fun. But otherwise, yeah. :D
 

DiannaG

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I'm in! I've never tried one of these and it sounds like a lot of fun. Let me know when I'm up.
 

Izz

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:hooray: I've added you to the list in the OP, Dianna, and i'll let you know when it's your turn :)
 

soapdish

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I'm starting to get a little bored with my story already. Need something to make me fall in love with my characters again, I think.

This might be the ticket.

Count me in, Izz.