General Discussion » Profiles and Interviews » Laura - week of 3/14/11
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Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by laura on Mar 17, 2011, 11:35am
Sorry I'm late - I'm late to everything
Laura
name means: crown of laurel leaves
age: 30
zodiac: virgo
MBTI: INFJ
character traits: amusing, stubborn, spirited, logical, curious, private
theme song: "Silent All These Years," by Tori Amos
(click through for full-size)
1. name: Laura (crown of laurels)
2. grew up: too fast
3. favorite food: bacon and avocado... on pretty much anything
4. favorite color: all of them <-- my hubby teased me for this answer, lol! It's mostly true - except for burnt orange, ick!
5. favorite weather: the moments before a summer storm
6. favorite drink: cosmopolitan
7. hobby: taking pictures
8. most important job: writer
9. if she had one wish: world peace? lol! I know that's cheesy, I don't know - I like it when everyone I love is happy.
10. thing she loves most in the world: talking in bed with my honey (after sex)
11. one word to describe her: imaginative
12. something else: doesn't like to let go
3. What do you eat/drink while writing?
- I don't eat while I'm writing. I'll snack or eat while reading, but never when I'm writing - sticky fingers on the keyboard, too much typing interruption. Something warm to drink - coffee or hot tea (fruity teas, like pomegranate white tea, or mango black tea).
17. Do you have one character that frustrates you more than any of the others?
- I think they all have at one point or another. Mariah was a spectacular trip to write (what do you want from me, woman!?). I'd say a lot of them are very hard to write, but not necessarily frustrating. Okay, one. Danny (from one of my novels-in-progress, Paper Birds) - he frustrates me. He's very temperamental, hard to reach, and hard to keep hold of. He's a lot like me, lol!
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_stxg6Ej1yypVjF2o10vNZWiTMgNY_zhXVrmQeKKLPsspmxmbdYISCQcf6de8hyf-a_kA3nloO_LXFM-KKYBV1ONnDwpQsdhgHY2_z6RWs=s0-d "[image]")
51. How do you like to handle romantic relationships in your story? Do you have a general approach, or is the approach tailored to the characters?
- Oh man, lol! I don't even know where to start!
Really though, my stories are about 1000% about the characters, and that includes how they relate romantically too. Simple answer: yes, tailored to the characters.
6. Which book has had the greatest impact on you (eg moved/disturbed/thrilled/made you cry)?
- The Cider House Rules by John Irving (and maybe A Prayer for Owen Meany equally). Irving's stories are epic! If I ever manage to get so much life into my own characters, I'll consider myself a success.
- stylistically, I'd say anything by Lorrie Moore. I love the way she weaves light and dark, to make these perfect multi-faceted portraits of life.
13. Do you have other creative pursuits that affect how you tell your stories? (Such as photography, creative writing, etc.)
- Well, writing obviously, lol!
I love taking photos too, and especially love the combination of visuals and words. I do these photo/poem things sometimes, and I'm not really sure it's much like anything that anyone else does, and I don't care if anyone thinks they're stupid, because I'm gonna do them anyway, lol![spoiler]
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u-5-AgMNXARdPwvAKaJZrXyu5IS08XhUUSfHrGpUCo3jTJETNgFJEp2e3caxgqbkGPugXCk1nodxKkDXv5IB-2KiST96QBsKW1UT4uNKs2TOeQnq6RSmi6_fx0ekdc6ZFWY0yXaFtUBGaNeDdka2XcU0Y1mNs=s0-d "[image]")
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sr-xC0zYVem61qmA67ldrpP-PP3CBOiEkGNNpt4dFNNaS6c0SHXzM2yLdU5yL47KOHq4rrz8H38oKRs2nSI5R0qyRnqx81lLDYqw4JMrmb9sY1nVQMY28n5_rcII8CXcM=s0-d "[image]")
[/spoiler]18. Do your characters have their own theme songs?
- Yes! Some of them have whole albums, lol! But really, music plays a huge role in my creation process. A song encompasses a whole mood, as does a story sometimes. They reach toward each other and become entwined.
19. Do you like using aliens, vampires, zombies or any other non "normal" characters?
- LOL, I don't know that I'd call my human characters "normal"
20. Do you usually create backstories for your characters?
- OMG yes! I create whole lives for them. I talk about this on my blog quite often. I can't truly understand my characters until I know what they've come from.
21. If it were possible, would you carry out "romantic interactions" with any of your characters?
- does it make me seem slutty if I say all of them? lol! But in reality, I'd probably say none of them. Fantasy, all of them/ reality, none. I'm a lot like my character Leila in that way - we keep our fantasies and our realities clearly drawn. To a point, lol! And then, sometimes you just can't know
22. How emotionally attached are you to your characters?
- extremely!
23. Do you have a favorite character/family?
- no, that would be like picking a favorite child. Some of them are harder or easier on me, but I love them all in their own way.
24. Are there any stories in particular that have inspired your storytelling?
- Published Lit - Lorrie Moore, T.C. Boyle, John Irving, Stephen King...
- TV (for real, lol!), especially in terms of writing my serials. I love really well written TV shows like Mad Men, Weeds, Dexter, Grey's Anatomy (before the whole Meredith and McDreamy on and off and on and off again thing got lame, lol!)
- Sim stories - for carefully crafted writing and storytelling, Ruin and Millwood. The Sessions series for fantastic photography that makes me want to try harder with my own work. And Mao's work was an early inspiration in this whole illustrated storytelling business. I miss Mao!
28. In your opinion, what makes a good story? What do you like to read in other people's stories?
- I like rich and unique characters. Situations that emerge from those characters, rather than some shallow plot. Characters are everything for me. I won't read a story that doesn't have really original and interesting characters.
30. Do you find yourself playing favorites with your characters? If yes, then who and why?
- I wouldn't say playing favorites with the characters, but sometimes their story will grip me more than others. That's usually just a phase though. I have a rather short attention span with my stories, I like to flip between several of them at a time. I always cycle around again though. I rarely ever neglect to finish a story once I've really gotten started with it.
31. Have you ever written something that you really wish you could change when you look back at it?
- Yes, I'm reworking it in a novel. You guys never usually get to see my first drafts, so you wouldn't know that almost everything gets rewritten a few dozen times. When it's finally right, I usually know it. There have been early pieces of some LH stories that I released before I was very sure of where the story was going, so looking back on them, they don't really fit very well. But eh, that's what happens when you're reading an early draft. I'm a big fan of fixing what's broken. I'm a perfectionist. The drafting process in writing is important (or at least, important to me), you know, taking raw materials and shaping them into something spectacular!
32. Were you ever surprised at a character's popularity among your fanbase?
- Yes, Jodie actually! She was truly never meant to be a main character, and now she's one of everyone's favorites, and going on into the real world to do really big things. I feel like a mommy sending her baby off to college. I hope she makes us all proud, lol!
27. Can you give us any hints about what is coming up in your stories? (Oh, come on...)
- LOL, I think y'all have had enough of my LH teasers, haven't you?
34. What have you written so far - and where can we find it (URL/Publication)?
Lakeside Heights, obviously. And I'm also shopping around a couple short stories at the moment.
And I haven't exactly announced it officially yet, but...
[spoiler]I'm going indie!
For those who don't follow all the "publishing revolution" news - that means, self-publishing, being my own publisher, publishing my own work just the way I want it.I'll be bringing out my first novel, Likely to Fail, late fall of 2011. It's a story inspired by Jodie and Amelia from Lakeside Heights.
I'll also be bringing out a collection of short stories, poems, and photography sometime next spring or summer, called How to Stand on Your Hands.
I have a whole head full of stories to share with you all! I have a publication schedule all made out already and spanning through about 2016 so far... which means I'm gonna be hella pissed if the world ends in 2012! lol!
a little blurb for Likely to Fail:
What is it about being twenty-eight that makes everybody want to pair up and breed like the world is coming to an end?
Amelia Bradshaw doesn't want to get married. She's a strong, proud, independent woman, who bought her own house, with all of her own money, and men have never caused her anything but pain. Except for one. (Yet, she wonders?) But if Drew doesn't give up on her, with his inspiring words and his so-sweet smile, she just might consider letting him love her.
Jodie Larson is a smart, stubborn, blunt-tongued young doctor, who is losing her perfect roommate to an unfortunate wedding, losing arguments to the suave but grating surgeon on the second floor of their building, and failing to lose that pesky crush she has on her charming poet friend, Drew. And she swears, for a fraction of a sliver of a minute, before Amelia finally decided to be with him, she thought Drew might have actually liked her too.
The problem is, sometimes Amelia wonders if Jodie is right.
Amelia is just the ex-girlfriend of Jodie's brother, and they were never meant to be friends. But that doesn't mean they weren't. And Jodie wasn't supposed to actually fall in love with Drew, but that doesn't mean that she isn't. And Jodie has always known exactly what she wants, and just how to get it too, but she's never had to think twice about whether getting what she wants is worth the sacrifice of betraying someone who might, or might not, be a friend.
Likely to Fail is a story that weaves between the lives of two women who were never meant to be friends, while exploring the inspiring reaches and the unfortunate limitations of friendship and love.[/spoiler]
You can keep up with all of my writing progress on my website.
33. Is there anything else you would like to add?
Be true to yourself - and that applies to both life and writing. You have to be who you are, and and own it, and love it. You have to write what you love. If you don't love writing about vampires or time-travel or whatever - then don't write it. Even if you were trained to write high literature and everyone hoped you'd go on to do that MFA, but instead, you wanted to get married and have babies, and write kooky and over-emotional relationship dramas about people who do questionable things in bathrooms? It's all good.
You have to be who you are. Some people will love you for it, and some people won't. But it's all you can do.
Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by dinuriel on Mar 17, 2011, 12:18pm
Quote:
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This.
Great interview, Laura
Just out of curiosity, how and when did you first become interested in writing?Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by laura on Mar 17, 2011, 12:53pm
Thanks Van!
I'm one of those types who's been writing pretty much her whole life. In high school, I wrote a lot of songs and poetry, and even in one of my English class journals, I wrote this really angsty and dramatic novella about a girl who did drugs and had sex and stalked this boy and then killed herself because he didn't love her. <-- and my teacher didn't want to have a talk with anyone about that? lol!
Also, when I was nine, I made up this story about a psycho axe-murderer who lived in the woods of our school playground, and scared the crap out of all the kids in my class to the point one of my teachers had to make me admit that I made it up. Oops!
But it never dawned on me to grow up and tells stories seriously. I did it all my life for fun, but nobody ever told me I was any good at it, so I never really thought about it as an option. I don't know what I was thinking - but I somehow went to college and studied accounting for two years, lol! For real. I was really good at math, and it seemed like the kind of thing I was supposed to want to do. But I really didn't enjoy it.
But then I played this video game, Final Fantasy X, and I hated the ending so much that I wrote this fanfiction novella about it. And it amazed me that people were actually engaged by what I wrote, by my stories and my writing, and that I was actually kind of good at it.
So I switched my major!
Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by sb on Mar 17, 2011, 12:57pm
I am gasping at your mosaic! There's such a mix of private and gleeful oh hell yeah let's just say it...are you sure you're a Virgo?
I've been fascinated with your use of Myers Briggs for some time now. When did you start using it and why?
I'm astonished that you would mention Sessions for photography since you are so good at it. There are so many different styles, and you have your own and it is as personal as the way you tell people to write. Design what feels right is the same thing. And I really miss Mao too. She was one of my original inspirations along with Kara in Worlds Apart.
For a long time I was really intimidated by your writing, scared to even leave a comment since it wouldn't come with a wealth of literature behind it, and my attitude is a little different. Thank you for being kind. For taking the time to respond to people who are not the same. It says as much about you as your stellar writing. (Which has inspired me more than you probably know).
Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by laura on Mar 17, 2011, 1:37pm
Beth, awww, thank you!
LOL, I'm very much a typical Virgo in some ways, and very much not in other ways.
The Myers Briggs thing - I started using it as an exercise in thinking outside my own headspace, which was also about the time I started identifying my characters with character traits. I wanted to write more varied characters, ones who didn't think the way I did, and didn't act the way I did, and I wanted to know what it was like to be in their head. So I found it to be a really useful tool in thinking outside the box. Which also spurred my sex types post, lol!
Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by muzegoddess on Mar 17, 2011, 2:18pm
I knew it! The immaculate organization of the Lakeside Heights blog could only mean one thing....Virgo
Seriously, you do an amazing job of keeping all of your stories straight and very easy for your readers to access. That mosaic is beautiful so much color and life in there. I think you are an amazing and gifted writer and you are a big inspiration for me. 
I have one question. First, if you had it to do over again, would you have majored in creative writing or would you have simply gone to workshops and tried things on your own? I guess I'm asking if the whole college curriculm aspect helped (I am seriously considering taking it on and have had mixed reviews about it's necessity).
Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by laura on Mar 17, 2011, 3:00pm
Muze, oooh, that's a very tough question. Well, I know for certain I would have skipped that two years of accounting study and just majored in creative writing right away, lol!
(But even then, even though I paid extra for it, maybe I wouldn't have skipped those years. I did have a few valuable experiences as a business student too. I'm of the opinion most of the time that nothing learned is wasted.)
But I enjoyed my uni experience greatly, and I took a lot away from it. My uni professors were the some of the first people to really recognize and validate me as a writer (and are also probably quite disappointed that I didn't go on to do a MFA). They were also the first to help me find the authors I would study and love and help shape my own writing career. To some degree, I think writers do need mentors. Writers need more proficient writers to look at their work, and help them understand what works and what doesn't, and why.
You don't need to pay tuition for that though. But it's easy to find all the right resources if you do enter a program. If you happen to find professors who understand you and you can understand in return. Maybe I was lucky to find that just by chance. After all, I didn't research the school I went to as a writing school - I went there because it had a decent business program. So I kind of lucked out, I think.
But at the same time, I'm quite sure I'll never go on to do a MFA (not unless I decide at some point that I want to teach creative writing, because you do need a MFA to do that). And I also know very good writers who I respect and look up to who have never had any formal writing education. You can learn everything you need to learn from books. And you can join writers groups for free. And you can read writers blogs and join writing forums (like this one!) for free too.
When I switched my major over to creative writing to finish out my degree, I was nearly half-way done already and I figured rather than just drop out, I might as well finish with something, lol! And I did have scholarships, some grants, and tuition reimbursement from my work too. (And well, the extra student loans I took out were my own stupid fault, lol!) So unless someone is paying for you to go to school, or you have a scholarship, I would probably say no. It costs a lot of money for these degrees, and as a writer, there is very little financial payoff in the end. In fact, as a professional fiction writer, you'll be damn lucky to be able to make a living at all, much less pay back student loans. It is a little more hard work to do it on your own, but it can be done, and it can be done well too.
Whoa, sorry so long! lol! And awww, thank you very much!
Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by pinkfiend1 on Mar 17, 2011, 3:30pm
Your photo poem is great.
I'm not completly up-to-date with Lakeside yet (oct 2081) but I love it. I think Bella is my fave.
Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by laura on Mar 17, 2011, 3:41pm
Thank you Pink! And oh hey, you're just about to get to my favorite part of Bella's story!
Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by somuchsong on Mar 18, 2011, 12:16am
Your mosaic is gorgeous! I can't believe you're able find pictures for some of the things you choose. I'm thinking of #12 especially!
And sidenote, but #3 is making me hungry!
I think I told you before that the Lorrie Moore book I read reminded me of your writing in some ways, so I wasn't surprised to see you mention her.
Mar 17, 2011, 12:53pm, laura wrote:
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LOL! I'm very surprised no one did! I've actually had to call conferences for less! Child with the oddly specific knowledge of guns, I'm looking at you (he was fine by the way - just really odd).
Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by lepifera on Mar 18, 2011, 6:32am
Laura,
The pictures you picked are all so very gorgeous.
#12 reminds me of a beautiful folksong, "I Lay Stretched On Your Grave".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95I7t1znYFk
Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by laura on Mar 18, 2011, 3:43pm
Carla, thanks! After all the mosaics I've done by now, I've become very efficient at searching Flickr for what I want, lol!
And awww, I'll never get tired of hearing you compare me to Lorrie Moore!
If I can ever achieve just a sliver of her genius, then I'll be happy!Lepifera, thank you! That's a lovely song!
Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by jennifer on Mar 19, 2011, 4:08am
Love your mosaic!
I have to ask... You've been writing Lakeside Heights for several years now, did you ever think that it would become what it has today?
Also, I noticed you give the age of your characters at the start of each post, how do you keep track of that considering how many families you normally write about?
Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by raquelaroden on Mar 19, 2011, 7:24am
You say that you have a short attention span with your stories, but that you almost always come back and finish the stories later, even if you leave them for a while. What is the longest period of time you've ever left a story that you ultimately finished? I'm so intrigued by this trait (it definitely isn't one I have).
Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by laura on Mar 19, 2011, 8:28am
Jennifer, thanks! Oh, ha, I had no idea I'd be doing this so long, lol! I was just in kind of a post-baby funk, trying to get back into the writing groove, and I'm not really sure I thought at all about what would become of this little adventure, but no, I didn't imagine all of this, lol!
The ages are quite easy! It's all right there on the database page. I also have a list of all their birthdates, so every story-month, I just go into the database and add a year for the ones having a birthday.
Rachel, oooh, that's a good question! I'd say my short stories probably get pushed to the back-burner most often, because either my novels or LH will take priority.
But hmmm, "finished" is a tricky state of existence!
There's quite a lot right now that I intend to finish eventually. And there's also a lot that is finished in draft form, but not published yet. And I've had long gaps in some of my LH stories, but that wasn't always because I wanted to set them aside, but just because it happened to be a resting point in conjunction to all the other stories going on.There are two short stories based on LH characters that I've mentioned that are still planned to be finished someday - one of them very soon. I'll be entering it into a contest in May, so I'd better get to work on that, lol!
But the oldest unfinished story I have going still is one called "Windows" which I'm hoping to include in my story collection next year. I've pulled that one back out several times for edits and submissions (and rejections, lol!) over the years. I guess you might say that one is already "finished" but I keep chopping it apart and re-finishing it, lol! I started writing that in 2004, and I still fully intend to see it published some day!
There's a lot from my college writing days that I won't be finishing, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the ideas were abandoned. For example, my practice novel was about a young couple who grew up together since childhood - and even though I scrapped that novel because there wasn't enough substance, I've wrapped some of those ideas into other stories, like my Paper Birds novel (novel #3, lol!), or Liza and Robbie's story too.
So no idea ever really dies - if the story doesn't work out, it just lends its energy to something else
Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by jennifer on Mar 19, 2011, 8:40am
Mar 19, 2011, 8:28am, laura wrote:
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Oh wow, I just checked that out and cool. Man you are so organized. I love it!
Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by laura on Mar 19, 2011, 9:02am
Thanks Jennifer! The funny thing is, I know it looks like a lot, but it was really very little work. It's just that spread out over many, many years, it kind of adds up to something big, I guess, lol!
Oh, and organization rocks! Really, once you have a few simple databases set up, everything else is easy after that.
Laura = knowledge Sim, and a Virgo one at that!
Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by thelunarfox on Mar 19, 2011, 6:35pm
What a beautiful mosaic. I wouldn't have expected anything less from you of course. (
)Have I said how much I love how your words and music go together? That's such a personal fingerprint of you and your style. Also, sometimes I do pull up the LH sound track when I go to write.
Aww that I've inspired you in any way. I'll always be surprised by that because I'm still in awe of you and probably will always be just a bit.
But your last one-
![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vDs5eEvo-mFy-N8ptem1K2amypMSOoippjP652jVv9CjQzm-C-R_5lj6JK8hXIU6-wqWZbDhQJ0eXVU3kMAJwbLsA79b7tT4aUsO-zxPI=s0-d "[image]")
Just for that. That's so important to remember. And you put it so well. I'm going to have to end up quoting you somewhere.My question: what's wrong with burnt orange? Too 70's? lol!
Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by rad on Mar 20, 2011, 6:24am
Love the mosaic - the photos are very you.
How much of the twists and turns in LH are determined by the game, by you or by the ROS? I'm guessing it's a mixture but is it an even mixture?
Do your husband/friends/etc read any of your writing?
Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by laura on Mar 24, 2011, 2:52pm
Oh, so sorry I've taken forever to get back to these!!!
Nina, awww, I don't know why you're in awe of me, lol! I don't know why anybody is actually, I'm just a girl with too many stories in her head.
Oh hey, I always wonder if anyone listens to those soundtrack songs besides me!
Burnt orange? lol! I actually like orange in general, especially bright sunshiny orange, but there's just something about burnt orange that rubs me the wrong way, lol!
Rad, thank you!
On twists and turns - you know, I wouldn't say "dictate" but I might say "inspired by", especially at the set up of some of the stories, like the initial premise of the thing. In fact, even some of my traditional short stories have been inspired by some situation that cropped up in my neighborhood.
I used to think I knew the answer to this though - how much? But it's hard to say. Sometimes even the most trivial thing in my game could inspire a whole plotline - I once conceived of a whole story scene just by buying my Sim a couple new nightgowns, lol! And other times, things that could become real dramatic twists and turns from the game get completely ignored because they don't suit the story I want to tell.
So my answer to how much? Whatever I want to use that best suits my story.
And on who reads my writing? Of RL people I know who are not writers, only my hubby. Though he actually is (was) a writer too, so maybe that doesn't count? My friends and family all know I write, but I don't think any of them care, lol! I will ask my hubby to read something for me from time to time though. He's VERY well read, and has a terrific knack for helping me figure out what's wrong with a piece, and most of the time he's usually right too. (Of course, we won't tell him that
)Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by mdpthatsme on Mar 24, 2011, 8:15pm
Your mosiac is beautiful!
Re: Laura - week of 3/14/11
Post by laura on Mar 29, 2011, 1:50pm
Thank you!
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