Nanowrimo Spotlight #18: Amanda

Hey everybody! I still have a few interviews left in the bag, so let’s break on through to Amanda.

What’s the most unusual part of your writing process?
I seriously doubt any of my writing process is too unusual.  I basically just sit down and write.  Though when I’m serious about writing, I grab my netbook and power supply, glasses, and earphones and sit at the kitchen table away from all the distractions in the house.  Occasionally I will shut off the wireless card to keep the internet from distracting me.  The oddest thing I probably do while writing is wear my little blue knit hat, it’s sort of my “Thinking Cap”

Where are your backup files?
Back up files… why they are everywhere!  I swear I have a copy of my stories on every computer in the house.  They aren’t all at the same spot in the story, but mainly I keep them on a flash drive that get placed in a draw for safe keeping.  This year for NaNo I am trying something new and writing with Google doc through www.mywritingnook.com.

What advice would you give to all your fellow Wrimos?
The advice that I would give other Wrimos is not to worry about the 50,000 word mark.  This whole thing is an adventure, enjoy the challenge and write.  Be proud of yourself whether you reach the goal or not.  If you push yourself too hard you will burn out.  However you approach November, Good Luck with your writing!

Sneaky Ninja Question! What is your favorite genre to write in?
My favorite genre to write it would probably be Literary Fiction.  I love my characters and want everyone else to as well!  I tend to ramble in real life and with Literary Fiction it’s like giving me a license to ramble!  Though I do tend to keep a strong plot and make an outline of where I want to go.

Feel free to stop by my blog Boring Ol Me for writing updates, photography and other boring adventures I may go on!

Thanks for stopping by, Amanda!

Are there still writers just in it for the fame/money?

I was listening to Storywonk Daily‘s 200th episode this morning. Lani and Alastair read an email that they’d received calling them out for taking potshots at ‘literary fiction’, and they apologized for taking out their frustration on a few snobby critics who consider anything not literary as ‘trash’ out on the whole genre. Alastair gave shoutouts to some of his favorite literary authors, and Lani said that whoever was passionate about literary fiction and inspired to write it, or loved to read it, they were a Storywonk at heart and that she’d avoid saying mean things in the future. It was all very sweet.

But something was nagging at me as I listened, and it took me a few minutes to figure out what I was thinking about. From a few places, including an article of Douglas Adams that was in ‘The Salmon of Doubt’, I’ve absorbed this meme of the literary author, (certainly not representing EVERY literary author,) who isn’t really passionate or inspired about the stories that can be told in that genre, but full of himself and just wanting to create a piece of “Literature.” (Douglas said in the article that he aspired to be literate, not literary.)

I have to admit, I’ve never really known another writer personally who I’d put into that category. And the broader bucket of ‘writers who are motivated more to be successful than by passion’ wouldn’t be unique to Lit fic – in other genres, considering the scarcity of artistic accolades, the equivalent would be someone who just wants to have written a successful blockbuster and get rich from it, instead of actually being inspired to write. I’m not sure I know anyone like that either.

Do writers like that actually exist, or are they just a cultural meme that sprang up from writers in one genre taking potshots at another?