FanFic Ask Me Anything ~*~ Version 3.0 Daily Questions (See list on pg 164 or 1)

It's a sketchcard I did of Zuckuss a while back. I picked it because it's Zuckuss.

Huttese.

I can mimic owl calls.

 

Back in the "old days" of IGN, you picked your avatar from a bunch of icons, I changed my avatar a bunch of times. IIRC, it was mostly either Mara or Darth Vader. When we moved and got to upload our own icon, I very quickly did up what you see now (my 3 favorite characters) in photoshop, fully intending to do some cool icon. As you can see, laziness prevailed ANNNNND 3 years later, it's still there. I'm debating changing it, but it's been my icon for this long.

Shyriiwook. So I can growl at people when I rip their arms out of their sockets.

I can suck my toes, lick my elbow AAAAANND put the top of my foot on top of my thigh.

 

Ewok Poet Yeah, that's just what I mean. people who know me immedaitely get to facepalm because I'm fangirling over Thrawn again. But without that knowledge it is something else entirley. Plus I got the rhythm right on that one and it flows like a charm.

That's my Grand Admiral. Actually, my fave image of him ever. I don't even know where it's from but I hunted it down through the itnernets.

Probably Cheunh. Zahn's version not mine though. Mine's desigend to be a pain in the rear. Zahn made it soud manageable except for the fishing boat.

I can start talking in rhyme
about any time
if you do not believe that it's true,
the joke's on you.
(Though usually the pace's askew)

 

Send us a PM with the full idea and we'll discuss it.

1. Tell me about your avatar: what is it, why did you pick it and, if known, who drew it/took the photo. ​

My current avatar is from one of the first glimpses of The Force Awakens we saw, long before we knew it was called that. This guy was walking around beside JJ Abrams in the Force for Change video. In 7SA we ended up naming him Bob and he kinda became our mascot. I just thought he was adorable so I've kept him. I'm hoping to actually see Bob in TFA. I made the avatar myself from a screen cap. ​

Prior to this it's always been Mara or Ben. ​

2. With so many languages in the GFFA existing in some form in canon and the legends continuities, which one would you like to speak, if it was possible and actually useful?​

Probably Basic because it seems to be the universal language and then I could read Aurebesh. But like divapilot, I also would like to know the Twi'lek language, I've always loved the Twi'lek and how expressive they can be with body language. ​

3. Name the one absolutely useless skill or talent you have.​

Hmm... I can say the alphabet in 4 languages and know about half of it in 2 others. I can't speak any of those languages, which is why it's pretty useless. (Except sign language, ASL I can bumble around in enough to get my point across, but as long as you know the alphabet, you can always fingerspell, so I guess that one isn't useless.) ​

 

Tell me about your avatar: what is it, why did you pick it and, if known, who drew it/took the photo.

My avatar is my Sweetheart Peter. Whom I usually simply call Sir due to what he signifies personally to me and out of heartfelt respect. The cap is from Dracula AD 1972 (shot in '71, the year of his widowerhood). I chose it because Volshe made a comment that Peter always seemed happy. I was trying to convey his emotional range is massive and he's more vulnerable than many consider but far from weak.


With so many languages in the GFFA existing in some form in canon and the legends continuities, which one would you like to speak, if it was possible and actually useful?

Galactic Standard.

I don't believe any skill or talent is useless.

 

MY ANSWERS

1. Tell me about your avatar: what is it, why did you pick it and, if known, who drew it/took the photo.

I'm the resident compulsive avatar swapper. It's always Teebo (the Ewok poet himself, for those who are not familiar and those who don't Endor my work ); but this time I opened Adobe Fireworks and played with triangles, elipses and rectangles to see what happens.​

2. With so many languages in the GFFA existing in some form in canon and the legends continuities, which one would you like to speak, if it was possible and actually useful?

Ewokese, of course! Also, to those who read the old Marvel comics, the Lahsbee language is intriguing. Those lines have got to stand for something interesting.​

3. Name the one absolutely useless skill or talent you have.

I can lick my nose. Other than that, I agree with Cushy to a certain extent.​

 

1. What kind of a crossover would you like to write or see written?

I once started writing a Star Wars/Scarlet Pimpernel crossover, but it didn't really go anywhere.

2. If you were to adapt a fairy tale in the GFFA, which one would you adapt and how?

Well, I've already written a GFFA version of Orpheus and Eurydice, and a fic heavily inspired by The Last Unicorn, so... If I'd adapt something else it might be The Seven Ravens or the Children of Lir.

There was a challenge in the Luke/Mara thread a while back about fairy tales.

3. What was the first thing you did when you joined this board?

Read a lot of fanfic, I think. It was ten years ago!

1. Tell me about your avatar: what is it, why did you pick it and, if known, who drew it/took the photo.

The binary sunset is one of my favourite scenes, and of course Luke is my favourite characters, so it was an easy choice.

2. With so many languages in the GFFA existing in some form in canon and the legends continuities, which one would you like to speak, if it was possible and actually useful?

Bocce!

3. Name the one absolutely useless skill or talent you have.

I can remember useless trivia.

 

DAY SIX

1. Show me a sample of your handwriting saying something like "Hello to everybody on the Fanfic (sub)forum* from ____" . Use a spoiler tag if the image is too big.

2. Share a picture or tell a story about a childhood toy that mattered to you.

3. Did you ever get an F or whatever is the lowest grade where you are? What for?


* I assume either applies. Dunno. Call it what you want. It doesn't even have to be that sentence, it's just an idea.

 

Spoiler

Side note regarding the bottom half: I hate cursive. As in, hate hate hate hate HATE! cursive. I was taught cursive in the third grade, and beginning in the fourth quarter of that school year, I was forced to use cursive on every single school assignment of every kind. I hated that because writing cursive took me (and still takes me) twice as long as printing, and my cursive takes up nearly double the amount of horizontal space as my printing, when both are written with the same vertical height. Being forced to use cursive lasted through the rest of elementary school (sixth grade at the time). When I entered seventh grade at the junior high, I was told that cursive was no longer required, and I immediately returned to exclusively printing everything.

Since entering junior high, I have (except for my signature) used cursive exactly three times: when applying to take the SAT exam, which required me to copy an oath verbatim without printing (I actually had to spend half an hour relearning cursive for that); on the SAT exam day, when I had to do the same on the answer form; and tonight on the sample above. (And my signature no longer resembles in any way the cursive representation of my name. Except for the initials, which are written in oversized cursive that's hard to make out unless you're a forensic handwriting expert, the rest of my name is nothing but a scribble from which no distinct letters can be discerned. Inexplicably, however, I still go back after the first scribble to cross the non-existent T.)

Not really a toy, but my parents bought me a stuffed Mickey Mouse when I was an infant, and I was practically attached to that thing for years. I finally put it away when I was about 9 or 10 years old, but a few days before my 13th birthday, I had to go to the local children's hospital for surgery to clip a piece of skin under my tongue that was holding my tongue down, which had been causing a speech impediment and various other problems like an inability to gargle. (It should have been clipped the night I was born, but the doctors somehow missed it that night.)

Anyway, I dug Mickey out again and brought him with me to the hospital to help ease my fears, but I noticed that over the years a seam in Mickey's head had split open about an inch. Once I was checked in to the hospital, one of the nurses noticed Mickey's "cut" and put a bandage on it. Then, while I was under anesthesia for the surgery (I had carried Mickey with me into the operating room), one of the extra nurses in room took a needle and some thread and stitched the seam back together. Just a little thing, but it made soon-to-be-13-year-old me smile despite the pain in my mouth from the surgery when I woke up and discovered the repair.

Sadly, I don't think I have Mickey any more. I think he got donated to Goodwill.

Yes. Multiple times on the quarterly report cards, though never on the final grade for a class. And they were usually in English class. Yes, that sounds strange for someone whose native language is English, but you have to realize that I was excellent at the black-and-white aspects of the subject where there was a single clearly defined correct answer and all other answers were unambiguously wrong (e.g. spelling and grammar), but I was absolutely horribad at the gray areas like essay writing where there were many different ways to do it and no clear right way or wrong way. And unfortunately, once I hit high school, the latter was the majority of the grade. I still don't understand how I squeaked by and graduated on time.

 

So, I have a history professor who claims to be able to read any handwriting (she spends months in Spain reading 15th century handwriting - I've seen some of it, it's BAAAAAD). I then showed her mine (it was just an essay outline for myself). She laughed and told me if I can read that, I need to learn Catalan and travel with Spain with her. This sample isn't that bad because it's sort and I wanted you people to read it, but it gets much worse if I get tired.

Edit: also, I have never actually learned cursive. I can sign my name, but that's it. I can't even read cursive that well. I was taught to type while other kids learned cursive.

My sister and I had a Fisher Price Dollhouse and a TON of furniture and dolls with it. It was actually fairly large (though it folded up a bit) but it was a staple in our turbulent childhood. I used to LOVE decorating it and arranging all the furniture. We actually still have it with all the stuff. It's at our mother's.

No. I am such a nerd, but I have never received a FINAL grade lower than a B-. Though I've done really badly on tests and assignments, but I don't think I've ever actually failed (meaning gotten lower than 50%) on anything.

 

1. Show me a sample of your handwriting saying something like "Hello to everybody on the Fanfic (sub)forum* from ____" . Use a spoiler tag if the image is too big.
My handwriting is kinda a bubbly mix of print and cursive, it depends on what I'm writing. It kinda looks like a teenagers handwriting. When I have to write fast it gets much sloppier and harder to read. Luckily we no longer have to hand write our shift notes at work because those got ugly.

Spoiler

2. Share a picture or tell a story about a childhood toy that mattered to you.
I was one of those kids (who am I kidding, I'm still that way as an adult) who was attached to everything. When my parents would try and get rid of something I'd say "But I loooooove it".
But if I had to pick one thing, it would probably be my large stuffed emporor penguin, which I still have. I was never so attached that he had to go everywhere with me, but he has been around just about as long as I can remember.

3. Did you ever get an F or whatever is the lowest grade where you are? What for?

I was always a good student but there was one semester of college when I was doing my first major where I was pretty depressed due to multiple circumstances so needless to say that semester went really badly. I was taking some pretty extreme classes: advanced human physiology (which should have been fine for me, normally), organic chemistry 2, etc. Not being able to make yourself go to classes really takes a toll on the grades.
After that I ended up going home and then changing to respiratory school where I never got lower than a B.

 

My handwriting is a mix of printing and cursive. It's messy and haphazard, and has been likened to a doctor's handwriting.

Spoiler

My froggy, Peepers. Peepers was my first toy when I was a baby and I still have him around. He's stashed in my room somewhere at the moment.

I was a terrible student. Ds and Fs were common for me.

 

1. I'll pass on this one. Somebody once told me I have the handwriting of a serial killer. I am not sure what they meant by that.

2. My mom said when I was a baby and hadn't learned to talk yet she bought be a toy doll. If you pull the string the doll would talk. She pulled the string and the doll said something. She said I just stared at that doll and then I looked mad. She said I punched that doll every time it talked. She thought I was jealous that it could speak and I couldn't. I think I assumed the doll was possessed by the devil (like Chucky) and it must die. The story doesn't really matter to me with the exception that I think it is funny.

3. I don't think I have ever got an F. I did get a D in PE in the semester I took survival swimming at Military school. I had to not only learn how to swim, but then learn how to jump into the water in uniform, tread water as I removed my boots and then I had to take off my trousers and make a flotation device with them. I also was required to swim the length of the pool in full uniform, caring a rubber M16 and wearing a butt pack with a brick in it. The last test was jumping off the 10 meter board and then swimming across the pool. I did the first and the last thing but I couldn't swim the length of the Olympic size pool with all that gear. I had to do remedial swimming every day after class and go through the drills. It didn't help. I ended up with a D that semester. I can swim now...barely. If I fell out of a boat I would be able to tread water and swim to shore, but there is no way I could do it with a brick and a rifle.

 

DAY FIVE
1. Tell me about your avatar: what is it, why did you pick it and, if known, who drew it/took the photo.

The avatar is made from an illustration of a galoomp -- http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Galoomp -- which comes from the Wildlife of Star Wars guide illustrated by Terryl Whitlatch. They're a quirky-looking species that I find particularly endearing in appearance and habits (they say "galoomp" when foraging ). I feel like it's a fair warning that my love of Star Wars wildlife and alien species is at least as great as my fangirling of any canon character.

2. With so many languages in the GFFA existing in some form in canon and the legends continuities, which one would you like to speak, if it was possible and actually useful?

C'mon, nobody else wants to speak Whaladon? (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Whaladon) But really, I would love to learn the language of a really unusual-to-Humans species; I think that would be awesome.

As for Basic, I'm thinking/hoping that I would pick it up by immersion after a few years. Particularly if it's as close to English as it sometimes seems to be (the Isard/Iceheart pun and others come to mind). It would perhaps be like learning Old English or something; hard but not as difficult as a totally unrelated language.

3. Name the one absolutely useless skill or talent you have.

Hmm, I have a lot of unused talents but it's hard to think of a truly useless one. Most of them have a use even if the use is just keeping myself entertained (for example, my ability to remember truly arcane trivia about particular aspects of a fiction-based universe ). I can recall a disquieting number of dinosaur names? But hey, someday that might come in handy. You never know!

 

Cushy got Fs most often in Maths. Practicality and Numbers aren't my suite. I am much more inclined to language, storytelling, and studying human behaviour.

 

MY ANSWERS

1. Show me a sample of your handwriting saying something like "Hello to everybody on the Fanfic (sub)forum* from ____" . Use a spoiler tag if the image is too big.

Spoiler

And, since I do not use the Latin alphabet IRL, but this one (note that Serbian language has digraphia, it's just a personal preference etc etc), here is a vaguely similar statement in Cyrillic.

2. Share a picture or tell a story about a childhood toy that mattered to you.
UNICEF puzzles were my absolute favourite. I regret having given them away.

3. Did you ever get an F or whatever is the lowest grade where you are? What for?
Yup. That was a regular part of my day at the PE/gym classes in high school. Instead of wondering what was wrong with me and trying to help me out, the PE teacher was harrassing me, having everybody mock me and though I looked fairly skeletal, convince me that I was fat. She was making me remain at school, in the gym, until 9 PM in the afternoon shift (classes usually end at 7.15) and exercise while hungry, while she knew I would get freaked out to exercise next to body builders who were paying to use the gym in the evenings and that I was hungry, because my parents were against giving me lunch money in general. All of this to have a B. I kinda hate her now, my condition could have been discovered long before it got serious.

I also had an F in chemistry in the first trimestre of the second year of high school and almost had it on the half-term. I regret that I did not, as it would have made me the only person who would be an excellent and a failure at the same time, given that my average, with that F, would have been 4,54 (out of 5.00).

Got a single F on a math test once, but that was a result of having a veeery bad day.

There was a funnier occasion in the last year of high school, where a friend and I were thrown out of the class* for randomly singing WWII partisan songs in the middle of an important test and then claiming that there is no god, even though we can see a church out of the window. Since we did not finish our tests, I got a C, he got a F and had a F on the end of the term. I felt bad for all that happened and he was like: "Come on, I have seven F's."

* Common punishment in our schools, not sure if it's still allowed, but it was allowed in 2000/2001 when I had graduated.

 

DAY SEVEN

1. Share the worst commercial you know. For us who are older, it can be some childhood nightmare or general weirdness. For the younger folk, something err, genuinely weird.

2. What inspires you to write, at this point in life?

3. Try https://iwl.me/ and tell me what it told you.

 

Now imagine hearing that several times a day, every day. Incredibly annoying. A while later, they replaced it with this commercial and variations thereof:

I write because I'm bored. There really isn't any other reason or inspiration currently.

Pasted in my infamous Corellian typo story and got Margaret Mitchell. Tried my fic-gift from last winter and got Dan Brown. A humorous post from my RPG also got Dan Brown, while a dramatic one featuring the deaths of three major characters produced David Foster Wallace.

 

Spoiler

I hate this commercial because she reminds me of the crazy lady who works out in my gym. She is the queen of awkward conversations.

2. I like the OCs I created. I enjoy watching them grow up.

3. It said I write like Vladimir Nabokov. I didn't know who he was. I never read any of his books, but oddly enough I had visited the location in Russia where he was born. I have been to the place in Switzerland where he died. I've been to almost every location he lived in the United States and in Europe with the exception of Berlin. Weird.

 

1. Share the worst commercial you know. For us who are older, it can be some childhood nightmare or general weirdness. For the younger folk, something err, genuinely weird.
There is a commercial that is both on the radio and on TV that I can NOT stand. The jingle gets stuck in my head... and now just thinking about it, there it is. It's the Kars 4 Kids song. (And yes, it's "Kars", because in the jingle they say "That's K.A.R.S. cars for kids.)



2. What inspires you to write, at this point in life?

I'd say mostly things that happen in my life. I see a lot of weird and dramatic things and that sometimes translates into angsty fic. I'm also inspired by other TV shows and books.

3. Try https://iwl.me/ and tell me what it told you.

I did several different things to see if different points in my writing got different results. The thing I just wrote the other day that is a rough draft and 1st person POV got Cory Doctorow. An older fic that I felt was decently well written also got Doctorow. Something that was more recent but not 1st person resulted in James Joyce.

 

FFAMA Version 3.0

Okay, so most people thought the list of questions sounded fun, so here is a edited version of the list. Questions I thought were really personal or pertained to being in a relationship were taken out. As always, if you don't feel comfortable answering a question, you can certainly skip that day. If you do answer, giving as much info/details as you are willing to share always makes things more interesting.

Bri brought up maybe starting up the older style Interview thread (See THIS wayback machine version of a few interviews for example). So if you are interested in seeing that, let me know.


How this will work:

Everyday we will all answer the same question and we will go in order. So today Sunday, June 14th we answer question 1, Monday we answer question 2, and so on and so forth. I've dated them below to make it a bit easier. (In Month/Day/Year format because I'm hopelessly American. )

If you get behind, please feel free to catch up with the past few days.

The questions will be on the first page of this thread so you can always find them and I'll post them again periodically in the thread.

Please quote, bold or somehow restate the question before you answer, especially if you are catching up on a few days. It just makes it easier for everyone to read.


Daily Questions:

(6/14/15) 1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?

(6/15/15) 2. Would you like to be famous? In what way?

(6/16/15) 3. Before making a phone call, do you ever rehearse what you're going to say? Why?

(6/17/15) 4. What would constitute a perfect day for you?

(6/18/15) 5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?

(6/19/15) 6. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year
old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you choose?

(6/20/15) 7. Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?

(6/21/15) 8. For what in your life do you feel most grateful?

(6/22/15) 9. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or ability, what would it be?

(6/23/15) 10. If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know?

(6/24/15) 11. Is there something that you've dreamt of doing for a long time? Why haven't you done it?

(6/25/15) 12. What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?

(6/26/15) 13. What do you value most in a friendship?

(6/27/15) 14. What is your most treasured memory?

(6/28/15) 15. If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why?

(6/29/15) 16. What does friendship mean to you?

(6/30/15) 17. What roles do love and affection play in your life?

(7/1/15) 18. When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself?

(7/2/15) 19. What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?

(7/3/15) 20. Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why?

(7/4/15) 21. Would you be willing to have horrible nightmares for a year if you would be rewarded with extraordinary wealth?

 

MY ANSWERS

1. Share the worst commercial you know. For us who are older, it can be some childhood nightmare or general weirdness. For the younger folk, something err, genuinely weird.

So, this was the late 1980s. And apparently, most people still think there is nothing wrong with it today.

Spoiler

The same stereotype exists in an ice cream commercial, but the whole commercial is weird in a different way. Since all the ice creams apart from the racist and the second last one still exist...err...if I tell you that the "rocker" popsicle is my favourite, are you going to ask for as restraining order?

Spoiler

2. What inspires you to write, at this point in life?
I spent a long time having an unhealthy approach to things and people I like in general, so I consider this a therapy of sorts. Not to mention how much I love learning about editing, clarity and such from my awesome beta.

3. Try https://iwl.me/ and tell me what it told you.

4 out of 5 times, I got Arthur Clarke, even when I paste a somewhat sensual passage that may need to be edited. Ooook.

 

Re: format.

This month of "breather" questions is cool. Like a summer break that is not really a break.

The questions? Some of them are either/or and what if...which tends to annoy me, but I am well-aware that many people would disagree on that and that they like to come up with long meditations once asked such questions, so why not.

I have nothing but respect for your choice not to include relationship questions - or anything that would make a bunch of people ineligible, for that matter.

Now, given the format for the future interviews, I really, really like Bri's suggestion. How would we go about it?

Here is what I came up with.

1. Let's assume that there is an interview sock.

2. It would be cool if authors who are not active in the social thread and, often, anything outside of the fic subforum itself, would apply or if somebody, e.g. an interview sock, was suggesting to them to apply. As in, reach out, have people get to know other writers, not just hit and run.

3. It would make sense for the interview to be conduced by somebody familiar with the author's work. The author would have to agree.

4. If the interviewer and the interviewee are friends, the sock would serve as an editor to prevent inside jokes nobody else would understand and such.

5. Some questions would be standard, some would be interviewee-specific.

6. An interview would last for a week, but not all answers would be rolled out at the same time.

7. People would be able to ask additional details inbetween questions.

8. There would be an option for additional questions to be asked, in the style of old FFAMA, but only on the last day.

How does this sound?