Tapestry of Dreams, Part 2 Discussion

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Name (that you go by): Laura

Age: 20

Occupation: library clerk, student, editor, writer, visual artist

Future Aspirations: live happily ever after in all the important ways.

Goal in life: become one with everything

Short term goals: graduate on time...

Passion: creation

Hobbies: collecting and playing with toys

Famous for (brag about yourself): role reversals.

Fave book: The Time-Traveler's Wife

Fave movie: Pan's Labyrinth

Fave sport: curling

Fave store: any book or art store

Fave music: whatever, really, seems like a good idea at the time.

What you can't stand: hypocrisy

What you plain dislike: lima beans

Who you admire: His Holiness, the Dalai Lama

What you most love to do: I like to be

Your self-confessed flaws: I have about *this* much confidence most of the time, though I’m arrogant enough in seeming to fool most people; I’m a perfectionist when it comes to myself but I don’t always give others enough credit; when I’m scared or angry I sometimes say cruel things; I forget to eat for extended periods of time; I can’t concentrate unless I’m doing yoga; I don’t always pay attention to how legal things are; I forget to take care of my own health because I’m more concerned with other people’s...

What intrigues/fascinates you: love

What scares you: love

Quotation to live by: Wheresoever you go, go with all of your heart. -Confucius

Value-specific:

What do you want most in a friend? honesty

What do you want most in a teacher? creativity

What do you want most in an ally? A good left hook. Kidding… actually, honesty. Tell me if I’m wrong, don’t just stick blindly with me. I appreciate clear vision in those helping me. I'd never forgive myself if I accidentally led someone into a bad situation because they didn't think they could tell me I was being stupid.

What do you want most in a team-mate? communication

What do you want people to remember most about you? That whether or not I succeed, I do try.

Writer-specific:

Your favorite work you've written so far: It's called Sketches. Short story.

Your favorite character so far: Nick Whitby. Chef extraordinare, painter, solo academic with a thing for therianthropy. Has zilch idea how money functions in the real world, a twin sister, and an unrequited love for his best friend's girl, who was formerly his. Yeah... He's a sweetheart. Fun to write...

What you plan to write soon: a piece of what I'm told is creative non-fiction, a new climax for a novel that's been eating me (because I screwed up the climax), a short involving a shrink who wears tube socks under his man-sandals.

What inspires you to write: everything: the blue of the sky, the green of leaves in mid-July, babies laughing, a tall latte, the sizzle of bacon, the breeze that comes just before the cliched calm before the storm... being tired, being sad, smiling; sarcasm, cruelty, kindness; the color of pistachio pudding...

What makes your writing stall: occasional bouts of no confidence, exhaustion…

Do you get writers' block and how do you overcome it? Yes; procrastination in the form of doing a billion other things until I have nothing left to distract me from being unable to think of anything; ask for advice that I may or may not take...

Middle-Earth specific:

Your favorite ME character(s)? Fingolfin, Feanor, Eomer, Boromir, Morgoth

What do you like about them? Bravery, creative spirit, loyalty, I’m not quite sure, and pure conflict, respectively.

Your favorite moment(s) from the Trilogy? When the cock crows at sunrise and the Rohirrim appear to save Minas Tirith to the sounds of trumpets.

Your favorite plot twist(s) from the Trilogy? Eowyn/Dernhelm

Looking at your personality as it is, what race do you belong to in Middle-Earth and why? Noldo. Numenorean. One of those...

What race would you *like* to belong to in Middle-Earth and why? Elves; though they’ve experienced all of the world’s sorrows, they never fail to appreciate even the smallest of the beauties.

What place(s)would you live in Middle Earth and why? Dol Amroth… though I’ve got this thing about getting in the water, I love to be by the ocean and I suspect the sun over the water is rather amazing… I could happily live with Beorn though, and enjoy his diet.

Where would you want to visit? Why? Mount Doom; volcanoes, though they terrify me, have long held my fascination.

How would you travel? By horse: fast enough to avoid boredom on the road, slow enough to appreciate the journey.

Besides the usual camping & travel stuff, what single special item is in your knapsack and why? A beat up blue notebook with a black gel pen tucked into the spiral binding.

[littlemanpoet]

Reading Tapestry 1 again, I've got this notion that I'm not going to be put out about if it's too intimidating. Here it is; feel free to just tell me 'no'.

Not only to write fun characters and an interesting story, but make Tapestry 2 something readers not only want to, but enjoy reading on its merits as a good ripping yarn.

What does that mean? It means working together in discussions to post great mixes of narrative, action, dialogue, and inner-thought stuff. For example: I tend to post too much dialogue and not enough of the other stuff. Other writers get into the heads of their characters so much that I start to nod off. Shoot for balance that attracts the reader. If you don't want to shoot for this, I'm cool with it, but I'm going to shoot for it myself.

Reactions? Whippings? Thoughts? *LMP ducks*

[Imladris]

make Tapestry 2 something readers not only want to, but enjoy reading on its merits as a good ripping yarn.

I whole heartedly agree. It's one of the reasons I came back to the RPG -- so that it would force me to write on a semi regular basis but also so that I could improve it.

[Celuien]

No need to duck, lmp. I think it's a great suggestion.

My own problem is of the 'too much inside the character's head' variety.

[alaklondewen]

I totally agree as well. Focusing on the reader is a great point. I tend to get wrapped up in details and "missing" something, instead of ensuring my posts are "good reads".

I'm really glad you brought that up, lmp.

[Aylwen Dreamsong]

What everyone else said.

Those surveys look fun. Can you guys believe it's been about two and a half years since we started?

[Firefoot]

Name (that you go by): Wouldn’t you like to know…

Age: 16

Occupation: Student

Future Aspirations: To do something really adventurous sometime in my life; maybe write a book

Goal in life: Be able to love the Lord with all my life.

Short term goals: finish the Bible by the end of summer (now in Jeremiah), survive the second half of high school and figure out what the heck it is that I want to do afterwards

Passion: pursuing beauty

Hobbies: reading, writing, drawing

Famous for (brag about yourself): being smart

Fave books: LotR (need I say it?), Harry Potter, To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Flies, Narnia books, Pride and Prejudice, The Giver, White Fang, The Once and Future King

Fave movie: LotR, Pirates of the Caribbean, Seabiscuit, Star Wars Episode III, Titanic, Ice Age II

Fave sport: soccer and I love horseback riding but almost never get to…

Fave store: Any book store.

Fave music: Soundtracks and contemporary Christian

What you can't stand: Idiots, the types of cartoons they put on TV these days

What you plain dislike: English class, dishonesty

Who you admire: I dislike the word “admire.” Most respect: my mom and my uncle

What you most love to do: see hobbies; also running, hiking, horseback riding (alas, those last two are all too scarce in my life…)

Your self-confessed flaws: shyness, overanalyzing things

What intrigues/fascinates you: Life and love

What scares you: That this might be all there is in life

Quotation to live by: Just one? I love quotes… “I would rather live in a world where my life was surrounded by mysteries than in a world so small my mind could comprehend it.”

Value-specific:
What do you want most in a friend? Honesty, loyalty, and a sense of humor
What do you want most in a teacher? Patience and the ability to make the class/subject interesting
What do you want most in an ally? Intelligence and loyalty
What do you want most in a team-mate? Trust
What do you want people to remember most about you? That I lived life for God

Writer-specific:
Your favorite work you've written so far: Probably a short story I called “My Guardian Angel.” It’s hard to summarize but if you really want to you can read it here…

Your favorite character so far: This is hard; I like different things about all my characters. I guess I’ll say Siamak.

What you plan to write soon: a first post for this, various other RPG posts, and story that I’m having a lot of trouble with

What inspires you to write: Lots of different things; emotions, events, often other writers in RPG’s; I’ve found that the RotK and TTT soundtracks are excellent to write to

What makes your writing stall: Mostly getting caught up in technical details that may or may not have anything real to do with the plot

Do you get writers' block and how do you overcome it? Yes; in fact I’ve been going through it in the past week or so; sometimes forcing myself to write after I’ve put it off for too long will work; other times, exercise, a shower, and some music (classical for writing; I get distracted by words because then I have to sing along…) will help.

Middle-Earth specific:
Your favorite ME character(s)? Frodo, Sam, Merry, Aragorn, Faramir, Feanor

What do you like about them? Frodo, I just identify so much with, esp. at the beginning of the book. Frodo fascinates me. I can’t help but love Sam for his loyalty and straight-forwardness. Merry, I identify with him a bit as well. Aragorn, just because… I could admire him. Faramir, another just because… Feanor because he fascinates me. Fatally flawed characters do that for me – it’s the same thing with Anakin in Star Wars.

Your favorite moment(s) from the Trilogy? All of the Mt. Doom chapter, the charge of the Rohirrim, Strider in the Prancing Pony, the last pages of the chapter The Flight to the Ford, Gandalf’s return

Your favorite plot twist(s) from the Trilogy? Frodo not being dead, Eowyn’s revealing herself

Looking at your personality as it is, what race do you belong to in Middle-Earth and why? I don’t think I really fit squarely into any race – not Dwarves. Hobbits, for my love of simple things (I’m probably too adventurous for them, though), Elves for my love of beauty (not necessarily all this preservation, though)
What race would you *like* to belong to in Middle-Earth and why? I would not want to be a Dwarf, and probably not an Elf either. Rohirrim or Hobbits (maybe a Took or Brandybuck?)

What place(s)would you live in Middle Earth and why? Edoras/Rohan – has it all – rolling plains, mountains, rivers… and the horses…

Where would you want to visit? Why? Rivendell would be nice; Minas Tirith perhaps; the Shire

How would you travel? Horseback!

Besides the usual camping & travel stuff, what single special item is in your knapsack and why? I never travel anywhere without a good book and a camera, but the book probably gets more use. I need that time to read at the end of the day – especially if I’m traveling with other people. Alone time is a must.

Phew! I think that I think way too much about these things... they take forever to fill out.

First post coming soon. I know sort of what I want to write about and was going to try to do it tonight, but this took all my time...

What everyone else said.

Yes, that.