The Last Post of Summer

I start my Junior year of high school tomorrow. Instead of preparing for it like I should be (I already know about at least one test I have next week, and I'm assuming that I have another), I stalked blogs and found a meme  through this blog. So, I think I'll answer a few questions a day until I get bored with it and then who knows.


001. Your Favorite Writing Project/Universe You've Worked with and Why
Oh God. The one that's probably stuck with me the longest is Gunmetal Gray. Though I've done everything to this story (changed settings, revamped characters, rewritten it entirely with new characters in a new setting) it's stuck with me. I couldn't change the core of it even if I tried. It bounces from being my favorite writing project to being the bane of my existence again and again and I think this is why it's my favorite: it's become a part of me. 


However weird/creepy that may seem, whenever I think of myself as a writer, I think of this story. I don't know how many times and in how many places I've read that when you have a story you can't stop thinking about, that's the story you're meant to tell. I don't believe in God or in predetermination or any of that, but if this isn't weird I don't know what is. I don't know many other writers that can claim to be so continually obsessed with a single story and a couple of characters. This is the story that scares me the most and the one that I don't think I can write, but know that I have to, if only for myself. 


That's why it's my favorite. It demands the most from me. I hold myself to the highest standards when I write it, which makes it the hardest physically to type  out and write. It's also the one that, emotionally, I'm the most invested in.  I know people who are like my characters, who've fought in the war I'm writing about. My friends know people like my characters and people who've fought. Hell, my Dad fought in Vietnam, my Grandpa in WWII, and my great-Grandpa in WWI.


So that's why. That's also why I don't talk about it much because I start ranting and raving like a crazy person whenever I talk about it.


002. How Many Characters do You have? Guys or Gals?
Most of my characters are guys. This is because I got my start writing roleplaying on Neopets (no shame!) where no one would write as guys. Since there was a massive shortage of dudes who could play dudes, I decided that I would. My first characters were all girls, though. I remember the first character I roleplayed with was this female, white wolf named Moon; she had wings and these golden "bracelets" because it was a gifted/fantasy/whatever roleplay.


I'm not proud of it, but that's what it was. I think that's partly why I don't have very many female characters now. I always remember those despie girls I made. I also think that women are harder to write than men, even if I am one. On another note, I hate naming characters on a good day, and I go to an all-girls school. It makes it difficult to name a character the same name as a girl I know in school because I don't like associating my characters with people I know. 


So, here's my characters, off the top of my head:
guys

• Lee Garrett
• Cam Garrett
• Daniel "Roulette" Gray
• Andrei "Felix" Feliks
• Wilson Clarke
• Jack Matteoli 
• some ghostwriter dude I don't remember
• Hades/Uncle Possy/none of you want to know

gals

• Janus
• Charley Bryant
• Isi Feliks
• Estelle
• Katherine 

I have a lot of characters, but most of them are men. Most of the women don't have anything beyond a first name (like Janus or Estelle) because I can't remember their last names.  Janus is probably the only FMC I have that could carry a series on her own; Katherine and Estelle are the two other FMCs that I have, and they both are paired with a MMC. Isi is Felix's little sister and Charley is Cam's girlfriend/fiancée, so they're both secondary characters. 

This took way longer than I thought it would to answer two questions.