30 days writing meme

dungeonwriter started doing this meme where you every day you fill out one answer about your writing. Since I figure it's a good excuse to talk about my writing without looking too vain I've decided to follow suit. Since I actually resolved to do this four days ago, you get four days worth of answers!

1. Tell us about your favorite writing project/universe that you've worked with and why. Since I've got a published book to sell I *should* say Apocalypse Woman (available for purchase & download at www.darkroastpress.com !) But if I'm being honest, I have to say my still-unpublished epic Fool's Game. It's a story that's been in my head since I was fourteen and that won't leave me alone. I feel like it's my life's work and that I must live long enough to complete it at any cost.

2. How many characters do you have? Do you prefer males or females? I have literally hundreds. I really like big casts. I tend to prefer females for protagonists and males for villains. Maybe I'm stereotypical, associating women with protection and men with aggression. I don't know the reasons but a lot of times in my stories it just feels right to have a woman in charge.

3. How do you come up with names, for characters (and for places if you're writing about fictional places)? Having a distinctive name myself, I tend to identify with distinctively-named characters. I doubt you'll ever find a Jack Johnson or a Susie Smith having a leading role in one of my stories. Naming is a sensual process: I like names that sound good, that feel good, that taste good. And I'll collect them from just about any place. Fool's Game's villain, Wenlock, is named for an obscure, ill-fated commander from the War of the Roses. I found the name for his valet Tournquist while thumbing through a catalog of Christian rock albums. If a name catches my eye, odds are I'll use it!

4. Tell us about one of your first stories/characters! I've been making stories since childhood. Fool's Game first materialized with fanciful daydreams I'd have while listening to heavy metal music of a masked cyborg walking a post-nuclear landscape. This character eventually became the protagonist Wurvelli.