“… the ideal story for me is the one that assures me that all is right with the world--and not in the hokey sense of a country music song, but in the sense that there are patterns at work and designs in place. Stories that wind up connecting elements like constellations are the best.”

October 22, 2008

Meg Finney/~wordworks joined deviantART in January 2007 and it didn’t take her long to become one of the most respected prose writers in the lit community. Her writing is lucid, measured and captivating. Meg is also an administrator for *WordCount, easily one of the most popular literary projects on deviantART.

In the interview, she talks about her growth as a writer and offers advice on the craft of writing. After reading this interview and browsing through her gallery, I’m sure many of you will be waiting for her to come out with a novel.



^lovetodeviate: Tell us about being a writer. Do your friends and family know you are a writer? Does it change the way they view you as a person?

Meg Finney: To be honest, I've always had a very private relationship with my writing; it was never an aspect of myself that I intended to put on display. I can't say why that is. When I was thirteen years old, I happened upon an online collaborative writing community and joined in, just on a whim. From that point until just about two years ago, the only writing I produced was inside that community and purely for entertainment purposes.

Still, I think it worked in my favor to write collaboratively instead of independently, for those first few years. I was exposed to a rich cross-section of writers, representing all levels of skill and a wide variety of approaches to style. To be able to develop in that kind of environment allowed me to really hone my craft in a way that was both enjoyable and educational. The deviantART community is a lot like that, I think, and that's why I like it here so much: writers helping writers. You aren't holed up alone penning away.

As for friends and family, some are aware that I write, but I do not think they consider me a “writer”, because I never made it a habit to broadcast it. Maybe I should have. But I never made it my educational aim, nor has it necessarily affected my career goals (feel free to hiss and jeer ). If I can make it to publication, I'll be happy, but I don't require that kind of validation. I write because it makes me happy and if sharing it with other people makes them happy, that's all I care about.

LTD: How have you grown as a writer? Have there been important influences (people you’ve met, books you’ve read, events in your life, etc) that have changed the way you write?

MF: The most important influences for me have been other writers--and by writers I mean both the ones I've read in books and those I have worked with collaboratively. Any writing I have come into contact with has affected my personal style somehow. What might stick with me longer is any kind of creative approach to wordplay or unexpected spin on subject matter, which I love.

I know a lot of great writers, though.

`GeneratingHype taught me how to make a point without planting flowery language, and use my own voice instead of my latest author infatuation. I don’t know anyone who takes a more straightforward approach to writing; he cleared a lot of clouds out of my head. I would probably still be peddling role-play characters--would have never come to deviantART at all--if it weren't for him. I owe him a lot.

~EveningDownpour is the smartest and sassiest lady I have ever met, and what's more, she's a brilliant writer and more people should listen to her. I wish I could've had her for a teacher when I was younger. It would've benefited me immensely.

There are also all the people I ever partnered up with in collaborative writing. Good or bad in the end, it’s added up to a robust experience. The same goes for all the people I've met here on deviantART who have made the time to give me feedback, positive and negative, and shared their words with me.

Special guest question: “I know you were once an active role player - how has that affected your literary style and preferences? Would you recommend that as an introduction to writing for beginner writers?” -- *Negated

MF: Yep, indeed I was. The collaborative writing I referred to in the first question is an online free-form role-playing community that, to this day, remains pretty active (ask `GeneratingHype or @youthculture). And I guess I'll just reiterate what I said in response to that question: it's made me a better writer by exposing me to other writers, and by allowing me to approach writing not as an assignment, but as a creative social activity.

Role-playing has left me with a real passion for creating unique, realistic characters and crafting worlds. Also, I'd say that the “real-time” aspect of collaborative writing keeps you on your toes, gets you thinking creatively in short bursts, so that you are able to come up with some really fantastic ideas. By bouncing that writer back and forth with another writer, too, really teaches you how to think outside your own notion of style and story. It's frankly a lot of fun to build a story with other people--you never know where it's going to go.

I would recommend collaboration of any kind to beginner writers, whether it be in a more formal setting or just for fun, like I did. I regret that I never took any creative writing classes or jumped into any workshops. It's not worth it to be that shy, if you really want your writing to breathe. Just like you should keep reading more books and new books, especially ones you might just pick up on whims, you should take a shot at sitting down with some other writings and seeing what you can learn. You'll be surprised.

Special guest question: “You have a real knack for working in twists at the end of your stories. Can you elaborate on your methods of creating these twist endings? Do you begin with the twist itself and work outward, or do they pop up spontaneously during the writing process?” -- `alienhead

MF: That's a good question! I didn't really notice that I tended toward twists until it was pointed out, recently. I guess the best answer to this question is that I am a big fan of taking the ordinary and turning it on its head--or taking the figurative and turning it literal. You know, rearranging ideas inside my head until I come up with something interesting. Taking familiar subject matter upside-down and inside-out is a lot of fun, for me (and hey, writing should be fun). If my writing forces people to rethink a concept or can get them to extract their own innovations on an idea, I think that's the best.

All that in mind, I usually do start with the twist, if I have one. If you have a good twist it's easy to spiral outward and wind up with a good story; but in the same vein, it's dangerous to rely on the twist alone. It can be more rewarding to come up with an ending during the process, but I think I've done that very rarely. Oxford is the only piece of mine on dA where the ending just sort of flashed up at me and worked perfectly.

Special guest question: “Furthermore, in relation to the previous question, do you start your stories knowing how they will end? That is to say, do you know how they'll end before they begin?” -- `alienhead

MF: I usually do, yes. Or at least, I know the general concept and what I'd like the message to be, and flesh it out. Rarely do I begin writing without at least an idea of where I'd like to end up. And in the interest of keeping things fresh, I usually pull a mental list of how I could approach a piece, and trash the most obvious ones--usually the first ones that come to mind. Just completely trash those, and reach farther for something better. It sounds tedious but it keeps me from feeling I'm repeating what's already been said.

Special guest question: “I hear you're working on a story about fairies. Tell us about it and what makes it different from the rest?” -- `alienhead

MF: Oh you do, do you? Yes, that's my pet project that's been put on hold for entirely too long. I can safely say it's the first piece I actively performed research for, and treated with a sense of professionalism and ownership. That probably makes me sound terrible. Well, it started just with a random snippet of writing I thought up, surrounding this green lantern. It was a bit ghoulish, and I referenced fairies in it: The Green Lantern.

Well, *Negated was kind enough to give me a kick in the butt to do something more with it, and so I did. I've got a lot of love for folktales and the oral tradition, which is largely lost in this day and age, and I wanted to really convey a sense of that in the story I built around The Green Lantern. So it was important to research the old fairie folklore (before Tinkerbell), along with voice and vernacular, to properly report this story that I'd completely made up but wanted to sound genuine. And the fairies in these stories are dangerous, deceiving, and much more fun than pixies. If you have any interest, I'd suggest picking up the old Irish and English fairy folklore in whatever manifestation you can find. Yeats put together a nice collection.

Well, it's turned into a much bigger project than I intended, and so far only the Preface has seen the light of day outside my brain and Wordpad notes, but I haven't given it up. It's still alive, just waiting: Account of John Healy: Preface. One thing I will not do is slop together a sort-of piece of fiction. I want to give it my full attention.

LTD: Do you have a favourite prose piece online that we can read? Tell us about it and how it came to be.

MF: By that I think you mean one of mine. If I had to choose, it'd be A Condemned Man. It's definitely not a piece in my normal style, nor may some think it's my best, but it came out so strong and pumped full of blood that I have to give it special recognition.

And anyway, it's about cowboys, and who doesn't love cowboys?



LTD: You are one of the administrators at *WordCount, which has steadily become one of the most organised and popular projects in the lit community. What was your objective, working at *WordCount, and plans do you have for the future?

MF: I started as a regular staff member at *WordCount, was gently nudged into a moderator's position to help keep things running, and somehow `GeneratingHype was crazy enough to hand over administrative duties to me while he was busy being the dA Doomlord. I never thought I'd head up anything, but it's been loads of fun--a lot of work, but mostly fun--and I'm going to keep the project alive as best as I know how.

My objectives in joining the project were to really give prose the shot at exposure on dA that it did not receive, until recently, thanks to our great GDs (winknudge). Also, it gave me an opportunity to really go digging through the galleries and find pieces that would not otherwise have been noticed, or really appreciated. Who doesn't like a good hunt for literature?

As for the future, I really haven't any idea. I'm going to stay on as an administrator until someone tells me to butt out, and keep the features coming. I haven't really had a chance to go prose-hunting in awhile, so I'm hoping to jump back into that and contribute more in that area.

LTD: What advice do you have for beginners in the field of writing?

MF: That's a tough one, and I hate to defer to the same answer everyone gives, but rest assured I would not do it if I did not believe it:

1. Know your basics, including grammar and composition. I cannot stress this enough.
2. Read, read, read--and not just the same genre or, say, all fiction. Be brave and branch out.
3. Open up your writing to critique. Meet and work with other writers. It'll help your perspective.
4. Never stop enjoying it and never treat writing like a task. Once you stop enjoying it, it's time to stop writing. Period.

LTD: Describe the ideal story.

MF: Wow, is that possible? Well, the ideal story for me is the one that assures me that all is right with the world--and not in the hokey sense of a country music song, but in the sense that there are patterns at work and designs in place. Stories that wind up connecting elements like constellations are the best.

LTD: Who do you read on dA?

MF: `AbCat, `Amberlouie, *Bogbrush, =BornBlitzed, ~fallenidle, `GeneratingHype, ~Iscariot-Priest, ^lovetodeviate (Do you know her?), *jonzoiplu, `MSJames, *Negated, *Penfury, `PunknEra, *simeberg, ~SlideBeneathTheCity, *SpokenAubade, *SRSmith, ~TheGlome, ~under-water, *YouInventedMe

And that is truly, honestly just a handful. If you think I should be reading someone, please just drop me a link! I try my best.

Special guest question: Here’s a bit of a silly question, courtesy `alienhead, which I couldn’t resist asking you: “Train A, traveling 70 miles per hour (mph), leaves Westford heading toward Eastford, 260 miles away. At the same time Train B, traveling 60 mph, leaves Eastford heading toward Westford. When do the two trains meet? How far from each city do they meet? Please show all work.”

MF: Are they running on the John Galt line?

And well, I'd say it'd be pretty obvious when and where the trains meet: look for the explosion.



LTD: Both `alienhead and *Negated wanted to know the same thing (as do I): are you planning to write something longer, a novel or novella perhaps? Or are you already working on something we don’t know about? What are your plans for the future?

MF: Oh boy. I get asked this question a lot, to the point of harassment (just kidding-- it's a welcome harassment). I try to make as much time for writing as I possibly can, but with a full-time job and a second round of Masters work approaching, I can't say I've been able to really work on a big project. But then again, that is my cop-out answer. My biggest weakness as a writer is that I have never been able to commit to writing a long piece of prose.

Shame on me, I know. But writing anything longer than flash fiction has always really intimidated me, and it might be due to my habit of writing in "bursts" of creativity, such as it is. I would definitely love to assemble a collection of vignettes or short stories-- and that would probably be the best idea for me. I cannot fathom writing an entire novel, but who knows? One of my biggest weaknesses is my inability to commit to a long-term story, as my watchers probably already know and despise me for, but I would really like to give it a shot if a compelling idea hits me. The fairie story mentioned earlier is my best shot at the moment, and really near to my heart.

Thank you, Meg, for being part of my interview series! Good luck with all that you plan to do. Thanks also to `alienhead and *Negated for contributing such wonderful questions and being so obliging.

Helpful links

*wordworks’s deviantART gallery
*WordCount

Up next

In October I will be interviewing `fllnthblnk, so if you have any questions for him, please send them to me in a note. Which guest questions get asked is up to me, but for the most part, I welcome any sort of question pertaining to the interviewee’s writing and lit-related activities.

Cheers all!

-- ^lovetodeviate