Category Archives: Machine Gun Q&A

Storyboard: A Call for Questions

For those of you who haven’t seen it yet. Here’s last month’s episode of Storyboard:

Not that I haven’t been proud of the other episodes, but I think we finally hit our stride with this one. It’s my favorite so far…

For episode #6, we’re doing something a little different. Since it’s happening on Jan 2nd, I know putting together a full panel of four writers will be tricky, as everyone is going to be either traveling because of the holidays or hung over from New Year’s. (Or still drunk from New Year’s).

Pat’s Edit: Sorry. I meant to say we’re doing this tonight, on January 1st. (At 8:00 PST)

So I’m going to team up with Mary Robinette Kowal this month. Together, we’ll be answering any questions people care to throw at us.

So if you happen to have any questions about the craft of writing, or the business of writing, or pretty much anything, post them in the comments below, and I’ll use them for Tuesday’s show.

Fire away….

pat

Also posted in calling on the legions, concerning storytelling, Geek and Sundry, The Story Board | By Pat75 Responses

Machine Gun Q&A #5

A while back, I offered people the chance to ask me questions in the comment section of the blog. Nothing profound, just fun little questions that would never get asked in a real interview. I think of it as a machine gun interview.

It turned out to be fun, and I’ve done a few of them since then.

The last one I did was in February, so I figured we were about due for another one.

With previous Machine Gun Q&A, I only accepted questions for an hour or two before I shut things down, but today I’m going to leave the door open for a day or so. Until Monday at midnight, central time.

Before, you needed to hurry to get your question in before the time was up. But now that’s not an issue. You have plenty of time.This time, the challenge will be coming up with a question interesting enough that I’ll want to answer it. Because, honestly, I’m only going to answer the questions that amuse me in one way or another.Here are the rules. Please read them before you post:

1. You can ask any question.

2. Bite sized questions are best. I’m not looking to write essays here. Think popcorn, not steak.

2b. One question per comment. No multi-part questions.

2c. Don’t post 20 desperate, flailing questions hoping that I’ll answer one of them. Post one or two clever questions instead.

3. I reserve the right to ignore your question.

3b If I ignore your question, it’s not because I hate you. It’s probably just because I don’t have anything witty to say on the subject.

4. I reserve the right to lie, or at least be wildly inaccurate.

5. Complete sentences, punctuation, and spelling words out in their entirety is encouraged. I’m more likely to pass over your question if it contains abhorrences like “ur.”

6. Nobody can make fun of your question.

6b. Except for me.

7. If I’ve already answered the question in a blog or one of my innumerable interviews, I’m going to pass over it.

7b. If some lovely person wants to post up a link to where the answer to that question can be found, that would be very appreciated.

7c. That said, please don’t answer questions on my behalf. Just links to my answers are best.

8. I won’t answer spoiler-ish questions about the book.

9. I reserve the right to delete unanswered questions so people reading the blog later have an easier time navigating the comments.

Okay. We clear on the rules?

You’ve got a day to post up your questions. I’ll be logging on throughout the day answer the ones that are interesting to me. Questions posted after Monday at midnight will be ignored.

Ready?

Go.

pat

[Edit: It’s midnight. So we’re closing the door on new questions.

We got more than I expected. About 400-500, twice as many as last time.
I’ve answered some of them, and over the next day I’ll be going through and answering more as the mood strikes me and time allows.
Thanks for playing. I had a good time with this one…. ]
Posted in Machine Gun Q&A | By Pat873 Responses

Machine Gun Q&A #4

[Edit: It’s late Tuesday night, and I just finished reading through the hundreds of questions, and answer the ones that stuck me as being interesting/amusing. It took me a while to get to the last page worth of comments, because I had to take a break to mail out some t-shirts.

I had a good time with this one. Thanks for playing along.]

A while back, I offered people the chance to ask me questions down in the comment section of the blog. Nothing really deep, just fun questions that would never get asked in a real interview. Little questions. A flurry of little questions. It’s sort of like a machine gun interview.

It turned out to be fun, and I’ve done a few of them since then.

It’s been about three months since I did one, so I figured we were about due.

With previous Machine Gun Q&A, I only accepted questions for an hour or two before I shut things down. But today I’ve decided to try something a little different.

I’m going to accept questions for all of Monday.

This changes the game a little bit. Before, you needed to hurry to get your question in before the time was up. But now that’s not an issue. You have plenty of time.

This time, the challenge will be coming up with a question interesting enough that I’ll want to answer it instead of the hundreds of others. Because I only answer the questions that amuse me in one way or another.

Here are the rules. Read them before you post:

1. You can ask any question.

2. Bite sized questions are best. I’m not looking to write essays here. Think popcorn, not steak.

2b. One question per comment. No multi-part questions.

2c. Don’t post 20 desperate, flailing questions hoping that I’ll answer one of them. Post one or two clever questions instead.

3. I reserve the right to ignore your question.

3b If I ignore your question, it’s not because I hate you. It’s probably just because I don’t have anything witty to say on the subject.

4. I reserve the right to lie, or at least be wildly inaccurate.

5. Complete sentences, punctuation, and spelling words out in their entirety is encouraged. I’m more likely to pass over your question if it contains abhorrences like “ur.”

6. Nobody can make fun of your question.

6b. Except for me.

7. If I’ve already answered the question in a blog or one of my innumerable interviews, I’m going to pass over it.

7b. If a lovely person wants to post up links to where those answers can be found, that would be very much appreciated.

7c. That said, please don’t answer questions on my behalf. Just links to my answers are best.

8. I won’t answer spoiler-ish questions about the book.

9. I reserve the right to delete unanswered questions so people reading the blog later have an easier time navigating the comments.
10. I’m not going to answer questions about the upcoming tour. All the answers to those questions will be posted up in a separate Tour FAQ blog that I’ve been lovingly assembling for a couple weeks now…

Okay. We clear on the rules?

You’ve got a day to post up your questions. I’ll be answering questions as they come in, and, depending on how many/good they are, I might continue answering on Tuesday as well.

Questions posted after Monday will be ignored.

Ready?

Go.

pat

Also posted in hodgelany | By Pat964 Responses

Machine-Gun Q&A #3

A while back, I tried a little experiment here on the blog, offering people the chance to ask me questions down in the comments. It’s sort of like a machine gun interview.

It turned out to be fun, and it’s been two months since I did my last one, so I thought today I’d try it again. This time I’m doing it little earlier in the day, so my non-night-owl readers can have a chance to play.

Here are the rules. Read them before you post:

1. You can ask any question.

2. Bite sized questions are best. I’m not looking to write essays here. Think popcorn, not steak.

2b. One question per comment. No multi-part questions.

2c. Don’t post 20 desperate, flailing questions hoping that I’ll answer one of them. Post one or two clever questions instead.

3. I reserve the right to ignore your question.

3b If I ignore your question, it’s not because I hate you. It’s probably just because I don’t have anything witty to say on the subject.

4. I reserve the right to lie, or at least be wildly inaccurate.

5. Complete sentences, punctuation, and spelling words out in their entirety is encouraged. I’m more likely to pass over your question if it contains abhorrences like “ur.”

6. Nobody can make fun of your question.

6b. Except for me.

7. If I’ve already answered the question in a blog or one of my innumerable interviews, I’m going to pass over it.

7b. If a lovely person wants to post up links to where those answers can be found, that would be very much appreciated.

7c. That said, please don’t answer questions on my behalf. Just links to my answers are best.

8. I won’t answer spoiler-ish questions about the book.

9. I’ll probably trim unanswered questions out of the comments just to streamline things for future readers.

10. I reserve the right to delete unanswered questions so people reading the blog later have an easier time navigating the comments.

Let me see here. It’s about 5:00 PM right now in Wisconsin. We’ll do an hour and a half window for questions today. That means if you post up your questions before 6:30 my time, I’ll take a look at them.

Questions posted after that will be ignored. Not because I don’t love you, but because I’ve got other things to do.

Ready…. Go!

pat

Posted in Machine Gun Q&A | By Pat262 Responses

Machine-Gun Q&A #2

About a month and a half ago, I tried a little experiment here on the blog. I offered people the chance to ask me questions down in the comments. It’s sort of like a machine gun interview.

Much to my delight, it turned out to be fun, so tonight while I’m waiting for Erberts and Gerberts to deliver my sub, I figured we’d do it again.

Here are the rules. Read them before you post:

1. You can ask any question.

2. Bite sized questions are best. I’m not looking to write essays here. Think popcorn, not steak.

2b. One question per comment. No multi-part questions.

2c. Don’t post 20 desperate, flailing questions hoping that I’ll answer one of them. Post one or two clever questions instead.

3. I reserve the right to ignore your question.

3b If I ignore your question, it’s not because I hate you. It’s probably just because I don’t have anything witty to say on the subject.

4. I reserve the right to lie, or at least be wildly inaccurate.

5. Complete sentences, punctuation, and spelling words out in their entirety is encouraged. I’m more likely to pass over your question if it contains abhorrences like “ur.”

6. Nobody can make fun of your question.

6b. Except for me.

7. If I’ve already answered the question in a blog or one of my innumerable interviews, I’m going to pass over it.

7b. If a lovely person wants to post up links to where those answers can be found, that would be very much appreciated.

7c. That said, please don’t answer questions on my behalf. Just links to my answers are best.

8. I won’t answer spoiler-ish questions about the book.

9. I’ll probably trim unanswered questions out of the comments just to streamline things for future readers.

10. I reserve the right to delete unanswered questions so people reading the blog later have an easier time navigating the comments.

Let me see here. It’s 11:50 PM right now in Wisconsin. If you post up your questions in the next 40 minutes, I’ll take a look at them. Questions posted after that will be ignored, because by that time I’ll have eaten my sub and moved on with my evening. So if you miss this window, you’re better off saving your question until next time around.

Ready…. Go!

pat

Also posted in Fanmail Q + A | By Pat282 Responses

And Now for Something Completely Different….

Here’s the deal. I’ve got a hellacious pain in my neck, so I’m in no mood to hunch over my manuscript right now.

I’m caffeinated, and I’m bored.

So while I’m waiting for the drugs to kick in, I’ll answer questions here on the blog. You post them in a comment, and I’ll post a reply.

The rules:

1. Bite sized questions are best. I’m not looking to write essays here. Think popcorn, not steak.

2. You can ask any question.

2b. Don’t post 20 desperate, flailing questions hoping that I’ll answer one of them. Post one or two clever questions instead. We’re looking for quality here, not quantity.

3. I reserve the right to ignore your question.

3b If I ignore your question, it’s not because I hate you. It’s probably just because I don’t have anything witty to say on the subject.

4. I reserve the right to lie, or at least be wildly inaccurate.

5. Complete sentences, punctuation, and spelling words out in their entirety is encouraged. I’m more likely to pass over your question if it contains abhorrences like “ur.”

6. Nobody can make fun of your question.

6b. Except for me.

7. If I’ve already answered the question in a blog or one of my innumerable interviews, I’m going to pass over it.

7b. If someone wants to reply to those questions with a link to the appropriate blog or interview, that would be nice.

8. I obviously won’t answer spoiler-ish questions about the book.

9. I’ll probably trim unanswered questions out of the comments just to streamline things for future readers.

(Edit: I started to do this, but after trimming away 50 questions I realized it was too much work. So I’m leaving the unanswered questions where they are. Some of them are pretty funny anyway, but I just couldn’t think of good answers, or they showed up too late.)

10. One question per comment. No multi-part questions.

I’m probably only going to do this for a couple hours while I’m catching up on my e-mail. If it’s fun, maybe I’ll do it again in the future…

Let’s see how this goes….

pat

Edit: It’s been a fun couple hours. But I think I’m pretty much done for the evening. I might come back and do some cleanup, or answer a few of the remaining questions. But I won’t answer any that are made after this point. (1:00 AM) So don’t bother trying to slide one in. Just save it for next time.

Thanks for playing, everybody.

Also posted in Fanmail Q + A | By Pat418 Responses
  • RSS info

  • Visit Worldbuilders!

  • Our Store

  • Previous Posts

  • Archives



  • Bookmark this Blog!

    (IE and Firefox users only - Safari users, click Command-D)