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Questions from Petronia
Jul. 31st, 2003 12:05 amAs a weak, easily swayed person, a dedicated follower of fashion, I found myself going with this meme. Thanks to Petronia for the questions.
How do you come up with the right poem for every entry? What's the criteria?
Either I've got something in my head anyhow, a memory or a recollection, and deliberately go to look it up, or I go and browse in The Wondering Minstrels for something that suits my mood, or I look around in quotefiles that friends have sent me. Generally, I'm looking for something that makes me think, or that I'm not entirely used to -- though I have moments of nostalgia. Nearly put up The Green Eye Of The Little Yellow God yesterday.
Who are the writers who you feel have inspired or influenced you?
Um. Interesting question. Alfred Noyes was one of the poets I first loved, and I'm still fond of a lot of his stuff. GK Chesterton, if not necessarily always for his religious views (though sometimes), then for a lot of other things. Wu Ch'eng En, because I still have the first translation of Monkey (the Waley one) that I ever read, and I still reread it at times. Barbara Hambly, though less so recently. Tolkien, now and always.
When and how did you first get into RP?
Oh heavens. I was about 10 years old, and poking around in the local library, in the "games" section, looking for books about board games and quizzes and similar. I ran across a book by Gary Gygax (yes, that Gygax, the fons et origo of D&D) called, iirc, All About Dungeons And Dragons. While tackily written and awkward at points, it was a revelation. I'd never realised that people could play at being heroes like this. After that I bought D&D, then AD&D, then started subscribing to White Dwarf (this was way before it became a Games Workshop house organ), then discovered other RPGs like Call of Cthulhu, or Paranoia, or Runequest, or . . . Had varying (and usually not) degrees of success in trying to persuade friends at boarding school to play them with me. (Imagine a 12-year-old girl trying to convince other girls of the same age to play this game where they go down a dungeon and kill monsters. I wasn't a good GM at that age, either. Still. I think this may be part of the reason I'm fond of Yugioh. The kids there play these games and love them.) Joined RPG society at university, did more playing there. Bought first copy of Vampire: The Masquerade at that point -- it was just out, new on the shelves, very distinctive in its marbled green cover with red rose.
Later on, while doing MSc, discovered Internet, got into online roleplaying, got even deeper. :)
Is your family originally from France?
No, though my father's side of the family is from Guernsey: his mother was from the Mauger family (pronounced Major) and apparently we're linked to a lot of old Guernsey families through her. His father was straight English, I believe. My father studied French through inclination rather than origin, though probably being in Guernsey didn't hurt too much. When he was a university student, he spent part of the time in the summer holidays working as a tour guide in Paris. Heh. I was almost named Leonie rather than Genevieve -- I think I prefer what I ended up with, but Leonie's not bad. (And yes, this is where the name comes from for the character in the Red Roses IN fanfic that I wrote.)
What's your daemon familiar or totem animal? ^_^
Um. I've never quite felt a definite affinity towards any particular animal, bird, or whatever. In purely dramatic terms, owl or raven seems quite appropriate, but . . . not sure. In terms of personal laziness, I'd be more tempted to suspect cat or serpent. (You may think I write a lot. I know I'm lazy.)
Thanks!
---
Mathematical Problem
Whilst making love a necklace broke.
A row of pearls mislaid.
One sixth fell to the floor.
One fifth upon the bed.
The young woman saved one third of them.
One tenth were caught by her lover.
If six pearls remained upon the string
How many pearls were there altogether?
-- Bhaskaracharya
How do you come up with the right poem for every entry? What's the criteria?
Either I've got something in my head anyhow, a memory or a recollection, and deliberately go to look it up, or I go and browse in The Wondering Minstrels for something that suits my mood, or I look around in quotefiles that friends have sent me. Generally, I'm looking for something that makes me think, or that I'm not entirely used to -- though I have moments of nostalgia. Nearly put up The Green Eye Of The Little Yellow God yesterday.
Who are the writers who you feel have inspired or influenced you?
Um. Interesting question. Alfred Noyes was one of the poets I first loved, and I'm still fond of a lot of his stuff. GK Chesterton, if not necessarily always for his religious views (though sometimes), then for a lot of other things. Wu Ch'eng En, because I still have the first translation of Monkey (the Waley one) that I ever read, and I still reread it at times. Barbara Hambly, though less so recently. Tolkien, now and always.
When and how did you first get into RP?
Oh heavens. I was about 10 years old, and poking around in the local library, in the "games" section, looking for books about board games and quizzes and similar. I ran across a book by Gary Gygax (yes, that Gygax, the fons et origo of D&D) called, iirc, All About Dungeons And Dragons. While tackily written and awkward at points, it was a revelation. I'd never realised that people could play at being heroes like this. After that I bought D&D, then AD&D, then started subscribing to White Dwarf (this was way before it became a Games Workshop house organ), then discovered other RPGs like Call of Cthulhu, or Paranoia, or Runequest, or . . . Had varying (and usually not) degrees of success in trying to persuade friends at boarding school to play them with me. (Imagine a 12-year-old girl trying to convince other girls of the same age to play this game where they go down a dungeon and kill monsters. I wasn't a good GM at that age, either. Still. I think this may be part of the reason I'm fond of Yugioh. The kids there play these games and love them.) Joined RPG society at university, did more playing there. Bought first copy of Vampire: The Masquerade at that point -- it was just out, new on the shelves, very distinctive in its marbled green cover with red rose.
Later on, while doing MSc, discovered Internet, got into online roleplaying, got even deeper. :)
Is your family originally from France?
No, though my father's side of the family is from Guernsey: his mother was from the Mauger family (pronounced Major) and apparently we're linked to a lot of old Guernsey families through her. His father was straight English, I believe. My father studied French through inclination rather than origin, though probably being in Guernsey didn't hurt too much. When he was a university student, he spent part of the time in the summer holidays working as a tour guide in Paris. Heh. I was almost named Leonie rather than Genevieve -- I think I prefer what I ended up with, but Leonie's not bad. (And yes, this is where the name comes from for the character in the Red Roses IN fanfic that I wrote.)
What's your daemon familiar or totem animal? ^_^
Um. I've never quite felt a definite affinity towards any particular animal, bird, or whatever. In purely dramatic terms, owl or raven seems quite appropriate, but . . . not sure. In terms of personal laziness, I'd be more tempted to suspect cat or serpent. (You may think I write a lot. I know I'm lazy.)
Thanks!
---
Mathematical Problem
Whilst making love a necklace broke.
A row of pearls mislaid.
One sixth fell to the floor.
One fifth upon the bed.
The young woman saved one third of them.
One tenth were caught by her lover.
If six pearls remained upon the string
How many pearls were there altogether?
-- Bhaskaracharya
