Writing Meme - Day Thirty

The problem is, anyone I know who's a writer already did (or is in the process of doing) this meme, so I don't really have anyone to tag.  But if you want to do this meme, feel free.  And if you post a link in the comments, I'll be sure to check it out.
And thus ends the 30 days.  It was fun, even if I didn't always have very good answers to the questions.

Writing Meme - Day Twenty Nine

I really don't have a good answer for that.  I tend to think about my current story/characters when I'm at work, but obviously I can't be thinking about it all the time I'm working, either, otherwise my job would suffer.  But when things are slow, nothing keeps the time moving like hashing out a plot point or figuring what hobbies a character would have, what kind of food they like, etc.

And I'm kind of coming up a blank on a good story for the second part of this question.  I mean, a lot of my stories use elements taken from my life (especially music choices and the like), so there are plenty of things IRL that make me think of my stories.  But I guess this sort of counts: I once bought a plush owl because it kind of looked like a character from my 2007 NaNoWriMo (even though the character wasn't an owl).

Writing Meme - Day Twenty Eight

The only one I can think of was a character in a wheelchair, but that was so long ago that I can't remember her name (though she was an OC in a Pokemon fanfic that I never finished, so that tells you how long ago this was).
I don't think I would ever write a character with any kind of disabilities without doing a boatload of research first, and as I tend to be lazy when it comes to researching, that explains why I don't have any.

Writing Meme - Day Twenty Seven

For most of my stories, appearance really isn't that important, unless the character isn't human, then obviously it has to play some part.  When I'm first coming up with a character, they tend to have a nebulous form in my head, so I like to use a dollmaker to give them a more concrete image.  I can't always get the exact look I envision, but it's usually better than what I come up with when I try to draw (as seen in yesterday's post).  Plus, it sometimes reminds me of things that I might have overlooked, like eyebrows.

Writing Meme - Day Twenty Six

I'm not a great artist, and thus usually leave my characters in the lurch drawing-wise, but there was a time when I was prone to doodling out my characters in the margins of my notebooks.  Most of these were characters from an RPG I was in at the time on YahooGroups, playing a moth-based alien.  Here's the only real drawing I did of her (i.e. not on notebook paper):

The pose is due to her trying to process the RPG's backstory, as told to her by the other characters.
The only time I've had anyone draw my characters was when I was younger and my older sister would draw Enrico and Ocirne from time to time (as well as my younger sister's characters), and once when someone drew the above character, Ariana, for a meme.

Writing Meme - Day Twenty Five

One character from my 2008 NaNoWriMo novel had a minature raccoon named Little Bandit.  He was only in one scene, though, so there isn't too much to say about him.  I never thought about it before, but I'm not so big on pets, I guess, as that's the only one I can think of from my stories.

Writing Meme - Day Twenty Four

Death does not really come up that often in my stories, but if the plot demands it, I suppose I would kill off my characters.  There's a bit of a saying (or something like that) that if you're NaNoWriMo novel is running out of steam, it's time to kill off a character.  I've only had this happen once, though, when I killed off Claudia in my 2007 novel, though it wasn't because I was stuck, but to build up the shadowy conspiracy that was lurking in the background.  Why would they kill off Claudia?  Was it simply because she was connected to the protagonist or was there another reason?  I never actually came to a conclusion on that point.  Nor was it a very interesting kill, since it happened offscreen.  In fact, I haven't had any onscreen deaths at all, so there you go.