Silly Questions for Serious Writers

I’ve been reading a lot of blogs lately in which authors who are on blog tours are asked a lot of serious questions about their craft, their process, their writing preferences.

Granted all these solemn questions are important to understand the hard work and dedication that it takes to be a writer, and others can learn a lot from the answers, but holy hell some of the questions make me want to snooze!

Yes, yes, there are no stupid questions, yatta yatta.

But everyone knows that the sillier the question, the more the reader catches a glimpse into the actual personality of the writer.

James Lipton was on to something when he added Proust’s (really Pivot’s) questionnaire to the end of Actor’s Studio:

1. What is your favorite word?
2. What is your least favorite word?
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
4. What turns you off?
5. What is your favorite curse word?
6. What sound or noise do you love?
7. What sound or noise do you hate?
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
9. What profession would you not like to do?
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

(There is a great article about these questions if you’re interested in the backstory, here.)

So, I’ve come up with a list of questions to ask writers (or anyone really), to get to know them better. (I’ll fill it in myself for my next post.)

1. What book or movie has made you pull your hair out, scream at the screen, jump up and down and generally obsess over for weeks on end until you start to see people rolling their eyes when you bring it up for the hundredth time?
2. Speaking of obsession, what’s one thing you are or have been completely obsessed with?
3. Name one thing you hoard or collect (come on, you know there’s something. Besides rejection letters, that is. 😉 )
4. If your writing style were an animal, which would it be? (Are plotters elephants? Are pantsers meerkats?)
5. On days when you want to say “Sod it all! I give up!” A) what would you rather be doing, and B) what helps you get back in the writing groove?
6. My favorite way to procrastinate is…?
7. Singing in the shower. Your thoughts?
8. How would your children describe you?
9. Food that you absolutely couldn’t live without and would fight tooth and claw to consume, even if that meant stockpiling it before Brexit, or hiding it from your significant other in a top secret desk drawer and not feeling an ounce of shame about lying about it when asked point blank whether you have any.
10. Oh yeah, and tell us about your new book.

What questions do YOU want to be asked while on blog tour?