Who am I?

A friend of mine just became the president of the Color Country Nightwriters. It's a writing group, and a branch of the League of Utah Writers.

From the sounds of her opening letter, she's got some good energy to help the members push forward with their writing goals.

One of the first things she asked is for members to create a short bio. These are some questions she asked to help get the autobiography juices flowing. I'm sure she wanted the writers to get creative, but I'm just going to straight up answer them. What  can I say? I'm lazy.

- What is your name/pen name?

Derrick Duncan

- What do you write?

Science Fiction/Fantasy

- What have you written in the past that you're most proud of?

I wrote a Science Fiction novel that takes inspiration from Little Red Riding Hood and Star Wars. According to the agents, it seems that it's really nothing to be proud of, but I still like it.

- What have you written in the past that's most embarrassing?

I wrote a short script that my buddy made into a short film. I'm mostly embarrassed by it took my writing in a different direction than I wanted to go.

- What kind of books do you like?

Fantasy, Sci-fi, pseudo philosophical non fiction

- Who is your favorite author and why?

I like Shakespeare, though strictly speaking he was a playwright and not an author. I enjoy that he took stories from everywhere and applied his own genius to them.

- What kind of styles (first person, third person limited, stream of consciousness etc.) do you like to use?

I think each style lends itself to very different uses. Since I see writing as a tool for communication, I prefer to use the style that the widest audience will easily understand. Currently that's either third person limited. First person has really come in strong in the past few years though and it creates a fun sense of immediacy. I'd love to be able to pull off third person omniscient, but it's a bit out of vogue. Other styles are pretty limited and I'll probably use them only for short sequences.

However, I do have plans for writing a second person novel based on a suggestion my buddy gave me.

- What is your goal with your writing?  (Why do you write what you write?)

I write because I know some stories that deserve to be told. I've had both profound insights and moving experiences with these stories in my mind, and they deserve to give those experiences to other people. But I also write because of my extreme narcissism. I want other people to find joy in something that I wrote. And I want them to know it was me who wrote it.