well, I enjoy writing all of my stories, but I think some stories definitely "write themselves" more than others, and those stories can be a real pleasure to write because the words come very easily. I find I enjoy writing my fanfic, "Moon Senshi", a great deal because that work was based on a game I ran with my friends so the characters are almost like people I know. My novel, "Between Kingdoms", was a great deal harder for me to write because it was only based very lightly on a game I was in and almost everything was made up from scratch, especially in terms of plot. Having to "make up" everything as I went along except for a pretty sketchy outline was difficult. "Angry Remembrance" is falls somewhere between the two in terms of difficulty/enjoyment of writing, though it's closer to "Moon Senshi" than "Between Kingdoms." I just really love faeries and shapeshifters and magic, so even though it's not as unique as "Between Kingdoms" in terms of plot, it's just a blast to write.

With characters, I definitely enjoy writing some more than others--and sometimes it can be a bit obvious, I think, which character is my favorite from my writing. In "Angry Remembrance", Wren is by *far* the most fun character to write. She's clever, vivacious and not afraid to express herself--qualities I don't feel like I have in real life, so they're fun to write--and also, it's fun to to write a character that's having fun themselves. Plus, it's always fun to write a character who can manipulate people. There's nothing more fun to write than a conversation where Wren backs Brian into a corner and he can't say *anything* that won't embarrass or compromise him. I like writing Tokimo in Moon Senshi for similar reasons--she's fun-loving and crazy, and her lines are a blast to come up with.

tl;dr -- yes and yes--stories that I have pre-planned are more fun to write, and fun loving characters are fun to write. X)

The tartan in the background is the Washington State Tartan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_state_tartan The colors represent different things in nature: <i>green symbolizes rich forests of the state; blue the lakes, rivers and ocean; white the snow-capped mountains; red the apple and cherry crops; yellow the wheat and grain crops; and black the eruption of Mount St. Helens.</i> Rather appropriate for Angry Remembrance, given where the story takes place (Spokane, Washington) and it's emphasis on both nature and celtic culture. :-)