Huh.
Being home by myself is awesome but it also means that I get virtually nothing done, except the 5600 words I typed of my original work. I should have participated in NaNo this year, but I don’t think I could manage to be consistently productive.
Maybe I should have worked on my fanfics but there’s just no. damn. inspiration.
Ugh.
Are you still stuck for ideas for National Novel Writing Month? Or are you working on a novel at a more leisurely pace? Here are 102 resources on Character, Point of View, Dialogue, Plot, Conflict, Structure, Outlining, Setting, and World Building, plus some links to generate Ideas and Inspiration.
CHARACTER, POINT OF VIEW, DIALOGUE
The Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test
Priming the idea pump (A character checklist shamlessly lifted from acting)
Handling a Cast of Thousands – Part I: Getting to Know Your Characters
Establishing the Right Point of View: How to Avoid “Stepping Out of Character”
How to Start Writing in the Third Person
Web Resources for Developing Characters
What are the Sixteen Master Archetypes?
Fiction Writer’s Character Chart
Fiction Writer’s Character Chart
Villains are People, Too, But …
Top 10 Tips for Writing Dialogue
Advantages, Disadvantages and Skills (character traits)
How to Write a Character Bible
Character Development Exercises
All Your Characters Sounds the Same — And They’re Not a Hivemind!
Writing the Other: Bridging Cultural Difference for Successful Fiction
Family Echo (family tree website)
Interviewing Characters: Follow the Energy
100 Character Development Questions for Writers
Lineage Chart Layout Generator
PLOT, CONFLICT, STRUCTURE, OUTLINE
How to Write a Novel: The Snowflake Method
Effectively Outlining Your Plot
Conflict and Character within Story Structure
Ideas, Plots & Using the Premise Sheets
Creating Conflict and Sustaining Suspense
Plunge Right In … Into Your Story, That Is!
Fiction Writing Tips: Story Grid
Tips for Creating a Compelling Plot
The Thirty-six (plus one) Dramatic Situations
The Evil Overlord Devises a Plot: Excerpt from Stupid Plotting Tricks
The Hero’s Journey: Summary of the Steps
Outline Your Novel in Thirty Minutes
SETTING, WORLD BUILDING
The Art of Description: Eight Tips to Help You Bring Your Settings to Life
Creating the Perfect Setting – Part I
An Impatient Writer’s Approach to Worldbuilding
Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions
Character and Setting Interactions
Creating Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds
Maps Workshop — Developing the Fictional World Through Mapping
IDEAS, INSPIRATION
Solve Your Problems Simply by Saying Them Out Loud
Writing Inspiration, or Sex on a Bicycle
Creative Acceleration: 11 Tips to Engineer a Productive Flow
The Seven Major Beginner Mistakes
Complete Your First Book with these 9 Simple Writing Habits
Free Association, Active Imagination, Twilight Imaging
Story Starters and Idea Generators
REVISION
One-Pass Manuscript Revision: From First Draft to Last in One Cycle
Revising Your Novel: Read What You’ve Written
Writing 101: So You Want to Write a Novel Part 3: Revising a Novel
TOOLS and SOFTWARE
My Writing Nook (online text editor; free)
Bubbl.us (online mind map application; free)
Freemind (mind map application; free; Windows, Mac, Linux, portable)
XMind (mind map application; free; Windows, Mac, Linux, portable)
Liquid Story Binder (novel organization and writing software; free trial, $45.95; Windows, portable)
Scrivener (novel organization and writing software; free trial, $39.95; Mac)
SuperNotecard (novel organization and writing software; free trial, $29; Windows, Mac, Linux, portable)
yWriter (novel organization and writing software; free; Windows, Linux, portable)
JDarkRoom (minimalist text editor; free; Windows, Mac, Linux, portable)
AutoRealm (map creation software; free; Windows, Linux with Wine)
screaming
Lists like these stress me out because SO MUCH STUFF TO REMEMBER but I might need to refer to one of these someday.
A writer of fiction lives in fear. Each new day demands new ideas and he can never be sure whether he is going to come up with them or not.
A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom.
The writer has to force himself to work. He has to make his own hours and if he doesn’t go to his desk at all there is nobody to scold him.
"“Benji! DUNN! GET BACK HERE!” Kerry knew that shouting was fruitless, because Benji was chasing after Will and there was going to be no stopping him.
Apparently Brandt had somehow managed to palm Dunn’s favourite bluetooth headset, and now they were running around the hotel lobby that they were supposed to be lying low in, like a pair of four year olds on a sugar rush.
Kerry sighed.
“I’m going to put glitter in your shampoo bottles if you two don’t stop acting like such a pair of idiots!”
And as per usual, they ignored her. It was almost enough to make her wish that the other two were here, but that would have probably just escalated things - Ethan had a bad habit of getting too rough with Benji and of course that got Will’s back up and led to their routine of pissing contests.
Eventually Will was persuaded to relinquish the headset, and Benji returned to the couch, slamming into it with enough force to almost dislodge Kerry and her laptop, while Will just calmly settled himself in the armchair opposite, picking up the gin and tonic that Kerry had ordered for herself and taking a generous swig.
“Hey, hey! I’ll buy you another!” He raised one palm and put the drink back down when she glared at him over the computer screen, then, when the glare didn’t abate, picked the glass back up and drained it.
“I’ll get you another one right now.” he amended, and the glare lessened.
“Yes, you will.” she told him, before turning her attention back to the computer screen and batting Benji’s hands away from the keyboard.
“Hey! Benji, you asked for my help, stop overwriting my changes!”
is that if I ever need to feel better about myself, all I have to do is click on the ‘comments’ section and I have instant access to unfiltered mood-boosters.
So, to everyone who reads my writing, I thank you. You make my life a happier one by taking the time to tell me how my work affects you.
—Anna
Loki, that was an inappropriate use of applied physics
next chapter up in an hour or so. If I can wrangle it.
Mid-late twenties Eastern Time Zone (GMT +10) Australian female who tends to steal Husband’s clothes.
anna_garny on Skype. Add me any time and if you see me pop up feel free to say ‘hi’.
Just so you’re aware, I'm a new mama as of April 20th, so there will be posts about baby related stuff, though I’ll try and keep those to a minimum because this is, really, a random fandom blog at its’ heart.
In the state of mind, it’s my own private suicide.
I don’t blame you for being you.
No, it’s not the last time, ‘cause I’ll never say no to you.
All night, hearing voices telling me that I should get some sleep.
Want to know anything else? There’s an ask box up there for that.
--Anna
Before Tumblr i thought blogging was something 30 year old single mothers did....
“MYCROFT!”
At least SOMEBODY is taking the hobbits to...
i can’t imagine school was easy for sherlock
Where is Erica?
