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helen redesign but with that one yarnface trend

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Hi again. Thanks for answering my previous question! I have another one- I’m thinking of doing Nanowrimo again this year. I tried in the past as a “pantser” but it didn’t really work, so I’m trying to prep a little before November so that I can be ready by the 1st day. What sort of stuff about my story I should know/have ready to start writing on day 1? (I looked at your nanowrimo tag and saw knowing the general story/where it’s going/ending but do I need to plan by chapters? Or have worldbuilding all figured out? Etc)

NaNoWriMo: Necessities for Planners

If you’re doing NaNoWriMo this year, you still have a couple days to do some prep work so you’ll be ready to go on November 1st. Here are some things you might find helpful as you begin writing your novel:

1) In-Depth Plot Summary - If you’re a planner, plantser, or think you might be, a beginning to end summary of all the important events in your story is the bare minimum you should have when you start writing on November 1st. 

Basic Story Structure

Guide: Filling in the Story Between Known Events

How to Move a Story Forward

2) Basic Character Sheets - Some character sheets go too far into details that aren’t important to the story, but it can be helpful to have the bare essentials fleshed out and organized.

Character Design Sheet: The Necessary Stuff

Fleshing Out Characters

Guide: Casting Your Characters

3) Scene List - In my opinion, this is one of the most important things you can have if you’re a planner and you need help staying on track. This is essentially a list of every scene in your story, from beginning to end. Sit down with your in-depth summary and figure out what your first scene is. Then figure out the second scene. Then figure out the third scene.... and so on. It doesn’t have to be perfect. You may have scenes where you write something like “she meets Greg somehow” or “some kind of party?” You may even have question marks in a few spots. That’s fine. The key is to know what most of the scenes are, and this isn’t written in stone. You may find better scenes occurring as you write, or you may delete scenes or move them around.

Scene Lists

4) Basic Setting Details - With your summary and scene list in hand, you should have a pretty good idea of the needs of your story as far as the setting goes. What parts of your story’s world are important to the story? Look at each scene and consider where it takes place. What do you need to know about the setting before you write? You might just need some keywords like “run down high school gymnasium” or you might do a floor plan, map, or look for real world places to serve as inspiration.

Five Things to Help You Describe Fictional Locations

Figuring Out Your World’s Geography

Setting Your Story in an Unfamiliar Place

5) Basic World Building Details - Again, looking at the scenes in your story, consider what’s important for you to know. Don’t worry about the kinds of animals and plants in the forest bordering your character’s village unless those details are important to the story.

World Building post master list

Here are some of my other NaNoWriMo posts:

NaNoWriMo: Picking an Idea Staying Pumped Until NaNoWriMo Can I Write Fan-Fiction for NaNoWriMo? NaNoWriMo: Planning versus “Pantsing”

Best of luck with your NaNoWriMo Story!

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Have a question? My inbox is always open, but make sure to check my FAQ and post master lists first to see if I’ve already answered a similar question. :)

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Writing a Character’s Worst Fear

Time to get s p o o k y 

Dear Writers,

The H-ween is nearly upon us! The leaves are crunchy, it gets dark out real quick…and I can post some spooky writing advice. Below are some tips for designing your character’s worst fear.

Their worst fear is related to some past traumatic incident. This might sound cliché, and if used wrong, it can be kind of obnoxious, but if used right, it can make your reader really empathize with your character. Wrong: we’ve seen it before. Right: the reader couldn’t guess the incident; it’s unique. (I don’t mean to underplay any traumatic incident or make anyone’s experience seem less traumatic. I simply mean to point out that some backstories are overused.)

Their worst fear is a metaphor. Allow me to explain. You can easily take an “average” fear (fear of heights, claustrophobia, etc.) and connect it to your character’s life. Maybe the thought of being in a small space doesn’t scare them, but it reminds them of how they feel oppressed and like they’re suffocating whenever the antagonist is around. Or maybe they’re not really afraid of getting too close to a ledge, but the height increases their anxiety because it reminds them of how much danger they’re in and how they could fall at any moment (regarding their situation, I mean).

Their worst fear is connected to their pride. Sometimes someone gets scared because of how something will make them feel or look. Maybe someone is scared of failing, not because they care about the task at hand, but because their reputation will be in jeopardy. Maybe a character is scared of letting that one person win against them because if so-and-so can beat them, they must be weak and pitiful and not at all like the proud person they are made out to be.

Their worst fear is told to them. What I mean by this is that society influences your character’s fear. The best example I can think of is the Red Scare. If you’re not American or if you don’t know what it is, it’s the time period during the 20th century in which the general public (of the US) was extremely afraid of communism taking over. This led to people accusing others of being communist and such. While someone might not have been scared of communism at first, they were probably driven to fear because everyone around them was so frantic.

That’s all I got for you today! I hope you enjoyed reading. Go ahead and follow this tumblr if you want some more writing advice related to spooky stuff next week. Have a good day!

Love,

Ava

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the magnus archives; an office comedy

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*continues to spend hours of my life drawing increasingly mundane archive scenes*

Re: my stance on hot jon. He’s got the potential but generally is to much a hot mess to utilize it. When he first gets promoted he puts some effort in and it’s super effective! (spoiler: it doesn’t last long)

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*Draws Tim sitting on his chair wrong in a different way every panel* is this…Bi representation..???

I like to imagine that Jon was kind of a mess before getting promoted. Like rolls out of bed into the same pair of pants every day, doesn’t bother to brush his hair, doesn’t own an iron.

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Did someone order some soft boys? No?

Well I made them anyways

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Howl

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Howl

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The Shades of Magic series has always been my go-to when things are rough, and they have been lately. Exciting but rough.

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More pose practice while listening to the atla soundtrack ayyy

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Quick redo of Alucard :’3

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screams about AGOS

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The process of writing a book:

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…and for a moment Kaz was a boy again, sure that there was magic in this world.

The famous Crows Don’t Have Any Manners scene, a commission for @brambleberrycottage! Had to freshen it up a bit cuz my Kaz default changed a Lot in a year

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The boy who could get them through this, get their money, keep them alive, would do her the courtesy of putting her out of her misery, then cut his losses and move on.

TA-DAAAA! ‘Tis the graveyard scene, which I’ve wanted to draw since forever, commissioned by the wonderful @brambleberrycottage~!

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hello... zuko here.... but i guess you probably already know me.... sort of...... uh,