collectedwritingresources

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I've been looking at some of the Q+A's about your characters and I'm impressed at how much detailed info you seem to have on them. Do you think its important when writing a character to have a 'profile' on them even if its not strictly relevant to the part they play in a story? Does it help you process their thoughts? :)

Thank you! I think each author has their own approach to character development based on what works best for them, but I do personally write up extensive profiles on at least my protagonists. I either do this before I start writing the story at all, or after I’ve written the first couple of scenes. I get a lot of ideas for small, fun details to enrich characterization this way, and it does help me get into the characters’ headspace better.

Though I like to know my characters inside and out, I don’t think an author necessarily has to take that approach to write effective characterization. What is necessary is to have at least some sense of the character’s past, because a person’s motivations and behaviors in the present are shaped by their past experiences. You don’t need to know your protagonists’ entire life stories in detail, but you at least need to have a clear idea of what events in their life brought them to their current situation and state of mind at the beginning of the novel.

Another vital aspect of character development is motivation, or what will drive the characters through the story and lead to them making certain choices. For truly effective, complex characterization, authors need to have a very firm grasp on motivation. That usually necessitates some character work on personality and important life events.

In brief: you probably don’t need to define your characters’ favorite colors or meals and so on if you’re not interested in those tiny details (unless they’re relevant to the story). But authors do need to know where characters came from, how they ended up where they are now, and where they want to go in the future.

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In reference to never using the word ‘very’ when writing, Mark Twain said, “Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very’; Your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.” Source

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Since it’s NaNoWriMo, I thought I’d repost this helpful 4 Essential Elements You Need For A Good Story.

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Plot Doctoring: 9 Steps to Build a Strong Plot

Like the main event itself, NaNo Prep is always better with an incredible writing community around you. Luckily, our forums come with such a ready-made community. Inspired by the Plot Doctoring forum, we asked Derek Murphy, NaNoWriMo participant, to share his thoughts on plotting, and he outlined his 9-step plotting diagram:

Here’s a truth: you must write badly before you can write well. 

Everybody’s first draft is rubbish. It’s part of the process, so don’t worry about it. The writing can be polished and fixed and improved later, after NaNoWriMo, during the editing stages.

What most writers get out of NaNoWriMo is a collection of great scenes that don’t necessarily fit into a cohesive story—and that’s a problem if you want to produce something publishable.

Nearly all fiction follows some version of the classical hero’s journey: a character has an experience, learns something, and is consequently improved. There are turning points and scenes that need to be included in your story—if they are missing it won’t connect with readers in an emotionally powerful way. And it’s a thousand times easier to map them out before you write your book.

Keep reading

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okay I'm doing nanowrimo this year. in the past i've pantsed it, got nowhere, this year i did a lot of planning in advance. it's still insanely hard to get plot down properly and balance all the different moving parts and foreshadowing and pacing and everything. you write so prolifically and your plots come out SO GOOD. So please teach me all your secrets! I will take any/all advice/tips/frameworks/starting points/everything. (also i think you are amazing and your writing is amazing that is all

Sure! I’ve written a couple posts about it before, here’s probably my best one and then there’s this one too ^_^ Good luck, you can do it! <3

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How to come up with names for your dystopian teen lit:

Try to say regular names with a bunch of Oreos in your mouth!

Examples:  Jocelyn = Jorslun.  Elizabeth = Lisbit.  Daniel = Dannel.

You’re welcome.

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local psych and writing major with bad grammar here to tell you about subtle body language shit people do when they’re talking to help out with writing interactions:

note that people who are high self monitors will notice these behaviors more often and can adapt to different conversations more than those who are low self monitors, who may not realize that they are reacting inappropriately in a situation.

second note that we only remember a fraction of dialogue and conversation, what sticks in our mind is how a person made us feel during the conversation

women, parents, good teachers, and actors are more sensitive to gestures and expressions and noticing subconscious behaviors in others.  

please note that some of this may not apply to everyone, keep in mind where these social situations could change for your neurodivergent, mentally ill, and disabled characters

under the cut, i go through non-verbal interaction, gestures, personal space, and eye contact

Keep reading

[collectedwritingresources]

I was getting pretty fed up with links and generators with very general and overused weapons and superpowers and what have you for characters so:

Here is a page for premodern weapons, broken down into a ton of subcategories, with the weapon’s region of origin. 

Here is a page of medieval weapons.

Here is a page of just about every conceived superpower.

Here is a page for legendary creatures and their regions of origin.

Here are some gemstones.

Here is a bunch of Greek legends, including monsters, gods, nymphs, heroes, and so on. 

Here is a website with a ton of (legally attained, don’t worry) information about the black market.

Here is a website with information about forensic science and cases of death. Discretion advised. 

Here is every religion in the world. 

Here is every language in the world.

Here are methods of torture. Discretion advised.

Here are descriptions of the various methods used for the death penalty. Discretion advised.

Here are poisonous plants.

Here are plants in general.

Feel free to add more to this!

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I feel like when you’re writing, organizing chapters and dialogue is easy

but jfc, the amount of time it takes to constantly keep people moving and make sure they’re in the right spaces and trying to come up with wording for it is always such a shock. 

Like, fuck, I made you pick up a coffee cup, you need to put it down at some point. also I can’t remember what I dressed you in, can you push up your sleeves? I don’t remember if you even have your shirt on.

and YOU. YOU OVER THERE, you got out of your chair earlier, but did you come back yet? Are you coming back? Where did you even go and why’d you get up? Fuck, I can’t make you sit down again already, you just stood up, go…over there. go get more coffee. Did you bring your mug with you? fine. bring the pot to the table and—wait, wasn’t the coffee pot already over here? shit, hold on, I need to go back and re-read and re-write

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Just make it exist first, you can make it good later

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I bought thirty-six more books at Bishounen Con and came home to like twelve waiting for me >.>;;;;;

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I think it’s important that those of you who are interested in writing main characters who experience a marginalization outside your own take a peek at this article by @bibliogato. Trigger warning for extensive discussion of the Holocaust including quotes about dashing Nazi uniforms.

There are a lot of “don’ts” in here, some minor, some thematic. 

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Reblogs were turned off but I wanted to be able to find this again

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I've already said that my number one piece of writing advice is to read.

But my number two piece of advice is this: be deliberate.

Honestly this would fix so many pieces of bad writing advice. Don't forbid people from doing something, tell them to be conscious and deliberate about it. This could help stop people from falling into common mistakes without limiting their creativity. Black and white imperatives may stop a few annoying beginner habits, but ultimately they will restrict artistic expression.

Instead of "don't use epithets": "Know the effect epithets have and be deliberate about using them." Because yes, beginners often misuse them, but they can be useful when a character's name isn't known or when you want to reduce them to a particular trait they have.

Instead of "don't use 'said'" or "just use 'said'": "Be deliberate about your use of dialogue tags." Because sometimes you'll want "said" which fades into the background nicely, but sometimes you will need a more descriptive alternative to convey what a character is doing.

Instead of "don't use passive voice": "Be deliberate about when you use passive voice." Because using it when it's not needed can detract from your writing, but sometimes it can be useful to change the emphasis of a sentence or to portray a particular state of mind.

Instead of blindly following or ignorantly neglecting the rules of writing, familiarize yourself with them and their consequences so you can choose when and if breaking them would serve what you're trying to get across.

Your writing is yours. Take control of it.

It probably sounds like I'm preaching to the choir here because most of my mutuals are already great writers. But I'm hoping this will make it to the right people.

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btw, since i've seen this mistake several times in the last week:

it's not 'been put through the ringer.' what would that mean. what would the ringer do to you.

it's the wringer. a device for squishing the water out of clothes so they'll dry faster on the line. wringing them out.

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Writing Advice #3

Try roasting your setting like you’re ranting to your group chat after a bad road trip. Seriously, don’t just tell me it’s a “quaint village.” Is it the kind of place where time forgot it existed? Does it have, like, three shops that all close at 2pm for mysterious reasons and a town square statue of some guy named “Jedediah” who absolutely committed tax fraud?

The more lovingly hateful you are, the clearer the place gets. Because when we roast things, we get weirdly specific. That specificity is PURE gold. “Dusty” is whatever. “A town where the post office smells like expired glue” is a vibe. It tells me everything I need to know and makes me want to keep reading just to see how much worse it gets.

Bonus points if your narrator is also sick of being there. Angry characters describe places way better than calm ones, it’s just science.

[collectedwritingresources]

small writing exercises

make up an origin and meaning of a name

write a family history going back centuries

pick a character and make them ramble about their favorite thing

make up a fable, pretend it’s as famous as the Grimm fairytales. how does this fable affect the world and what would people reference from it? (i love this one because it can be as crazy and silly as you want)

make a commercial for something that really shouldn’t be sold at all. try to convince people to buy it.

ACRONYMS. but, like, try to have it make sense

make a poem about your story/something in your story

rewrite a classic but put your own twist on it

make up a detailed recipe

make a monologue with a plot twist or punchline in the end

create a ridiculously detailed timeline for a character

childhood memory (real one or make it up!)

improv rap lyrics

the story behind an inside joke

make up a mythical creature

pretend to be a commentary youtuber and pick a topic

the what if? pick a story and create an alternate ending to it

pick one scenario and several characters. how different are the reactions based on their personalities?