Curate, connect, and discover
This is my list of the plotting-related process, it’s constantly expanding and if anyone wants to have the german list, please message me. I’m gonna do the research ressources for various topics another time, promised. Plotting and planning your book
Acts in a story Common errors in english language
On writing a novel Writer’s world (A lot of information at once, but useful)
Worldbuilding Medieval city generator Medieval castles Norse Mythology The Edda translated to english Old german vocabulary pdf for creating names and such Greek gods / greek mythology: https://www.greekmythology.com/ http://www.ancient.eu/Greek_Mythology/ Questions for your world: https://pastebin.com/TUx9QzVq https://inkys-resources.tumblr.com/post/150627441064/world-building-june-prompts-2016 Kitchen stuff, dishes TIPPS AND TRICKS FOR WRITERS Starting a book How to kill a character Action writing National Novel Writing Month Website http://nanowrimo.org/ https://campnanowrimo.org/sign_in Flashbacks Metaphysics CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT Character sheet, extended version Whenever you have too many characters in one room: Off-screen things to do (This is very helpful) Avoiding word repetition (You may have to make the page a bit bigger due to the small letters) How to write a villain
FANDOMS Multifandom castle reviews playlist (GoT, LotR, HP etc.) How realistic are they, regarding architeture? etc. Harry Potter https://www.pottermore.com/ (Why this is totally not overhyped but rather very fucking helpful for fanfics: SO. MUCH. STUFF! Articles from JKR, cut-out pieces from the books that never appeared in them, details about a lot of characters and their backstory, an essay on wands and their meanings etc.) Harry Potter metas by Super Carlin Brothers. Very interesting indeed. http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page (This is a bit obvious, but you know, just to add it here) Marvel Cinematic Universe Timeline of all movies Most helpful MCU wikia http://de.marvel-filme.wikia.com/wiki/Marvel-Filme And to be honest watch Marvel’s Agents of S.h.i.e.l.d., there’s a lot more background information about SHIELD than you will ever get in the movies. Not to mention that the show is very good, the characters alone are. But that’s a story for another time. Sherlock BBC http://inevitably-johnlocked.tumblr.com/ http://kinklock.tumblr.com/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKUQWjx8aGnCmXgfAlqiuMg/playlists http://skulls-and-tea.tumblr.com/ Just to mention some blogs I find very interesting, regarding the topic and as infinetely nice people as well. To be continued… (Any recommendations and suggestions are welcomed)
Especially if you find yourself at sea when deciding how exactly to chop your story into pieces. Even if you don’t want to use chapter titles in your final draft, they’re of enormous use when you’re still figuring out exactly what the shape of your story is. By giving your chapter a descriptive title, you’re giving your chapter a focus and a particular story for your chapter to tell.
This is not to say that every novel must be episodic, but that each section should have its own beginning, middle, and end. It should have set up, build up, and resolution. It should ask a question an implicit question at the beginning and provide a slightly more explicit answer at the end.
Example: one chapter in my book is just 500 words. Two new characters drive into town, get out of a car, knock on a door, and they say their names. The beginning is the introduction of the mystery of these characters. It’s the question “who are these people?” As they drive, you see them and where they are going, which builds towards the answer. As a resolution, you get their names.
You wouldn’t call this a “short story” by any means, but it does have a firm beginning, middle, end. It is a contained unit.
Twists and cliffhangers can appear at the end of novels, so it would be silly to say you couldn’t end a chapter that way, too. Cliffhangers and twists are usually both a result of other plot points, and the cause of a new problem. Narratively, they function both as the ending of one thing and the beginning of another, so they make for great chapter breaks. Separating the scene at a cliffhanger is often better/cleaner than lumping the entire scene into one chapter.
Example: Alex is warned to stay away from a dangerous cliff. Alex gets adventurous and wanders toward cliff. Alex falls off of cliff. Beginning. Middle. End.
Alex is actually hanging from cliff! Alex figures out a way to get back to solid ground, struggles. Alex makes it back to solid ground. Beginning. Middle. End.
You want your readers to “just one more chapter!” their way through your book. Stuffing moments of high tension into the middle of chapters that resolve neatly won’t keep them turning pages.
Using points of tension to bookend chapters is important because chapter endings are usually where readers put a book down during a reading session. They’re very naturally places to close the cover and walk away.
As a writer, you don’t want this. You absolutely don’t want to give your reader great places to put the book down, because you need them to pick the book up again as soon as possible. Not the next day, or the next week, (or never), but while they have a spare minute during their commute, or during their lunch break, or under their desk in class.
You want to encourage this by taking that perfectly natural endpoint, that place they expect to be able to put the book down, and forcing them to take even a tiny peak at the next chapter.
This doesn’t mean ending every chapter on a verifiable cliffhanger, but there has to be something. A character can solve a mystery. A new character can appear. There can be a moment of irony. A new idea. Just so long as it’s something that will make the reader think “I need to know what happens next.”
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
10 Days of Character Building
Name Generators
Name Playground
The Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test
Priming the idea pump (A character checklist shamlessly lifted from acting)
How to Create a Character
Seven Common Character Types
Handling a Cast of Thousands – Part I: Getting to Know Your Characters
It’s Not What They Say . . .
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?
Character: A compilation of guidance from classical and contemporary experts on creating great dramatic characters
Building Fictional Characters
Fiction Writer’s Character Chart
Character Building Workshop
Tips for Characterization
Fiction Writer’s Character Chart
Villains are People, Too, But . . .
Top 10 Tips for Writing Dialogue
Speaking of Dialogue
Dialogue Tips
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!
Medieval Names Archive
Sympathy Without Saintliness
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
Behind the Name
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
Outlining Your Plot
Ideas, Plots & Using the Premise Sheets
How to Write a Novel
Creating Conflict and Sustaining Suspense
Plunge Right In . . . Into Your Story, That Is!
Fiction Writing Tips: Story Grid
Tips for Creating a Compelling Plot
Writer’s “Cheat Sheets”
The Thirty-six (plus one) Dramatic Situations
The Evil Overlord Devises a Plot: Excerpt from Stupid Plotting Tricks
Conflict Test
What is Conflict?
Monomyth
The Hero’s Journey: Summary of the Steps
Outline Your Novel in Thirty Minutes
Plotting Without Fears
Novel Outlining 101
Writing the Perfect Scene
Fight Scenes 101
Basic Plots in Literature
One-Page Plotting
The Great Swampy Middle
SETTING, WORLD BUILDING
Magical World Builder’s Guide
I Love the End of the World
World Building 101
The Art of Description: Eight Tips to Help You Bring Your Settings to Life
Creating the Perfect Setting – Part I
Creating a Believable World
An Impatient Writer’s Approach to Worldbuilding
Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions
Setting
Character and Setting Interactions
Creating Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds
Creating Fantasy Worlds
Questions About Worldbuilding
Maps Workshop — Developing the Fictional World Through Mapping
World Builder Projects
IDEAS, INSPIRATION
Quick Story Idea Generator
Solve Your Problems Simply by Saying Them Out Loud
Busting Your Writing Rut
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
Random Book Title Generator
Finishing Your Novel
Story Starters and Idea Generators
REVISION
How to Rewrite
One-Pass Manuscript Revision: From First Draft to Last in One Cycle
Editing Recipe
Cliche Finder
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)
Editing Software:
StyleWriter 4 is fantastic. It’s an add-on for Microsoft word and has a 14-day trial period. It goes through your text, picks out “glue words”, misspellings, long sentences, homonyms, passive tense, shows your reading grade level, and more.
Editminion *FREE* checks for adverbs, weak words, passive voice, cliches, and homonyms among other things.
Pro Writing Aid is another online editor. It is mostly free, but offers more features if you pay.
AutoCrit offers free analysis for under 500 words, otherwise you have to pay for more text and more editing features.
Paper Rater offers a free service for editing, but it is designed for essays.
Formatting Checklist: This follows the general guide of formatting a manuscript in Microsoft word. However, some literary agents and editors have their own requirements.
Under the paragraph option, change the special indentation to first line at .5”. Change to document to double spaced.
There should be no spaces between paragraphs.
When showing a scene break, center # on a blank line.
Font should be easy to read. Courier New and Times New Roman are preferred at size 12.
All margins should be 1”.
Start chapters on a new page and put the chapter title 1/3 down the page. Write the chapter like so: CHAPTER ONE - CHAPTER TITLE. Press return 4 - 6 times before starting the text of the chapter.
For the header, put YOUR NAME/BOOK TITLE/PAGE NUMBER in the upper right-hand corner. Start this header on the first page of the first chapter.
The cover page of your manuscript should have your name, word count, and contact information in the upper left-hand corner.
The title on the cover page should be in all caps. Your name should be underneath in all caps. If you use a pen name, write YOUR REAL NAME (WRITING AS PEN NAME).
At the end of the manuscript, start a new page and write END.
Self-Editing Checklist:
Spelling:
If you are using Microsoft word for your word processor, use the spell check. After that, go through the manuscript line by line to make sure everything is spelled right. You may have used “form” instead of “from” and skipped it because Microsoft word did not see it as misspelled.
Printing out your work or viewing it in another way (such as a pdf on an ereader) helps find these mistakes.
Beta readers can find what you missed as well.
Use editing software to check homonyms or look up a list of homonyms and find them in your document using ctrl + f. Check these words to make sure you used the right spelling.
Grammar and Style:
First use Microsoft word’s grammar checker, but be aware that it is not always right. Check grammar girl if you are unsure.
For dialogue, you can always pick up a professionally published book and look at how the dialogue tags are used, where commas are placed, and when other punctuation is used.
If you’re in school and your English teacher isn’t too busy, have them take a look at it.
Look out for prepositions. Most of the time, you can omit these words and the sentence will still make sense. Beginner writers use a lot of these in their writing and it slows the flow.
Check for adverbs. You’d be surprised at how many you use in your writing, sometimes up to five a page. Using a few in narration is okay, but only a few. Delete adverbs you find, especially those that end in “-ly”, and rewrite the sentences in necessary.
Delete gerunds and forms of “to be” if writing in past tense. Instead of “were running”, write “ran”.
Check subject-verb agreement.
Use correct dialogue tags. People don’t bark their words. They shout.
Two digit numbers should be written as words (twenty-seven) while numbers with more than two digits should be written with numbers (123).
Avoid passive verbs.
Vary sentence length.
Show with the five senses rather than telling.
Most of the time, you can delete the word “that”.
Avoid using “unique” or “significant” words too often.
Consistency:
Make sure all your font is the same size and type.
Make sure you have no plot holes. Use the comment feature in Microsoft Word to track these plots.
Make sure your time line is consistent.
The tone should fit the scene.
There should be one POV per scene. Unless you’re a brilliant writer and can pull off third person omniscient.
Verb tense should be consistent.
Keep track of the details you release of people, places, and things. The reader will remember if in one chapter you say your protagonist has blue eyes and in another you say green.
Pacing:
The whole book should flow in and out of fast paced scenes to keep your reader interested and slow scenes to give them a break.
The middle should not “sag”.
Sentences should flow smoothly.
Plot:
Keep track of all your plots and sub-plots. Readers will remember them.
There should be a beginning, middle, and end.
Is the initial problem at the beginning of the manuscript?
There should be at least one antagonist. This does no have to be a person.
Is there enough conflict?
There should be a resolution.
All scenes should have something to do with plot.
The climax should be the most exciting part.
Character:
The protagonist should change by the end of the book.
Make sure all characters who come in contact with one another have some kind of relationship, whether good or bad.
Characters must have motivation for everything.
The protagonist must want something right from the start of the conflict.
The protagonist needs to be captivating. The readers wants to root for the protagonist. This does not mean the protagonist needs to be likable all the time.
The readers likes to relate to characters. Make sure your characters are diverse enough that readers can identify with one.
Know who your protagonist is. The main character is not always the same. For example, Nick in The Great Gatsby is the main character, but Jay Gatsby is the protagonist. This is important to know while writing your query letter.
If you can delete a minor character from a scene and nothing changes, then delete that character.
Sometimes you can make two minor characters one without losing any essential parts of the story. If you can, do this.
All characters react and act.
Each character has his or her own life.
Dialogue:
Dialogue should be believable. Read it out loud.
Don’t go overboard with phonetic spelling if a character has an accent.
Dialogue should be informal and natural. It does not have to be grammatically correct.
Prose:
Avoid purple prose. I’ve never met anyone with “emerald eyes” or “hair of fire” (except for the Flame Princess).
Don’t use too many adjectives.
Avoid cliches.
Other:
Don’t info dump. Pace information through dialogue and narration.
The first sentence should spark interest, or at least the first three. If it does, the first paragraph should be the same. And the first 250 words. The goal is to get the reader past the first page.
Let your story rest. When you’re ready to edit, start at the end. Writers tend to get lazy at the end of their story whether they are writing it for the first time or revising it after revising the rest of the story.
Make sure your manuscript is within range for your genre’s word count.