Novel Outlining 101 Concept: To create a weblog post that presents a simple method of outlining a novel. Plan: Demonstrate the method by using it to outline the post, then use the outline to write the post itself. Prologue: Outlining DemoPart One: Introduction to Novel Outlining, Definitions, PurposePart Two: Examples of Outlined Scenes, Chapters and PartsPart Three: Common problems, Suggested Resolutions, FinaleEpilogue: Links to other posts and articles on novel outlining at PBW and elsewhere I. Novel Outlining A novel outline is a story plan, written in the abbreviated form of a traditional outline with headings and subheadings. An outline is valuable in a couple of ways: it creates a map of your novel, so you know where you're going when you write. An outline need not be lengthy or contain all the details of your story. II. The beginning of this post is the outline I wrote of it. Angel's Darkness by Temperance Rising -- Section Outline I. A. B. C. D. E. I. A. B. C. D. I. A. B. C. D. 1. a. III.
Myforgottenpen.com-23 Personality Types to Help Build Your Character Writing The Perfect Scene Having trouble making the scenes in your novel work their magic? In this article, I’ll show you how to write the “perfect” scene. Maybe you think it’s impossible to write the perfect scene. After all, who can choose every word perfectly, every thought, every sentence, every paragraph? What does perfection mean, anyway? Honestly, I don’t know. But structure is pretty well understood. The Two Levels of Scene Structure A scene has two levels of structure, and only two. The large-scale structure of the sceneThe small-scale structure of the scene This may seem obvious, but by the end of this article, I hope to convince you that it’s terribly profound. Before we begin, we need to understand how we keep score. Your reader is reading your fiction because you provide him or her with a powerful emotional experience. If you fail to create these emotions in your reader, then you have failed. Large-Scale Structure of a Scene The large-scale structure of a scene is extremely simple. GoalConflictDisaster
How To Write A Novel Using The Snowflake Method Writing a novel is easy. Writing a good novel is hard. That’s just life. If it were easy, we’d all be writing best-selling, prize-winning fiction. Frankly, there are a thousand different people out there who can tell you how to write a novel. There are a thousand different methods. In this article, I’d like to share with you what works for me. This page is the most popular one on my web site, and gets over a thousand page views per day, so you can guess that a lot of people find it useful. Good fiction doesn’t just happen, it is designed. For a number of years, I was a software architect designing large software projects. I claim that that’s how you design a novel — you start small, then build stuff up until it looks like a story. If you’re like most people, you spend a long time thinking about your novel before you ever start writing. But before you start writing, you need to get organized. Step 1) Take an hour and write a one-sentence summary of your novel. Shorter is better.
What is conflict | Writing Beginners are always told to have conflict in every scene. Keep that story moving! But what is conflict? Too often it is taken to mean an "Odd Couple's" squabbling. That's an easy and obvious conflict. Conflict can be more subtle, more complex, more interesting than "she says tomayto, he says tomahto." A character's inner conflict is not just being in two minds about something, not just being torn between obvious incompatibles ("I want to be a priest, and yet I love her") but is about being in a new situation where old attitudes and habits war with and hinder the need for change. You show these internal conflicts not by means of internal dialogue (which is a cop-out and is dull), but by showing your characters responding to their own inner compulsions. A character's inner conflict can be between what he thinks he wants and what he really wants. A good story has more than two people in it. Conflict must always be resolved, and every layer you create needs its closure. And the foreman?
Personality Traits List We've heard this line many times from friends, family and others, "Oh that's just the way he/she is. It's in his/her personality to behave that way." We use the term 'personality' so loosely that we have forgotten to analyze what it truly means. Different permutations and combinations of these personality traits lead to character building and personality development of an individual. Wouldn't the world be absolutely dull and ridiculously boring if we all were of the same personality type? It gives us all a sense of individuality, separating one from those who do not possess the same traits that would solely define you. List of Personality Traits There are all kinds of personality traits that a person can possess, making us very different from others. Active Austere Anxious Awkward Angry Arrogant Attentive Amiable Animated Aggressive Annoyed Alert Boastful Brilliant Bashful Bad Brainy Babyish Bossy Brutish Brave Bold Bright Blunt Careless Committed Charming Confused Clumsy Confident Cautious Critical Consistent Cultured
Conflict Test 1. Does one of the characters have to change in order for the conflict to be resolved? _____ Yes, Score 1 _____ No, Score 0 _____ Both characters change, Score 2 2. _____ Yes, Score 0 _____ No, Score 1 3. _____ Yes, Score 1 _____ No, Score 0 _____ Ask this question to someone else who’s read your story. 4. 5. _____ Yes, Score 1_____ No, Score 0 6. _____ Yes, Score 0 _____ No, Score 1 Score 9: Perfect SCORE!!!! Character Development-Creative Writing Print version Characters are the most important component of any narrative. Without them, there would be no story. Character development is an important skill to master because characters are important parts of any creative writing from books and short stories, from biographies and autobiographies, to poetry. The development of a character is a very detailed process, and one that requires a lot of thought. According to Candace Schaefer and Rick Diamond (The Creative Writer. Physical Details about the character: Is he/she short, tall, thin, old, etc? Schaefer and Diamond also state that character development is more effective when the author reveals traits about the character through the ways mentioned above and allows the reader to make his/her own judgments, rather than stating character traits directly. Option 2 is a more effective approach because it allows the readers to form judgments about the young boy themselves, rather than simply accepting the author’s word for it. Trackbacks
Stupid Plot Tricks Excerpted from my lecture on Stupid Plotting Tricks By Teresa Nielsen Hayden Start with some principles: A plot doesn't have to be new. Looked at from this angle, the Internet's various lovingly-compiled cliche lists are a treasury of useful plot devices. 1. 2. Alternately, you can go here and have them generated for you. You're going to make a plot out of them. 3. 4. 5. 6. Did I hear someone murmur that this is overkill? Overkill is good for you! Flee, puny humans! ©2000 by Teresa Nielsen Hayden, TNH@panix.com CALLIHOO Writing Idea Generators: The 37 Dramatic Situations The Thirty-six (plus one) Dramatic Situations Georges Polti says that all stories boil down to just 36 dramatic situations and takeoffs of those situations. Somebody else out there added #37. If you're stuck for a situation, try this. (Note: In several cases, specific gender in the original descriptions has been replaced with non-specific gender. Your situation: 27. Still stuck for plot ideas? Cosmic Thoughts | Oblique Strategies | Random Science Fiction Story Ideas
One-Page Plotting One of my writer friends (you know who you are) dared me to simplify a plot worksheet down to one page that would work for all story lengths and genres. Of course I couldn't resist the challenge, so here it is (I plotted John & Marcia's story to demonstrate how to use it): Plot Worksheet Title: Angel’s Darkness Main Conflict: John, a half-demon cop, and Marcia, a half-angel librarian, must stop a demon from using a mystical diamond that has the power to open the gates of Hell. Subplots: John must accept or reject his demonic side. Marcia must accept or reject her human side. The demon falls in love with Marcia, and must choose to destroy the world or rule over it with Marcia at his side. Main Story Events: John and Marcia meet on the night the demon steals the diamond; the demon uses Marcia to smuggle the diamond away from its guardian. The demon forces John and Marcia to go on the run in order to protect the diamond and evade his attacks.