s Laws of Fantasy This page has three distinct parts: Watt-Evans' First Law of Fantasy: Stories are about people.Watt-Evans' Second Law of Fantasy: People are never wholly good or wholly evil, and therefore characters should never be wholly good or wholly evil.Watt-Evans' Third Law of Fantasy: The basic human motivations are universal.Watt-Evans' Fourth Law of Fantasy: Everything other than the basic human motivations will vary, depending on the cultural setting.Watt-Evans' Fifth Law of Fantasy: Magic, like everything else, has rules.Watt-Evans' Sixth Law of Fantasy: If a story can be written without a fantasy element, then don't bother with the fantasy element. Watt-Evans' Laws of Fantasy by Lawrence Watt-Evans I make my living writing, and most of what I write is fantasy. Fantasy can be a confusing genre, though; some people aren't clear on what it is, where it overlaps (or doesn't) with science fiction, and so forth. Fiction is anything that hasn't necessarily happened. What does that leave, though?
Feelings and Emotions Vocabulary Word List Advertisement. EnchantedLearning.com is a user-supported site. As a bonus, site members have access to a banner-ad-free version of the site, with print-friendly pages.Click here to learn more. (Already a member? Click here.) More Word Lists Color Words Colour Terms This list contains 168 definitions of obscure colour terms using combinations of 'normal' colours of the rainbow and descriptive adjectives; e.g. cardinal = deep scarlet red; russet = reddish brown. Note that most English speakers outside the U.S. spell colour with the added British 'u' rather than the American version color. I hope you have found this site to be useful.
6 Writers Who Broke the Rules and Got Away with It Have you ever read a book and noticed the author has broken what we writers often hear of as “the rules”? My initial reaction is usually indignation: “Why can she get away with that, and I can’t??” The more I study the craft of writing, the more rules I hear about, and most of these are guidelines based on making a book reader-friendly. As much as I believe it’s good practice to avoid the common pitfalls of beginning writers, there are always exceptions to every rule. Here are six commonly heard rules for writers, and six authors who’ve gotten away with breaking them. (By ‘gotten away with’, I mean being published, selling tons of copies, and in some cases, winning awards): Rule: Don’t write in First Person, Present Tense Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler’s Wife: Niffenegger’s popular title is told by dual narrators from the first person point of view, in the present tense. Rule: Keep your novel under 100,000 words Rule: Limit the use of adverbs. Rule: Don’t begin a story with dialogue.
Mythical Creatures List, Mythical Creatures A-Z List of Germanic deities In Germanic paganism, the indigenous religion of the ancient Germanic peoples that inhabited Germanic Europe, there were a number of different gods and goddesses. Germanic deities are attested from numerous sources, including works of literature, various chronicles, runic inscriptions, personal names, place names, and other sources. This article presents a comprehensive list of these deities. Gods[edit] Goddesses[edit] See also[edit] Notes[edit] References[edit] Bellows, Henry Adams (Trans.) (1936). 102 Resources For Fiction Writing UPDATE 1/10: Dead links removed, new links added, as well as Revision and Tools and Software sections. 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. 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? Building Fictional Characters Fiction Writer’s Character Chart Speaking of Dialogue
25 Ways To Plot, Plan and Prep Your Story I’m a panster at heart, plotter by necessity — and I always advocate learning how to plot and plan because inevitably someone on the business side of things is going to poke you with a pointy stick and say, “I want this.” Thus you will demonstrate your talent. Even so, in choosing to plot on your own, you aren’t limited to a single path. And so it is that we take a look at the myriad plotting techniques (“plotniques?”) you might use as Storyteller Extraordinaire to get the motherfucking job done. The Basic Vanilla Tried-And-True Outline The basic and essential outline. The Reverse Outline Start at the end, instead. Tentpole Moments A story in your head may require certain keystone events to be part of the plot. Beginning, Middle, End A Series Of Sequences Chapter-By-Chapter For novel writers, you can chart your story by its chapters. Beat Sheet Mind-Maps Happy blocks and bubbles connected to winding bendy spokes connected to a central topical hub. Zero Draft AKA, “The Vomit Draft.” Index Cards
OWL Coming Soon: A new look for our same great content! We're working hard this summer on a redesign of the Purdue OWL. Worry not! Our navigation menu and content will remain largely the same. If you are having trouble locating a specific resource, please visit the search page or the Site Map. The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we provide these as a free service of the Writing Lab at Purdue. For more information about services for the Purdue University community, including one-to-one consultations, ESL conversation groups and workshops, please visit the Writing Lab site. Mission The Purdue University Writing Lab and Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) assist clients in their development as writers—no matter what their skill level—with on-campus consultations, online participation, and community engagement.
Online resources to help you plan and write your novel From Pinterest I’m participating in National Novel Writing Month this year when I’ll write the first draft of Where the Light Enters. I’m excited to craft the story of my heroine, Emerson Page. Your Novel Blue Print – Author Kevin T Johns wrote a free ebook titled 12 Common Mistakes Rookie Authors Make (& How to Avoid Them!) Writing a novel is grueling work, and we could all use a little help. Did I miss any resources that you’ve found particularly helpful? Like this: Like Loading... I am a product developer who is equally inspired by new technology and ancient wisdom, a yoga and meditation teacher who learns from my students every day, and a writer who believes that creativity and determination is the most powerful duo on Earth.
How a Scene List Can Change Your Novel-Writing Life By the end of this post you will have a nagging urge to use an excel spreadsheet. Don’t make that face—I know you’re a writer and not a data analyst. Or if you are a data analyst—I get that you’re on this blog to get away from your day job. But guess what? At the suggestion of Randy Ingermason—the creator of the Snowflake Method—I listed all of the scenes in my novel in a nice little Google spreadsheet. Creating a scene list changed my novel-writing life, and doing the same will change yours too. Scene Lists Help You Plan I tried to write a novel once before without planning in advance. I used the Snowflake Method, which consists of several steps to designing a novel that we can discuss at a later date. Today we’re focusing on a particular step: the creation of a scene list. What is a scene list? It’s literally a list of the scenes in your novel in an excel spreadsheet. Column 1: POV. The particulars can be revised at your convenience, but that’s how I set it up. 1. 2. 3. What did I do?
Notes and diagrams show how famous authors including J.K. Rowling and Sylvia Plath planned out their novels | Daily Mail Online By Tara Brady Published: 13:33 EST, 18 May 2013 | Updated: 20:52 EST, 19 May 2013 Gathering your thoughts when writing a novel can be a tricky process. Which is why many of the greats made sure they planned their plots beforehand. A mini-collection of notes penned by writers including James Salter and J.K. Ideas: The outline for Light Years - a 1975 novel by James Salter, the American writer who was once a pilot in the United States Air Force JK Rowling (pictured left) and James Salter (pictured right) liked to jot their ideas down before writing their novels Detailed: This table gives a fascinating insight into how JK Rowling planned out the plot lines of the Harry Potter books which kept readers guessing for years Sylvia Plath (left) was an American poet, novelist and short story writer while Joseph Heller was an American satirical novelist, short story writer and playwright who wrote Catch-22
Fantasy Name Generator By Samuel Stoddard - Version 1.5 One of the perks of creating fantasy stories -- whether by writing a story or game or by role-playing -- is you get to make up the names. Some people relish the task while others are frustrated by it. Some like it but can't seem to create names that are diverse enough. Fantasy Name Generator is a tool that can help you. It can generate an endless number of random names (of people, places, or anything) that would be suitable for use in a fantasy setting. In addition, this tool can be fairly amusing to use even if you don't have any name creating to do. You can use the fantasy name generator below.
Creative Writing Worksheets--The Writer's Craft Feel free to download and use the following Creative Writing Worksheets to develop compelling characters and rich, vibrant settings. You’ll find plotting your novel much more manageable with our scene chart. These Creative Writing Worksheets are free for your personal use. Character Worksheet Meeting a well-written character is one of the things that initially hooks a reader, and creates a lasting impression in fiction. I developed the following Create a Character worksheet for my novel writing course. You’ll find this creative writing character worksheet to be helpful without becoming a burden. Setting Worksheet This creative writing worksheet will help you to generate vibrant story settings. When we read we should be able to engage all of our senses, to merge fully with the protagonist. We often use our sense of sight to the exclusion of our other senses, but the other senses trigger the strongest memories and images. Scene Chart Need a spreadsheet to plot your novel?