Showing posts with label character worksheets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label character worksheets. Show all posts

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Writing Worksheets and Other Tools

cohdra100_1413I’m doing something a little different today, since it’s the July 4th weekend here in the States.

I’ve tweeted some writing worksheets I came across lately and they received good play on Twitter. I thought I’d link to them here, too. Just in case you’ve got writing planned for your long weekend and enjoy using worksheets. :)

The Diary of a Trainee Paranormal Romance Writer blogger, Catherine Pawsey, has really outdone herself, digging up resources for writers. She rounded up some very useful worksheets. Among them:

The Novel Notebook The novel-writing diagram

  • Planning a story
  • Plot Tree Worksheet
  • Plot/Character Movement
  • Scene Chart
  • Scene Outline
  • Setting Worksheet
  • Story Plan Checklist
  • The Complications Worksheet
  • Please check out Catherine Pawsey’s site because she also links to other resources, including workshops on various topics like pacing. If you scroll to the very bottom of her blog, there will be a list of tools.Link

    Manon Eileen has a great worksheet--the Main Character Survey. You can find it here on her site. You fill it in online, then you can print afterwards.

    These worksheets are excellent and are from our friends at the Adventures in Children’s Publishing blog (but are for all genres):

    The Scene Conflict Worksheet - Developing Tension in Your Novel Plotting Made Easy - The Complications Worksheet

    Character Worksheet Part 1

    Character Worksheet Part 2

    Character Worksheet Part 3

    Character Worksheet Part 4

    Writer’s Digest worksheets—from story idea maps, to scene cards, backstory, cliffhangers, research…you name it.

    Jody Hedlund has a Character Worksheet

    Heather McCorkle’s Character Arc Worksheet

    A show-don’t-tell PDF worksheet by Toni Buzzeo

    Worksheets don’t work for you, but still need some direction? Try these posts instead:

    Kaye Dacus’ series on Creating Credible Characters

    Janice Hardy on plotting.

    Janice Hardy on creating characters.

    Outline your novel in 30 minutes

    Worksheets can help some writers organize their story, and can give others a helpful push in the right direction. I don’t always use them, but sometimes they can get me thinking about new directions for my story. See anything that might be helpful? Do you know of any to add?

    Monday, May 30, 2011

    What Our Characters Do When No One is Looking

    blog11My family and I saw a great performance of Cats on Saturday. I’d seen the musical a couple of times before, but it’s been forever since I last saw it.

    One of the things I hadn’t remembered from 20 years ago is that the cats who weren’t on center stage were still acting around the edges of the stage…in character. So while Old Deuteronomy might be in the spotlight, singing a solo, Rum Tum Tugger was flirting off to the side of the stage. Grizabella was trying unsuccessfully to engage with other cats. They were acting in character, even while the spotlight wasn’t on them.

    It made me think about character development. One way that I like to learn more about my characters is to think about what they do when my characters aren’t on stage.

    Most of the time I don’t actually use the information in a book (although sometimes it comes in handy.) But usually it just helps me to know how a character would react in a particular situation. How do they deal with emergencies? Do they laugh when they’re embarrassed or are they the kinds of people who get angry, instead?

    Knowing a little bit about what characters do in their spare time and their background helps me to figure out how to portray them in a story—and sometimes they take the story in a different direction.

    If you’d like some resources to help you think more about your character’s identity, here are some helpful links (and you can find a ton more on the Writer’s Knowledge Base):

    Character Questionnaires and Worksheets: The EPIGUIDE.COM Character Chart for Fiction Writers The Script Lab’s Questionnaire Fiction Writer's Character Chart Adventures in Children’s Publishing worksheet- Part 1 (the other parts to this excellent series are in the left sidebar) Scribe Sisters Questionnaire

    Mind mapping for Character Development and Plotting: Quips and Tips for Successful Writers Write for Your Life Routines for Writers

    Nice article on Character Development Story Fix: 3 Dimensions of Character Development

    What kinds of things help you develop your characters so they come to life on the page? And--Happy Memorial Day to all my American friends...and a big thanks to all our soldiers.

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