Tinocka
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
The Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test
Priming the idea pump (A character checklist shamlessly lifted from acting)
Handling a Cast of Thousands – Part I: Getting to Know Your Characters
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?
Fiction Writer’s Character Chart
Fiction Writer’s Character Chart
Villains are People, Too, But …
Top 10 Tips for Writing Dialogue
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!
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
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
Ideas, Plots & Using the Premise Sheets
Creating Conflict and Sustaining Suspense
Plunge Right In … Into Your Story, That Is!
Fiction Writing Tips: Story Grid
Tips for Creating a Compelling Plot
The Thirty-six (plus one) Dramatic Situations
The Evil Overlord Devises a Plot: Excerpt from Stupid Plotting Tricks
The Hero’s Journey: Summary of the Steps
Outline Your Novel in Thirty Minutes
SETTING, WORLD BUILDING
The Art of Description: Eight Tips to Help You Bring Your Settings to Life
Creating the Perfect Setting – Part I
An Impatient Writer’s Approach to Worldbuilding
Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions
Character and Setting Interactions
Creating Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds
Maps Workshop — Developing the Fictional World Through Mapping
IDEAS, INSPIRATION
Solve Your Problems Simply by Saying Them Out Loud
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
Story Starters and Idea Generators
REVISION
One-Pass Manuscript Revision: From First Draft to Last in One Cycle
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)
January 2012
Many apologies to those I´ve been owing a tag for days :(
And then I am going to crawl into my bed and stay there until tomorrow. IDK what´s up with me but I am terribly lethargic.
You’re right, but that’s because there’s not just ONE type of teenage homosexual—even just the ones I know personally have as wide a variety of personalities as, gasp, straight people! Because, like, your personality isn’t defined by your sexuality at all! WHAAAAT? Some of them are like Kurt. Some are like Blaine. Some are like Santana or Brittany. Some are NONE OF THE ABOVE, and that’s fine, because Glee is a fucking TV show, and they’re trying to be supportive of teenage LBGTQIA people, not to define them (keyword is trying, some things they do are obvs problematic but again, TV show, we can’t expect them to be perfect). This argument makes about as much sense as people bitching that Rachel isn’t an accurate representation of the teenage Jewish person. They are also right, because THEY ARE NOT ALL THE SAME. EVERYONE IS UNIQUE SPECIAL SNOWFLAKES, OKAY?
The thing is, I´d probably be perhaps even inclined to agree with the Kurt-thing, if the people hating him would not regularly go through all the gay character, listing how none of them was an accurate portrayal of gay teens. Well, they are not. Because there is no such thing as an accurate portrayal of gay. I know, because I tried to find one when I was younger. I spent years trying to figure out how to be a lesbian before I realized that all I needed to do was simply be myself. Sure, it´s fine to have gay people portrayed more like average people, but it´s Glee. It´s comedy and every single aspect of it is over-exaggerated. How many people do you know who are like Rachel, Sue or Artie? Not all theater kids are like Rachel, not all wheelchair-bound teens are like Artie and not all gay kids are like Kurt. I, personally, am nothing like Santana. Does that mean she´s not allowed to be presented as a lesbian? The series chooses what will work well on screen and what will be entertaining.
