Write or Die by Dr Wicked | Putting the 'Prod' in Productivity Using Mind Maps For Creating Novels | No Wasted Ink Take a word. Place that word in the center of a sheet of paper and circle it. Let the word tease your brain. When I’m first beginning a novel’s outline, I like to use mind maps to help generate characters and plot points. Overall Plot Mind Map Start with a central Node, the title of your book. Next I generate mind maps for each of the points that I come up with in the hubs. Character Generation Mind Map Write the name of your character in the center of a sheet of paper. Plot Generation Mind Map Think of an moment in time that will happen in your novel. I am a paper person and write my mind maps in a composition notebook with my fountain pens. I have included a review of five of the the mind mapping software programs below. Freemind This was the first mind map program that I used when I started creating the maps. Xmind I love the visual maps that this program creates. MindMeister This mind map software is probably the most minimalist in the list, but sometimes being simple is an asset. Prezi
WRITING TOOLS | WRITERS HELPING WRITERS Character Pyramid Tool (PDF) Visualize your character’s FLAWS & associated behaviors (for a deeper understanding of this tool, please reference The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Flaws) Character Target Tool (PDF) Organize and group your character’s POSITIVE ATTRIBUTES by category: moral, achievement, interactive or identity (for a greater understanding of this tool, please reference The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes) Character Profile Questionnaire (PDF) Not your average character questionnaire! Reverse Backstory Tool (PDF) Work backwards to find your character’s wound, needs & lie (for a deeper understanding of this tool, please reference The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Flaws) Weak Verb Converter Tool (PDF) Transform all those generic, boring verbs into power verbs Scene Revision/Critique Tool Level 1 & Level 2 (PDF) A ‘light’ and ‘in-depth’ revision checklist for creating compelling characters and scenes
Yarny Spacejock Software Steven Hall: My desktop The calmer and more well-ordered my desktop is, the more I can convince myself I'm on top of things. When I feel like I'm on top of things (even if I'm not) it's much easier to work. My big problem is that I can never predict how long a piece of work is going to take, so I just have to keep going and keep going until – sooner or later – it's done. I took this photo on holiday last year. I almost always work straight onto the computer. "Winter early edited 3" is part of my new novel. The photo of the tattoo isn't mine, it's a Ludovician shark tattoo that someone posted on Twitter. When I first moved to London, I went into a hairdresser and asked for a haircut like Don Draper's. Twitter is incredibly useful.
Free Action Verb list for Writers Early in my writing career, I discovered that using action verbs adds to the color and passion of nearly any type of writing (from novels to screenplays to resumes). For some unknown reason, new writers almost reflexisively tend toward verbs of being. These verbs are inert and slow down description. Johnny is in bed. That tells the reader the basics of Johnny's situation, but Johnny is essentially static. Johnny collapses into the bed. Isn't the second sentence much more compelling? Here I have posted the my list as a Microsoft Word document and Adobe Acrobat PDF file. Action Verb List in Microsoft Word format (.doc, 76K) Action Verb List in Adobe Acrobat PDF format (.pdf, 46K) PS: I collected all of this information and more in a handy poster for easy reference.
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