Create a Story Bible in 6 Easy Steps

/ October 28, 2011/ nanowrimo, prewriting, story bible, tools for writers, writing process/ 6 comments

You should know what you’re writing about by now if you’re doing NaNoWriMo. If you don’t, then I know what you’re doing this weekend and may I suggest you read my posts on plotcards and character/setting deets? Another tool that I can’t live without while prewriting is the story bible. Most writers have a version of this whether it’s a

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Preparing for NaNoWriMo: Character and Some Setting Detail

/ October 25, 2011/ characters, nanowrimo, prewriting, setting details, tools for writers, writing process/ 4 comments

One week from today will be NaNoWriMo and I completed my preparation last night. My plotcards are written and organized. My characters and settings are in decent shape. By decent I mean enough has been determined to crank out a first draft. That’s the key with character and setting: you have to have enough to make it work. Character Detail

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Preparing for NaNoWriMo: Plotcards

/ October 17, 2011/ nanowrimo, plotcards, plotter, prewriting, tools for writers, writing, writing process/ 10 comments

It’s that time of year, not of foliage or way-too-soon Christmas decorations, but of words and words and words. That’s right. It’s NaNoWriMo time. If you’re new on the block, this weird word stands for National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Sounds crazy, right? To quote the Cheshire Cat, “We’re

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Writing Crutches I Can’t Live Without

/ May 20, 2011/ Friday Fives, lists, tools for writers/ 18 comments

What writer doesn’t have some sort of ritual to get into the groove of things? I know, I know. The robot kind. Guess what? We’re not talking about robots today. It’s all about me answering Paper Hangover’s Friday Five. I’m forgoing the obvious things here like laptop, notes, and manuscript since it’s kinda hard to write or revise without these.

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Discovering Crutch Words with Wordle

/ February 11, 2011/ tools for writers, wordle, writing/ 6 comments

Falling to Normal Wordle Crutch words are those sneaky things that are the backbone of your personal vernacular. They can be disguised as fillers, such as “um,” or actual phrases, like “you know?” and “omigod!” They’re so insidious an unobservant person wouldn’t pick up on them.* This is one of the things you should be on the lookout for during

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