- Character Development Questions for Writers (113 questions; geared toward supernatural narratives)
- 30 Character Questions (30 questions; very basic)
- The Mother of All Character Questionnaires (382 questions; extremely in-depth and geared toward tabletop role-players)
- Character Questionnaire
102 Resources for Fiction Writers
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)
The 4 Most Common Mistakes Fiction Editors See
Wouldn’t it be great if nobody ever needed an editor? If all of our stories and novels appeared in readers’ minds just as beautifully and vividly and succinctly they do in our own?
Wouldn’t it be great if the story we think we’ve told were, in fact, the story we’ve told?
There are more aspiring writers producing more manuscripts now than ever before history, and the writing-advice industry is keeping stride with totally conflicting instructions.
The result: everybody’s doing it, but nobody knows what the heck is going on.I’d like to simplify that a little for you. Before you rush your beloved manuscript off to an editor, here are the four most common mistakes fiction editors see:
1. Unfocused structure
This is the biggest reason manuscripts get rejected. You’re telling a wonderful, powerful, gripping, complex story… but you’re the only person who actually knows that. Everyone else sees a long, rambling, uneven tale of various events happening to various characters. Why? What makes these things happen? And, most important to your reader, why are you telling us this?
Every novel needs a focus. What’s your point? What is it that you want the reader to know? That focus is your Climax, the one part your story simply could not do without. “I died of romanticism.” “I almost got et by a whale.” “I pretty nearly wrecked my life being a selfish grinch.”
At the same time, every novel needs a really good reason for the reader to care. That’s your Hook. The reader may have picked your book up for its snazzy cover, but you desperately need them not to put it down.
And every novel needs a series of intriguing, hair-raising, addictive events carrying the reader from the Hook to the Climax. You could just tell us the Climax. “The butler did it.” But long fiction is all about the wonderful, rollicking adventure building upon why that matters.
The hardest thing for aspiring writers to believe is that all this is holographic: what’s essential for the novel is also essential for the chapter, episode, even scene. Every single one of them needs a Climax, Hook, and some type of events leading from one to the other.
Read that again. Every single one.
2. Misplaced backstory
We live in a chronological world, so it makes sense to assume whatever happens first to your characters should appear first in your novel.
Unfortunately, we don’t read in a chronological world. We read for excitement. We read for the thrill of our blood pressure being inflated, soothed, then inflated again. We read for the rollercoaster ride.
All fiction starts with a Hook—the gripping thing that first sends these particular characters careening toward that particular doom. Yes, the backstory that influences and directs the rollercoaster matters, but the reader’s willing to wait until Chapter Two or even Three to learn about it.
They’re hopping aboard not because they understand exactly what’s going on, but because they simply care too much about Chapter One to put it down.
3. Underdeveloped character
This point can be difficult for the aspiring writer to grasp, because it just involves so darn much time. You know these characters! They’ve been coming to you in your dreams for years! Everything they do and say on the page makes perfect sense. How could it not be obvious?
I’m sorry. It’s not.
The craft of fiction is the craft of telepathy, of projecting the characters who are so much a part of your life and heart into the lives and hearts of total strangers. In order to do that, you need to spend an extraordinary amount of time getting to know them—not just their statistical data (although that’s a good start), but deep, complicated, intangible, detailed knowledge of them as living, breathing, suffering, contrasting individuals. You need to know their mannerisms, gestures, and expressions. You need to know their foibles, misconceptions, paradoxical needs. And, most of all, you need to know what they’re hiding from themselves.
Because how that comes to light is your story.
4. Unpolished prose
You simply have to learn how to write clearly. I know—no one can line edit their own work. This is true, and it sucks. But everyone can learn to write more clearly than they do.
Simple syntax: subject-verb. Simple rhythms: subtle variations on a few short sentences and a long, or a few longs and a short. Building and falling tension. Proper grammar and punctuation. Details that matter, both big to encompass atmosphere and tiny to create three-dimensional images.
Classic language is simple language. The reader’s pleasure lies not in the effort you put into a trumpeting voice, but in how invisible you make the words, just how close you can get to telepathy.
It lies in how your story rises up through all that clarity—a treasure surfacing from deep water.
- a young character
- a character who lost someone important
- a flirtatious character
- a villain (2) (3) (4)
- a character based on yourself
- a hit man or mercenary
- an indifferent character
- a bitchy character
- a gay character
- a dancer
- a vampire
- a pansexual character
- a character on the police force
- a drunk character
- a manipulative character
- a friends with benefits relationship
- a natural born leader (2)
- a nice character
- a british character
- a character with a baby
- an assassin
- a character with night terrors
- a rich character
- a witty character
Character Flaws
- Absent-minded - Preoccupied to the extent of being unaware of one’s immediate surroundings. Abstracted, daydreaming, inattentive, oblivious, forgetful.
- Abusive - Characterized by improper infliction of physical or psychological maltreatment towards another.
- Addict - One who is addicted to a compulsive activity. Examples: gambling, drugs, sex.
- Aimless - Devoid of direction or purpose.
- Alcoholic - A person who drinks alcoholic substances habitually and to excess.
- Anxious - Full of mental distress or uneasiness because of fear of danger or misfortune; greatly worried; solicitous.
- Arrogant - Having or displaying a sense of overbearing self-worth or self-importance. Inclined to social exclusiveness and who rebuff the advances of people considered inferior. Snobbish.
- Audacious - Recklessly bold in defiance of convention, propriety, law, or the like; insolent; braze, disobedient.
- Bad Habit - A revolting personal habit. Examples: picks nose, spits tobacco, drools, bad body odour.
- Bigmouth - A loud-mouthed or gossipy person.
- Bigot - One who is strongly partial to one’s own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ.
- Blunt - Characterized by directness in manner or speech; without subtlety or evasion. Frank, callous, insensitive, brusque.
- Bold - In a bad sense, too forward; taking undue liberties; over assuming or confident; lacking proper modesty or restraint; rude; impudent. Abrupt, brazen, cheeky, brassy, audacious.
- Callous - They are hardened to emotions, rarely showing any form of it in expression. Unfeeling. Cold.
- Childish - Marked by or indicating a lack of maturity; puerile.
- Complex - An exaggerated or obsessive concern or fear. (List specific complex.)
- Cruel - Mean to anyone or anything, without care or regard to consequences and feelings.
- Cursed - A person who has befallen a prayer for evil or misfortune, placed under a spell, or borne into an evil circumstance, and suffers for it. Damned.
- Dependent - Unable to exist, sustain oneself, or act appropriately or normally without the assistance or direction of another.
- Deranged - Mentally decayed. Insane. Crazy. Mad. Psychotic.
- Dishonest – Given to or using fraud, cheating; deceitful, deceptive, crooked, underhanded.
- Disloyal - Lacking loyalty. Unfaithful, perfidious, traitorous, treasonable
- Disorder - An ailment that affects the function of mind or body. (List the disorders name if they have one.) See the Mental Disorder List.
- Disturbed - Showing some or a few signs or symptoms of mental or emotional illness. Confused, disordered, neurotic, troubled.
- Dubious - Fraught with uncertainty or doubt. Undecided, doubtful, unsure.
- Dyslexic - Affected by dyslexia, a learning disorder marked by impairment of the ability to recognize and comprehend written words.
- Egotistical - Characteristic of those having an inflated idea of their own importance. Boastful, pompous.
- Envious - Showing extreme cupidity; painfully desirous of another’s advantages; covetous, jealous.
- Erratic - Deviating from the customary course in conduct or opinion; eccentric: erratic behaviour. Eccentric, bizarre, outlandish, strange.
- Fanatical - Fanatic outlook or behaviour especially as exhibited by excessive enthusiasm, unreasoning zeal, or wild and extravagant notions on some subject.
- Fickle – Erratic, changeable, unstable - especially with regard to affections or attachments; capricious.
- Fierce - Marked by extreme intensity of emotions or convictions; inclined to react violently; fervid.
- Finicky - Excessively particular or fastidious; difficult to please; fussy. Too much concerned with detail. Meticulous, fastidious, choosy, critical, picky, prissy, pernickety.
- Fixated - In psychoanalytic theory, a strong attachment to a person or thing, especially such an attachment formed in childhood or infancy and manifested in immature or neurotic behaviour that persists throughout life. Fetish, quirk, obsession, infatuation.
- Flirt -To make playfully romantic or sexual overtures; behaviour intended to arouse sexual interest. Minx. Tease.
- Gluttonous - Given to excess in consumption of especially food or drink. Voracious, ravenous, wolfish, piggish, insatiable.
- Gruff - Brusque or stern in manner or appearance. Crusty, rough, surly.
- Gullible - Will believe any information given, regardless of how valid or truthful it is, easily deceived or duped.
- Hard - A person who is difficult to deal with, manage, control, overcome, or understand. Hard emotions, hard hearted.
- Hedonistic - Pursuit of or devotion to pleasure, especially to the pleasures of the senses.
- Hoity-toity- Given to flights of fancy; capricious; frivolous. Prone to giddy behaviour, flighty.
- Humourless - The inability to find humour in things, and most certainly in themselves.
- Hypocritical - One who is always contradicting their own beliefs, actions or sayings. A person who professes beliefs and opinions for others that he does not hold. Being a hypocrite.
- Idealist - One whose conduct is influenced by ideals that often conflict with practical considerations. One who is unrealistic and impractical, guided more by ideals than by practical considerations.
- Idiotic - Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless.
- Ignorant - Lacking knowledge or information as to a particular subject or fact. Showing or arising from a lack of education or knowledge.
- Illiterate - Unable to read and write.
- Immature - Emotionally undeveloped; juvenile; childish.
- Impatient - Unable to wait patiently or tolerate delay; restless. Unable to endure irritation or opposition; intolerant.
- Impious - Lacking piety and reverence for a god/gods and their followers.
- Impish - Naughtily or annoyingly playful.
- Incompetent - Unable to execute tasks, no matter how the size or difficulty.
- Indecisive - Characterized by lack of decision and firmness, especially under pressure.
- Indifferent - The trait of lacking enthusiasm for or interest in things generally, remaining calm and seeming not to care; a casual lack of concern. Having or showing little or no interest in anything; languid; spiritless.
- Infamy - Having an extremely bad reputation, public reproach, or strong condemnation as the result of a shameful, criminal, or outrageous act that affects how others view them.
- Intolerant - Unwilling to tolerate difference of opinion and narrow-minded about cherished opinions.
- Judgemental - Inclined to make and form judgements, especially moral or personal ones, based on one’s own opinions or impressions towards others/practices/groups/religions based on appearance, reputation, occupation, etc.
- Klutz - Clumsy. Blunderer.
- Lazy - Resistant to work or exertion; disposed to idleness.
- Lewd - Inclined to, characterized by, or inciting to lust or lechery; lascivious. Obscene or indecent, as language or songs; salacious.
- Liar - Compulsively and purposefully tells false truths more often than not. A person who has lied or who lies repeatedly.
- Lustful - Driven by lust; preoccupied with or exhibiting lustful desires.
- Masochist - The deriving of sexual gratification, or the tendency to derive sexual gratification, from being physically or emotionally abused. A willingness or tendency to subject oneself to unpleasant or trying experiences.
- Meddlesome - Intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner, given to meddling; interfering.
- Meek - Evidencing little spirit or courage; overly submissive or compliant; humble in spirit or manner; suggesting retiring mildness or even cowed submissiveness.
- Megalomaniac - A psycho pathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of wealth, power, or omnipotence.
- Naïve - Lacking worldly experience and understanding, simple and guileless; showing or characterized by a lack of sophistication and critical judgement.
- Nervous - Easily agitated or distressed; high-strung or jumpy.
- Non-violent - Abstaining from the use of violence.
- Nosey - Given to prying into the affairs of others; snoopy. Offensively curious or inquisitive.
- Obsessive - An unhealthy and compulsive preoccupation with something or someone.
- Oppressor - A person of authority who subjects others to undue pressures, to keep down by severe and unjust use of force or authority.
- Overambitious - Having a strong excessive desire for success or achievement.
- Overconfident - Excessively confident; presumptuous.
- Overemotional - Excessively or abnormally emotional. Sensitive about themselves and others, more so than the average person.
- Overprotective - To protect too much; coddle.
- Overzealous - Marked by excessive enthusiasm for and intense devotion to a cause or idea.
- Pacifist - Opposition to war or violence as a means of resolving disputes. (Can double as a merit in certain cases)
- Paranoid - Exhibiting or characterized by extreme and irrational fear or distrust of others.
- Peevish - Expressing fretfulness and discontent, or unjustifiable dissatisfaction. Cantankerous, cross, ill-tempered, testy, captious, discontented, crotchety, cranky, ornery.
- Perfectionist - A propensity for being displeased with anything that is not perfect or does not meet extremely high standards.
- Pessimist - A tendency to stress the negative or unfavourable or to take the gloomiest possible view.
- Pest - One that pesters or annoys, with or without realizing it. Nuisance. Annoying. Nag.
- Phobic – They have a severe form of fear when it comes to this one thing. Examples: Dark, Spiders, Cats
- Practical - Level-headed, efficient, and unspeculative. No-nonsense.
- Predictable - Easily seen through and assessable, where almost anyone can predict reactions and actions of said person by having met or known them even for a short time.
- Proud - Filled with or showing excessive self-esteem and will often shirk help from others for the sake of pride.
- Rebellious - Defying or resisting some established authority, government, or tradition; insubordinate; inclined to rebel.
- Reckless - Heedless. Headstrong. Foolhardy. Unthinking boldness, wild carelessness and disregard for consequences.
- Remorseless - Without remorse; merciless; pitiless; relentless.
- Rigorous - Rigidly accurate; allowing no deviation from a standard; demanding strict attention to rules and procedures.
- Sadist - The deriving of sexual gratification or the tendency to derive sexual gratification from inflicting pain or emotional abuse on others. Deriving of pleasure, or the tendency to derive pleasure, from cruelty.
- Sadomasochist - Both sadist and masochist combined.
- Sarcastic - A subtle form of mockery in which an intended meaning is conveyed obliquely.
- Sceptic - One who instinctively or habitually doubts, questions, or disagrees with assertions or generally accepted conclusions.
- Seducer - To lead others astray, as from duty, rectitude, or the like; corrupt. To attempt to lead or draw someone away, as from principles, faith, or allegiance.
- Selfish - Concerned chiefly or only with oneself.
- Self-Martyr - One who purposely makes a great show of suffering in order to arouse sympathy from others, as a form of manipulation, and always for a selfish cause or reason.
- Self-righteous - Piously sure of one’s own righteousness; moralistic. Exhibiting pious self-assurance. Holier-than-thou, sanctimonious.
- Senile - Showing a decline or deterioration of physical strength or mental functioning, esp. short-term memory and alertness, as a result of old age or disease.
- Shallow - Lacking depth of intellect or knowledge; concerned only with what is obvious.
- Smart Ass - Thinks they know it all, and in some ways they may, but they can be greatly annoying and difficult to deal with at times, especially in arguments.
- Soft-hearted - Having softness or tenderness of heart that can lead them into trouble; susceptible of pity or other kindly affection. They cannot resist helping someone they see in trouble, suffering or in need, and often don’t think of the repercussions or situation before doing so.
- Solemn - Deeply earnest, serious, and sober.
- Spineless - Lacking courage. Cowardly, wimp, lily-livered, gutless.
- Spiteful - Showing malicious ill will and a desire to hurt; motivated by spite; vindictive person who will look for occasions for resentment. Vengeful.
- Spoiled - Treated with excessive indulgence and pampering from earliest childhood, and has no notion of hard work, self-care or money management; coddled, pampered. Having the character or disposition harmed by pampering or over-solicitous attention.
- Squeamish - Excessively fastidious and easily disgusted.
- Stubborn - Unreasonably, often perversely unyielding; bull-headed. Firmly resolved or determined; resolute.
- Superstitious - An irrational belief arising from ignorance or fear from an irrational belief that an object, action, or circumstance not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome.
- Tactless - Lacking or showing a lack of what is fitting and considerate in dealing with others.
- Temperamental - Moody, irritable, or sensitive. Excitable, volatile, emotional.
- Theatrical - Having a flair for over dramatizing situations, doing things in a ‘big way’ and love to be ‘centre stage’.
- Timid -Tends to be shy and/or quiet, shrinking away from offering opinions or from strangers and newcomers, fearing confrontations and violence.
- Tongue-tied - Speechless or confused in expression, as from shyness, embarrassment, or astonishment.
- Troublemaker - Someone who deliberately stirs up trouble, intentionally or unintentionally.
- Unlucky - Marked by or causing misfortune; ill-fated. Destined for misfortune; doomed.
- Unpredictable - Difficult to foretell or foresee, their actions are so chaotic it’s impossible to know what they are going to do next.
- Untrustworthy - Not worthy of trust or belief. Backstabber.
- Vain - Holding or characterized by an unduly high opinion of their physical appearance. Lovers of themselves. Conceited, egotistic, narcissistic.
- Weak-willed - Lacking willpower, strength of will to carry out one’s decisions, wishes, or plans. Easily swayed.
- Withdrawn - Not friendly or Sociable. Aloof.
- Zealous - A fanatic.
writing tumblr!! for ideas plots and whatever its pretty bad dont expect much lol
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