Outlining can be both the most exciting and sometimes the most difficult part of the writing process, especially when you’re trying to draft a novel in only 30 days. So I came up with a solut…
An exciting twist on more common story structures, the Four Act Structure is one you'll definitely want in your novel writing toolkit.
Character arcs are a critical writing skill to master, affecting everything from your novels plot to your theme. There are two types of character arcs...
A blank novel outline template for use with Google Docs, Google Keep, and Scrivener. The One Page Novel is a simple, memorable structure for novelists.
In 2014, I set a long-term goal to read 100 classic novels by the end of 2022. I called my resolve the 100 Novel Challenge. Are you in?
Major Character Characterization -list (SOURCE: anikaandaj.deviantart.com) 5 Ways to Keep Characters Consistent (…
Writing a trilogy of novels comes with many of it's own challenges. However, by outlining your trilogy you can save yourself a lot of stress later on!
There's a reason the Three Act Structure is nearly universal, and that’s because it’s proven to work! When used correctly, The Three Act Structure is...
There are two sides to every novel: plot versus character. There’s no doubt that these two elements are fundamental components of every story, however...
It may be romantic to write your novel without with only a notebook, but it's hard to deny that apps can be a wonderful part of your writing process.
Austen’s six novels are brilliantly reassessed to reveal how radical the world’s favorite author was.
Are you writing a romance novel? Learn how to write a love story by including these six obligatory scenes of the romance genre in your story. #amwriting
Short stories and poetry are great, but it's usually a novel that fosters a true love for reading in the English classroom.This #2ndaryELA Twitter chat was all about teaching novels. Middle school and high school English Language Arts teachers discussed the novels they use at different grade levels. Teachers also shared their methods of reading: whole class or literature circles, in-class or independently as homework. Read through the chat for ideas to implement in your own classroom.
Writing a novel is hard, especially if you’ve never done it before. You’ve spent hours researching, building your world and becoming an expert on your…
If you want to write a fantasy novel, read this post to learn what mistakes to avoid and what your fantasy readers will expect from your story.
Why can't we just say ... *whisper* penis and vagina?
Writing Worksheet – Endings (PDF) In honour of NaNoWriMo, this month’s worksheets will have one purpose: to increase your word count by hook or by book. The final writing worksheet in this marvellous month of November is inspired by the last virtual NaNoWriMo write-in. Imagining the best endings for each of your characters is a…
Did you know a full understanding of the Key Event, its role in story structure, and its timing will help you write stronger First Plot Points?
To survive your second draft, you can’t tackle everything at once! Instead, you need something to focus on, specifically your novel’s structure.
If you’re not sure how to start writing after you get a story idea, you’re probably here looking for answers rather than questions. Yet asking the right plot questions will help you develop a single idea into a complete story. Every element of a story, whether it’s a character, a setting or just a certain […]
May starts with a holiday, May Day, that is actually two completely different holidays with the same name, one being a rather giddy affair involving begarlanded youths dancing around a flower-strewn pole (which, let's face it, was obviously a pagan fertility rite), and the other is a Communist celebration of the worker that is more like Labor Day, except that it tends to feature rather militaristic parades instead of barbecues and family reunions. To each his own! Speaking of barbecues (and, why not, military parades), May has the ever-popular Memorial Day, the unofficial beginning of summer, as well as Mother's Day. Could there be any more reasons to celebrate in May? Heck, yeah! Monthly Observances May is National Allergy / Asthma Awareness Month, although I believe I became aware of my allergies a little earlier this year, thanks. It is also the National Month for Arthritis, Barbecue, Bikes, Eggs, Foster Care, Good Car-Keeping (so keep your National Egg Month celebrations far away, please), Hamburgers, Hepatitis Awareness, Meditation, Mental Health, Military Appreciation, Moving, Osteoporosis Prevention, Physical Fitness and Sports, Physiotherapy, Preservation, Salad, Salsa, Smiles, Stroke Awareness, Revising Your Work Schedule, and Vinegar (good timing, with the salad and all, I must say). It's also National Photo Month, so make sure you take pictures of those nicely-kept cars and your favorite hamburgers. May is also International Audit Month (eek!), as well as the International Month for Business Image Improvement, Victorious Women (yay!) and Lyme Disease Awareness, so if you are being audited and you point out the weird, bullseye-shaped rash on your auditor's leg, she will be treated in time to become victorious over her Lyme Disease and will certainly give you a pass on the audit out of gratitude, thereby improving your business image. Snaps for Lyme Disease Awareness! Weirdest Holiday: I couldn't decide between National Two Different Colored Shoes Day (3rd) and Slugs Return from Capistrano Day (28th), although I am at no loss to determine which one would be easier to observe. May Traditions Flower: lily of the valley - humility, sweetness Birthstone: emerald - tranquility, luck in love Taurus's gem: emerald Zodiac sign: Taurus (1-21) and Gemini (22-31; see June for details). Taurus the Bull is an earth sign, as stable and immovable as the ground under your feet. Also immovable is the bull, who has a reputation for stubbornness. On the good side, that translates into stick-to-it-iveness, loyalty, and reliability, but Taureans may have a hard time adapting to change or seeing other points of view. Best friends: Virgo and Capricorn. Best love matches: Pisces, Scorpio and Cancer. Famous Birthdays: Bing Crosby (2nd), Audrey Hepburn (4th), Karl Marx (5th), Willie Mays (6th), Billy Joel (9th), Yogi Berra (11th), Stevie Wonder (13th), Liberace (16th), Pope John Paul II (18th), Cher (20th), Bob Dylan (24th), Miles Davis (25th), Vincent Price (27th), Gladys Knight (28th), John F. Kennedy (29th), Clint Eastwood (31st). Catholic Feast Days 1- St Brieuc, St Marculf, St Peregrine Laziosi, St Sigismund of Burgundy 2 -St Athanasius of Alexandria, Sts Exsuperius & Zoe, Ste Mafalda, St Wiborada 3- Our Lady of Czestochowa, St James the Less, St Philip 4 -St Florian, Ste Pelegia of Tarsus 5 -St Aventine, Ste Judith, St Hilary of Arles 6 -Ste Ava, St John Before the Latin Gate 7 -St Domitian, St John of Beverly 8 -St Victor Maurus, St Wiro 9- St Tudy, St Pachomius 10- St Cathal, St Job, Ste Solangia 11- St Gengulf, St Claudian Mamertus 12- St Dominic of the Causeway, St Francis Patrizzi, St Pancras 13- Ste Imelda, St Servais, the Blessed Dame Juliana of Norwich, Ste Rolanda 14- St Boniface of Tarsus, St Matthias, the Blessed Giles of Portugal 15- Ste Dymphna, Ste Hallvard, St Isidore the Farmer 16- St Brendan, St Honoratus, St John Nepomucen, St Simon Stock, St Ubald 17- St Madern, St Paschal Baylon 18- St Eric, St Theodotus, St Venantius 19- St Celestine V, St Dunstan, Ste Pudentiana, St Yves 20- St Bernardino of Siena, St Ethelbert 21- St Constantine the Great, St Eugene de Mazenod, St Godric 22- Ste Juliana of Corsica, Ste Rita of Cascia 23- St Didier, St William of Rochester 24- Our Lady, Help of Christians; Ste Sara; Ste Joanna 25- St Bede, St Urban I St Gregory VII, St Zenobius 26- Ste Mariana de Paredes y Flores, Ste Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi, St Philip Neri 27- St Augustine of Canterbury, the Blessed Bartholomea Bagnesi 28- St Bernard of Montjoux, St Germanus 29- Ste Bona 30- St Ferdinand III, Ste Joan of Arc, St Walstan 31-Our Lady of High Grace, Ste Petronilla The fun isn't confined to May! Check out these other months: January - http://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2017/01/your-january-birthday-january-holidays.html February - http://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2016/02/your-february-birthday-february.html March - http://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2016/03/your-march-birthday-march-holidays.html April - http://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2016/03/your-april-birthday-april-holidays.html June - http://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2017/05/your-june-birthday-holidays-traditions.html July - http://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2017/07/your-july-birthday-july-holidays.html August - http://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2016/07/your-august-birthday-august-holidays.html September - https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2019/08/your-september-birthday-september.html October - http://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2016/09/your-october-birthday-october-holidays.html November - http://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2017/10/your-november-birthday-november.html December - http://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2016/12/your-december-birthday-december.html Image from Pixabay https://pixabay.com/en/apple-blossom-blossom-bloom-1125908/
Plot structure can mean the difference between 50,000 words worth of beautiful descriptions, action-packed scenes, and witty dialogue—and an actual story.
Want to learn how to write a thriller novel that works? Make sure you include these 6 key scenes in your story to satisfy fans of the genre! #amwriting #writingtips
5 Tricks How to Hide Your Villain Right Before Their Eyes. Consider the many ways a writer can hide their villain before their readers' eyes. Hide your villain
Why can't we just say ... *whisper* penis and vagina?
Have you ever had the vibes of your story figured out but no plot? This post gives you an easy process to find out what actually happens in yor novel
This character questionnaire helps you think differently and create memorable characters for your stories with 150+ character questions.
How to write a novel: Award-winning novelist Randy Ingermanson teaches his wildly popular Snowflake Method for designing and writing a novel.
Know how to write a book. This is a comprehensive guide for all beginners to become writers and authors, either through traditional or self-publishing.
A teaching approach that utilizes Gareth Hinds' Graphic Novel, The Odyssey.
Arguments are one those things that are both exciting and difficult to write. These are creative writing tips for making sure they have max impact.
As promised, here I am, and here is the post on villains. I’ve noticed that people seem to be more sloppy with their villains than with anything else, (myself included,) and I want to shed some light on the subject. There are a bunch of writings out there about how to build a better villain, but none of them seem to fully encompass what a villain is supposed to be, or how they’re supposed to work. That is something that I find disturbing. Because while everything in writing is supposed to be pure creativity, there are formulas to everything. (Or most everything, anyway.) I’ve tried to put an antagonist formula together, and I think I have something. What we need for the perfect villain is what I’ve decided to call the 1>2>3 equation. And it reads like this: Personality Appearance Other‒Think, “What makes them uniquely bone-chilling?” You see, each of them feed into the last one, with 1 being the most crucial to develop and 3 being more minor. This formula is a bit underdeveloped, but I think that if you can fully flesh out your villain according to it, you won’t be sorry that you did. For example’s sake, I’m going to use several of my favorite villains from movies and books so that you can see how the formula could have affected them. Personality‒You simply CAN NOT have a good character without a fully developed personality, and that goes for villains, too. (Villains are people. Duh.) Personality is probably the hardest part with villains. I mean, how does one create a person who is more than a scary cookie-cutter character, but at the same time, make them believably evil? It’s partially in the motive. Your villain should have some reason to be doing what they are doing‒be it revenge, madness, or just because they can. It also can have a lot to do with backstory. (That seems to be Marvel and DC comic’s strategy.) I think, personally, that it’s both. We can have blood-chilling motive as well as tragic backstory in the same picture, correct? Of course! (I have made links to the example character’s wikipedia pages, in case you’d like to research for yourselves. Clickey-clickey. =D ) The Joker, from DC Comic’s “The Dark Knight:” Disfigured by chemicals and driven mad by something that happened in his past, (all of the Joker “backstories” are unresolved,) the Joker is undoubtedly one of the most intriguing villains in the handful I’ve encountered. Psychologically unstable, as well as having a very gruesome sense of humor, he’s terrifying. (You wouldn’t want to run into him in a dark alley, that’s for sure.) Backstory: While it’s very undecided what exactly happened to Joker, the main story of why he went mad has mostly to do with an attempted heist gone awry, falling into a vat of chemicals, and finding out upon returning home that his wife and unborn child are dead. (You can read the whole story here if you feel so inclined.) Motive: Even people who have gone insane can be greedy. And I think that losing his family made him rather intent on killing the innocent‒an off-handed revenge on fate, if you will. Loki, from Marvel Comic’s “Thor:” A crafty, humanoid alien with both a tragic backstory and a “good” motive for his behavior, Loki is obviously the perfect villain. Manipulative, insecure, a bit irrational… what’s not to appreciate? Backstory: Loki, born on the alien planet of Asgard, was adopted, and also a frost giant‒aka, monster. Throughout his childhood into adolescence, he always felt that his adoptive father‒(not to mention all of the Asgardian people)‒preferred Thor, his stronger adoptive brother, which fed into his development with bitterness and jealousy. Motive: His motive was mostly insecurities‒he wanted to prove that he could be just as good as Thor, and that he was just as powerful. He also wanted revenge on everyone who saw him as “lesser.” So he went for world domination of Earth. Nice move. James Moriarty, from BBC’s miniseries, “Sherlock:” A cunning mastermind; manipulative and ruthless, Moriarty is a psychopath. (Or a sociopath, actually. I did my research.) He is the sworn arch nemesis of Sherlock Holmes, and they have many run-ins on the show‒the kind that leave you chilled to the bone because he is SO smart, and he uses his intelligence in the most mind-bogglingly cruel ways. Backstory: It seems to be implied that Moriarty is rich, or at least somewhat well-to-do, as he has grand tastes and is very intellectual, but not really any backstory is provided for this character. (Which implies to me that he has very little backstory involving itself in his behaviors‒that he perhaps decided to become a criminal mastermind on a whim, and realized that he liked it.) Motive: He doesn’t seem to have much motive, except to prove that he is smarter than Sherlock Holmes, and capable of efficiently killing people and all-around breaking the law. Which is, in itself, disturbing. He is as disgustingly heartless as he is just because he’s parading his twisted, evil ego. So, with all of that said, I realize that I haven’t provided a female villain. It’s because the world of film and literature is very deprived of good female villains! That should give you ideas‒maybe your future novel could have a completely scary villainess? *hint, hint* (I’d totally read that.) Appearance‒This one is important, but villains don’t necessarily have to “look” scary. They can look any way that you decide they should. I have watched and read several stories where the villain was gorgeous, and that was one of the things that made them so frightening. In other stories, there’s one or two things that makes them scary, such as a hand grotesquely twisted in a childhood accident, or a long scar from an operation that did nothing but make their condition worse. That is all fine and good, but I personally have very little patience with “dark dark dark dark” villains‒I’m sure you know the type. The polar opposite of the “Mary Jane” character, and they can be just as much of a turn-off to read. So please, don’t make your villains just “DARK”. Make them fascinating in a way that it disturbs the reader‒and possibly the protagonist‒to be fascinated by them. That in itself will make them truly dark. The Joker: As I said earlier, as part of his backstory, he fell into a vat of chemicals and was grotesquely disfigured‒his skin was bleached, his hair turned green, and his mouth became fixed in a perpetual grin. His voice in that movie was generally calm, and kind of raspy, with a laugh caught between the syllables. It made it creepy. (Voices are important, guys. But please be careful not to overdo it.) Loki: Now, this fellow isn’t hard on the eyes at all, but that isn’t what we’re talking about here. *clears throat* Loki’s appearance contributes to his character in a different way from the Joker’s. Instead of just being scary, it’s the devilish look he gets in his eyes, and the way his mouth seems to be always turning up in a smirk. And his walk is always very cool and collected, even if he’s walking up to an armed enemy. So, to put it straight, his presence is intimidating. James Moriarty: Moriarty has always seemed very kind of creepy to me. Maybe it’s the way he laughs when he’s outsmarting someone, maybe it’s the way he smiles when it seems like he has no way of escaping, but somehow or another, the dude always sets me on edge. And his voice is like a contradiction. It’s kind of whiny and high most of the time, but his words are almost always murderous. So overall, Moriarty is just plain creepy in all areas of his existence. (Especially in the BBC miniseries.) Other‒ There is always something extra in a good villain. (Good villain… oxymorons, anyone? ;D) That something could be anything‒a fetish, a quirk, an odd habit, a strange fascination… you name it! Find something that disturbs you, personally, and weave that thing and the feelings attached into your story. Your villain should give you the shivers, not just your readers! So remember, guys, details. The depth is in the little things. I think that if you follow this set of guidelines‒the 1>2>3 equation, as I’m calling it‒your villains should be fantastically authentic. (Authenticity should have been my middle name. I love it so much.) Maybe they’ll be what will make your books a bestseller, or maybe they’ll be why your beta readers don’t sleep at night. *shrugs* And with that, I’m out. You are completely amazing, and good luck writing your villains! =D ~Alyssa P.S. Dear Beta Readers, It is not my goal that you don’t sleep at night. I used that as an example, and in no way do I wish any of you harm. ;) Love, Someone-who-adores-the people-who-put-up-with-rough-drafts
by Stephanie Morrill Stephanie writes young adult contemporary novels and is the creator of GoTeenWriters.com. Her novels include The Re...
