Pre-Writing

Thank you for the link!! So needed right now. I've been working on my character development, and have been looking for all the possible character sheets I can find :)

Okay. I have more links. But I completely forgot that I'm not at the office yesterday and today. And we were busy on Wednesday. So I'll try to get you more links starting Monday. I'll probably post a few, since I haven't really followed through on the link a day promise.

Every good book needs a villain. So why not an evil baby? Don't know what one looks like? Check out mine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXEKeeTVi7c

The really good evil laugh is at the end. But it's not too long of a video.

AWWWWW!!! That is SO friggin' CUTE~!!!<3
If I tried to teach my nieces and nephews something like that they'd give me that "Aunties on Neptune again" look.^^;

I really didn't even have to teach her. I was jabbering with her one day and then I did the evil laugh and she copied me. And after that, I just had to do it and she'd do it too. When she's in the mood. I'd been trying for almost a week to get her to do it on video before she finally did. Apparently, she doesn't want people to know that she's an evil scientist in training.

Having trouble plotting your novel? Why not give your main character a tarot reading?

http://www.facade.com/tarot/

I particularly like the Two Paths layout. It gives two possible scenarios hinging on one event. Climax, anyone?

More linkies!!!!

Here are some links to things that won't be in your goodie bags this year, even though they rock.

http://www.silveragebooks.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/mag/ns/ns_2006.htm
This is a great little booklet, though it didn't quite help me with what I would have liked it to. I particularly like their character and timeline pages. And my favorite page? The Fix It Later page, where you can write down stuff to check over in your novel after NaNo is over. It'll really help those people that want to fix things so they won't forget. You can just write it down and come back to it later.

http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/workbooks
Say what? Young Writers Program? Yes, totally. I am in love with their workbooks. They are the coolest. I printed one off for my sister and I plan to print at least part of one for myself. They're really long, so definitely not something for the goodie bags, but they are 100% worth taking a look at. Especially if your plot or characters aren't quite fully formed yet.

This one isn't a link. More of a writing exercise to get the juices flowing.

As I was sitting in the drive-thru line at Sonic, my eyes were wandering. I look over at the little gravel area next to the drive-thru and sitting there, amongst the rocks was one hoop earring. Which made me wonder, how did someone lose just one hoop earring? It was the kind with the little clasp that snaps up to hold it snugly on your ear. Which seems pretty much impossible to lose to me. But there it was.

So let your mind wander. Think of all the ways that earring could have gotten there. Heck, get out a pen and write a little something (not too long, don't want to burn out before NaNo).

I don't know how many of you like to use writing programs. But I'm currently in love with this one.

http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter4.html

You can put in scene descriptions, character bios and pictures, location descriptions, and more stuff I haven't even played with yet. Like timelines and storyboards. It's great, because I can set up chapters with scene descriptions to help me outline my novel before November gets here.

Just a little something for those of you that don't know what pre-writing actually is or how to do it. And it's from KU's website so hurray for keeping it close to home!

http://www.writing.ku.edu/students/docs/prewriting.shtml

http://www.spacejock.com.au/PlottingANovel.html

Spacejock again? I know I linked you guys to his really great writing program yWriter. And those of you who were interested in that, might have browsed around. If not, go browsing. If I weren't married already, I might fall in love with this guy. His stuff is all so useful. I also downloaded his ebook reader (and his ebook). And I think I've read almost all of his writing articles (I skipped the publishing stuff that I'm not ready for yet). I'm in the process of following his system for plotting a novel, and I'm hoping that by doing that, I can figure out my plot a little more before writing day. I hate feeling unprepared.

If you don't like the way he plots using freemind, you could always go through his "How to Beat Writer's Block" article about using placeholders for scenes you don't want to write. Or "How to Write a Novel" for a little bit of an overview on the whole thing. Still not interested in Spacejock? Well, there's always his NaNoWriMo tracking form. And his 7500 word day plan, complete with a handy form to print out and track your progress.

Basically, what I'm saying is, go look at his site.

New day, new link.

I've been trying to find the link to the 20-chapter outline thing that I saw somewhere, but I can't find it. I already know how I outline stuff, so I never actually checked it out. But I know that somewhere someone has a system for outlining a 20-chapter novel that works perfectly for NaNo. So if any of you know what I'm talking about, please, please stick the link in here. Because I've officially been bested.

Instead, today I've got an article from Associated Content with ideas for things you can do in October to prepare.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/421243/how_to_prepare_for_nanow...