Until I found Scrivener, I had to write my novels with my word processor and make a special folder on my hard drive for any research that I collected. Most word processors cannot handle book-length documents, so I was forced to write each chapter as a separate file and create a new folder to house [...] Read more »
ZOHO: Cloud Computing for Writers
I heard about cloud computing a few years ago, but the title sounded so stupid and airy-fairy that I never looked into it. After writing a couple of articles on the subject for a client, I regretted my earlier attitude. A lot of time could have been save in emailing documents back and forth to [...] Read more »
Character Writer: Character Development Software
Character Writer is writing software that will help you flesh out your characters. I have been looking for character development software since I found Character Pro 4 a number of years ago. When I found Character Writer during an unrelated search, I downloaded it immediately. Here are my findings. Installation and Setup The installation of [...] Read more »
Character Development through Voice Journals
Alan Rinzler posted a great article about character development, using a technique from James Scott Bell’s The Art of War for Writers, called voice journaling. His article inspired me to practice with the characters I’m writing about. I figured that I would start off with the easiest character first, since I already know a lot [...] Read more »
NaNoWriMo: Just Around the Corner
About two weeks ago, it occurred to me that this year’s NaNoWriMo is starting soon. To get myself in the spirit, I poked around and found these posts. Must-Have Tools for NaNoWriMo from Learn to Write Fiction NaNoWriMo: How I Create Characters Benjamin Solah has got some great posts on how he prepares for NaNoWriMo, [...] Read more »
Writing Progress: Shades of Evil
The rewrite is going very well so far. I’ve just finished the second chapter and plan on starting the third sometime this week. So far, I’ve established (re-established, if you read Prosperity) that Amanda is clairvoyant and that people often get squeamish over the subject, depending upon their religious beliefs. I’ve also established what she [...] Read more »
How to Draw a Basic Mind Map of Your Characters
Knowing the Basics About My Characters Before I start writing my stories, I have to know the basic attributes of my characters: Who are they? Where did they come from? What event brought them into this story? What are their attitudes and why? How will they solve the problem in this story? Will they grow [...] Read more »
Experimenting with the Mind Map Technique
Introduction Mind mapping is a brainstorming technique that has been around for decades. I first heard about the concept in high school, when one of my teachers asked us to draw up a mind map of a chapter in our text book. He didn’t explain it very well, and therefore most of us blew it [...] Read more »
Writing Progress: Back to the Drawing Board
After careful consideration, I’ve decided to scrap the draft of Shades of Evil that I’ve been working on. I made the same mistake that I did with Prosperity by crowding the plot with too many characters. There are also some inconsistencies that I felt needed attention before I can continue. Yesterday, I spent the better [...] Read more »
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