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Learning How My Brain Works on Stories
A few years ago, it was brought to everyone’s attention that some people think in words, some in pictures and feelings, and other in a combination. The presence or lack of an “inner monologue” sparked a lot of conversations. The implications of this revelation blew my mind and continue to do so every time I see a reminder. Immediately I wondered if this affects the way people interact with books and writing. Could your thinking process affect whether you are a plotter or pantser? Do people with few mind pictures enjoy reading less? The list goes on. Only recently did I begin to consider the consequences for me personally. I…
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How to Turn Your Idea into a Story
Okay, you’ve come up with a great idea, but how do you turn that into an actual story? This is, for some, the hardest part. Often, once you know what the story is, the part where you turn that into a written text is no big deal. (If only, right?) I have come up with a list of questions meant to help you dig into your idea and find the threads of narrative hidden within. They are divided into three main categories: Conflict, Characters, and Setting. Some of the questions seem like duplicates but by virtue of appearing under a different category they are slightly different, with slight nuances. I…
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20 Character Development Writing Prompts (Part I)
There are a great many lists out there of personality traits and favorite things and so on that you can use to invent a character. I have tried using some of them but they don’t usually end up being that helpful. Knowing your character’s favorite color or food doesn’t often play into your story. And labeling him/her as surly, intelligent, and afraid of heights may or may not mean anything when it comes to creating character arcs and plot points. These are somehow specific and too general at the same time. Furthermore, many of them aren’t relevant or need tweaking when writing fantasy and science fiction stories.A method that I…
