Writerisms and other Sins: A Writer's Shortcut to Stronger Writing by C.J. Cherryh

This is an excellent bit of help with style and craft and every writer should read it - a short article and to the point.

READ THE ARTICLE

Resources on Writing Character

So, I was just fooling around on the internet, looking for an old pal and then got sidetracked onto the subject of writing and it became a challenge to look up resources on the subject of "Character" or creating it or improving on our characters and so on and here we are... a little collection of links having to do with Character:

"Archetypes, Myths, and Characters"

"Character Arc 101"

"Character Building Workshop" (has some of those nifty checklists and also discussion of the basic character archetypes).

"Death Quaker's Big List of Character Archetypes" (a compilation of character archetypes (Natures and Demeanors) found in the various original World of Darkness books).

"Creating Powerful Characters Using Archetypes" (How to Write Character Driven Stories)

"Character Development Exercises"

"What is a Complex Character?"

"Handbook to Role-Playing"

"Character Creation Checklist"

"Character Checklist"

"Quick Stop for Semi-Important Characters"

"creating and developing characters into real, believable people"

"Creating Real Characters"

"Character Study"

"Creating Believable Characters"

"Archetype"

"Archetypal Character"

"Building 'Character' Checklist"

"Create strong, compelling characters through observation and imagination."

"The Professional Screenwriter: Using Character Archetypes"

"Conflict Can Limit Your Characters"

"Character Traits"

"Creating Memorable Characters"

"The Essential Characters: The Villain"

"The Essential Characters: The hero"

"Character Creation Checklist"

"Character Sketch Template"

"Creating Characters - Making them Walk & Talk"

"CHARACTER ARCHETYPES: The Moral Compass"

"Biography Info for Main Characters"

"Character Development Tips"

"Creating Characters"

"Quickie Character Archtypes" and "Female Archtypes"

"Character Checklist for Actors"

"Exercises to help you develop interesting and believable characters"

"Resource: Stock Characters, Cliches, and Archetypes"

"Archetypal Characters: Introduction to Archetypes"

"Screenplay Checklist for Writers"

"Characters and Story"

"experts on creating great dramatic characters"

"On Archetypes"

"Race/Culture Creation Checklist" (for sci-fi but can be applicable to all genres)

"Mythical character archetypes on Lost"

"Creating Characters that Jump off the Page"

"Character 101"

"List of heroic stock characters"

"Strong Characters versus Weak Character"

"BETTER CHARACTERS: DRESSING FROM THE OUTSIDE IN"

"Screenwriting Fundamentals - CHARACTER"

"Creating Characters With Phobias"
PART ONE and PART TWO:

"A Gallery of Archetypes"

"Creating Memorable Characters"

"Character Arc"

"Top 10 Questions for Creating Believable Characters"

"Make character growth your story's overarching theme"

"Four Steps to Creating Unforgettable Fictional Bad Guys"

"Character Development from Suite 101"

"Character-Driven or Action-Driven?"

"Creating a character profile"

"How to write believable Characters"

"Creating Characters from Plot"

"Creating Characters from Scratch"

"Creating Leading Characters in a Novel"

"Character Development drives Conflict"

"Character Intersects Plot: A Look at Character Arc"

"The Case AGAINST Character Arcs"

Publish Yourself Online

Publish Yourself Online

Scribd is a Silicon Valley startup creating technology that makes it easy to share documents online. You can think of Scribd as a big online library where everyone can publish original content, including you! Part of the idea behind Scribd is that everyone has a lot of documents sitting around on their computers that only they can read. With Scribd we hope to unlock this information by putting it on the web. For more information about scribd.com and how to use it, check out our FAQ

Accepts all major formats, unlimited storage, wide audience, get feedback from community, browse extensive library...

Bibliomania

Eek. All that bright red background. You need sunglasses to visit this webpage but it still might be worth it. From the website:

• Free Online Literature with more than 2000 Classic Texts


• Literature Book Notes, Author Biographies, Book Summaries and Reference Books


• Read Classic Fiction, Drama, Poetry, Short Stories and Contemporary Articles and Interviews


• Study Guides to the most read books and Help for Teachers


• Research our Reference Books, Dictionaries, Quotations,
  Classic Non-fiction, Biographies and Religious Texts


• Buy the books personally read and recommended by Bibliomania

Black on White

What is Black on White?
Above all, it is a web site designed to help writers overcome hurdles (including fear) that are preventing them from producing pages on a regular basis. So often a person will have the desire to write, but fail to complete a work. You'll hear this often: In order to be a writer, one must WRITE. Lord knows I've wasted too many months (OK, years) making excuses when I could have been getting my writing projects done. I want writers use this site as a resource which will encourage them to make a commitment to a project until it's done. To learn more about the philosophy of this page, and more about me, check out The Dust Jacket.

Who's it for?
It's for any writer, or those interested in writing. I hope novelists, short story writers, screenwriters, and nonfiction authors will find it equally enjoyable and useful.

Is this just another way for some jerk to get my money?
Emphatically, NO. I will not charge any fees, or try to sell a service on this web page. Call me a misty-eyed dreamer, but this site is designed with the intention of being a place where writers can come together just when you feel like throwing up all over your keyboard and giving up. A lot more of this philosophy will be explained in detail if you read The Dust Jacket.

What's required for me to participate?
Nadda. Zip. Zilch. Zero. BoW is here for you. There's no sales pitch and no low monthly payment. And I promise not to call just as you're sitting down to dinner.

I only ask that you make the most of this website and what it offers. Our mailing list is a great place to get going if you want a daily nudge in the right direction. If you choose to join, please read our posting guidelines to help keep the list running smoothly. Otherwise, come on in and look around!

Table of Contents

TUTORIAL: Movie Genres

QUESTION: Formats, genre, structure…How long do you think the typical learning curve is for an aspiring screenwriter?

Question: I recently completed a romantic comedy that reads like a modern day fairytail. How do I market this ‘genre’?

Question: I write thrillers and I have a list of producers who have done great thrillers – is this a good way to start submitting my script?

Question: What genre is Hollywood looking for currently?

Question: How do I know if my project belongs on TV or in the movies?

READ THE ANSWERS HERE.

A SCREENWRITING GLOSSARY

A
action description: the overt, physical actions that happen on screen, such as “He falls down the stairs” or “She pulls a gun, hands shaking.”
actor: a gifted individual who has studied the craft of acting in order to portray roles in performances of dramatic literaure.
alter-ego: a substitute “self” for a writer, usually a protagonist in the writer’s story.
ambience: the overall quality of mood, tone, or atmosphere in a film.
antagonist: a character that puts barriers and reversals in the way of a protagonist’s progress or objective.
archetype: a universal character modeled upon those that have been appearing in stories since the time of our ancient ancestors.
assistant director: a film crew member whose job it is to manage the set protocols and keep the film shoot on schedule.
atmosphere: the dominant mood or emotional tone of a film.
audience expectation: particular elements of a film genre which the audience consciously or unconsciously expects to see.
aural: a film element that can be heard (such as an off screen sound like a dog howling or a gun firing).

...and so on...MORE HERE

Artslynx

International Arts Resources from Artslynx
Arts Links to Theatre, Dance, Music, and more from Artslynx
Artslynx is designed as a portal to the best information on the arts available on the web. It's curated link libraries and extensive original material (especially in the areas of theatre and dance) are specifically optimized for researchers, scholars, educators, students, and professionals working in the arts.

VISIT THE WEBSITE

Interesting Websites for Writers

Word Lab - visit main website
What in the Blinch is Wordlab?
Am I free to harvest this rich lingoplasm?
I like my neologisms defined for me. Why don't you do that?
Who can benefit from Wordlab's brilliance?
How do I use Wordlab?
Are you looking for a unique name or slogan for your business or personal use?
Does it cost me anything?
How can I participate?

Ricliché
Uses playfully distorted proverbs as prompts.

WordGizmo
An exercise in finding meaning in nonsense.

Click the Generate button to view a new word. Keep clicking until you see a new word that suggests a meaning to you. When you generate a word you'd like to see listed in the WordGizmo Dictionary, please submit a definition. Include your name if you would like the definition attributed to you.

All entries appear immediately in the WordGizmo Warehouse. Selected definitions will eventually appear in the WordGizmo Dictionary.

Domestic Goddesses
A moderated E-journal, devoted to women writers who wrote domestic fiction beginning in the 19th century.

Greatest Film Misquotes
Some of the most classic film lines or scenes are really only legendary and/or apocryphal, or they are merely movie misquotes, but after many years of repetition, they have become part of the filmgoing public's consciousness. Many of these examples are film quotes that were either commonly attributed wrongly, or in fact were never actually spoken, such as:

In The Virginian (1929), one of the earliest Western talkies, Gary Cooper's taunting line was not: "Smile when you call me that!", or "When ya call me that, smile!", but "If you wanna call me that, smile."Play 1929 clip: (88 KB)

The legendary blood-sucking Count Dracula (Hungarian-born actor Bela Lugosi) never said "I want to suck your blood" in the Universal horror classic, Dracula (1931). However, the line was used in a humorous context by Dr. Tom Mason (Ned Bellamy) practicing his Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau) impersonation in director Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994).

Costumer's Manifesto
Everything you could want to know. Research for a story or character or an indie film project.

Short Story Classics:
The Best from the Masters of the Genre

Canterbury Tales
On this site you will find William Caxton's two editions of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, probably printed in 1476 and 1483. The originals are both in the British Library.

Cambridge History of English and American Literature
Considered the most important work of literary history and criticism ever published, the Cambridge History contains over 303 chapters and 11,000 pages, with essay topics ranging from poetry, fiction, drama and essays to history, theology and political writing. The set encompasses a wide selection of writing on orators, humorists, poets, newspaper columnists, religious leaders, economists, Native Americans, song writers, and even non-English writing, such as Yiddish and Creole.

Brain Candy
Brain Candy has been on the web since 1990! We started as an unusual collection of ways to have fun with words. Because we love language and words, we've been collecting bits and pieces of quotes and quips and songs and poetry for years and years. Our collections have grown through the years so that we now can claim to have the best dying words of famous people, the best celebrity sarcastic comments and insults, the best collections of jokes and humor. AND we've managed to keep our collections of word play and brain entaglement clean enough to be suitable for family viewing!

Simple Plot and a Random Story Generator

The Simple Plot and a Random Story Generator spits out a random story idea that they use to illustrate how to flesh out a bare bones plot. It's kind of a fun exercise for your writer's brain.

From the website:

Fictional stories usually have a distinct plot or general summary of what happens in the story. A given plot can result in a number of different stories, depending on the specific characters, locations and activities.

Questions you may have are:

What is an example of a simple plot?
What are examples of stories for this plot?
How can I use this in story writing?

In a typical plot, there is the protagonist--who is the hero or heroine of the story--and the antagonist or villain. There is also often a bystander or victim of the villain.

Consider the following very simple plot:

1. A person sees a villain do something bad to an innocent bystander. This is a problem, dilemma or conflict for the person.

2. He or she tries to stop the villain, but the villain seems to escape. This is a point of tension, because of the possibility of failure.

3. The protagonist then makes a valiant effort and catches the villain.

4. The victim is grateful and rewards the protagonist.

By changing names, descriptions and actions, you can write a variety of stories for this simple plot.

VISIT THE WEBSITE

GREAT GIFT IDEA FOR A WRITER: The Napkin Notebook

The Napkin Notebook
from MoMA

It is a little known fact that the first sentence in "A Farewell to Arms" was written on a cocktail napkin.This notebook conveniently keeps big ideas from getting lost. Includes 20 cocktail napkins, spiral bound with one ball point pen. Size: 5"sqr.

MORE ABOUT THE NAPKIN NOTEBOOK:

This is a fun website because it lets you "play" with the napkin notebook online, doodling or writing or anything, and then you can choose to share your masterpiece with the rest of the world. Also links to the MoMA webpage where you can purchase the real thing.

Creating Visual Scenes by Dorian Scott Cole

Creating Visual Scenes
Copyright © 2003, Dorian Scott Cole

EXCERPTS:

Step 1.
Think of a scene as a miniature story. Scenes typically have a very brief opening that establishes the conflict, followed by rising tension, and a climactic resolution. Thinking through the scene, and then creating a representative shot, will help focus the drama and influence the visual presentation.

To create a story arc (rising tension) and a representative shot, ask yourself what character need is driving the action to this scene, why there will be a conflict, and what is going to happen in the scene.

Step 2.
Ask how important the scene is to the story. If the scene was missing, would the story still be intact? If no, it is an important scene, so choose an appropriate setting that enhances the drama, and if needed, give it time. But if the scene isn't that important, use the available locations or sets, and give it less time.

Step 3.
Sketch a single shot that represents the entire drama in the scene. This very visual shot would represent the height of tension where the conflict is fully developed, the climax.

This shot can also form the locus of activity in a short scene, so the drama will focus in this space. Any other set features then are incidental, and are there for variety only. However, creating too many scenes in this manner, that limit physical action to a small space, would make the movie (or novel) come off like a stage play. Cinema presents the probability of larger movement. Establishing a locus is one helpful technique for creating a short scene.

In the scene, to create the arc (rising tension) think through the battle. Make sure that the physical action matches your character's personality.

What would your character do? Think about a range of actions: cry, beg, demand, argue, build a case, use metaphors to help... While the original picture may tell the story, an individual character action may need to be altered to fit his personality.

When you are finished, you have a scene that is presented visually, is dynamic, and fits your character.

COMPLETE ARTICLE

Top Ten Reasons to Write with a Partner

From the website:

Want to double your chance for success in this business? If so, we strongly suggest you write with a partner. Yes, you have to find the right person, and when you start selling your scripts, you’ll split the money, but we, and the successful script partners we’ve talked to, agree that the advantages of sharing the writing far outweigh the disadvantages of sharing the bottom line. It would take a book (and we wrote it!) to explore all the reasons to write with a partner, so we’ve assembled the consensus Top Ten, as follows... READ THE ARTICLE

The Five Key Turning Points of All Successful Scripts

I loved my writing classes with Michael Hauge through the UCLA Writer's Program. I learned solid storytelling and proper craft***. Mr. Hauge was very approachable, easy to talk to and he seemed to genuinely enjoy being there in the classroom no matter how many dumbass newbie wannabe questions students needed to ask but were always too embarrassed to ask anyone else. He's one of the good guys.

This article from Mr. Hauge's website is well worth reading with the disclaimer by me that there is no chiseled into concrete ABSOLUTE RULE about the right way to write. If you've studied screenwriting, you already know that.

If you've spent time on writers' messageboards and forums, you will often see quite heated and silly debates about "the rules." I say there is only one "rule" and it is:

Whatever works, works.
Meanwhile, it doesn't hurt to listen to somebody who knows what the hell they are talking about explain a few basics. That's why I recommend you read the article named in the title of this post. Here's another link to it. And here are a few excerpts:

"Though writing a successful Hollywood movie is certainly not easy, the stories for mainstream Hollywood films are all built on only three basic components: character, desire and conflict."

"Film stories portray heroes who face seemingly insurmountable obstacles as they pursue compelling objectives... Plot structure simply determines the sequence of events that lead the hero toward this objective."

"In a properly structured movie, the story consists of six basic stages, which are defined by five key turning points in the plot. Not only are these turning points always the same; they always occupy the same positions in the story. So what happens at the 25% point of a 90-minute comedy will be identical to what happens at the same percentage of a three-hour epic. (These percentages apply both to the running time of the film and the pages of your screenplay.)"

SEE A DIAGRAM OF HAUGE'S SIX STAGE PLOT STRUCTURE [IMAGE LINK]

Read the entire article (you won't be sorry and do remember to be wise about mentally storing away or using all the expert advice there is to be had in cyberspace and in books).

If you are a new writer (as yet unsold and/or unpublished and most likely without an agent although you may have been writing for years and have many finished works), you might believe that craft*** doesn't matter as much as character which doesn't matter as much as theme which doesn't matter as much as plot and story structure and on and on and any combination of the above.

It ALL matters.

Please, please, please do not take as gospel anything proclaimed by self-styled "gurus" of the writing trade that you will find lurking around online writing communities and messageboards. Listen to it all, sift through it, keep what makes sense or what you've had confirmed from truly authentic sources then discard the rest.

Heh heh... I've offended more than one fake guru suffering from Rampaging Ego Syndrome when I've made available the REAL deal by way of linking to a real authority or perhaps by posting the very excerpt posted by the Ego-Fake-Guru person as if it had been their own words.

LOL, I even had to have one messageboard shut down to public view when I caught one of the dummies posting my own writing as their work! Of course, it didn't hurt when the messageboard company was contacted by the reporter from the Washington Post who also objected to having her work copied and pasted without any attribution. That's a definite no-no.

In any event, Mr. Hauge's knowledge and expertise is absolutely worth listening to and digesting and then using if it makes sense to you. Give it a whirl.

Meanwhile, keep writing! Just..do..it.

***CRAFT: There seems to be some confusion over the meaning of this word as it applies to "writing" or "screenwriting." Craft is merely the bare bones mechanics of how you put those words onto that paper (or computer screen). Craft is NOT storytelling.

Craft is, for example: When do I doublespace? How many pages should I write? How do I format a page (spacings, indentations, tabs, etc.)?

Even though "craft" is the mechanical means by which you reveal story and character and incident, it is not the actual story, etc. Yes, craft might involve WHEN certain elements happen in the course of telling a story but craft is not the actual story. Is that too confusing? I hope not.