For those of you who weren't able to attend last year's NaNo Kickoff and Preptober Workshop, this post will house some of the writing related links that were shared during the event. (It also serves as a way of saving them for future reference, since the NaNo Forums are wiped each year.) I also decided it would be a good thing to share as part of the ongoing Tuesday link roundup posts that were originally on this blog.
Something writers often hear about when preparing to publish a novel is that they need a logline. What is a logline? A very short description of the plot of your story that is meant to help hook an editor or reader as part of your elevator pitch. This exercise was adapted from one on www.bryndonovan.com - and for more information on writing loglines, please see the link at the bottom of the exercises. Click here if you'd like to view the exercise and/or download and print it. We all attempted the exercise and some of us shared our rewritten loglines out loud at the workshop.
The picture at the top of the post was contributed to by people who attended the workshop. It shows a list of some sites related to planning and/or brainstorming. They are:
- Coggle.it - This is an online mindmapping site. It is free and can be used for collaborative projects. You can brainstorm characters, character relationships, plot ideas, settings, it's really up to you - and the Coggles you create can be printed out, so you can refer to them when you're offline or lose internet access.
- Idea Engine Worksheet by EA Deverell
- How to Write a Book Now's Plot Outline
- Well-storied
- World Building June on Tumblr
Feel free to use whatever works for you and don't worry about the rest. Adapt as needed to find whatever helps you tell the story you want to tell.
Also from Bryndonovan.com was a printed version of her "One Index Card" plotting method. This can be used by those who don't like to plot or as a starting springboard to more in-depth plotting. The group had fun creating a number of these cooperatively and hearing the strange plots that resulted.
This double-sided Character profile sheet was shared by xwordslingerx as she talked about creating characters. It is simple, has doodle boxes, and you are free to fill it out as much or as little as you like for any of your characters. (It's also good to have one on hand to write down any details you come up with AS you write - so you don't forget about them later!)
Do any of you use any of these sites or resources already? Do you have similar links you'd like to share with us? We will have more posts like this one, but please, feel free to comment and leave some of your favorite writing resource sites and they can be added to a future post.
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