Character Worksheets and Foreshadowing Guest Post

If you are looking for a post on foreshadowing and symbolism, head over to the Insecure Writer's Support Group site to find it.

Do you use Character Worksheets for writing? 

As I'm tutoring this summer, I keep coming across tools I use to write.

I use both Character Worksheets in a binder and the Save the Cat! Writing Software equivalent within that program.

Here's a list of questions of areas I like on Character Worksheets. The most important/favorite ones are in bold.

MAIN CHARACTER WORKSHEET
1. Name: Age/age range:
2. Family:
3. Occupation/hobby:
4. What does this character look like?
5. Where does this character live? Is the character happy/unhappy there?
6. Is this character happy with life/surroundings/society/friends?
7. Does this character have any fun quirks?
8. What makes this character happy?
9. What makes this character sad/angry?
10. What are this character’s strengths?
11. What are this character’s weaknesses?
12. Write three adjectives to describe this character?
13. Does this character have any special abilities?
14. How could this character change/grow in the course of the story?
15. What does this character think he/she wants?
16. The most important question: What is this character’s heart’s desire?
Heart’s Desire: What the character wants/needs the most in the world. This is usually the heart of the story or dilemma.
For example, the character may think he/she wants to have the best place to live in the world like a mansion by the sea, but what the character really needs is a place to feel at home, a sense of belonging and family. In this story, the character might try to get the mansion by the sea and lose sight of a friend, then learn that they need that friend to have a sense of belonging. The end result of this story might be a reward (the character gets the friendship back and the mansion), or a partial reward (the character gets the friendship but not the mansion), or a punishment (the character loses the friend and the mansion).

For Antagonist Characters, I add these questions:
Why does this antagonist stand in the way of the main character? Is the antagonist a villain? Is the antagonist a friend of the character who thinks he/she knows what’s best for the character? Is the antagonist even human?

Do you use character worksheets or something like them to keep track of your characters?

IWSG: I Can't Do It ALL . . . and that's ok.

Many thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh who started this amazing blog hop, which also now has it's own website and facebook page! And many thanks to all those writers who make IWSG an encouraging and inspiring place to be with their raw and honest look at their insecurities and their encouraging words.

I can't do it ALL. And saying that stresses me out, but also offers me some relief. I can't do it ALL - the big capital ALL: all the stuff I want to do, or mistakenly think that I can do all at once. Originally, with this post, I had a list here, call it a whine list, brag list, whatever, of all the stuff I try to do every day, every week, and every month, and then I thought . . . wait, everyone has a list like that. Everyone I know has a tendency to make "to-do" lists that could take up a piece of butcher paper that stretches across a room.

Maybe I just know crazy people like me . . . who dream big, and then scramble to put foundations under those dreams. And maybe that's ok.

Really, it's ok to dream big. It's ok to fill up massive to-do lists. It's ok, even when I can't get it ALL done ALL at the same time. I can begin, and begin again, and get one thing done at a time.

So, if you are like me, and you like to create gigantic to-do lists for your huge dreams and plans, I encourage you to just take it one bit at time, begin and begin again, if needed and just keep building that foundation, brick by brick, under your dreams.

We can do it, one bit at a time.

And when we struggle, we can pray. I invite you all to participate in Mark Koopmans awesome 50 States of Pray on December 24th!

IWSG August 2012

August is Awesome! It just is. It's my birthday month and my anniversary month. Plus, it's actual summertime here in the Northwest United States . . .it's just getting into the 80s this week. I know that much of the states are sweltering, but here we are just getting warm.

So what in the world does that have to do with IWSG?

 I'm in an unstoppable, amazing mood so I can't really get into insecurities right now. I have them. They suck. I'm not interested in giving them the time of day. I'm just too happy to let them pull me down right now.

So, my advice and encouragement today is:

Be Happy.

Write and Be Happy. Live and Be Happy. Just Be Happy.
Love every word you write. Love your life. Love yourself.
Know Joy.

Then go by Alex J. Cavanaugh's site and give him a giant virtual hug!
And go hug other writers and their blogs!


"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, Rejoice!" Philippians 4:4

It’s that time of month . . .when we examine how insecurity and exhaustion roll over us like waves on a rocky, stubborn shore.

A month ago, I felt truly zestful after the finish of A to Z, and I really didn’t know what to write about for IWSG, except for the fact that I felt encouraged by others and I wanted to go out and encourage more bloggers.

Since then, a rising tide of  blogging insecurities made me want to just bury my head under my laptop, and turn off the internet connection to the world.

My blog is kind of a mess. It’s random. I live on West coast time. I don’t visit other bloggers enough, and when I do, my comments suck. I don’t blog meaningfully enough. I don’t give any amazing advice, or tips for writing, or . . .enough of whatever makes an awesome blog. I’ve been blogging for three years, and I still have yet to master some of the blogging technical basics. What am I thinking, blogging? I started this thing with no research, background, or even knowledge of blog or web platforms, and just started winging it. I still feel like that’s what I do most of the time. My google reader list is totally unorganized and I can barely keep track of posts that I have read, want to read, or blogs that I haven’t visited in far too long. I get too distracted. I’m just not good enough at this blogging thing, I can’t seem to keep up . . .and well, what really makes me feel insecure about blogging is that I just don’t feel like I’m good enough at any of it.

Do you ever feel like that?

And what do you cling to when you feel pounded by a storm of waves?

 Join in on the fun of sharing your deepest, most painful writing insecurities and helping others see past their own. Go to Ninja Captain Alex's latest host post for ISWG here.

BTW - when those waves of insecurities hit me, I just pray, and keep writing anyway.

IWSG and Day 2 of 100 Days of Revision

Many thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh, the super ninja captain of the Insecure Writer's Support Group!

The reality is, many of us, would not have the encouraging support group of blog followers we have, if it were not for the amazing efforts of Alex, and those like him . . .like Arlee Bird and his fantastic team from the A to Z Challenge. They aren't just blog hosts, they are super encouraging blog buddies and supporters of their fellow writers. I know A to Z is done, but I am still feeling incredible thankful for their efforts.

Another blogger that I am thankful for is Karen Lange from Write Now. One of my first followers, and one of the first encouagers I met in the blogging world, I am super excited to have her guest post tomorrow. Please stop by and see what she has to say about the Great Blogging Adventure!

The reality is we all need encouragement. Although we may have some romantic idea of a starving novelist in a garret room with just a small slit of a window writing the world's best novel on an old typewriter, or with pen on scattered sheets of scrap paper, the reality is, we need each other. We need encouragement, feedback, and support.

So I highly encourage you to go and be an encouragement to your fellow writers with IWSG, or through your blog!!! and I highly encourage you to keep writing, keep revising, keep building a foundation under your dreams!

And for fun, check out Nate Wilson's Robot Haiku Contest!

100 Days of Revision Update
What is 100 Days of Revision? It's my personal goal to finish revising The Crystal Sword, and have it ready to go out into the world of beta readers, and query letters.
I started May 1st, and I'll finish on August 8th.
I'm not going to post every day on my progress, but when I post, I'll include my progress so far.

Day 2 Progress: 1,600 words in, and I've revised the first three scenes at least three times. I think they are "worthy" enough to be put aside, so I can move on to chapter 2 or . . .possibly skip to the end. I feel like I need to get my bookends in place before I can straighten and polish the vast middle.

A to Z Challenge: D

A to Z Challenge

Theme: Creativity Toolbox

D = Dance

“Writing is a dance of language.” – Ivan Doig

Dance sets you free, gives shape and definition to a moment of music or silence, and focuses your mind rhythm and movement, the shape of space in a room, the feel of air cupped on your fingers, and the steady floor beneath your feet.

Have you ever danced with your words?

One of the reasons I love the quote, “Writing is a dance of language,” is that it brings up imagery in my mind of a writer dancing with words like a ballroom dancer perfectly partnered. I’m not sure my writing has ever achieved that, but I like to dream of a day when it might.

Insecure Writer's Support Group hosted by Ninja Captain Alex

Sticking with my theme, and trying to keep this all short, I have just a bit of advice to give for anyone who is struggling with their writing. Dance with your words today. Enjoy it!

Sensational Haiku Wednesday hosted by You Know That Blog?

The theme this week was open. This group of haiku was inspired by a young dancer my family knows who lost her ability to dance in an accident. She had to undergo physical therapy to regain basic movement and is beginning to be active in life again.

accidents happen

long held plans, glorious dreams
lost in a moment

she leaps only inside

floats across stages in dreams
swept away by pain


balance eludes her
yet she holds herself straight, poised
in the wings of life


the curtain rises
she lifts her chin, raises her
voice and sings out proud

So, please, dance today. Dance out loud. Dance in your head. Dance to loud music. Dance to silence. Dance with your words.

Insecure Writer's Support Group - Breathe

On the days that I don’t believe in my writing, and I’m having trouble seeing the worth of strangling words into sentences to hang a story by a gnarled plot rope, there are three things that help me:

1.       Prayer

2.       Reading other people’s posts about writing

3.       Reading my own published writing. True, it’s all poetry, short fiction and devotional writing, and most of it is on-line, with little in print. But it helps. A lot. Even when I see mistakes in those published pieces . . . I still can say, “There, that’s me. I’ve done it before, I can do it again.”

What helps you breathe past the suffocation of writer’s insecurity?

Take a moment and breathe . . . then go write!

If you want to find some amazing, encouraging, inspiring blog-writers, go check out The Insecure Writer's Support Group hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh, the awesome blogger and author of CassaStar and his recently released Cassafire!