The Process: Pre-Stuff–The Art of Naming Characters
I often think how unfair it is that we don’t get to choose our own names (particularly the first name) when we’re old enough to have some kind of common sense. Parents mean well when they choose their baby’s name. At least I’m hoping that is generally the case. It is unfortunate that sometimes they shouldn’t be allowed to do it, to hamper a future adult with names like Baby or Apple or … I’m sure you get my meaning. Even I’m sort of in that group of “could have had a name I like better.”
As a writer choosing a name for your characters, you are in much the same position as a parent. Except if you are a prolific writer of many, many works (such as I am), you will have the opporunity to pick many names for your characters. My advice: Choose them wisely not on some fanicful whim of the moment.
I’ve added another article on The Art of Naming Characters to both my Writing Tools on my website and to My Writing Tips on this blog. I’ve also included some wonderful links to online name sites.
The Process: Pre-Stuff-Importance of Titles
We all know that first impressions are important and can have a negative or positive effect when meeting people or presenting yourself to a group of people. The same is important with titles for your writing projects. If you’re writing for a big print publisher, chances are you will not get to keep the original …
The Process: The Pre-stuff-Creating a Writing Project Notebook
There are many methods that writers use to keep track of their story information and research materials. Each of us must decide what works best for us. Some people use filing cabinets and files. Others use notebook systems. And still others keep track of everything strictly on the computer and with disks of some kind. …
The Process: The Pre-Stuff-Using Dialogue Tags
Before you write your first piece of dialogue you should understand what tags are and why they are used. Basically, a tag added to a piece of dialogue should make it clear to the reader who is speaking. Sometimes a tag isn’t even necessary. If it is clear who is speaking, then don’t clutter up …
The Process: The Pre-Stuff-Understanding Turning Points
Before you sit down to write your masterpiece of a fiction novel, you need to understand how to get from point A to point Z (from the beginning to the end). You have characters in mind and a basic theme/plot line. You know where you want to start the story and how it will end. …
The Process: Pre-Stuff – Understanding Goal, Motivation, and Conflict
There are a lot of details to learn before you sit down to write a story. One of the most important areas you need to focus on deals with understanding Goal, Motivation and Conflict. If a character doesn’t have a goal to reach in a certain time span, doesn’t feel strongly motivated about obtaining the goal, …
The Process: Pre-Stuff – Understanding Point of View
As we continue to learn some basic information in preparation for writing fiction, I’d like to briefly explain POV (Point of View). What is it, you wisely ask? POV is how a narrator shares with the reader the experiences and observations of events and settings of a story. Many new writers get bogged down in …
The Process: Pre-Stuff – Stages in Romance
Moving along with the things to understand before you start writing…Romance is romance is romance, some say. It is a bit more complicated than that. There are stages that most people go through in getting from first meeting to either walking away from one another or going for that HEA (Happily Ever After). As a …
The Process: Pre-Stuff – General Internet Resources for Writers
There is a ton of information available in libraries, on the Internet, and in other places. My focus this time is on providing a small resource list of general topics to help writers. I have many more on my website under Link.s As always, my list of General Internet Resources for Writers has been added under …
The Process: Pre-Stuff – Heat Levels in Romance
Continuing on with some of the things to know before you start writing romance… It is important to understand the “heat” levels in writing romance and to know how far you can go in showing the emotional and physical aspects in your story. At the same time, it is important that you review the guidelines …
