My Introduction to Flash Fiction

Being new to NaNoWriMo means I’m also new to the fans, other writers, and motivational resources. In my social interaction I came across a website titled Terribleminds. This guy tells it like he sees it and doesn’t hold back the profanity. I like him and will most likely check in on his blog for years to come. He recently put out a challenge for a 100 word flash fictions with a focus on the writers choice of using one of these five words; frog, powder, seagull, tower, and scissors. I thought, why not, and gave it a try. I quickly picked a word and went to town. I’ve never written flash fiction before, but doing this challenge enlightened my day, so I did more the next day and then the day after that. I did this until all five words were used; the last entry was Black Friday morning. Mr. Chuck Wendig, author of terribleminds.com, offered up a winning prize for what he believes is the best one. I would be thrilled if one of my five made it, but I wouldn’t be a bit sad if they didn’t. [More]

Getting Serious About Writing

This year’s goal to write has been progressing as expected--slowly. I’m not following a well-developed and documented set of steps to reach my goal. It is my own creations. Step Number 1: I started committing to my writing quest publically by creating a blog full of stories. [More]

A Writer’s Character Sheet Template

I recently updated my Scrivener to version 024, which included templates, and decided I needed to create my own character sheet template.  I searched the Internet using my favorite search engine Bing.com and found about 3 helpful sites relating to character templates.  I’ve listed these reference sites below and I appreciate their knowledge on this topic. Italics is used to represent sample data or to provide input details.  Click here for the actual Scrivener Character Sheet for download CharacterSheet.docx (18.81 kb).   <Character’s Full Name>  Nick Name(s):   Gender: Male Age:   Birthday/Year: 10.3323 Marital Status: Single Spouse:           Language(s):   Place of Birth: Planet Barenth Friends/Allies:   Enemies:   Beliefs/Religion:   Career/Past Careers:           Appearance Hair Type: Wavy Eyes:   Hair Color:   Sight: Glasses Skin Color: Dark Brown Complexion/Facial Hair: Full Beard Height:   Weight:   Physical Faults/Tattoos: Scar above left eye. Physical/Mental Health: Race: Clothing: First appearance outfit.         Family Parents/Guardians:   Siblings:           Siblings/Step family (copy and paste below for details on interaction with each family member) Name: Descriptive relationship with character:  What are the statuses of the character’s relationships with each family member? Is this character dead? Is there calm or conflict? Why?   Personality Hobbies: Sword Fighting Natural Talents: Finger Painting Temperament: High Good Qualities: Strengths: Lifting Weakness: Temper         Background: Dreams/Life Goals: Speech Patterns/Frequently Used Phrases:   Likes and Dislikes Likes: Loves: Dogs Dislikes: Tomatoes Loathes: Skinny people. Fears: Tight places Bad Habits: Nail bitter and grunts frequently Turn Ons: Turn Offs: Skinny women and short hair.         Personality Traits Scale Traits Scale Traits Warm 0 ----------------------------+----- 10 Cold Outgoing 0 -----------------+---------------- 10 Shy Spender 0 ------------------+--------------- 10 Saver Optimist 0 -------------------------------+-- 10 Pessimist Easily Provoked 0 -+-------------------------------- 10 Easy-Going Tough-minded 0 -+-------------------------------- 10 Tender-hearted Leader 0 ----+----------------------------- 10 Follower Arrogant 0 ----+----------------------------- 10 Humble Happy 0 ------------------------+--------- 10 Discontent Impulsive 0 -----+---------------------------- 10 Thoughtful Conventional 0 -------------------+-------------- 10 Radical Thinker Emotional 0 ---+------------------------------ 10 Rarely shows emotion Perfectionist 0 ------------------------------+--- 10 Sloppy Risk-taker 0 ----------------------------------- 10 Cautious Charismatic 0 ----------------------------------- 10 Aggravates People Late 0 ----------------------------------- 10 Early for Appointments Efficient 0 ----------------------------------- 10 Inefficient Team-oriented 0 ----------------------------------- 10 Prefers to work alone Quiet 0 ----------------------------------- 10 Loud Subtle 0 ----------------------------------- 10 Direct Selfish 0 ----------------------------------- 10 Selfless Go-getter 0 ----------------------------------- 10 Lazy Heroic 0 ----------------------------------- 10 Cowardly Takes things at face-value 0 ----------------------------------- 10 Reads between the lines Tries to Please People 0 ----------------------------------- 10 Doesn’t Care What Others Think Responsible 0 ----------------------------------- 10 Irresponsible Enthusiastic 0 ----------------------------------- 10 Unexcitable Systematic 0 ----------------------------------- 10 Scatter-brained Happy-Go-Lucky 0 ----------------------------------- 10 Serious Reference links: Scrivener Tutorial - How I Write - by roelani Scrivener - Video - Document Templates & Custom Icons