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Brief introduction to your character: "(A quote from your character)" Name First name: -Meaning: - Pronunciation: - Origin: Middle name: -Meaning: - Pronunciation: - Origin: Surname: -Meaning: - Pronunciation: - Origin: Alias: -Why this alias?: Nickname(s): -Why this nickname?: Title(s): Characteristics Canon/Story: Role: Age: How old do they appear? Mental Age: Gender: Race: Nationality: Ethnicity: Blood Type: Birth Date: Birth Weight: Birth Length: Manner of Birth: First Words: Symbol: Sexuality: Religion: Native Language: Spoken Languages: Relationship Status: Chinese Zodiac Sign: Astrological Sign: Tarot Card: Social Secur

Please copy and paste this into a Word document or deviation. Then highlight the information after the colons and type over it. Setting Time/Era: Exact year or approximate time Name of Country: For fun, you could alter the name of an old country to amuse more educated readers. For example, I altered the Assyrian Empire's name for a conquering people to evoke images of brutality and Mesopotamia. Geography: Keep track of all the places you mention and their approximate locations. I find it handy to draw a rough map of the area. Landscape: Trees, soil, water, buildings... Imagine you were flying over the place in an airplane. What would you

8 Tips for Writing Dialogue for your Characters Anybody Can Write a Novel   Chapter 5 “Choosing and Designing Characters” – Section 4 “Dialogue” With Links to Supplementary Material Dialogue is a tricky topic, and for two key reasons. The first is that creating realistic dialogue is a difficult skill to master—even in day-to-day life—without speech coming out plastic, pointless, or otherwise unconvincing. The second problem is that the proper dialogue for your story is deeply rooted within the other elements—the characters, the setting, the genre, etc... Because of this, writing dialogue tha

Okay, before anybody starts to think this is some weird idea, let me explain. For anyone who knows how to write (and I mean, REALLY knows how to write), you understand that a good story has everything written out on paper first.  You know, stuff like Outlines, Plot Triangles, Character Profiles.  This might be of a challenge to some of you and tie you down, but unless you are capable of keeping every piece of information in your mind, this is a good resource to fall back on.  If you do not need this, then fine—you aren’t required to use it.  According to Science Fiction Writers of America, do

I recently solicited my watchers to ask me writing questions that I would then attempt to answer in a writing guide such as this. This article is my first response, and there will be many more to come. I've been asked to give advice on ways a writer can begin to put words on a page. The bottom line is as simple as this: sit your butt down and write. Duh, right? It's the only way I know to actually write. Sure, sitting your butt in a chair is easy, but getting your fingers to move and stay moving is a challenge. Here are three things that have helped me. 1) Have a goal. Your goal can be as simple as "describe the person in this picture" o

Basics Name (& pronunciation): Date of Birth (& age): Place of Birth: Gender:   Species/Racial Origin: Social Class/Community Status: Language: Family/Friends/Pets/Etc: Physical Description Height: Weight: Hair: Eyes: Limb Dexterity: Detailed Physical Description: Typical Clothing/Equipment: Personality/Attributes Personality/Attitude: Skills/Talents: Favourites/Likes: Most Hated/Dislikes: Goals/Ambitions: Strengths: Weaknesses: Fears: Hobbies/Interests: Regular Routine: Philosophy of Life: Attitude Toward Death:   Religion/Beliefs: Fetishes/Strange Behaviors: Most Instructive/Painful/Mem

You know that you have a Mary Sue when she upsets the monochromatic color scheme of my Writer's Guides. Mouse over blue text to see a note. Internet communities often lash out at writers who create Mary Sues. Declaring the writing to be below their standards, they proceed to punish the creators. They mock the characters, verbally abuse the writers, and write hyperbolically about how much they wish the characters would die. Bullying writers (who may be very young) is only going to make them afraid to write—and therefore improve—or share their work. Not only that, but it discourages other writers from speaking for fear of public

If you’re dabbling in the genres of supernatural, paranormal, fantasy, science fiction, and horror, you’re probably going to want to make at least one of your own species eventually. And that’s why I made this short and concise form for you to fill out! This form is free to use but only for those who give credit to me. Species name: Outward distinguishable feature of species: Any notable habits/tendencies: Any enhanced or extra powers or abilities: Describe how they discover, train, and harness their abilities: Various strengths and skills of the species overall: Various weaknesses and detriments of the species overall: An

A Quick Guide to Organizing Your Fantasy/Sci-Fi Novel I'm going to try and briefly cover World Building specifically for Fantasy and Science Fiction (though it will apply in general to any setting), both major and minor Characters, and some basics of Timeline here. I am not going to walk you step by step through how to write your own story, but you should (hopefully) get some useful tips out of this. I never used to organize my novels before I started writing. I have so many stories in my head, I would just pick one and start writing. I didn't have trouble keeping to the same details of a given character because I knew them so well. But afte

Character Reference Sheet-ness Basically this reference sheet covers pretty much everything a person would ever need to know about your character.. and then some. -Basics- Let’s face it. If somebody were to just glance over the reference sheet, at least you can feel some reassurance in knowing that they got the bare minimum Name (Nickname): Age: Please if you’re going to give your character some ungodly, few centuries old, age, make sure to include what age they looks like. Otherwise all shall assume they appear to be a rumpled piece of leather, ran over by some sort of moving vehicle, after being regurgitated by a cat. Obvio

How to Be a Better Deviant Despite so many of the complaints some people have against it, DeviantART is a very good social network geared specifically towards artists and people who appreciate art.  DeviantART is, in fact, one of the very first sites of its kind, predating even such social networking giants as Facebook and Myspace. It is a wonderful place to share your work, to look at the work other artists have created, to offer and receive advice on artwork, and many other functions.  You will find that there are lots of fellow Deviants out there who want the best for you and want to see you excel as an artist and as

Writing ACTION Sequences The Plug & Play Method Lets begin with a Review... ~~~~~~~~~~~~ The flash of pain exploded in my cheek from the slap her hand lashed out at me. -- WRONG! Why is this wrong? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you were watching this scene as a movie, that sentence is NOT how you would have seen it happen. Actual Sequence of events: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Her hand lashed out at me in a slap. 2) A flash of pain exploded in my cheek ACTION Sequences = Chronological Order REALITY = something happens to you and then…you react. Action > Reaction > Action > Reaction = Chronological order FICTION = the Plot happens to

Verse: (The universe your character belongs to. Can be original or fanfiction. [Ex: Original : The name of your book, movie, game or whatever. Fanfiction: Pokemon, Star Trek, Naruto, ect.) Date: (The date this sheet was completed.) Full Name: (Self explanatory) Pronunciation: (Self explanatory) Nickname/Alias: (Does your character have a pet name, fake identity, or any other thing they like to go by? Put it here.) Meaning: ([Ex: Emily means "admiring" and William means "protector"] If you aren't sure your character's name has a meaning look it up, I'm sure you'll find something. If it's a fantasy name you made yourself, give it a meaning.) O