Wilbur loved The Anatomy of Story so much, he kept rubbing his face against the cover. Photo by Kate Ota 2021 I picked up a copy of The Anatomy of Story by John Truby months ago and let it languish on my shelf. I thought I’d read once I was done editing my current project or maybe when I started querying. However, as I started prepping for NaNoWriMo (during which beta readers will have my current project) I realized I should take a look to see if this book would influence my Preptober.
Overview This approximately 400-page book is $18.99 for the paperback. It’s like going from Save The Cat and The Story Equation and taking the next step in writing mastery. It includes character creation, setting, theme, and twenty-two story beats. There are numerous examples throughout as well as worksheets. My Experience The story beats are a bit save-the-cat-ish, but those were hardly the best part of the book. I appreciated the analysis of character creation and scene setting that’s explained before plot gets brought up. The way different elements are discussed on a symbolic and thematic level was mind blowing. I even found I’d used some of the techniques on accident (probably from reading so much—hence why you need to read a lot!) and with some tweaking I could make it look very purposeful and deep. I hadn’t seen many of the major examples (Tootsie, Casablanca, and The Godfather were most referred to, and I hadn’t seen The Verdict either) but they were clearly explained. I had seen some others (It’s a Wonderful Life) so it was helpful that most concepts were explained using multiple examples. It’s a dense book. I tried to read it on my morning commute and fell asleep a couple times. You really need to be awake and committed to reading it. However, it’s dense with knowledge and supremely helpful. Is It Worth It? The price was great for the amount of information and length of the book, in my opinion. If you’re a person who likes to highlight and flag craft books, then the paperback is for you. If you aren’t a highlighting type of person, then go with the e-book version to save some money. I recommend this book if you’re looking to up your plotting skills. If you aren’t a plotter, I recommend a little more clear-cut plotting book first (like Save The Cat). It’s also not about basic sentence mechanics (for that I recommend It Was The Best of Sentences, It Was The Worst of Sentences) and while it covers character, I think you need a baseline of character building first (such as understanding want vs need; I recommend The Story Equation).
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Last week I reviewed World Anvil, the worldbuilding website but my biggest disappointment was the lack of map making capacity, especially because it featured so many images of maps! So I checked out the list of websites World Anvil recommended for mapmaking and spotted Inkarnate.
Overview Inkarnate is a mapmaking website. It’s advertised as being for making maps for fantasy worlds for game play (like D&D), writing, game design, etc. There are two tiers: paid and free. Free version: It’s free! You don’t even enter credit card info. It’s not a trial, it’s always free. Paid: You can pay monthly ($5/month) or annually ($35) and access the same material either way. The pro version allows you to access more items to put on your maps (like walls or different trees and cities), more frequent art updates, other mapmaking tools (like the advanced mode to specialize and have more freedom during creation), commercial use of your maps, higher resolution map exporting, and allows for your custom art alongside their Inkarnate art. Either free or paid, your maps are always only visible to you unless you “publish” it on their website. Both versions allow you to export (i.e. download) to your computer and/or save your map to your account. In the map making itself, there are different styles. They’re broken down into categories: world maps (Fantasy or Parchment style), Regions, Cities and Villages (including the optional Watercolor style), and Battlemaps (which also includes the interior of buildings). My Experience Inkarnate is aimed at fantasy worlds, and by that it’s clear they mean Tolkein-esque fantasy. If you’ve got something set in a non-medieval-Europe world, this is going to be a stretch for you. However, it can still work for zoomed-out big picture maps, which is how I tried to use it for my sci-fi. There’s a fairly helpful FAQ, but the tool itself can be difficult to figure out. It didn’t even use normal scrolling, so I kept accidentally zooming when I wanted to go right. I’m not exactly the most tech savvy person, but I’m also far from being computer illiterate. I found the learning curve frustrating. It took me three tries to get a map even close to what I’d pictured in my head. In the end (I’d say maybe an hour later) I was very happy with my map. I’d show it, but it’s full of spoilers for my book. Things you can do: alter the type of land, draw the location of land and water, add trees and mountains, add some basic human-made-items like a city/bridge/windmill. However more options were available for the paid subscription, such as buildings inspired by a small handful of non-European locales (those categories were called Desert and East so don’t get your hopes too high about accuracy or specificity), other types of land, paths, and grids. You can also add generic markers (I used these to mark where events take place) and custom labels. I had fun making my map once I knew how to work the system, and it looks much better than the one I made in Paint! Is It Worth It? The free version is actually really great, once you learn it. I was able to make what I needed and it looks like an adult made it instead of a child. However, the paid version is very affordable and if you needed to make a map for a self-pub book or other business project, then it would be great for you. If you’re just playing with it or want it for your own reference (or to send to a professional artist as a reference to remake your map in a style that better fits your non-Tolkein-eqsue thing) then I think the free version is great! The biggest investment is the time to learn the tools. And not just read the directions, but actually understand how to do it. For example, there’s no scrolling, and attempting to scroll messes with the zoom. That disoriented me about five times. Have you made a map with Inkarnate? Did you like the experience, or is there a better option? Let’s discuss in the comments! The front page of the WorldAnvil site At Futurescapes 2021, several teachers recommended worldbuilding websites and software, so I've been checking them out. First up is WorldAnvil, which has also been heavily advertised to me on YouTube. I had high hopes going in that this might help me write my next project.
Overview WorldAnvil a website that helps you worldbuild for writing or role-playing games (RPGs). It includes prompts to help you write about characters, buildings, conditions (like a plague), conflict, country (you can start as big as a solar system!), documents (like the Constitution), ethnicities, geography, items (like Excalibur), languages, materials, military units, myths/legends, natural laws (or laws that govern magic), organizations, professions, the plot, prose (in which you can include sections of your WIP), religion, titles (like King or Governor, not book titles), settlements, species, spells, technology, traditions, and vehicles. Tiers of Use: (blue denotes a change from the previous tier) Freeman: Cost: Free Includes: Basic features, all info is public; 100 MB, up to 2 worlds; 0 co-owners; 0 subscribers; 20 draft articles; 175 final articles; basic homepage; can export only one article at a time Within the free version, I had constant ads for getting 30% off a subscription, so don’t pay full price for these without first getting a free account first and getting some promo codes! Journeyman: Cost: $40/yr Includes: Basic features; privacy; 1GB; 5 worlds; 2 co-owners; 5 subscribers; unlimited draft/final articles; advanced homepage; notes; can embed secrets in own public articles; track word count and goals; 1 world data export/day; no ads; personalized theme; to-do list; quick image uploader; distraction free mode; organization trees; exclusive map markers; calendars Master: Cost: $58/yr Includes: Basic features; privacy; 2GB; 10 worlds; 4 co-owners; 10 subscribers; unlimited draft/final articles; advanced homepage; notes; can embed secrets in own public articles; track word count and goals; unlimited world data export/day; no ads; personalized theme; to-do list; quick image uploader; distraction free mode; organization trees; exclusive map markers; calendars; self-pub and editing tool; interactive tables (for randomizing things for RPGs); diplomatic relations webs; family trees; full text search; map marker groups (including secret markers); map compass; map journey lines; map labels; discord integration; and advanced customization Grand Master: Cost: $105/yr Includes: Basic features; privacy; 5GB; unlimited worlds; 9 co-owners; 100 subscribers; unlimited draft/final articles; super homepage; notes; can embed secrets in own public articles; track word count and goals; unlimited world data export/day; no ads; personalized theme; to-do list; quick image uploader; distraction free mode; organization trees; exclusive map markers; calendars; self-pub and editing tool; interactive tables (for randomizing things for RPGs); diplomatic relations webs; family trees; full text search; map marker groups (including secret markers); map compass; map journey lines; map labels; discord integration; advanced customization; content trees and charts; quick visibility toggle; advanced management; world communities early access beta; custom article templates; customizable categories; circular map markers; polygon map markers; create your own map markers; RPG character designer toolset; advanced formatting features; no ads visible to your visitors; and extended world statistics Sage: Cost: $300/yr Includes: Basic features; privacy; 10GB; unlimited worlds; 20 co-owners; 1000 subscribers; unlimited draft/final articles; super homepage; notes; can embed secrets in own public articles; track word count and goals; unlimited world data export/day; no ads; personalized theme; to-do list; quick image uploader; distraction free mode; organization trees; exclusive map markers; calendars; self-pub and editing tool; interactive tables (for randomizing things for RPGs); diplomatic relations webs; family trees; full text search; map marker groups (including secret markers); map compass; map journey lines; map labels; discord integration; advanced customization; content trees and charts; quick visibility toggle; advanced management; world communities early access beta; custom article templates; customizable categories; circular map markers; polygon map markers; create your own map markers; RPG character designer toolset; advanced formatting features; no ads visible to your visitors; extended world statistics; no WorldAnvil branding on your pages; express support and guidance; custom world domain and URL; google analytics integration; custom article URLs, password protected articles; private access shareable links to articles; quick Patreon supporters import and management; and access to monetization videos and private workshops My Experience I got a Freeman ($0) account to check out the website. There were pros and cons. Cons:
Pros:
Is It Worth It? Like I say in most of these posts, it depends! If you’re writing epic fantasy and need to keep track of a very detailed world, sure. It seems like a great way to keep a high volume of info organized. I'd say it's better than a simple word doc, for example. But you better be willing to shell out some money and even more money elsewhere for a map. However, if you and a couple friends want to split an account, I could see that working pretty well. I suspect it's most beneficial for established authors with a following, that way you can monetize it and earn a little income from it as fans explore more of your world beyond what's in your books. If you’re just using it to organize your writing and you’re not doing a gigantic sprawling world/universe, then I’d say there are better tools for you. For example, I could make a family tree on Milanote for free, but on WorldAnvil you don’t get that capacity until the Grand Master level ($105/yr). And One Stop for Writers had way more in-depth character building that honed in on the psychology and cohesiveness of characters—but WorldAnvil was just a typical fill in the blank type list that you could probably find online elsewhere. It’s also advertised for RPGs, but since I don’t play those (I tried them in college, not my thing) I don’t want to comment on WorldAnvil’s effectiveness for that. Do you use WorldAnvil for your worldbuilding/book bible? Do you think it’s worth others’ money? Let’s discuss in the comments! Wilbur's never been outside, so this book was full of new information for him! Photo by Kate Ota 2021 Part of the same series of helpful thesauruses as The Emotion Thesaurus and The Occupation Thesaurus, The Rural Setting Thesaurus is by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. I loved The Emotion Thesaurus so much, and felt the same about The Occupation Thesaurus so I knew this would also be worth the price.
Much like the other entries, The Rural Setting Thesaurus started with some information about why the contents of this book will matter to your book. Although it did go off into seemingly less related topics like similes, metaphors, and hyperboles, it circled back to setting. This book is incredibly helpful to those still suffering from white room syndrome and if you're writing about a place you've never been. I think this book is great because not everyone has the means to travel to the wide variety of included locales (ex. desert, mountains, and beach) and now have the opportunity to describe it as if they've been there. Each entry covers the expected/typical/possible sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures and sensations found in the setting. It also lists possible sources of conflict the setting can cause in a scene, people commonly found there, related settings included in the book, notes and tips specific to that setting, and a setting description example. Before you think that you don't have any rural settings in your novel, this thesaurus includes what I'd consider suburban settings as well, such as rooms in a house and a classic American school's various rooms. There are also rural sights and natural locations, as you'd expect. The Urban Thesaurus listings are included in the back, and while the content doesn't crossover too much, I think some of those locations can crossover into rural or suburban settings as well (such as bakery and parking lot). So if you're looking for one specific location, be sure to check which book may have it first. (Or get both, I bet the urban one is worth it, too!) Like my Occupation Thesaurus post, I'll be creating my own entry. This seems to be encouraged, as there are more settings on One Stop for Writers (which I reviewed before.) And now, I present my unofficial contribution to The Rural Setting Thesaurus Location: Corn Maze Sights Tall stalks of corn, mice, birds, bugs, other groups of people, map or overhead photo, ladders or lookouts, weather, hay bales, signs or arrows, broken stalks where people have passed through, muddy or gravel covered paths, people getting angry, scared children, actors (if it’s themed), scarecrows or other spooky or themed props, employees or farm hands, parking lot, ticket booth, snack stand Sounds Screaming (fear or happiness), laughter, arguing, wind shaking the corn stalks, bugs buzzing, mood music (if it’s themed), chainsaws (if it’s themed or a horror novel) Smells Various snacks available (most likely fall foods like apple cider, apple donuts, pumpkin spice, roasted corn, popcorn), wet earth, ripe corn (very subtle), smells from nearby farm fields (apple orchards especially are often nearby) Tastes Various snacks available (most likely fall foods like apple cider, apple donuts, pumpkin spice, roasted corn, popcorn), NOT the ripe corn on the stalks (this is often against the rules) Textures and Sensations Wind whipping corn stalks against them, clinging to friends out of fear, fear, muddy ground sucking at shoes, rocks in the path, cold air, surprise from running into other people or actors, confusion, disorientation, defeat, excitement, corn silk running through their fingers Possible Sources of Conflict Arguing over the best path to take Getting totally disoriented and lost Arguing over whether to quit Arguing over whether to climb the ladder/look out to find a way out easier Getting surprised/scared by a rival group or actor Racing with another group Losing the group one started with and ending up alone People Commonly Found Here Teens and young adults, families, Halloween lovers, fall lovers, people from other communities, farm hands, maze employees, parents outside the maze waiting for their kids, actors in the maze Related Settings that May Tie In Farm, orchard, barn, county fair Setting Notes and Tips Corn mazes are usually only available in October, maybe in late September/early November depending on the area and weather. They can be themed, not just a scary Halloween maze, but can be themed around various charities, school mascots, or local lore. Some places with corn mazes offer more than one, of various difficulty levels. They’re most common east of the Rockies and west of the Appalachians in the US, but there are plenty close to the coasts, too. They usually have rules, such as don’t eat the corn, don’t cut through the corn, and don’t touch the actors. However, each one will vary. Almost all will have employees walk the maze before closing to ensure no one is stuck inside (however, this was not done when my friends and I got lost and we were almost locked inside.) Setting Description Example Jessica clung to Ashley as the girls’ steps squelched on the thick muddy path. Corn rose around them, higher than they could reach on their tip toes. Long strands of silk waved over their heads, as if alerting the chainsaw wielding actor to their location. The buzzing of the saw sent a chill down Jessica’s spine, but they’d been inside so long, she no longer trusted her sense of direction. They came to the end of a tunnel and had to choose. Left or right. Or perhaps backwards. The glint of a chainsaw turning a corner to the left made the decision for her. There are lots of great settings in the thesaurus, but I'm sure many more that could be added. Got any ideas? Let's discuss below! That was a long hiatus! Mostly because I was drowning in work and preparing for this workshop. Hopefully my next few posts make up for my break. Let's dive in to my review of Futurescapes!
Overview The Futurescapes Writers' Workshop is an application-only, paid workshop that happens in approximately March. The application window is late November-early December (subject to change.) It’s been going on for several years and features teachers such as authors Mary Robinette Kowal, S.J. Kincaid, and Fran Wilde; agents such as Nephele Tempest, Tricia Skinner, and Eric Smith; and editors such as Ruoxi Chen, Deeba Zargarpur, and Priyanka Krishnan; just to name a few! These are award winning professionals. In the Before Times, the workshop was hosted at various places throughout Utah/the American Southwest, but this year it was all virtual. My Experience I heard about Futurescapes on Twitter and after reading about it, I thought there was no way this fancy workshop would accept me. I mean, these people are Hugo winners, Nebula winners, NYT Bestsellers. But I couldn’t get it out of my head. So, I applied. A few days later, I was accepted! One bonus to being a virtual conference was the price dropped significantly. In my mind it went from “Jesus, who can afford that?” to “Well, I did get some money for Christmas.” Being virtual, it opened the door to more international attendees and those with mobility limitations. This year also offered something new in the form of classes before the workshop. Because each class cost about twice the workshop price, I only attended one. It was a good one to choose (Science Fiction with Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, and S.J. Kincaid) and connected me with other attendees, but I wish more classes had been included in the price. (One class was included, but I missed it for a family thing and the recording hasn't been sent out yet.) The class I attended also had a large number of people (30 maybe?), which made any interaction with the teachers very unlikely. So, what was included? A three-day workshop in which I was placed in three groups. One focused on the first 3000 words of our manuscripts, a second focused on our queries, and a third focused on our synopses. The manuscripts we exchanged in advance, but the others were reviewed in the moment. This stressed out my second group leader, who wanted to give us more for our time. Workshop group sizes ranged from 6:1 to 7:1 (student: teacher ratio). There were also three Kaffeeklatches, which is basically a hang out with one faculty member in which around 60-80 students logged in. Questions were asked via the chat window to avoid chaos. The workshop was run out of Microsoft Teams, which the coordinator seemed to regret and is unlikely to be chosen again in the future. The guy coordinating it, Luke Peterson, worked really hard and it showed because there were very few hiccups in the whole thing. There were two Zoom social events, which were fun. But of course, it can be hard to get into the groove of a conversation virtually with a lot of strangers. The feedback I got was pretty thorough (especially my query! Thank you, Tricia Skinner!) and I bonded well with my manuscript group. Is It Worth It? If you want to pay for classes where you watch professionals speak on topics, but are unlikely to interact, then the All Class Pass available for the pre-workshop classes is likely to be worth it to you. If only one class speaks to you, then only paying for that class may be worth it, too. Keep in mind the All Class Pass cost a little more than two classes this year (subject to change in the future.) The workshop itself was great for connecting to writers at the same level of writing. Because the workshop has an application, it weeds out anyone who is not yet ready and therefore we had pretty similar writing quality. Everyone was also a sci-fi or fantasy writer, and my group happened to all be women about the same age. Those are connections I really hope to maintain. However, don’t go to this workshop expecting to be paired with one faculty member of your dreams or expect your group to mesh as well as mine. It’s a big process putting groups together. If you’re only in this for one faculty member, you’re likely going to be disappointed. I was open to lots of different faculty, and when I was paired with a few I hadn’t heard of, I still got good, useful feedback. Moral of the story: don’t sell anyone short! It may not be worth it if your internet isn't reliable. You may end up not being able to participate if your internet frequently ruins the quality of audio during your video calls. We lost one person during a session due to poor internet, and I felt very sad for them. If you are bad at focusing on video calls, especially a video class where you rarely speak, then this format may not be best suited to you. It also may not be worth it for people who don't actually want feedback and only want praise. You're going to be critiqued, and if you hate that, then don't do it. In the future, it looks like Futurescapes will keep being virtual. Which means affordability and accessibility! They also pitched some exciting new stuff at our closing ceremony, including an award for most promising new writer. If you looked at Futurescapes in the past and have said “I wish, but the cost… the travel...” then this virtual format is probably incredibly worth it to you. If you’ve never heard of Futurescapes before and thought what I discussed sounded amazing, then look into it! There’s no harm in applying, and you might just surprise yourself. I’ll make an upcoming post about some of my biggest take-aways from the conference. For now, I leave you with this—Futurescapes was worth it to me! Thinking of applying, but not sure? Attended and want to gush about what you loved? Let's discuss in the comments! Clue was relieved to know there's no actual math involved in this book. Photo by Kate Ota 2020 Overview
The Story Equation by Susan May Warren is a short book (144 pages in paperback) about how to plan a story based on one starter question. The book offers a step-by-step type of equation for stories, and offers some other advice along the way. It breaks the story apart into the internal and external journeys of the character and describes where to place certain elements using a 4 Act structure (Act 1, 2A, 2B, and 3). My Experience My copy had extremely thin paper for the pages, so when I highlighted useful bits, it showed through on the other side. The title and author name on the spine are also not centered and spill onto the front cover. Based on that, I was concerned this wasn’t going to be very high-quality advice. And for the first few chapters, I thought my first impression was right. The book kept hinting at The Question on which the whole book would be built, without telling me what the question was. It kept talking about The Equation, and various elements of it, without explaining. Finally, when the book got to these elements, and defined them all, things got rolling. It was less helpful with plot elements, but extremely detailed about character arc. It’s true that the character arc builds off of one question, and then many more subsequent questions. It basically boils down those giant character-building sheets to the bare essentials and tells you why they’re essential. I’ve already applied what I learned from this book to two of my characters and found things I can add or enhance to nail the character arcs. The book offers access to an online mini-course about the same topic, which I haven't watched yet. I'm not sure how much more information it will offer, but if I watch it, I'll update this post. Is It Worth It? I received my copy as a gift, so for me it was automatically worth it. The book goes for under $10, which you can feel in the quality of the paper and printing. It's short and offers a quick read, which is a plus. The detailed instructions for building a character and achieving the growth arc were very helpful. If writing a satisfying character arc is what you struggle with, I highly recommend this book. If your goal is to strengthen the external journey plotting, I think there are better options out there. Since that’s not what I was looking for, I was very happy with this book. Have you read The Story Equation? Have you tried the methods? What did you think? Let's discuss in the comments! Overview
Milanote is an online idea organizer, which can be used for things like worldbuilding, character building, story planning, or even things outside of writing like class notes or graphic design planning. There are three tiers: Free (the one I tried) allows up to 100 items (notes, links, or images), 10 file uploads, and unlimited shared boards (screens on which you organize info.) Paid per person ($9.99/month billed annually or $12.50 billed monthly) offers unlimited notes/images/links, unlimited files, unlimited shared boards, and a search feature. For a team ($49/month billed annually for up to 10 people) offers unlimited notes/images/links, unlimited files, unlimited shared boards, search feature, and priority support. My experience I mapped out my WIP in the free version. I have near future scifi with a sizable cast and easily used 75 of my 100 items before I included everything from my previous notes. However, I really liked the visual aspect when it came to the characters, as I could map their relationships (and even label the lines between them, which was a lovely surprise!) It allowed me to change the layout on my screen easily and quickly. It allows random notes on the screen, captions on photos, areas to organize similar notes, and it’s very intuitive. There was also a little bit of help at the beginning with dialogue boxes popping up and explaining buttons and likely next steps. I also like that there can be multiple editors, if I was collaborating. And especially, I love the fact there is no time limit! I can leave my Milanote page there and come back to it whenever, rather than powering through a timed free trial. It also has a built-in connection to the free photo site Unsplash, so you can easily search for inspiration images within Milanote. It wasn’t all daisies, though. If you make a character profile in one place, but want it to also appear in another (like organizing by family tree on one board, but wanting that character to appear on another board based on setting, for example) you can’t do that, you’ll just have to make a copy of the profile. And that’s a waste of your free hundred items, which isn’t as many notes as you need for an entire novel worth of information. Exceptions may include books with small casts, contemporary settings with minimal outside worldbuilding, or shorter projects like a novella, picture book, or even MG. If you make something nested within a lot of other boards (ex. In the world building board you can have a location board, within that location board you can have a character board, which contains profiles boards for each character) things can get lost. This is why the paid version includes a search feature. Is It Worth It? The free version is 100% worth it. It’s fun to play around, and it’s great for anyone who is very visual or creates in a more abstract way. A lot of times, planning tools are word heavy and linear. Visual writers may prefer printing things and organizing on a cork board. This is the perfect digital way to do that. Paid versions may be useful for people with big series or epics who need to keep track of a lot of places, characters, and arcs. Paid versions also may benefit those who collaborate, whether as co-authors or an author/illustrator pairing. Do you use Milanote? What do you think? Let's discuss in the comments! With a title like that, I knew both cats needed to be in the picture. He was the pinkest of cats, he was the brownest of cats! Overview:
I purchased “It was the Best of Sentences, it was the Worst of Sentences” by June Casagrande a few months ago, but times are crazy and I’ve only just finished it. It’s a small paperback, 207 pages if you include the appendices, and focuses on sentence level editing. It’s $14 in the US, and often sites the Chicago Manual of Style vs the AP Style Book, so if those style books are out of your price range, this could be a handy shortcut. My Experience: Despite being all about grammar and sentence construction, it’s not a dry read. Casagrande never criticizes you for having made mistakes in the past, not does she set ironclad rules. Everything is laid out clearly, in simple language, and with explanations that made me say, “Oh, that’s why we do that?” The most mind-blowing chapter for me covered subordination. I’d never heard the term and it made so much sense! This book made me feel more power over how to construct a sentence. I highlighted a ton of it and am keeping this for years to come. If someone had told me to read this I might have laughed. I know how to write a sentence! Look at how many I’ve already written! But this was a look behind the grammar curtain about the why. How to make a sentence do exactly what you intend. I leveled up because of this book. Is It Worth It? It’s a short book, paperback, and reasonable price. It’s a great shortcut to the big style books, and is full of great information. Even if you think your skills are beyond a book about sentences, give it a chance. And have a highlighter ready. This book is absolutely worth it! Please consider buying from your local bookstore for this or any other book purchase this year. Indie bookstores are struggling, and need your support! Not sure which bookstore is near you? Try websites like Bookshop and IndieBound. Have you read this book? Did you love it too? Let’s discuss in the comments! This the home page for One Stop for Writers. The image on the right changes. Overview:
One Stop for Writers is a website to help writers create characters and worlds and plot their novels. It’s powered by thesauruses, like the Emotion Thesaurus that I already decided is worth the price. Overall, the website offers fifteen thesauruses—all of the published ones and several others. At One Stop, you can create many different things to help you plan your novel. The Character Builder develops a personality, emotional wound, inner and outer motivations, fear, quirks, life, and physical traits. Character’s Fear is a similar page focused only on one character’s fear and what personality traits stem from that. Character Arc Progression asks for information from the Character Builder, but also has you consider a resolution. Emotional Progression has you lists events that occur and the emotions of the character, and how you plan to show (not tell) the emotions. Setting-at-a-Glance has you describe your setting with the five senses, as well as lighting/time of day. Emotional Value of a Setting adds symbolism and forces you to consider deeper aspects of scene that will theoretically reinforce the emotions of the characters. Scene Map (informal and formal) asks you for information about what is happening in the scene. The formal version asks more questions. The Story Map is a very general plot outline with major elements listed, generates an interactive imaged with acts 1-3 or stages 1-6 indicated. The timeline is great because you can write events as they come to mind, and then drag them around in whatever order you need. Last is the Worldbuilding Survey, which can be used to create planets down to a single household and everything in between. All of those have the thesauruses built in to offer suggestions that go together. For example, you select an emotional wound, and the website suggests fears that may stem from it. There are also worksheets and templates you can download to work offline, however these lack the connection to the thesauruses. The site also offers 47 checklists and tip sheets. Checklists can help you do things like add conflict or create a good flashback. Some of the lists include positive traits or when to show not tell. Many are also tutorials for how to use the various thesauruses, although that’s not very difficult. The website has excellent how-tos, including videos and screenshots. Most of it is very user friendly. There are cost tiers to consider. There’s a 2-week free trial, which you should absolutely use if you’re thinking of paying to play. Of note, with the free trial you cannot download pdfs of what you make and can only make one item in each category. It’s easy enough to get around those issues though, since you can copy/paste from the website into word and can delete info and remake subsequent items. I’m not being sketchy by telling you this, the website creators tell you that in the how-to-use section. Otherwise the pricing is: $9 for one month, $50 for 6 months, and $90 for one year. My Experience: I used my two-week free trial to work on the concept I had for a potential NaNoWriMo project. I’ve never done heavy outlining like this site offered, and thought the structure could be useful. Of the 15 electronic thesauruses, my favorite is symbolism thesaurus, because that’s my weakest skill. A few of them, like the texture thesaurus, were not very full, and I probably could have listed all of those entries myself. I enjoyed the character builder. It worked from the emotional wound outward, so that the character’s personality came together in an organic way. The suggests from the thesauruses were great and helped to easily build a round main character. However, if you have the print thesauruses, I think they’d cover the same information, though would be slower to navigate. Some of what you can make feels redundant, for example the Character’s Fear page is already something you fill out in the Character Builder. Perhaps it’s a short version meant for side characters. I decided to test if using this website helped me write a stronger first draft of a scene. I wrote the opening scene of my NaNoWriMo project after creating two characters, completing one Worldbuilding Survey, one Emotional Value of a Scene sheet, and a Story Map. Then I took this scene to my critique group. My critique group didn’t notice a drastic change in first draft quality from my previous WIP to this scene. They also didn’t pick up on any of the additions I made using the Emotional Value of a Setting sheet. I’ll admit that may be because I was not heavy handed with those suggestions. I did six hours of prep work on One Stop for Writers, but then I wrote 1000 words in a little over 30 minutes. Is It Worth It? If you are new to plotting, want to try plotting, or want to beef up your plotting, it’s a great resource. If you already have a plotting method that you love or if you are a panster for life, this won’t be terribly beneficial for you. I love that the site offers a free trial before getting pricey, because then you know what you’re paying for. If you’re willing to copy/paste and delete/redo then you can probably do all the planning you need during your free trial. It requires a lot of time to make what you need, but if you’ve got the time to use it, it’s fun. Overall, the free trial is for sure worth it. I don’t think the one-year trial is worth the price, unless you are an insanely prolific writer and constantly planning your next novel. The one-month trial may be helpful, but six months I can’t imagine being that useful. At least you can try it for free before beginning your next project. With one week left before NaNoWriMo begins, anyone needing help plotting may want to check this out now! Have you tried One Stop for Writers? Have you used a subscription? Did you think it was worth it? Let's discuss in the comments! If you see this at the start of the first lecture, you're watching the right one. Screenshot from the video, not my own. Overview
For those not in the know, Brandon Sanderson is the author of the Mistborn series (among others), a Writing Excuses podcast contributor, and the author who finished the Wheel of Time series after the loss of Robert Jordan. He’s big in the world of Science Fiction and Fantasy writing and taught a course at BYU on writing (with emphasis on SFF but solely focused on it.) He had the lectures filmed and put on YouTube for free. Each is a little over an hour long with thirteen lectures total. One is introductory, two focus on plot, one for viewpoint, three for world building, one on short stories (by guest speaker Mary Robinette Kowal), three on character, and two on publishing. Click here for the playlist of lectures. My Experience I learned about this series because the YouTube algorithm figured me out, I guess. I played them in the background while doing more mindless tasks like cleaning. I found them to be a little bit more basic than my current skill level, but I would have eaten them up and taken pages of notes about five years ago. I appreciated Sanderson repeating audience questions for the microphone and his organized presentations. He has a good speaking voice and made jokes. When he referenced his books, he always made sure to clarify his point as if you’d never read them, so no one will feel left out. Do make sure you’ve seen Star Wars though; he references that the most. (Although at this point, who hasn’t seen Star Wars?) Is It Worth It? If you’ve never taken a college level writing class, or if you’re looking to build on your basic foundation, it’s a great, free resource. It takes a lot of time, but offers a lot of information. You can pick and choose which topics you’d find helpful since each video is clearly labeled, although he does reference previous lectures multiple times. Even if you aren’t sure you’d benefit, you can do what I did and play it in the background while doing other things. Honestly, I don’t see a downside to watching. Kudos to Brandon Sanderson for making his college lecture series free to everyone! Have you watched Sanderson's YouTube lectures? Did you find them worth your time? Let's discuss! |
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