Where References & Resources Get Sorted

Hell yeah, I’m designing for AAW this year.

Step 1: Save that date.

Since my WIP, Illuminate, is also the thesis project for my graduate program, I don’t have as much time as I’m used to for fiddling around and rewriting stuff.

The logical response? Go absolutely crazy.

Step 1: Make Character Arcs for Everyone.

The Interwebs contain lots of great information about character arcs, so in brief: In the course of a story, characters will respond to conflict on an external and internal level, and by the conclusion characters will undergo some sort of change. This creates story arcs.

Every book has at least one major arc. I personally like Doug Tennapel’s advice to split stories into three acts, each with their own arc.

Here’s how I did it.

Tip by: Nancy Strauss

Originally posted on creative-writing-now.com

A Simple Way to Outline Here is an easy system you can use to outline your novel if you find it helpful. Remember: there’s no right way to make a novel outline — this is just one option!

1) Before you start your actual novel outline, spend some time brainstorming freely, letting your imagination run, generating ideas, and writing them down. Carry a notebook around with you. The writer Linda Leopold Strauss likes to take walks during this brainstorming phase and records her ideas on a dictaphone. Your cell phone might have a recording function that you can use for this.

2) When you feel that you’re getting ready to move beyond the brainstorming phase, then write down answers to these questions: Who will be your main character? Write some information about him or her. (It’s possible to have more than one main character, but this will make your novel more complicated to write. If you plan to have several main characters, write information about each of them.) Normally, your novel will be about an important problem that your main character has to solve, or an important goal that he or she wants to achieve. What is this problem or goal? Write it down. Why is it the most important thing in the world to your character right now? (If it isn’t that important to your character, look for another problem or goal to be of your story. If your character doesn’t care a lot that he or she resolves the problem, your readers won’t either.). What terrible difficulties are there between the character and his/her goal or the solution to his/her problem? (If it’s too easy for your character to get out of trouble or get what he/she wants, then there will be less of a story). Make a list. Where and when (in general) will your story take place? In Miami in the early 1980’s? On the planet Fiz in the year 2044? In general, what type of novel are you writing? Is it mainly comedy? Drama? A thriller? What are the main events that will move your character toward (or away from) solving the novel’s central problem or achieving the central goal? Make a list.

3) For each of the main events in the list you’ve just made, imagine a scene or scenes. For each scene, briefly write the answers to these questions. What characters are in the scene? Who is the viewpoint character/s (the character through whose eyes the readers will see the scene)? Where does the scene happen? What happens? What does the scene accomplish in the novel? Does it move the character forward toward his/her objective or further away from it?

Every scene should have a purpose. It should either move the character forward or backward toward or away from his/her goal or solving the novel’s central problem (novels are more exciting if you play with the reader’s emotions by moving the character back and forth a bit), or else it should deepen the reader’s understanding of the characters or situation in the novel. If the scene doesn’t fulfil one of these two purposes, consider getting rid of it.

4) Write a summary in 1-2 sentences of your novel’s main idea. You can imagine that you’re writing the blurb for the book jacket. This summary should include a character or characters and an important problem or goal. If you find that you can’t pin your novel down to just 1-2 sentences, thenyour idea probably isn’t focused enough yet, and you should keep working on it.

Examples: Boy learns he is actually a wizard and is sent to a wizarding school, where he has to battle the most evil dark wizard of all time. Detective has to solve a series of brutal murders in a convent. Woman discovers that her husband has a second family and has to choose whether to leave him.

How to write a novel: Award-winning novelist Randy Ingermanson teaches his wildly popular Snowflake Method for designing and writing a novel.

I have always loved mythological creatures, but I think too many YA paranormal books focus on four creatures: vampires, werewolves, angels and fairies. So with the help of my followers (really they did all the work, I just wrote down the books into categories), I have compiled a list of books with underrated mythological creatures. Just to clarify, I haven’t read most of these books.

So if you like:

Mermaids:

Sea Change by Aimee Friedman

Siren by Tricia Rayburn

Fathomless by Jackson Pearce

Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs

Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz

Ingo by Helen Dunmore

Sirena by Donna Jo Napoli

Ascension by Kara Dalkey

Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly

Lost Voices by Sarah Porter

Wake by Amanda Hocking  

The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler

Tangled Tides by Karen Amanda Hooper

Tempest Rising by Tracey Deebs

Lies Beneath series by Anne Greenwood

The Siren by Kiers Cass

Daughters of the Sea by Kathryn Lasky

Ghosts:

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

A Wounded Name by Dot Hutchison (A retelling of Hamlet)

Shades of London by Maureen Johnson

The Riddles of Epsilon by Christine Morton-Shaw

The Hollow by Jessica Verday

Shade by Jeri Smith Ready

Hereafter by Tara Hudson

Ruined by Paula Morris

Necromancers:

The Darkest Powers trilogy by Kelley Armstrong

Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen (a trilogy) by Garth Nix

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride

The Johannes Cabal series by Jonathan L. Howard 

Demons:

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Personal Demonsby Lisa Desrochers

Demon Lexicon series by Sarah Rees Brennan

The Demonata by Darren Shan

Banshee:

My Soul To Take by Rachel Vincent

Sidhe’s Call by Christy G. Thomas 

The Banshee Initiate by Kelly Matsuura

Goblins:

Runemarks by Joanne Harris

The Goblin Wood by Hilari Bell

The Hollow Kingdom by Clare B. Dunkle

The Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynn Jones

Monsters:

The Monstrumologist series by Rick Yancey

Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link

Dragons:

Eon by Alison Goodman

The Dragon of Trelian by Michelle Knudsen 

Enchanted Forrest series by Patricia C. Wrede

Dragonkeeper series by Carole Wilkinson

Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn

Centaur: 

Deep Secrets by Diana Wynne

Soul Colector:

The Collector by Victoria Scott

Water horses:

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

 Pooka:

Other by Karen Kincy

War for the Oaks by Emma Bull.

Dracons/draki:

Firelightby Sophie Jordan

Talon by Julie Kagawa

Unicorns:

Rampant by Diana Peterfreund

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle 

Greek mythology:

Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs

Pegasus by Robin McKinley

Antigoddess by Kendare Blake

The Devil:

Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke

Different creatures:

Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton

Enchanted Ivy by Sarah Beth Durst

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

Beautiful Decay by Sylvia Lewis

The Changelings by Elle Casey

The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddel

Barnaby Grimes by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddel

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel by Susanna Clarke

Succubus:

Mesmerized by Julia Crane and Talia Jager

Egyptian mythology:

The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White

Chimaera:

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Djinn:

The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud

Skin-walkers:

The Darkness Rising trilogy by Kelley Armstrong

Trickster gods and demons:

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge (A retelling of Beauty and the Beast)

Original mythology:

Books of Great Alta series by Jane Yolen

Genies:

As You Wish by Jackson Pearce

Selkies:

Seven Tears into the Sea by Terri Farley

Half Human by Bruce Coville

Reapers:

The Madison Avery series by Kim Harrison

Polynesian mythology:

Wildefire by Karsten Knight

Nightmare:

After a lot of retagging, I’ve finally organized all my references into one giant list of awesome.  Whether you’re feeling sad, or happy, or uninspired, or whatever, hopefully something in this giant list can help you out.  This post should stay up-to-date, but if you want to bookmark a page rather than a post just head over here.

Anyway, the list:

Artsy-fartsy~

Drawing References: Includes everything from tutorials to reference images; hopefully can help you get past your writer’s block.

Writing References: Helps a ton with character and plot development, as well as basic worldbuilding.

Cosplay References: Lot of interesting stuff, including makeup, costumes, and props.

Cooking References: Awesome recipes for hungry bloggers.

So I heard you like…

Fandom References: Great bits of info for specific fandoms.

Learning References: Want to learn a new hobby/language? Check this tag out.

Live life to the fullest

Hygiene References: Lifehacks for your body.

Life References: Good things to live by.

Yo ho ho~

Download References: Cool things you can download, what more can I add?

Website References: Awesome websites for cool stuff.

Watch Online References: Awesome sites/links where you can watch movies or TV shows online.

Forums/Communities (Many Links Courtesy Of Matt Kohr’s resources page)

Conceptart.org

CG Hub

The Crimson Daggers

Deviantart

Ctrl+ Paint Deviantart Group

Ctrl+ Paint Facebook Page

Wysp

Free Instruction/Tutorials (May at times be NSFW)

Ctrl+ Paint (Highly recommended)

Proko’s Youtube

Sycra’s Youtube 

Mark Crilley’s Youtube

Idrawgirls

Feng Zhu Design Cinema

Enlighten

Reference

Senshistock

(Suggest more of these, maybe? Please make sure they are stock reference, preferably free to use off of deviantart or the posters website.)

Free Figure/Gesture Drawing Tools (May be NSFW) (Many Links courtesy Sycra’s resource page.)

Pixelovely

Quickposes

Sketchdaily

Posemaniacs

Color Scheme Designers & Color Palettes

Adobe Kuler

Color Scheme Designer 3

Colorpod

Chromaa

Color Collective

Color Palettes Generator

Color Hunter

Design Seeds

Colllor

Free digital art programs

Mypaint 

Krita

FireAlpaca

master posts and references

I’ve gone through my likes and compiled all the best master posts I’ve come across, as well as good reference pictures. Below they are linked, and i did my best to put the link to the page of the poster, but in some cases the link was broken, and the post is linked to one of the comment-ers. I didn’t create these posts myself but I’m so thankful to those who have. I’ll try and update this as often as i can. *i dont own anything*

Everything Master Posts

THE EVERYTHING MASTERPOST Covers: studying, writing, art, makeup, hair, food, movies-tv, music/audio, free books, bored?, self-help, clothing, backgrounds, etc

RESOURCE MASTERPOST Covers: converting websites, Daily use, fashion/ makeup/ hair, food in under 10 minutes, helpful for school (lots of writing tips), helpful websites, how to’s, life tips, other, Photoshop,  readers/writers, sounds, tumblr help, when you’re bored, when you’re sad, movies,

Writing Master Posts

Masterpost For Writers Creating Their Own Worlds And Characters

Things Writers Need To Know- Survival Mainly

  Drawing

Drawing Hands

Vague Anatomy  

Tips and Tricks for Drawing Hands

Color Scheme Designer

Watercolor Digital Art Reference/ Tutorial Thing

Remove Background Off A Scan In Photoshop

Visual Coat Glossary

Self Help, Protection, Cooking

Calm Bottle

Jelly Fish Jar

Through a Rapists Eyes, Self-Protection

Becoming An Adult Cheat Sheet

Cooking With Dog Recipes (NOT DOG FOOD)

Workout

Blogilates

Makeup and Hair Related

Massive Makeup Masterpost

Makeup Remover Wipes

Braiding

Tv Shows

Billy Nye Every Episode                  

Supernatural

American Horror Story Episodes Up Till Season 3

Many Many Animes And Manga’s

 Random

Hobbies

Tumblr Image Size Masterpost

Harry Potter Spells

Customizing Notebook

Scenery Masterpost

Color Palettes

Learning

Academic Earth and Open Culture Learning

**I really wanted to include this but the page isn’t on anymore and there were no comments. Anyway the original post was by tumblr user meltingliam and this is what they left us:**

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ meltingliam:

so i put together a couple of sites and links that are pretty helpful for studying, school etc, :) all the links are free and work and are all pretty useful so enjoyyyyy   - ellie x

music

chill playlist

concentration playlist

study playlist

coffee shop blues

relaxation 

studying/school help

maths help

calculators (includes graphing, geometric, stats etc)

microsoft word equivalent

coffee shop sounds

how to study guide

essay structure guide

help in a ton of subjects

calm/nature sounds

flashcards

download free books

maths knowledge site

tips for a productive study break

falling asleep tips

how to google

how to wake up in the morning

improve your studying skills

teaches anything

other

food

thousands of quick and easy snack recipes

cheap & healthy snacks

quick and easy soup recipes

chocolate muffin in a mug tutorial

study snacks

40 on-the-go breakfast recipes

macaroni cheese / mac&cheese in a cup

stress relief

yoga poses

how long to nap

go to a quiet place

the thoughts room

take a guided relaxation

compliments generator 

take a few minutes break

cute videos

vines

free hugs!

fun sites masterpost

motivation

earn a cute kitten picture after writing

how to get motivated

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

I’ve seen a few fashion posts trying to expand the “Marie Antoinette is not Victorian” rant, but this stuff can get complicated, so here is a semi-comprehensive list so everyone knows exactly when all of these eras were.

animated:

aladdin

the secret of nimh

alice in wonderland

beauty and the beast

anastasia

sleeping beauty

megamind

tangled

horton hears a who

the lorax

atlantis

meet the robinsons

bambi

frozen

a bugs life

pinocchio

finding nemo

up

rise of the guardians

how to train your dragon

snow white and the seven dwarfs

the iron giant

wall-e

ratatouille

antz

paranorman

the jungle book

the emperor’s new groove

mulan

tarzan

coraline

epic

road to el dorado

treasure planet

hotel transylvania

rio

pocahontas

brave

the croods

animated series:

toy story

toy story 2 

toy story 3

monsters inc

monsters university 

the little mermaid

the little mermaid 2: return to the sea

despicable me

despicable me 2

shrek

shrek 2

shrek the third

shrek forever after

the rescuers

the rescuers down under

madagascar

madagascar: escape 2 africa

madagascar 3: europe’s most wanted

movies based off of books:

harry potter: sorcerer’s stone

harry potter: chamber of secrets

harry potter: prisoner of azkaban

harry potter: goblet of fire

harry potter: order of the phoenix

harry potter: half blood prince

harry potter: deathly hallows 1

harry potter: the deathly hallows 2

lord of the rings: the fellowship of the ring

lord of the rings: the two towers

lord of the rings: the return of the king

the hobbit: an unexpected journey

the hobbit: the desolation of smaug

the green mile

pride and prejudice 

the book thief 

a beautiful mind

dear john

the mortal instruments: city of bones

the hunger games

the hunger games: catching fire

life of pi

atonement

percy jackson: lightning thief

percy jackson: sea of monsters

stardust

the outsiders

the help

the notebook

a walk to remember

the shawshank redemption

forrest gump

the chronicles of narnia: the lion, the witch and the wardrobe

the chronicles of narnia: prince caspian

the chronicles of narnia: the voyage of the dawn treader

comedies:

white chicks

21 jump street

freaky friday

the hot chick

just go with it

pitch perfect

the parent trap

she’s the man

mean girls

the goonies

due date

you again

easy a

date night

wedding crashers

superbad

bridemaids

without a paddle

musicals: 

chicago

hairspray

the wizard of oz

sound of music

grease

les miserables

moulin rouge

mary poppins

romance:

27 dresses

sweet home alabama

the holiday

titanic

when in rome 

one day

crazy, stupid, love

ella echanted

leap year

the proposal

remember me

series:

the mummy

the mummy returns

dirty dancing

dirty dancing: havana nights

pirates of the caribbean: the curse of the black pearl

pirates of the caribbean: dead man’s chest 

pirates of the caribbean: at world’s end

pirates of the caribbean: on stranger’s tides

resident evil

resident evil: apocalypse

resident evil: extinction

resident evil: after life

resident evil: retribution

fast and furious 1

2 fast 2 furious

fast and furious: tokyo drift

fast and furious 4

fast and furious 5

fast and furious 6

the hangover

the hangover part 2

the hangover part 3

james bond: casino royale

james bond: quantum of solace

james bond: skyfall

home alone

home alone 2: lost in new york

home alone 3

home alone: the holiday heist

scary movie

scary movie 2

scary movie 3

scary movie 4

scary movie 5

miss congeniality

miss congeniality 2: armed and fabulous

superheroes:

the avengers

thor

thor: the dark world

iron man

iron man 2

iron man 3

captain america

watchmen

catwoman

x-men

x2

x-men: last stand

x-men origins: wolverine

x-men: first class

the wolverine

man of steel

the amazing spider-man

batman begins

the dark knight

the dark knight rises

green lantern

blade

blade 2

blade: trinity

the league of extraordinary gentlemen

studio ghibli:

the secret world of arrietty [subbed//dubbed]

kiki’s delivery service [subbed//dubbed]

spirited away [subbed//dubbed]

princess mononoke  [subbed//dubbed]

whispers of the heart [subbed//dubbed]

ponyo [subbed//dubbed]

howl’s moving castle [subbed//dubbed]

my neighbor totoro [subbed//dubbed]

castle in the sky [subbed//dubbed]

nausicaa of the valley of the wind [subbed//dubbed]

tim burton:

the nightmare before christmas

sleepy hollow

big fish

alice in wonderland

frankenweenie

beetlejuice

edward scissorhands

charlie and the chocolate factory

dark shadows 

confectionerybliss:

click here to read more {by Handle The Heat}

Recipes:

shadowstep-of-bast:

bekahboo2391:

Where has this been all my life!?

*SCREAMS IN ABJECT FURY*

SAID IS NOT DEAD. SAID IS NOT DEAD. SAID IS NOT FUCKING DEAD.

THESE WORDS ARE ALL VERY LOVELY AND USEFUL BUT ONLY IN SMALL DOSES!!!!

LIKE HOW MANY TIMES IN A STORY CAN YOU SAY THEY “STATED” OR “REMARKED” SOMETHING BEFORE THE STORY BECOMES BORING AND INCOMPREHENSIBLE?!?!?! GOOD GODS Y’ALL!

SAID IS A LOVELY ADORABLE LITTLE WORD THAT DOESN’T TAKE UP MUCH SPACE. IT CAN BE USED OVER AND OVER AGAIN AND IT WON’T TURN YOUR STORY INTO AN AWFUL PEICE OF PURPLE PROSE (BUT FUCK IF PURPLE PROSE IS WHAT YOU’RE AIMING FOR HAVE AT IT MY FRIEND) THAT MAKES LITERALLY ZERO SENSE TO THE READERS.

EXAMPLE: ‘“Oh Lizzy,” Clare said tiredly. “We don’t always get what we want.”’

I BET YOU BARELY NOTICED THE WORD SAID. YOU PROBABLY FOCUSED ON THE WORD TIREDLY BECAUSE THAT WAS HOW SHE SAID IT.

AS OPPOSED TO: ‘“Oh Lizzy,” Clare stated tiredly. “We don’t always get what we want.”’

DO YOU SEE HOW STILTED THAT IS???? IT’S AWKWARD AND DOESN’T FLOW RIGHT. NOW IMAGINE IF THE CONVERSATION WENT LIKE THIS:

‘“Oh Lizzy,” Clare stated tiredly. “We don’t always get what we want.”

"It’s just… It’s just so hard to let go.” Lizzy sobbed.’

DO YOU GET WHAT I’M SAYING? PUTTING THE WORD ‘SAID’ IN CLARE’S LINE ALLOWS YOU TO PUT MORE EMPHASIS ON LIZZY’S DISAPPOINTMENT AND EMOTIONAL TURMOIL. IMAGINE IF THE ENTIRE STORY INVOLVING LIZZY AND CLARE USED EVERY WORD BUT SAID. IT’D GET HARD TO READ, WOULDN’T IT???

IN CONCLUSION, TL;DR, ECT. ECT.: THE WORD SAID IS A GOOD WORD THAT LETS THE WRITING FLOW AND ALLOWS YOU TO PUT MORE EMPHASIS ON ANOTHER CHARACTER’S LINES WITHOUT CLUTTERING UP THE STORY. SAID IS NOT DEAD. PLEASE USE THE WORD SAID, DARLINGS. SAID LIKES TO BE USED, AND IT ISN’T PICKY ON HOW YOU USE IT.

YES THESE WORDS IN THE PICTURE ABOVE NEED TO BE PUT TO USE, BUT ONLY SPARINGLY. OTHERWISE YOU END UP WITH A STUTTERED MESS OF A MANUSCRIPT AND IF YOU WANT TO WRITE SUCCESSFUL STORIES YOU’RE GOING TO NEED TO UTILIZE A WORD THAT’S SHORT AND SWEET AND TO THE POINT. AKA THE WORD SAID.

THIS HAS BEEN A PSA