Written in Fairy Dust

October is here! With that, it’s to time to start outlining for your NaNoWriMo novel. Here is an outline I came up with that will take me from having only a vague idea of my story to being prepared for November. I hope it does the same for you.

some fucking resources for all ur writing fuckin needs

body language masterlist

a translator that doesn’t eat ass like google translate does

a reverse dictionary for when ur brain freezes

550 words to say instead of fuckin said

638 character traits for when ur brain freezes again

When u and ur bffs are trying to look like humans

Hi there! I would love to! I think I’ll start out with an example with filter words and then cut out the filter words to show you the difference.

For those of you who haven’t seen my post on Filter Words.

Now, for the example:

I felt a hand tap my shoulder as I realized I had made a huge mistake. I knew the consequences would be unsettling, but I had no other choice. I saw the light of my desk lamp bounce off of the officer’s badge before I had even turned around. It seemed like I always found my way into trouble.

It was the first thing off the top of my head, so it’s a bit rough sounding….

Now for without filter words (And a bit of revision):

A hand tapped my shoulder as it dawned on me: I had just made a huge mistake. The consequences would be unsettling if I didn’t get out of this mess, but I had no other choice. The light of my desk lamp bounced off of the officer’s badge. I always found my way into trouble.

By taking out filter words, you get right to the point.

I’d also like to add a few more notes that I didn’t have the chance to post previously.

Some Examples of Filtering:

I heard a noise in the hallway.

She felt embarrassed when she tripped.

I saw a light bouncing through the trees.

I tasted the sour tang of raspberries bursting on my tongue.

He smelled his teammate’s BO wafting through the locker room.

She remembered dancing at his wedding.

I think people should be kinder to one another.

How can you apply this?

Read your work to see how many of these filtering words you might be leaning on. Microsoft Word has a great Find and Highlight feature that I love to use when I’m editing. See how you can get rid of these filtering words and take your sentences to the next level by making stronger word choices. Take the above examples, and see how they can be reworked.

FILTERING EXAMPLE: I heard a noise in the hallway.

DESCRIBE THE SOUND: Heels tapped a staccato rhythm in the hallway.

FILTERING EXAMPLE: She felt embarrassed after she tripped.

DESCRIBE WHAT THE FEELING LOOKS LIKE: Her cheeks flushed and her shoulders hunched after she tripped.

FILTERING EXAMPLE: I saw a light bouncing through the trees.

DESCRIBE THE SIGHT: A light bounced through the trees.

FILTERING EXAMPLE: I tasted the sour tang of raspberries bursting on my tongue.

DESCRIBE THE TASTE: The sour tang of raspberries burst on my tongue.

FILTERING EXAMPLE: He smelled his teammate’s BO wafting through the locker room.

DESCRIBE THE SMELL: His teammate’s BO wafted through the locker room.

FILTERING EXAMPLE: She remembered dancing at his wedding.

DESCRIBE THE MEMORY: She had danced at his wedding.

FILTERING EXAMPLE: I think people should be kinder to one another.

DESCRIBE THE THOUGHT: People should be kinder to one another.

See what a difference it makes when you get rid of the filter? It’s simply not necessary to use them. By ditching them, you avoid “telling,” your voice is more active, and your pacing is helped along.

The above list is not comprehensive as there are many examples of filtering words. The idea is to be aware of the concept so that you can recognize instances of it happening in your work. Be aware of where you want to place the energy and power in your sentences. Let your observations flow through your characters with immediacy.

Ok, sorry for the lengthy answer, I know you just wanted an example…. sorry!

Ok here is a compilation of all the software and useful tools I’ve come across whilst writing. Some of them I’ve reviewed on here already, more coming soon. 

Got an idea? Well get planning! Here’s some useful outlining, brainstorming and mind- mapping software:

Coggle 

Lucidchart

Mural.ly

Blumind

MindMeister

Mindmaple

Mindomo

NovaMind

Popplet

Scapple

Tree Sheets

Visual Understanding Environment (VUE)

XMind

FreeMind

Oak Outliner

Work Flowy

The Outliner of Giants

Just want to get writing? You want a word processor:

Gedit

Google Docs

Kate

LibreOffice

Microsoft Word

My Writing Spot

NoteTab

Open Office

Quabel

Ted

Vim

yEdit

Making notes? Here you go:

CintaNotes

Evernote

KeepNote

Memonic

MS OneNote

Scribe

SuperNotecard

Tomboy

Timelines giving you a headache? Try these:

Aeon Timeline 

Dipity

Preceden

Tiki-Toki

Timeglider

Timeline

TimelineJS

TimeToast

Now perhaps you want to organise those notes. Got a lot of research? Character sheets? Images? Well here’s some tools to keep all that together:

Liquid Story Binder XE

LitLift

PangurPad

Scriptito

Scrivener

Writer’s Café

Yarny

yWriter

Are you easily distracted? The following tools will keep you on track:

Dark Room 

FocusWriter

JDarkRoom

Momentum Writer

OmmWriter

Q10

Writemonkey

Zen Writer 

Even more productivity tools to help keep you focussed on your task:

Cold Turkey 

FocalFilter

Freedom

InternetOff

Keepmeout

Nanny

Productivity Owl

RescueTime

SelfControl

SelfRestraint

Simple Blocker

StayFocusd

Strict Workflow

Time Doctor

Waste No Time

Website Blocker

So you’ve got something down? Need to edit? 

AutoCrit

EditMinion

Grammarly

LyX

SlickWrite

SmartEdit

After the Deadline

All done? Perhaps you’d like some e-publishing tools:

Acrobat

InDesign

Calibre

CutePDF

Jutoh

Mobipocket Creator

PagePlus

PageStream

PDFCreator

Scribus

Sigil

I’m feeling generous, have some more cool stuff:

750 Words

One Page per Day

Oneword

Penzu

Write or Die

Written Kitten

Focus Booster

Spaaze

AutoREALM (Map building software)

Sticking a landing will royally fuck up your joints and possibly shatter your ankles, depending on how high you’re jumping/falling from. There’s a very good reason free-runners dive and roll. 

Hand-to-hand fights usually only last a matter of seconds, sometimes a few minutes. It’s exhausting work and unless you have a lot of training and history with hand-to-hand combat, you’re going to tire out really fast. 

Arrows are very effective and you can’t just yank them out without doing a lot of damage. Most of the time the head of the arrow will break off inside the body if you try pulling it out, and arrows are built to pierce deep. An arrow wound demands medical attention. 

Throwing your opponent across the room is really not all that smart. You’re giving them the chance to get up and run away. Unless you’re trying to put distance between you so you can shoot them or something, don’t throw them. 

Everyone has something called a “flinch response” when they fight. This is pretty much the brain’s way of telling you “get the fuck out of here or we’re gonna die.” Experienced fighters have trained to suppress this. Think about how long your character has been fighting. A character in a fist fight for the first time is going to take a few hits before their survival instinct kicks in and they start hitting back. A character in a fist fight for the eighth time that week is going to respond a little differently. 

ADRENALINE WORKS AGAINST YOU WHEN YOU FIGHT. THIS IS IMPORTANT. A lot of times people think that adrenaline will kick in and give you some badass fighting skills, but it’s actually the opposite. Adrenaline is what tires you out in a battle and it also affects the fighter’s efficacy - meaning it makes them shaky and inaccurate, and overall they lose about 60% of their fighting skill because their brain is focusing on not dying. Adrenaline keeps you alive, it doesn’t give you the skill to pull off a perfect roundhouse kick to the opponent’s face. 

Swords WILL bend or break if you hit something hard enough. They also dull easily and take a lot of maintenance. In reality, someone who fights with a sword would have to have to repair or replace it constantly.

Fights get messy. There’s blood and sweat everywhere, and that will make it hard to hold your weapon or get a good grip on someone. 

A serious battle also smells horrible. There’s lots of sweat, but also the smell of urine and feces. After someone dies, their bowels and bladder empty. There might also be some questionable things on the ground which can be very psychologically traumatizing. Remember to think about all of the character’s senses when they’re in a fight. Everything WILL affect them in some way. 

If your sword is sharpened down to a fine edge, the rest of the blade can’t go through the cut you make. You’ll just end up putting a tiny, shallow scratch in the surface of whatever you strike, and you could probably break your sword. 

ARCHERS ARE STRONG TOO. Have you ever drawn a bow? It takes a lot of strength, especially when you’re shooting a bow with a higher draw weight. Draw weight basically means “the amount of force you have to use to pull this sucker back enough to fire it.” To give you an idea of how that works, here’s a helpful link to tell you about finding bow sizes and draw weights for your characters.  (CLICK ME)

If an archer has to use a bow they’re not used to, it will probably throw them off a little until they’ve done a few practice shots with it and figured out its draw weight and stability. 

People bleed. If they get punched in the face, they’ll probably get a bloody nose. If they get stabbed or cut somehow, they’ll bleed accordingly. And if they’ve been fighting for a while, they’ve got a LOT of blood rushing around to provide them with oxygen. They’re going to bleed a lot. 

Here’s a link to a chart to show you how much blood a person can lose without dying. (CLICK ME) 

If you want a more in-depth medical chart, try this one. (CLICK ME)

Hitting with elbows and knees is typically easier and more effective than hands and feet, which require a lot of precision. It’s also way easier to break your hand or wrist by throwing a punch than to break your elbow or humerus by elbowing someone in the face

Concussions are a thing and relatively easy to get. A hard hit to the head, especially against a wall or other hard surface, could pretty easily cause a concussion, which needless to say would mess up concentration and fighting ability quite a bit

If someone gets hit so hard they get knocked out, odds are they’re not gonna be coherent when they wake up, even if they didn’t get a concussion

Do you need to distract yourself? Or are you simply bored? Here are some great websites to make the time pass.

create pixel art

Awesome photo editor and art program, all free…!

Totally free transparent textures

make a cute chibi

draw some cool generative art

be a graffiti creator

create a picassohead (you don’t need to be a picasso to do so)

paint online

another awsome site to create pixel art on

and another one

create your own mandala

or color one

create an avatar

or you can try creating your own superhero

here you can interact with organisms in different environments to see how to music changes

here’s a website that translates the time into hexidecimal colours,

Here is a website where you can travel along a 3D line into the infinite unkown

here is a website where you can listen to rain with or without music

Need a model in a certain pose for drawing? here

Want to build your own planet

here is a website where you can create your own galaxies

make your own pattern (very useful if you need a new background)

create next hit comic

make a city which looks like something from 90′s games

draw a mandala like design

jig saw puzzles

more jig saw puzzles to solve

create a stunning HTML5 animation - no coding!

make a movie

create and dress up dolls

play a piano

you can also play a guitar

create sounds

another sound creator

create a logo

design your dream home

sketch rooms

explore fashion trends and create your own sets

build a website

try this app for building a website

Or maybe start learning how to code!

design your own t-shirt or a beanie or sweatpants and order them

design your own phone case

pretend to be a graphic designer with this cool online tool

Make your own Glitch art

Here’s another glitch art maker

And another!

Holy hell, here’s a third!

make an image look like it was created by a commodore 64

freaking cool text generator!

Easy to use word processor

Make up really cool patterns or run your photos through it :)

Write an essay on anything with no hassle

Wanna see how something you write would look like if it was on JacksFilms YGS((Your Grammar Sucks videos on YouTube))?

Make pictures out of text

ASCII word generator

Need an idea for some fanart-here :D

Still haven’t found something that would float your boat? Try these:

watch a documentary

learn to code

do something yourself

workout with the help of this great youtube channels

learn things

play pokemon or zelda or other awesome old school games

waste your time on miniclip

play games at additing games

or try games at agame

calm your thoughts

the quiet place

it will be okay

vent or listen to someone

pour out your soul

explore the sky

look at art from around the world

virtually visit museum of iraq

explore world with arounder

create a music playlist

list through rare books

scroll useful science website

create sand art

brain games

try out tastekid and discover new favorite band or movie or book

interactive 3D anatomy

random street view

post a secret

create a family tree

find our what’s the difference between x and y

help scientists and become volunteer researcher

create your own font

read a classic short story

In the mood to read, but not sure exactly what book to go for?

scribble on maps

listen to letters

play with acrobots

listen to podcasts

make a bucket list

Ever want to see the most truly useless websites in creation?

Prank a friend with this blue screen of death!

Zone out watching the colors drip down

Maybe none of these peeked your interest-maybe you’ve been wanting to create an o.c, but never really knew how to start-or you just enjoy making O.C’s….

This masterlist is to help you in making your own OCs….it can also apply to developing RP characters i suppose! (´ヮ`)!

How to Write Better OCs:

basic tips on how to make your oc even better

tragic backstory? learn how to write one/make yours great

writing specific characters

a wordier, great guide on how to develop your character

kick out those vague descriptions and make them AWESOME

Character Development:

how to actually make an OC

Q&A (to develop characters)

more Q&As

giving your character a backstory

how to write an attractive character

Need an Appearance idea?

Humanoid generator? check

Here’s another one

and maybe if you didn’t like those this’ll work

Need Monsterpeople?

Well, then here ya’ go

Maybe you need Cats?

Diversity

adding more racial diversity

avoiding tokenism, AKA, how to add diversity to your cast not just because you “need” it

writing sexuality and gender expression (doesnt include non binary, if you have a good ref to that, please add on!)

masterpost on writing more diversity into your story

cultures of the world

guides to drawing different ethnicities (not just a great art reference, but also really helpful in appearance descriptions!)

Mary Sue/Gary Stu

Test to see if your character is a Sue

Explains subdivisions of Sues/Stus

Powerful Characters Don’t Have to Be Sues

Villains

villain generator

need an evil sounding name for your evil character? bam

villain archetypes

what’s your villain’s motive for being a villain?

Relationships

character perceptions (What your character thinks of themselves and what others think of them)

how to write strong relationships between two characters

8 ways to write better characters and develop their relationships with others

OCxLove Interest Handbook

develop your couple with good ol’ Q&A!

how to write realistic relationships

how to write relatives for your characters (this is more OC related to a canon character, but will help in writing family members in general)

ARCHETYPES

12 common archetypes

8 archetypes for male/female characters

female archetypes (goes pretty indepth from two main categories)

a list of archetypes

NAMES

how to name your character

random name generator

most common surnames

surnames by ethnicity

APPEARANCE

tips for better design

basic appearance generator

pinterest board for character design (includes NSFW and images of skeletons/exposed muscle (?) so tread carefully!)

clothing ref masterpost

Clothing generator

Another clothing generator

More clothing generator

Aaaand even more

Steam punk clothing

Char Style preference

Dress Generator

DETAILS

give your character better powers

a list of professions

proactive vs reactive characters

positive and negative traits

interest generator

skills generator

motivation generator

123 ideas for character flaws

list of phobias

Oh shit someone died

Backgrounds and stuff? yep

Quirks

Personality. you need that shit

Need something fandom related?

City generator hell yeah

location? got ya

World-building?

make your own god damn laws

Landscape.

Need Item names?

Fantasy/sci-fi/etc. medicine names

Stuff to make things more interesting.Weapons, clothes, treasures… whatever your characters need.

Item & Artifact Generators

Other stuffs!

Genre, Plot, & Story Prompt Generators

How did your characters meet?

From the makers of the no-effort character checklist, I bring to you… The no-effort complete character sheet for lazy writers like you and me™! 

Because the extra effort I put in staying up until 3 am to do put this together can save us all a lot of effort filling out longer character sheets ^^

You’re supposed to print it out and fold it in half to make a little booklet but you can save ink and do it on your computer :P

To sell your novel, you may need to know how to write a synopsis, even if you are a pantser-type novelist who can write a whole novel without making an outline first. Agents and publishers will often ask for a synopsis along with sample chapters before they request a complete manuscript.

The biggest mistake most people make when they try to write a synopsis for the first time is to create a bare bones plot summary, along the lines of “First this happens, then this happens, then this happens…” Synopses written this way tend to be so dry and boring even the author would have trouble understanding why anyone would want to read the full novel.

Imagine, for example, if a sports writer described a hockey game as “First one team scored. Then the other team scored. Then the first team scored twice. Then the game ended.” Pretty boring, yes?

- See more at: http://www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com/how-to-write-a-synopsis.html#sthash.luoazyx1.dpuf

blank page hell

too many words hell

not enough words hell

not the right words hell

why isn’t there a word for this hell

in my damn feelings hell

edit hell

wrong music hell

i love this too much hell

CHARACTERS, NO! hell

why can’t i word hell

repetition hell

line break hell

Years ago I had a gig as a music journalist and during that time spent many hours in hotel rooms, restaurants and bars talking with musicians - from unknown indie shoe-gazers to celebrated Grammy award-winners.

In the process, I posed a lot of questions to a lot of artists, but of all the queries I pulled out of my back pocket, this was by far my favourite:

“Where do you think creativity comes from?”

The answers ranged from “I don’t know” and “I wish I knew” to “collaborating with people smarter than me” and “alcohol”.

Still, on rare occasion, songwriters especially would shy away from the topic, citing superstition as the reason. They were convinced that if they spoke too much about the origin of their inspiration, it would disappear faster than the fruit plates in their riders.

When I was a young art school grad, I certainly believed this to be true. At the time I felt I had an elusive (invisible) muse named Georgio and the relationship I had with him, or her (or it), was tenuous, at best.

Fast-forward two decades… I’m older, slightly wiser and no longer a slave to an imaginary guide. I’ve had a few successes and many failures along the way and because I like you, I’m going to share what I’ve learned (so far) about being creative.

Said Synonyms- Reporting

Added: to enhance an argument

Advised: to warn, to offer help

Announced: to declare formally and or publicly

Asserted: to state positively but having no proof

Called: to capture attention by increased volume

Commented: to explain, interpret, or criticize - to make a remark

Complained: to express dislike or disagreement

Congratulated: to give wishes; to acknowledge an action or deed

Continued: to further or add to an earlier point

Declared: to make known clearly and openly

Informed: to give information, to make known; declare

Lied: to not speak truthfully

Observed: to mention casually

Offered: to suggest; to state

Mentioned: to state briefly; to bring up in conversation

Protested: to formally or openly disagree

Quoted: to repeat words of others; to cite a source

Recalled: to remember or bring up

Related: to make connection; to say allegorically

Remarked: to make a brief, casual statement of an opinion

Remembered: to recall

Reminded: to remember; to mention so as not to forget

Repeated: to say again; to restate

Replied: to answer; to say in response

Reported: to give a formal statement; to give an account of

Reassured: to give additional comfort, support, or evidence

Revealed: to make known; to publish

Stated: to say or paraphrase from official documents

Taunted: to cruelly tease in a mocking or insulting manner

Teased: to annoy or pester; vex

Tempted:  to cause to consider (usually) something bad

Said Synonyms- Explaining

Addressed: to speak directly to sme, respond or answer

Answered: to respond to a question

Asserted: to add or offer additional information

Assured: to soothe, comfort, calm

Broke In: to interrupt, supplying additional information

Cautioned: to warn or advise; strongly suggest

Claimed: to assert or maintain; to state as fact

Concluded: to finish or draw to a close; to understand

Confided: to let in on a secret; to disclose

Described: to give additional information

Explained: to make or offer an explanation

Finished: to conclude or complete

Quipped: to say ironically or unemotionally

Implied: to suggest, hint, or say without saying

Noted: to make mention; to acknowledge

Promised: to give word or make a vow

Puzzled: to say with doubt or ambiguity

Reckoned: to add or submit; to figure or believe

Rejoined: to answer an objection

Replied: to answer a question or comment

Responded: to reply or answer a question or comment

Retorted: to reply to criticism in a sharp, witty way

Returned: to answer an objection; to reply to a criticism or charge

Speculated: to guess using information available

Surmised: to conclude or deduce

Said Synonyms- Arguing

Accused: to charge, slander

Agreed: to concur, to be in harmony

Argued: defend position, disagree or dispute

Chided: to scold mildly; to goad into action

Commanded: lead; overwhelm opposition

Contended: to argue, dispute, disagree

Countered: to dispute, question

Convinced: persuaded; remove all doubt, win over

Disagreed: to be at odds; to not agree

Emphasized: to stress

Exclaimed: to speak suddenly, loudly with surprise

Interjected: to add or assert; to interrupt

Interrupted: to cut off or disrupt; to interject out of turn

Maintained: to assert, to support by argument, to affirm

Objected: to disagree; be in oppostion to

Pleaded: to implore or beg; to speak desperately

Proclaimed: to announce officially; support publicly

Proposed: to set forth a design or plan

Reasoned: to state calmly and with logic

Sassed: to speak back to authority figure; rebel

Screamed: to use high pitch loud voice

Threatened: to say in menacing manner

Warned: to make aware in advance of harm, danger, or evil

Yelled: to shout or use loud voice; scream

Said Synonyms- Suggesting

Chimed In: to add (usually) unwanted advice

Coaxed: to convince against someone’s will; change mind

Dared: challenge, question

Hinted: implies suggestion

Implied: similar to suggest - indicates a definite idea

Insinuated: to convey sth unpleasant in a sly, sneaky way

Intimidated: to say without saying, stresses delicacy of situation

Pondered: to consider; to weigh all options

Suggested: to propose as a possibility, to imply

Urged: To entreat earnestly and often repeatedly; exhort

Said Synonyms- Questioning

Asked: to question or solicit

Begged: to ask in a humble manner earnestly

Blurted: to interrupt or interject, to ask all together

Bugged: to ask repetitively; difficult or unwanted questions

Demanded: to ask for urgently and boldly

Guessed: to infer; to ask without evidence

Hypothesized: to guess, infer

Implored: to ask with fervor, implying desperation or distress

Inquired: to ask, seek information

Insisted: to demand strongly, to declare firmly

Pleaded: to answer a legal charge, to lovingly implore

Questioned: to ask, doubt, or dispute

Requested: to ask (sometimes) formally

Wondered: to say with puzzlement or doubt

Worried: to cause to feel anxious, distressed, or troubled

Said Synonyms- Acknowledging

Acknowledge: reluctant disclosure of something perhaps a secret

Admitted: reluctance to disclose or concede facts

Affirmed: implies deep conviction, little chance of contradiction

Alleged: to assert or declare, especially without proof

Approved: to consent or agree

Avowed: boldly declaring, often in the face of opposition

Boasted: to take pride in, brag or overstate

Bragged: to boast or overstate; be prideful

Conceded: similar to acknowledge and admit  

Confessed: an admission of a weakness, failure, omission, or guilt

Corrected: to instruct more correctly; remove misconception

Denied: not accepted; unused, refused

Disclosed: to reveal something previously concealed

Divulged: to reveal sth that should have remained secret

Fretted: to needlessly worry about small details

Greeted: to acknowledge presence; salute, salutation

Imitated: to copy, mimic or simulate

Jested: to make fun of, tease

Marveled: to speak with wonderment or amazement

Nodded: to move head up and down in agreement

Praised: to speak of with honor; to speak highly of someone

Revealed: to make known that which had been secret or hidden

Uttered: to articulate; pronounce or speak

Volunteered: to give or offer to give voluntarily

Said Synonyms- Sounds & Misc

Babbled: to speak incoherently; gibberish, like baby talk

Bubbled: to speak lively and expressively; with joy

Chatted: to speak informally as to a friend

Chortled: to chuckle gleefully; short laugh of joy

Chorused: to speak simultaneously, together

Chuckled: short, soft laugh; usually to one’s self

Coughed: short, strong expulsion of air from lungs

Decided: finished, set

Echoed: repeated sound

Gasped: heavy breath after scare or physical exertion

Giggled: short, high-pitched laugh from fear or nervousness

Growled: rough, threatening manner

Gulped: to speak taking in large amounts of air as if drinking

Gurgled: to speak with fluid in the throat

Hissed: to speak in evil threatening manner

Hollered: to shout usually to someone at a distance

Lisped: to speak unclearly substituting sounds especially ‘th’

Panted: to speak as if out of breath

Piped:to speak suddenly and loudly

Quavered: to speak emotionally with faltering voice

Shrilled: high pitched shriek

Sighed: to speak with difficulty as if bored

Snickered: to say derisively with a laugh

Sniffed: to say as if about to cry

Snorted: to say with contempt and a short burst of breath

Sobbed: to cry uncontrollably

Sputtered: to speak with difficulty perhaps from impediment

Stammered: repeating words and sounds while missing others

Stuttered: to repeat certain sounds multiple times

Vowed: to promise solemnly; pledge

Wept: to cry softly, quietly

Whimpered: to cry or sob with soft intermittent sounds; whine

Whine: to complain or protest in a childish fashion