Special Thanks To
Proofreading by Christopher Xander. I hope more people don't find out about him so he's always available.
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Numerous names generated by Mithril and Mages. Truly an amazing number of generators for more random things than just person names. Like natural geographic features or perhaps a modern business. Different time periods too. Really, really cool.
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Writing Resources
(A collection of writings on writing)
Check out my explanation post here if you're so inclined. As I state in it, this is roughly my process for writing a screenplay/ novel. I hope you find it useful in your own writing.
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First thing's first, you need your Hook/ Core Concept, which is summed up here in Loglines.
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Then it's time to make a Treatment to sum up your ideas on a conceptual level (ignore the section on bibles for now).
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But before you write your Treatment, you'll need to really nail down your Characters, their Roles, Conflict, and Villains.
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And while we're still at the conceptual phase, this checklist from Terry Rossio is invaluable (PDF download).
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Now on to Structure, which we'll cover more than once.
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If you're writing a standalone novel/ screenplay, you can jump ahead to your bible (second half of second link above), but if you're doing a series, you might want to check out some ideas as to Trilogies vs Series and using structure on a macro scale.
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Now time to turn that Treatment into a Bible if you haven't already.
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Time to consider how to introduce your characters.
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Finally we can start the Beat Treatment...
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...which is the last step before the Rough Draft, Editing, Beta Readers, Copy Editing, Marketing, and Review Hunting...
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...all of which are topics I haven't hit upon yet. But I promise I will soon.
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Some additional resources related to:
MASSIVE dialogue database (Excel download).
Neil Gaiman's Writing Advice (includes a tip for getting over writer's block).
Some thoughts on Fantasy Magic.
Kindle Free Giveaway Case Studies one, two, three, & four.
A Goodreads Ads Case Study.
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Just some cool and helpful sites:
Word origins from Etymonline helped create dozens of my words from Ayr. I also strongly suggest looking up "hobbit."
Discover what words came into being each year going all the way back to the 12th century from Merriam-Webster at Time Traveler.
Where all the cool Fantasy kids hang out on reddit.
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