I have put together a small list of some of my own writing tips. I’m still learning and growing as a writer myself, so take it with what you will, but I hope they help!
- MBTI
As a writer, Myers-Briggs is extremely helpful. I haven’t always used it, however. I remember writing a fanfiction at one point, and my main character was not supposed to be exactly like me…yet I ended up writing her that way!
That was when I realized I needed to have some set guidelines for the personalities of my characters, in order to make sure that I would not accidently change them halfway through the story.
If you’re like me, Myers-Briggs is a HUGE help. One website that I have found particularly helpful is https://www.16personalities.com/. It’s a wonderful website that has a list of all sixteen personalities, along with their strengths, weaknesses, how they act in friendships, and other information. They also offer a free personality test, which I have taken myself (any other ISTJ’s out there?).
2. Writing Board
In our homeschooling room, we have a huge bulletin board. About two years ago, I started to add some writing information to it: and there was the birth of my writing board.
I’ve tacked lists of synonyms, helpful sheets giving insights on how to better describe sounds, and adjectives to use for when my characters experience pain. On pink notecards, I have written quotes from published authors to motivate me when I’m writing. And of course, I printed out some collages that I created on Polyvore (www.polyvore.com) for my main character and tacked them in. Below the collages, I had fun with designing different words to describe her and adding them on.
A writing board can be a really helpful thing to have. It can give you inspiration when writer’s block hits (and we all know it does!) or serve as a source of fun creativity.
3. Character Sheets
So this one sort of goes with number one, in a manner of speaking. Character sheets can be really helpful in preventing you from contradicting yourself. Writers are only human, and sometimes it can be easy to forget what we said their favorite candy type was or the eye color of a minor character.
Character sheets can help prevent this by giving you a hard-copy list of all the quirks, looks, and personality of your characters. I would advise to not only have a character sheet for your main characters, but also for your side characters, and perhaps even some minor ones.
~ Southern Dreamer
©2017 Lanie Dean. All Rights Reserved.
Southern Dreamer 