Writing Tools - Which Do you Use/Not Use?
Jun. 27th, 2011 09:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
(x-posted to: Critique_Circle )
Anyway, recently I had someone recommend that I check out a character template. I did, and it got me to thinking about writing tools and which are useful. (Incidentally, I found the template to be pretty useless.)
I'll be honest in that I haven't found any writing tools to be useful enough to be worth working with. This may be in part due to methodology (I tend to start with a plot, then flesh out the story with the world and characters I need for that plot, considering the whole time what sorts of people they'd need to be to respond in the way they have to in order to make the plot progress. Of course, sometimes they surprise me, but...all the same...I build them in response to the plot, rather than the other way around, and half the time don't care about details like their hair color or ethnic background, which can sometimes be completely irrelevant.), and may be in part due to arrogance/apathy/sloth.
That said, I do think that certain checklists can be super helpful - I just haven't seen any that I'm all that excited about. So I wondered if any of you knew of any awesome tools for world building/character building/plot development, etc.
Anyway, recently I had someone recommend that I check out a character template. I did, and it got me to thinking about writing tools and which are useful. (Incidentally, I found the template to be pretty useless.)
I'll be honest in that I haven't found any writing tools to be useful enough to be worth working with. This may be in part due to methodology (I tend to start with a plot, then flesh out the story with the world and characters I need for that plot, considering the whole time what sorts of people they'd need to be to respond in the way they have to in order to make the plot progress. Of course, sometimes they surprise me, but...all the same...I build them in response to the plot, rather than the other way around, and half the time don't care about details like their hair color or ethnic background, which can sometimes be completely irrelevant.), and may be in part due to arrogance/apathy/sloth.
That said, I do think that certain checklists can be super helpful - I just haven't seen any that I'm all that excited about. So I wondered if any of you knew of any awesome tools for world building/character building/plot development, etc.