I’m doing something a little different today, since it’s the July 4th weekend here in the States.
I’ve tweeted some writing worksheets I came across lately and they received good play on Twitter. I thought I’d link to them here, too. Just in case you’ve got writing planned for your long weekend and enjoy using worksheets. :)
The Diary of a Trainee Paranormal Romance Writer blogger, Catherine Pawsey, has really outdone herself, digging up resources for writers. She rounded up some very useful worksheets. Among them:
The Novel Notebook
The novel-writing diagram
Please check out Catherine Pawsey’s site because she also links to other resources, including workshops on various topics like pacing. If you scroll to the very bottom of her blog, there will be a list of tools.
Manon Eileen has a great worksheet–the Main Character Survey. You can find it here on her site. You fill it in online, then you can print afterwards.
These worksheets are excellent and are from our friends at the Adventures in Children’s Publishing blog (but are for all genres):
The Scene Conflict Worksheet – Developing Tension in Your Novel
Plotting Made Easy – The Complications Worksheet
Writer’s Digest worksheets—from story idea maps, to scene cards, backstory, cliffhangers, research…you name it.
Jody Hedlund has a Character Worksheet
Heather McCorkle’s Character Arc Worksheet
A show-don’t-tell PDF worksheet by Toni Buzzeo
Worksheets don’t work for you, but still need some direction? Try these posts instead:
Kaye Dacus’ series on Creating Credible Characters
Janice Hardy on plotting.
Janice Hardy on creating characters.
Outline your novel in 30 minutes
Worksheets can help some writers organize their story, and can give others a helpful push in the right direction. I don’t always use them, but sometimes they can get me thinking about new directions for my story. See anything that might be helpful? Do you know of any to add?
What great tools, thank you for sharing, Elizabeth! I love writing tools, I actually created one myself not too long ago. It’s called the Main Character Survey and it’s very extensive. I especially tried to incorporate some stuff that I usually miss in other worksheets, the psychology (I’m a clinical psychologist).
It’s online and easy to fill in, it produces a document when you click submit, after which you print it on paper or as pdf.
http://www.manoneileen.com/introductiontomcs/mcs/
:D
Elizabeth – Oh, thanks for these! I am planning doing as much writing as possible this weekend, and these will help. One of the things I find is that when I’m going great guns on my writing, I may write a great part of the story, but the details (erm what was that character’s name?) often get lost in the shuffle. Worksheets like these help one keep those details straight.
Awesome, thank you \o/ :D
Wow, these are great. I’m using them this weekend for revision, but I’m definitely going to bookmark this and come back.
Oh, of course, Manon! I remember coming across your online printable worksheet in the last couple of months. Thanks for reminding me–I’ve revised the post to include it. Nice resource.
Jill–Hope they’ll be helpful! :)
I’ve stumbled across most of these at one time or other but it’s absolutely wonderful to have them all linked in one place. Thank you!
I use worksheets, but not to this degree. Thanks for the links! I’ll be going over these in the next few days. This is very helpful!
I started clicking away on these great worksheet links and then realized one of mine is on here! Thank you so much, I’m honored. :)
Is there one for writing the back cover synopsis?
I have some of these, but will put the others to good use. Thanks much!
T
Great set of resources here. Also love your new profile pic!
It’s not a worksheet, per se, but I use a personal wiki to organize my novels. It’s a personalization I put together of an open source/free wiki platform (tiddlywiki). My writing tweak is ‘tiddlywikiwrite’ and you can find it here: http://www.ljcohen.net/resources-wiki.html
Anyone is free to use/adapt/pass on.
Wow, great links! Thank you!
Great idea! I definitely need one on plotting :)
What a treasury of resources! Can’t wait to dig in to these, and thanks so much for including ours. We are honored!
Martina
Margot–They really can. So easy to forget all the details (especially since we’re all busy writing the next book!)
Manon Eileen–You’re so welcome! :)
Stephen–They’re fun to go through. I especially like browsing through them when I’m brainstorming and editing.
Heather–Love that character arc worksheet. :)
Alex–There *should* be one! Ha!
Bluestocking–Thank you! My 9 year old daughter took it. I was freezing up too much at the portrait place, so thought I might get a more natural picture at home. I did! But it took about 75 tries…thank goodness for digital cameras.
LJCohen–Very cool! Thanks so much…I’ll add a link. Wikis are great. :)
Raelyn–That was my thinking…to try to gather them in one place. So much good stuff out there.
Bethany Elizabeth–Enjoy! :)
Teresa–Hope they help!
Adventures in Children’s Publishing–Happy to do it! You have some amazing worksheets. :)
Thanks for passing along all the wonderful information about links for worksheets and other articles you pass on. I’m a newbe to the writing scene, so to speak and so I find myself popping out grateful thoughts and words as I gather info to help with my wip. Your efforts are appreciated!
Love worksheets! You always find the best resources Elizabeth. Thanks!
Oh neat. I checked out her blog and saw the A Round of Words in 80 Days challenge. That sounds like my sort of challenge. The writer tools look great, too.
Thanks for the plug. Glad I can help :)
Thanks everybody! Hope they’ll help. I love having resources to help brainstorm. :)
What an amazing list of writing links! I’m going to have to include this in a mash-up, though you’ve already done the work for me. :-)
I just surfed over from Ava Jae’s blog and started clicking on all these links. Now I’m blinking in surprise – thanks for all the helpful links!!