Just Some Tools

Photo by Todd Quackenbush on Unsplash

This week, I thought I would share with you a random mashup of translated writers’ slang and some tools for building great stories. Enjoy!

Abbreviations/Slang:

Every craft and skill tend to have its own world, culture, and lingo, and it’s no different when it comes to writing. Here are a few terms that you may see me use, and this is what they mean:

CD – Character Development.

Charrie – Slang for “character.”

MC – Main Character.

NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month. Every November, writers crank out a 50,000-word novel over the span of 30 days.

POV – Point of View. 1^st-person POV, “I saw”. 2^nd-person POV, “you saw.” 3^rd-person POV, “he/she saw.”

RD – Rough Draft. This is the first filled-in version of your story. The rough draft is when your story goes from outline to manuscript.

WIP – Work in Progress. Refers to any project still in the making.

Curriculums and Websites:

Writing is tough work, but there are communities out there ready to come alongside you. Here are a few.

Cover Story – a Middle-school writing program that helps you write, design, and compile a magazine in one school year.

Go Teen Writers – A great blog and website that encourages teen authors to keep writing. Full of helpful tips and resources from published authors that started their journey as teens.

One Year Adventure Novel – Write the adventure of a lifetime in one school year! Join hundreds of high-school aged authors worldwide and write a uniquely-yours, compelling novel. Attend writing workshops (exclusively for students), hear published authors speak, and get a chance to talk with them face to face! Join their private writing forum and give and receive critiques with fellow students.

(Note: while this curriculum is geared toward high schoolers, it is an effective and wonderful tool for writers of any age.)

The Liberty Writer – Yes, you’re reading this blog. Here is a place for you to find community and motivation as you write. Learn to write well, write bold, and to write the stories you want to tell. Feel free to comment at anytime with questions or suggestions. I’m more than happy to listen!

Mindset Matters – Short, motivational blog posts to keep you pressing forward through the tough things, to apply yourself, and to make the most of your life. Not directly related to writing, but very applicable to encouraging you to stay the course.

Books:

Go Teen Writers – by Stephanie Morrill and Jill Williamson

A wonderful, compact resource that explains the ins and outs of writing and helps you “turn your first draft into a published book.” From the authors of the Go Teen Writers blog.

Just Write One Thing Today – by John Gillard

365 writing prompts to help you grow each day of the year. Includes starters for writing dialogue, description, juxtaposition, and more. Incorporates “Intensive Weeks” for writing short stories and poems. Contains some swear words.

Make Your Bed – by William McRaven

A small but incredibly powerful and motivating book that urges its readers to be faithful in the small things. This book is not directly related to writing but encourages readers to stick to the hard things. Writing can be a rocky path!

Building A Storybrand – by Donald Millar

An easy-to-understand guide to marketing that customers will listen to. Use it for promoting your books or blog. Written in engaging storytelling terms.

Medical Resources

Novels, especially action ones, tend to have emergency situations and injuries. Here are some sources to help you write medical conditions and effects accurately. As a side note, any first-aid book is handy for describing wounds and shock, as those books are designed for guiding first-responders to evaluate and treat the situation. If you know someone in nursing school, ask to borrow their textbook!

Understanding Pathophysiology– by Sue E. Huether and Kathryn L. McCance

A nursing textbook full of medical conditions, implications, and modern treatments. Helpful for knowing whether a character could survive certain injuries and opens your eyes to the consequences of various wounds. Some disturbing images.

Writing Realistic Injuries – Concise, book-focused information for creating realistic injuries and side-effects. No pictures.

Mayo Clinic – Search medical disorders and symptoms.

 

Movies:

Watching and observing movies is a great way to shape up your story-building skills.

A Southern Yankee – A hilarious black & white film that takes place during the American Civil War where a blundering Northern civilian accidentally tangles himself into stealing the identity of a renowned Southern spy. Fun and lighthearted demonstration of well-written story, comedic characters, and clever plot twists. IMDb: Not rated.

Amish Grace – A sober movie centered around a school shooting in an Amish community. Deals with insightful grief processing. Absolutely no blood is shown. Based on a true story. IMDb: Rated PG.

The Andy Griffith Show, Seasons 1-5 – A fun, 1960s TV-show that revolves around a sleepy sheriff’s department in North Carolina. Demonstrates believable, consistent, and loveable character development. A personal family-favorite. IMDb: TV-G.

Anne of Green Gables (1985)  IMDb: TV-G
Anne of Avonlea (sequal) (1987) (No IMDb U.S. Rating)
An aspiring author, romantic, and orphan girl gets “accidently” adopted. The story follows her journey through school from girl to woman, dreamer to achiever. Great demonstration of conflict without violence.

Beyond the Mask– A mercenary, Will Reynolds, seeks revenge on his former employer after an attempt on his life. Reynolds travels to colonized America and anonymously assists the patriots in the beginnings of their independence from England, all the while trying to earn himself a new name before God and a girl who he knows he’s unworthy of. Masterful mix of adventure and history, fact and fiction. Also, a great example of how to integrate faith in story without being preachy. IMDb: Rated PG for action, violence, and some thematic elements.

In Our Hands – A docudrama on the Six-Day War for Jerusalem. Beneficial for stories set in the war zone. Fairly graphic, violent, and bloody. IMDb: Not Rated.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy:

Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring) MPAA/IMDb: Rated PG-13 for epic battle sequences and some scary images
The Lord of the Rings (The Two Towers) MPAA/IMDb: Rated PG-13 for epic battle sequences and scary images 
The Lord of the Rings (The Return of the King) MPAA/IMDb: Rated PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and frightening images

Young hobbit Frodo Baggins must destroy a ring of power before the Dark Lord Sauron reclaims the ring and binds the earth in darkness. A superb fantasy clash between light and dark, good and evil, and story done well. Beautiful demonstrations of the power of camaraderie, the worth of fighting for what’s right, and more.

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“A real writer learns from earlier writers the way a boy learns from an apple orchard—by stealing what he has a taste for and can carry off.” – Archibald MacLeish

“When you take stuff from one writer, it’s plagiarism; but when you take it from many writers, it’s research.” – Wilson Mizner

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