We have author Deanna Carlyle's suggestion to "slam" your character. Her suggestion is brilliant, and I plan on slamming my MC, Josephine, straight away.
Nifty little distraction of the day, one that takes the theory of 'six degrees of separation' to a new level: Literature Map (thanks for the link, Linda, from Another Good Thing).
And for more character development, I tend to skim the fascinating articles and studies constantly being released in regard to human psychology and evolution. Here's a good one, especially for those who are writing for YA, or like me have flash backs to your MC's teenage years: this study finds that genetic risk for substance abuse can be neutralized by good parenting. These little tidbits of information can be uitlized in unsuspecting ways to flesh out a character.
And here is an great article that provides a comprehensive breakdown of what goes into writing a short story. I found this article b y Dennis G. Jerz to be just as helpful for a full-blown novel, and since I am very visual, I really liked all the 'multiple choice' examples for the how-tos.
My Crush blog had a great post about switching your adverbs to verbs, and linked to the aforementioned Deanna Carlyle's blog, wherein she has a fabulous list of 1000 verbs! I found many more great articles about writing at Deanna's site. Check it out!
At Writer Unboxed, there is a great overview for plot structure by Juliet Marillier, here.
And to wrap it up let's put a little Soul in our Ego: I stumbled upon a lovely blog where photographer and author, Wayne Wirs (FADING TOWARDS ENLIGHTENMENT), chronicles his nomadic journey not only by land, but heart and soul. For anyone interested in reincarnation, the search for enlightenment or imply beautiful imagery, this is a blog worth checking out.
Enjoy!
k.
