(source)

(source)

Unsplash -  photography, illustration, and art

Pixabay - same as unsplash

Pexels - stock photos and videos

Stockvault.net - stock photos

freepngimg - icons, pictures and clipart

Veceezy - vectors and clipart

Kissclipart and kissPNG - more vectors and clipart (often transparent!)

Getdrawings - simplistic images and drawing tutorials

Gumroad - photoshop brushes (and more)

Canva - needs login but has lots of templates

Library of Congress - historical posters and photos

NASA - you guessed it

Creative Commons - all kinds of stuff, homie

Even Adobe has some free images

There are so many ways to make moodboards, bookcovers, and icons without infringing copyright! As artists, authors, and other creatives, we need to be especially careful not to use someone else’s work and pass it off as our own. 

Please add on if you know any more sites for free images <3

i just found this website that can randomly generate a continent for you!! this is great for fantasy writers

plus, you can look at it in 3d!

theres a lot of viewing options and other things! theres an option on-site to take a screenshot, so you don’t have to have a program for that!

you can view it here!

How to Outline: For Beginners to Writing Veterans

Let me start out by defining a few things:

Pantsers

These types of writers generally plan out very little before diving into their novels. They might have some ideas, maybe a small outline, but they feel free to take their story in any direction they please. The lack of outlining and planning lends itself to untethered creativity.

Plotters

These types of writers usually have some sort of outline that they follow while writing their novel. They spend some time planning and rewriting their outlines and know what’s going to happen (to an extent). Usually the novel is planned out before they begin writing it, which cuts out the element of surprise for the writer and tends to reduce writer’s block.

There’s no right way to be, but personally I’m a plotter. I probably plot too much. If you’re a pantser and it’s working for you, keep doing it! More power to ya!

However, if you’re looking to experiment with plotting or you just want to learn how to do it, check out these tips below:

Where to Begin:

Skeleton Outline

If you’re looking for a little bit of direction, but don’t feel like/find it necessary to build a huge outline, this is probably what you’re going for. Create an outline that focuses around the main points of your story.

Detailed Outline

A detailed outline usually builds on what you did for the skeleton outline. This adds more detail to the structure of your story and helps focus on fleshing out what’s going to happen throughout the novel. I usually add in some sections about my characters and any sort of world building I might do.

Chapter-by-Chapter Outline

This is literally when you plan out each chapter of your novel. Some might find it unnecessary to get that detailed, but if you have pacing problems or want to cut down on extensive editing, this might work best for you.

How to:

Skeleton Outline

This is essentially the “road map” of your story. Figure out what the conflict is and focus on the beginning, middle, and sometimes the end (a lot of writers aren’t completely sure what their ending will be, but sometimes it helps to have to planned out so you can effectively lead up to it in the story. It could also help with tone issues. Example—if you ending is dark, you might want to set up the audience for that).

For a skeleton outline it helps to focus on story arcs. For example,

·         Stasis

·         Trigger

·         The Quest

·         Surprise

·         Critical Choice

·         Climax

·         Reversal

·         Resolution

Learn more about story arcs here: http://www.dailywritingtips.com/how-to-structure-a-story-the-eight-point-arc/

Filling out those story points will help you build a more detailed outline if you choose to do so and will help you focus your story, so it’s not all over the place. If you want to have a clear idea where you’re headed, but don’t want to bog yourself down with the details, a skeleton outline might be best for you.

Detailed Outline

For a detailed outline, you basically just take your skeleton outline and flesh it out. Add to each section of the story arc and drop in more detail. Focus on what scenes will help you get across each main story point.

For example:

Stasis – Amy lives with her mother and her sister in a house that’s nearly falling apart. She’s unhappy with her life and her family doesn’t treat her well.

This is Amy’s everyday life, but you can do more to plan it out before jumping into writing. What’s Amy’s home life like? What does her family do to treat her poorly? What scenes will you explore to show the audience what’s going on.

Maybe Amy’s sister teases her or makes her do all the chores. Maybe Amy’s mom often doesn’t come home or doesn’t take care of her children. Explore these ideas and use them to flesh out your outline. Then, you’ll have some idea what to write when the time comes, instead of just something vague. This could also help you cut down on telling instead of showing.

Chapter-by-Chapter Outline

This takes a lot of time, but from experience, it does help cut down on the editing process, AND it helps you write a synopsis and query letter when or if the time comes. I spent around a month writing my last chapter-by-chapter outline, so I know exactly what I’m going to do when I start writing. I prefer this because I know I won’t get stuck and I’ll be able to get through the draft quickly. If you like to write fast, which I do because I like to keep my excitement for my project up when I’m writing, a chapter-by-chapter outline might work for you.

A chapter-by-chapter outline might be difficult for your first time writing a novel because you might not know how long it should be or what your strengths and weaknesses are as a writer. There’s no right answer for how long a chapter-by-chapter outline should be because only you know how long your chapters usually are or if you have any problems with word count (Is your novel usually too long? Too short?).

Anyway, if you feel like you want to do a chapter-by-chapter outline, I usually do something like this for each chapter:

Chapter 1:

Paragraph or more about what’s happening in the chapter. Think about each chapter as its own tiny story. Each chapter should have a beginning, middle, and end, and should lend itself to the overall story. Think about what the purpose is for each chapter and what information you want to convey to the reader.

Conflict (I tend to write a sentence about what the conflict is in each chapter. If I can’t find any, I know that’s a sign I need to rewrite that section of the outline. There should always be conflict! There should always be something driving the plot forward!)

I also suggest letting your chapter-by-chapter outline sit for a week or so and editing it. I know that sounds like a lot of work, but that will help your catch any plotting, pacing, or conflict problems BEFORE you start writing. If you’re a planner, this will help tremendously.

Additional Notes:

Obviously, some people like editing. They feel that’s when their story really comes together and they love that aspect of it. They like tearing their story apart, starting over, and building something new. That’s perfectly okay! You don’t need to have a detailed outline if that doesn’t work for you.

The reason I focus on planning is because I can look at the bigger picture before I start the draft. I have a clear focus and I know what’s coming next.

Also, there are plenty of ways to write an outline. How I do it isn’t necessarily right, it just works for me. Experiment with it until you find something that makes you feel comfortable.

What I’m really saying is:

There are no rules for writing. Whatever feels right or whatever makes you happy is what you should focus on. If you don’t want an outline, don’t write one. If you’ve been having trouble with writer’s block or the editing process, maybe try it out! Figure out what’s right for you!

wip intro

THE LOTUS EATERS’ GUIDE TO FREEDOM

Bountiful flower with beauty diverse do all that touch know of your curse?

GENRE: ya contemporary

POV: third person omniscient

TRIGGER WARNING : use of vulgar language, violence, metaphorical reference/depiction of drug use and addiction, homophobia

SYNOPSIS:  Time waits for no Soul and Life goes on whether one likes it or not. High school seniors: Mara, Asra, Damien, and Jae know this all too well. With the Future approaching too quick for comfort these four teens stumble upon the answer to all their prayers: the Lotus Flower.

CONFIRMED CHARACTERS

Asra Adams—the dreamer

Jaehyung Lee—the nerd

Damien Smith—the false god

Mara Williams—the loner

INSPIRED BY THE TALE OF ODYSSEUS AND THE LOTUS EATERS

FRIENDS

REBLOG IF YOU HAVE MULTIPLE WIPS!

writeblr intro

Greetings and salutations, everyone! I’ve kinda been lurking in the community for a little while and just finally decided to come out the shadows! Guess I should get to the introduction, huh?

about me

my name’s (allegedly) osana but it’s not like i was there when my birth certificate was being authenticated so who really knows?

i’m 18 and therefore legally an adult but please don’t expect me to be that mature that’s not really how i roll fam

i like to read and write particularly fantasy but i do branch off often enough

i’m a hufflepuff and that’s not necessarily relevant but i had to show my house some love (let’s go badgers!)

i (re-)made this blog mostly because the thing i struggle with most when writing is staying committed and i hoped that surrounding myself with other motivated creators would encourage me to keep writing

my current projects (under the cut)

Hollow Origins series

Genre: YA/NA Fantasy

Trigger Warning: blood & violence, more to be added

This is my main wip. It’s currently in the early outlining stages and I plan for it to be a trilogy but plans are for people the universe likes. It follows Akira, a very curious girl who’s aversion to sweets, supernatural heritage, and inability to stay put leads her to rediscovering a world that, for her sake, was better left alone.

In short, it’s kind of like the unasked for love child of TLoTR, Charmed, and OUAT.

Pinterest

“what you know isn’t real and what you don’t is a nightmare.”

The Lotus Eaters’ Guide to Freedom

Genre: YA Fiction

Trigger Warning: vulgar language, reference/depiction of “drug” use and addiction, more to be added

Synopsis:  Time waits for no Soul and Life goes on whether one likes it or not. High school seniors: Mara, Asra, Damien, and Jae know this all too well. With the Future approaching too quick for comfort these four teens stumble upon the answer to all their prayers: the Lotus Flower.

Basically, these four teens, all with problems of their own, find an easy escape in a glowing flower that turns out to be more trouble than it’s worth in the end. 

Inspired by the tale of Odysseus and the Lotus Eaters.

It’s technically a stand alone, although I (might) plan to expand it into a series of loosely connected stories.

Pinterest Page

“The issue here isn’t that I tricked you! No… No! The issue here is I told you the Lotus Flower was back and you all came running like moths to a flame. Tell me why that is! Huh?”

that concludes my little intro. if you wanna talk or tell me about your own wip, i’d love to hear about it as i’m always looking for new friends and motivation. if you’re shy and just wanna tag me in your wip, i’m fine with that too! i can’t promise you me reblogging will do you any good in exposure but i can promise i’ll bring the positivity!

so uh reblog so i can check you out too!

Bye! Thanks!