Some Tools I Use in My Writing

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Some Tools I Use In My Writing: A List Of Tailored

Resources

You know the feeling: It was a promising start to your novel or short story. The

premise was great, the characters solid, and then all of a sudden it just kind of

faded. Petered out.

What is needed here is a little randomness. A little chaos theory.

But this sort of thing is sadly lacking in the world of writing; the generation of

random events. Artists in other fields have experimented with randomness. Inliterature, the concept of found prose or found poetry has generated some

interesting, if occasionally questionable, results. For an example of this, read:

http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadianpoetry/cpjrn/vol25/jones.htm


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Other artists, such as William S. Burroughs, have experimented with such

methods as the cut-up technique, where they chop up newspapers, pulp fiction

novels and other literary sources, assembling newly found texts as a result.

I like this idea of random generation, of throwing uncertainty into the mix. To this

end, one afternoon recently I spent about an hour coming up with every possible

human situation, and every emotion, that I could think of.


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You are welcome to use this list, and of course add to it if you think of other

possibilities (providing you keep me abreast of your developments!). The list has

only begun, and please feel free tp add to it in the comments section.

I assigned each of these states and situations with a number, and used a random

number generator to select them.

Here is the best random number generator on the net:

https://www.random.org/integers/

The next set of variables relates to the entity that causes the situation (lead

character, character 2, the universe, the country, the town, accident, work of

divine power, misfortune), the one who is the recipient of the situation, (character

1, character 2, country, government etc) and extrapolate the actual happenings

from there.

Lets take an example. My main character has an objective to achieve, lets say

she is a doctor and has discovered a cure to a disease which has baffled

humankind for decades. I go to the random number generator and select and

number between 1 and 70, the number of situations I have on my list. The

generator gives me number 40, plotting. That alone gives rise to a number of

situations, but I generate a number for the second set of variables (the causal

agent), and that comes

up as 19, world.

So it turns out that the

world, and I interpret

that as the government

in this case, has beenplotting against my


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main character from the start. Theyve been tracking her, using her as a pawn in

some way, to get inside her world, or her circle of associates, her fellow scientists.

What do they know? The powers that be feel they can use that knowledge to their

advantage. Perhaps they dont want her to discover this cure because they are

profiting from this disease, and from the medication it requires.

Lets go with another example. My main character is a knight in the service of the

realm, tasked with defending the gates to the realm. He goes out every day to

perform this duty, earns his wage and comes home to support and feed his young

son, whose mother died some years before.

All right, so we have a rich character base, and we are set up for a great story, but

we need to inject an element of uncertainty into the mix. I use the random number

generator, and it gives me the number 13. Gain. OK. Give me the second number.

11: Character 5. This happens to be another knight, who comes and leaves a

pouch of gold in the first knights house every month, anonymously. Why? Perhaps

he is indebted to him in some way, maybe that knight saved his life in battle,

perhaps the knight who gave money wronged the other one in some way in the

past without the other knowing. Perhaps that knight is the younger ones father,

and has kept this secret for many years.

You get the idea. These random event generators are designed to get your ideas

flowing, to throw random situations and characters into the mix, and posit the

question, how would this situation make sense? You, as the author,make it make

sense. They are not concrete determinants, but rathercatalysts for creativity.


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LIST OF HAPPENINGS / EMOTIONS

1.Betrayal / 2. Epiphany / 3. Mastery / 4. Breakdown / 5. Honour / 6.

Dishonour / 7. Fame / 8. Victory / 9. Defeat / 10. Loss / 11. Gain / 12.

Karma / 13. Reflection / 14. Heedlessness / 15. Love / 16. Hate / 17.

Jealousy / 18. Supernatural / 19. Spiritual / 20. Discovery / 21.

Stumbling upon / 22. Visitor / 23. Journey / 24. Death / 25. Birth / 26.

Message / 27. Disease / 28. Warning / 29. Quarrel / 30. Invitation / 31.

Bill / 32. New way of / 33. Ritual / 34. Inheritance / 35. Parenthood /

36. Divorce / 37. Plotting / 38. Accident / 39. Vow / 40. Inspiration /

41. Change of Nature / 42. Insulted / 43. Death of Close Friend / 44.

Benefactor / 45. Friend / 46. Disillusionment / 47. Enemy / 48.Captured / 49. Spell / 50. Curse / 51. Theft / 52. Kidnapping / 53.

Impulse Followed / 54. Rebellion / 55. Mental Illness / 56. Change

Sides / 57. Law Change / 58. Sex / 59. Assassin / 60. Wounding / Add

more!

AGENTS OF CAUSE / RECIPIENTS

1.Lead Character 1 / 2. Lead Character 2 / 3. Opposition 1 / 4.

Opposition 2 / 5. Supporting Character / 6. The World / 7. Universe /

8. Legal System / 9. Supernatural Force / 10. Character acting against

himself in a psychotic break?!! / Whatever or whoever else you can

think of.


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CHARACTER - SITUATION - RESPONSE

Ok, so thats one tool. Heres another. I have found this one especially useful in

the writing of my novel.

I call it Character - Situation - Response. Its very simple. Youve reached an

impasse with a character, or characters, or youve just generally hit a wall with

your book or short story.

Heres what you do. Create a spreadsheet or table.

In the left column, list your characters. In the middle column, list your situation.

The third column you leave blank. Now print this out, and put it into your pocket.

When youre out getting a kebab, in the toilet at the club, on the bus, whatever,

pull this out and look at it. Think about the character, think about the situation,

and try to work out how that character would react to that situation.

This is especially useful for stories or novels where there are multiple characters,

as these reactions often rub up against each other and create new storylines.

SOMETHING REALLY RANDOM:

To leave you with something completely leftfield, here is a random event generator

for use in RPGs etc Im gonna hit it for fun right now, here we go


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Find this site here:

http://www.trollmystic.com/pub/2012/03/03/e

vent-generator/

The internet has a bunch of these little

generators out there, as well as name

generators (this site is awesome):

http://www.behindthename.com/random/

Surname generators:

http://www.namegenerator.biz/last-name-generator.php

And a bunch of others, including this site where you can map out the scenarios

that happen as a result of the Character - Situation - Result exercise:

http://www.storyboardthat.com/

This last site is incredibly powerful, and I may even devote a whole article to this

at some stage. Regardless, there are a number of ways to dislodge yourself from

creative block, and I hope that, with these suggestions, I have at least started you

down the path!

Now put digits to keys you bloody layabouts.

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Some Tools I Use in My Writing