Kaye Dacus's Blog, page 18
January 19, 2018
#FirstDraft Planning Day 10: Character Casting and Physical Descriptions
Today’s story-prep comes from Day 10 in the FirstDraft60 process: Your Characters’ Physical Descriptions. THIS IS MY FAVORITE PART OF THE STORY PREP PROCESS!!! Part 1: Casting Your Characters Anyone who’s been around me and/or this blog for any length of time knows that using Real World Templates (i.e., casting my characters with actors, models, […]
January 18, 2018
#FirstDraft Planning Days 7, 8, 9: Characters’ SHAPE and Writing the Opening Scene
I’ve fallen a little behind this week—due to laziness and being “snowed-in” (don’t know if it counts when one works from home anyway, but everything here in Clarksville has been shut down since last Friday because of the six to eight inches of snow on the ground from two pretty major snow storms). So Tuesday’s […]
January 15, 2018
#FirstDraft Planning Day 6: Four Character Building Questions
Today’s story-prep comes from what was Day 6 in the FirstDraft60 process: Four Character Building Questions. This is really the first time in this process that the tasks haven’t been focused on the more technical aspects of the preparation—getting things set up and in place. Today, I actually spent time thinking about my characters and […]
January 13, 2018
#FirstDraft Planning Day 4: Making Lists–Characters and Settings
Today’s story-prep comes from what was Day 5 in the FirstDraft60 process: Lists. Lists. Lists.. Lists of Characters Yes. Lists plural. I have a spreadsheet format that I set up more than twenty-five years ago for creating and keeping track of families (and the Real World Templates for them). It’s the foundation for Bonneterre, Louisiana, […]
January 12, 2018
#FirstDraft Planning Day 3: Continue Story Structure/Timeline Setup
Today’s story-prep is a continuation of tasks that come from what was originally Day 4 in the FirstDraft60 process: Story Structure & Timeline. You can see in yesterday’s post what I got accomplished and what I need to know/do in order to start working on a more specific chronology for my story. Tonight, I created […]
January 11, 2018
#FirstDraft Planning Day 2: Basic Story Structure and Timeline Setup
Today’s story-prep tasks come from what was originally Day 4 in the FirstDraft60 process: Story Structure & Timeline. Yesterday, I posted the progress on all of the tasks in the comments; today, I decided to do it as the day’s blog post itself. Assignment 1: Create a section in your Story Bible for your story […]
January 10, 2018
#FirstDraft Planning Day 1: Setting Up a Story Bible
Having gone through my own First Draft in 60/120 days planning month twice now, I’m approaching it a little differently this time. I know now that some of the tasks take longer than I’ve allowed, and some can be combined with others into one day. Plus, I’m starting this time with a more concrete story […]
January 6, 2018
Annual Austen Poll!
In 2014, I started a tradition of re-reading one of Jane Austen’s novels. Since then, I’ve re-read Persuasion (twice), Mansfield Park, and Sense & Sensibility. It’s now time for me to start thinking about which JA novel I’m going to re-read this year—and I thought I’d let you all help me decide! Vote for the […]
January 5, 2018
2018 Writing & Professional Development Goals
Last year, I started the year by setting some very specific goals—complete with timelines and lots of stuff plugged into my calendar—for the writing I wanted to do in 2017. And then this happened: This year, I’m revisiting most of those goals and will be recreating a plan to get them accomplished this year. These […]
January 4, 2018
2018 Reading Challenge and Goals
It’s only January 4, but time to read is already slipping away! So, while I’m only now posting my 2018 reading challenge and goals publicly, I’ve actually already completed one book and have two more going. Let’s dive right in, shall we? 2018 Challenge by the Numbers In previous years, I’ve set the number goal […]
