Zoe Carmina's Blog: Zoe Jane Carmina, page 21

2020 Q3 Goals Recap

Hello Lovelies, and welcome again to another quarter end. As usual, I will spend some time going over my quarterly goals set back at the beginning of the quarter. This is because I want to celebrate what I accomplished, figure out what I didn’t do, and see if there’s anything I want to keep or throw off the list.

First, let me show you my Trello board. I use Trello as a digital Kanban-style board, though I use it for other writing-related things as well. Also note, I am writing this post on 0...

In Memory of Terry Goodkind

This is going to be a sad, personal, not really writing related post. If you’re not into that, I’m sorry. Please skip this week’s article, and we’ll be back to the regular types of posts next week.

But if you have a moment, I just wanted to take some time to memorialize author Terry Goodkind, who passed away of normal causes on September 17th, 2020 at the ripe old age of 72.

It has taken me an entire day to even stop feeling the pain of his passing the second I think of him. I started and...

5 Notes Apps for Writers

Storyist

Storyist is a creative writing application for Mac OS X and iPad. Tailored for novelists and screenwriters, it provides a word processor, a cork board with support for index cards and photos, an outliner, and a project manager. It is very similar to Scrivener, so if you’re already using that, you definitely don’t need both! Storyist costs $59.00 for the macOS version and $19.00 for the iOS version.

Evernote

Evernote is an app designed for note taking, organizing, task management, and ...

Goal-Based Plotting Method

I most often start a story with a cool premise. A concept that comes down to me out of the aether that I am extremely excited about, and a story is born. The characters, however, usually stink. When I was going into my fourth draft of #ODUM I was doing a ton of research on character arcs, story arcs, and series arcs in order to build in what I knew my story was lacking.

In doing so, I looked into so many of the same types of outlines, relatively the same story beats, just phrased or arranged ...

Beat the “Shiny New Idea” Syndrome

Ever been diligently working on your main project, when out of nowhere, a new idea hits? It’s a great idea. You’re super excited about it. You just know that this new idea is way more interesting to write, way more publishable, just so much better than the lump of words you’re already working with. Then off you go writing that new thing and not finishing your main project.

Don’t worry. It’s happened to me too. In fact, for the first six years that I was a writer, I attempted to write every singl...

3 Ways Playing Your D&D Campaign Can Help Your Writing

Write Your World

I think the most compelling way a tabletop player can use their game to inform their writing is to literally write about the adventures in your world. Recap each session while it’s fresh in your mind. I tend to include any Natural 20’s or 1’s in my recap, as well as fun character moments and major plot points. This gives you an outline to work off of, where you can write scene by scene, arc by arc, or in any other way that makes sense.

Deep Dive Into the Psyche of Your Character...

5 Ways DMing or GMing Your D&D Campaign Can Help Your Writing

Explore Characters

Tabletop games are great. As a DM, you can make and explore any amount of characters that you want to. If you have a fun concept character, but no story to tell for them, or if you want to get to know them really well before you start writing, consider making them an important NPC in your campaign and take a deep dive from their point of view.

Explore their abilities, ways of thinking, their backgrounds in a more complete and in-depth way. Think of it as a thought experiment f...

5 Ways Players Can Use Writing for a D&D Campaign

Are you a writer who also plays a tabletop campaign like Dungeons & Dragons? Have you ever thought about how your writing and your campaign go hand in hand?

Hi, I’m Zoe, and I’m a writer and a Dungeon Master for a traditional 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons game, as well as a Star Wars 5th edition game. I love writing, and I also love bringing worlds to life for my players.

I do a lot of thinking about my novel worlds, and a lot of thinking about how my campaign world is run. Often I am asking ...

5 Ways DM’s and GM’s Can Use Writing for a D&D Campaign

Are you a writer who also GM/DM’s a tabletop campaign like Dungeons & Dragons? Have you ever thought about how your writing and your campaign go hand in hand?

Hi, I’m Zoe, and I’m a writer and a Dungeon Master for a traditional 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons game, as well as a Star Wars 5th edition game. I love writing, and I also love bringing worlds to life for my players.

I do a lot of thinking about my novel worlds, and a lot of thinking about how my campaign world is run. Often I am askin...

Save the Cat Beat Sheet – Case Study

Want an example of how the Save the Cat Beat Sheet is used? Let’s go over one of my favorite movies of all time, Big Hero 6!

Opening Image: The film opens with the sprawling city of Sanfransokyo, a city that resembles San Francisco blended with Tokyo and other Japanese culture.

Set-Up: Hiro Hamada spends his time building homemade robots to fight in illegal underground rings. Not only is Hiro smart, he is clever. He tricks everyone into thinking that he is just a clueless kid, and he wins us o...