Prompt Me! - March 20th, 2008

Hey everyone! My name is Rebecca, I'm the mod of this community. I hope this community helps inspire people to write on a regular basis. Only with practise do we all get better, so it's best to make it a regular thing!

I'll be posting a few things I have found useful through my workshops for developing original characters and plot. The prompts will go up on Mondays!

So. You want to write a story. You have a bit of an idea, but nothing solid yet. You want to try writing, but... how do you write without a character? We'll get into character development later. But for now, you need a name.

By now, you probably know a few things about your characters. Gender, ethnicity, some character traits... But maybe not a name. So let me introduce you to my best friends:

http://www.behindthename.com
http://surnames.behindthename.com

This site is WONDERFUL. It has a decent size selection of names, but the best part is that you can search by ethnicity and meaning. Plus, it has names you wouldn't see anywhere else, like ancient Greek ones or mythology names, for those of you writing period pieces.

Feel free to comment with other websites you might like, we can have a collection of sites!

So, your character has a name. Awesome. But it doesn't matter how good you are at writing, your characters are what move your story. You could have the most amazing plot ever, but if we don't care about your character, we don't care. Plain and simple.

So, sit down and talk to your character. Hopefully, he or she will have become a small little muse in the back of your head, a little voice ready to answer any questions you might have. "What? Shouldn't I know the answers?" you might ask. It's your character, your creation! Perhaps. But you don't get answers until you ask questions!

So, sit down, and work through this with your protagonist. And then your antagonist some other time. And eventually, just work through any character that needs developing.

( It's like a giant LJ meme for your characters! )