Thank you.

Yes, we each have a process, and it's not wrong if it works for us. Pants, plot or do something in between! 🙂

Thank you, Laura! Just being a link in the chain. The generosity of others has helped me so much so paying that forward the tiniest bit feels great. I hope you had a blast at Nationals!

People around us can be less than supportive, can't they? (HUGS.) Just think about how many books would not be out there in the world if any of us listened to this advice. Had I, there would be no emotion thesaurus or sequels. If you have a book inside you, let it come out. 🙂 I guarantee there are many more behind it, and a readership that will enjoy your storytelling and be waiting for more!

The Character Arc Blueprint is a powerful feature within the Character Builder. You can find it on the Motivation Tab, and basically what it does is collect key pieces of information that you add to your character and pull it all together to show you how it will be part of the Character's arc. So it looks at what you're character's goal is, the stakes, the past wound that they need to overcome, etc., and generates an accurate "blurb" about your character's arc that will help you understand what your story is really about, and what is motivating your character from within.

The best way to see it in action is to look at my test character Paul's PDF linked in this post: https://onestopforwriters.com/assets/tools/cbt_sample-c2bc5b3593a4d978918ff14df9f9d7a695d4b4aac71a4b992fba659f0ade88e0.pdf

If you go to "Motivation" you'll see his Change Arc Blueprint. This will be critical information for the story that I would want to follow if I intent to hit all the biggest puzzle pieces of a successful character journey. This change arc can be switched to a Failed Arc or a Static Arc too, so if you want to see what happens if the character is to fail in their mission or the story is not as much about inner change as it is changing the world, you can see that too. 🙂

There's a video about the Character Builder here (a walkthrough): https://onestopforwriters.com/about_cbt

And there's a post here on the blog that also looks at the Character Builder more deeply: https://writersinthestormblog.com/2019/02/how-to-create-a-fascinating-cast-of-characters/

I hope this helps--if you have any questions, just shout!

Thanks Evelyn! You and I sound very similar, because I do the same thing--get to know them before I write but leave room for those all-important discoveries. i feel like this is a good balance between writing with a destination in mind but keeping options open for the route I'll take. 🙂