Katrina Said:

What would you include on a "story planning sheet?"?

We Answered:

Well I just included everything on mine... lol

Characters, spare names, spare plot ideas, beginning stories, back stories, relationships between characters from beginning to end, a list of items, trinkets, gadgets, clothing, etc... magic spells, protagonists, main events, characters deaths (why, how, and by who), different foods, different animals, vehicles, games, weapons, city names and placements according to plot, landmark names, important dates in your story's history, characters birthdays, holidays, traditions, medicines, plants, other materials, hybrid humans, reasons for everything, music lists (I include everything on mine, even stuff that doesn't have to do with my story...), pictures (like I said...), adventures, character desciptions, their pasts, and their futures, plot twists, any detectable plot holes, any awards/accomplishments by characters, important events, villans, flat characters, minor characters, schooling, family, family trees for characters, housing arrangements throughout stories, major characters, siblings, parents (even the parents' history if you wanted to), distant relatives, family history, everyone a certain character meets and when, character's favorite things, character's room/house, character's pets, other pets, other important animals, small side details, character weaknesses, character strengths, character battles, fights, other small story elements, small things easily forgotten about, character personality, city/town descriptions, character opinions, world descriptions, ploitical views, religious views (you know, anything that may be important that your character uses), etc, etc...

It might seem crazy, but I've include almost all of these things in my story. I'm big on planning. Not so much on writing, believe it or not. I guess that doesn't make me a writer, really, but I'm still glad to help! Just ignore any spelling mistakes or anything, I don't feel like fixing it all. Lol.

Tracey Said:

Help with writing a story....?

We Answered:

http://www.pgtc.com/~slmiller/characterdevelopment.htm

http://fullcircle.comicgenesis.com/characterdevelopment.htm

These are two good ones. Just type in fictional character development or something and you get many results.

Julia Said:

What story could I write with these pieces of info?

We Answered:

The easiest way to write a story:

What's the character's name?
What do they want?
What do they have to do to get what they want?
What's in the way of getting what they want?
What happens/changes once the character gets what they want?

Ta da! Story! Just add details. Then you can throw in those prompts: "What to do?" Julia asked Katie quizzically.

Florence Said:

How do you get to know your charcter, when you're writing a book/short story?

We Answered:

Personal experience story! I created seven characters at the same time, and I thought I would never get them all straight, since they were siblings and had similar features, so I thought I would always be forgetting who's who. But within the month I was creating separate personalities for them and friends and all these things, knowing who they belonged to! So I can tell you exactly how I did that, and some of the questions I answered in the process of getting to know them!

What are their faults? (need to know for any character!)
What color hair does this person have?
What color eyes do they have?
What is their ethnicity?
Is this person shy, or do they like to be in the spotlight?
Are they smart, or do they just get by?
Can they speak more than one language?
What is their relationship with their siblings (if they have them)?
How do they feel about their parents? Are they the typical rebellious teen or nearly best friends with a close confident?
Who makes up their family? Are they an orphan, have only one parent, or are both present in their life? Do they have any siblings? Are they the only one of their sex among the siblings? How do they deal with that if they are?
Are they popular?
Do they like to toy with the emotions of the opposite sex?
Are they loyal, a person you would go to with a problem and know they won't tell anyone else if you asked?
Are they cunning, living by the phrase "keep your friends close and your enemies closer"?
What are their hopes and dreams for the future? What do they aspire to be?
Do they know a bunch of useless and random facts that at some point someone wants to know? (this is so me, lol)
If a friend was in trouble, what would they do? Would they rush to assist or "waste time" to get an adult?
What are their favorite things (food, sport, color, etc)?
Are they a leader or a follower? Or maybe someone in between?
Is their glass half empty or half full?
Are they dating someone? What's this person like?
Are they humble?
If they had to pick between fighting for their country or just standing in a safe shelter on the site of the battle, and they knew how to fight, which would they pick?
Are they healthy? Do they exersise at all?

I am proud to announce I can answer every single one of these questions for my seven characters!

My characters developed most through short stories I wrote about them that, when I look back on these stories, I am amazed at how far I've developed them. I also write out scenes in my head that may or may not ever be written down, just little tidbits that may give me an idea of something to add to his or her life story and how they got to that point. Like, yesterday I had no idea that my character's girlfriend's mom was going to end up knowing HIS mom when she was pregnant with him but never heard from his mom again, but just today I decided that would be true (it's a lot better when explain in detail, lol). So writing out scenes, if only in your mind, with the characters in them helps. It teaches you how they would react in different situations.