This is a spreadsheet to help with figuring out and developing plot and/or characters, by posing some key questions. It can aid with character-driven plot, or plot-driven characters, or a mix of both. Rather than filling in what your characters have for breakfast or what their favourite colour is, it focuses on the story-relevant aspects: what do they want, what is holding them back, etc. Likewise for plot, the focus is on figuring out what needs to happen, as opposed to trying to structure a storyline when you already have the plot worked out.
So this is basically a sheet for starting from scratch. The aim is to be a starting point, a guide to the essential bits you need to know before starting to write. There are examples of both sheets to help illustrate how they work.
It also borrows a few of the sections from the NaNoWriMo tracker, for keeping track of chapters, characters, and other info, and it has a timeline as well.
Click on the image to download, or here’s a text link.
As with all my other writing tools, this one is free if you want, just put “0” in the price field and you won’t be asked for payment information. If you do want to give back and help out with running costs for this site and enable me to make more writing tools, here’s my tip jar, or you can use the buttons below to donate. I appreciate every single donation no matter how big or small, it all helps. I couldn’t do this without all the support I’ve received over the past few years – thank you!
