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I was kind of productive today. I was only able to write a few lines my book. However, I think those lines are pretty good. I tried to ask several people which first line they liked the most, but most people didn't respond. However, I was able to get 2 of my learning goals done.

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If you need to answer so many questions about the character, and then he says that you shouldn't tell them all about the character, why do you need to answer every single question on his profile?

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Having a plot is very important. If my plot is not working, how can I change it so that it does work? Perhaps I can share my plot with people after changine it and make sure that it is a still a good plot

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If my characters and dialogue are so, so important, how can I know how many characters I should make, and how much dialogue I should have? It is obviously very important. Perhaps I could practice making up different character, and see if people like them. Then go through and cut out the ones that I don't need. Same with my dialogue.

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Applies to this as well, however, the writing is not for this.

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I think I did pretty well today. I was able to write research for two of my sources. However, I can improve how I did my writing.

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Points that All Successful Plots Should Have

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Points that All Successful Plots Should Have

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Website
Trottier, David. "The Magnificent 7 Plot Points" DavidTrottier,
https://www.keepwriting.com/tsc/magnificent7plotpoints.htm

Davide Trottier explains on this website points that every plot must have to be successful. I can go through my plot and apply these points to make sure that my plot is excellent. He also goes into further detail about each of these points.

Fortunately, what Trottier says is very helpful. He expresses his thoughts in a list, which I enjoy, because I can use them as a checklist. Trottier claims that you must have struggle in your book, or else your readers will not be personally invested. Knowing this information, I can try to put struggle and heart into my writing. Doing this will have a greater impact on my audiance.

To continue the idea that every book needs these 7 points, Trottier himself writes, "But how does a story turn from beginning to middle, and from middle to end? With turning points.  Also called plot points. These are the twists and turns, the important events that complicate or even reverse the action, such as cliffhangers, revelations, and crises." He then continues to explain in detail what these plot points are. I can use these points in my story so that my plot makes sense. However, I need more than one source on  my plot.

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Questions to Answer About Each of My Characters

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Questions to Answer About Each of My Characters

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Website:
Riordan, Rick. "Advice for Writers" RickRiordan,
http://rickriordan.com/about/advice-for-writers/

Rick Riordan states here how to develop your character. For my main characters, I will be using this profile to map out each of my characters. He also explains on this website explains the importance of developing good characters.

Luckily, Riordan's thoughts about characters are ones that other sources I have found agree with. He continues these thoughts in lists, which I will probably use as checklists. Riordan suggests that you let the character do the talking, not the author. I agree with this, because I have read a lot of books and all of the authors that I enjoy do this. They seem to let the character do the talking. Continuing this thought of letting the character talk, he states that characters must act, not just be acted upon. Your reader doesn't need to know everything about the character that you know, and when describing the character, you should be an impressionist rather than a realist, define the character through action, and use people as models. All of these things will have more impact on the reader, and they will remember your book more than others.

Riordan continues the idea of the importance of characters by stating, "Character development is paramount for me. I firmly believe that plot and character development must occur simultaneously. Plot cannot be left to chance. Neither can characters be automatons who carry out actions envisioned in the author's master plan." He then goes on to explain what each character must have in order to be a good character. I can use these things to check each of my characters and make sure that they are good. However, I still need to do more research on characters.

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Website:
Riordan, Rick. "Advice for Writers."  RickRiordan, http://rickriordan.com/about/advice-for-writers/

Rick Riordan talks about the importance of writing good characters and dialogue. These things are absolutely essential if you would like to become a good writer. Riordan goes one to describe several ways to do this: Use dialogue to show conflict, only use dialogue when needed, shorten dialogue, avoid intrusion, and make sure characters sound different. These are all very excellent ways for people to enjoy your dialogue. I can use these ideas to make sure that my readers don't get bored with my dialogue. On another subject, he talks about characters. He claims that characters must act, not just be acted upon. He also believes that your reader doesn't need to know everything about the character, and when describing the character, you should be an impressionist, define the character through action, and use people as models.  I can use these various ideas to check my dialogue and characters, and make sure that they are effective to the reader. These proposals will all have more of an impact on the reader.

Happily, Riordan also shows that having good characters and a good plot is vastly important to writing. He describes these ideas in the form of lists, which I enjoy, because I can use them as a checklist and make sure that I am doing each one correctly. He even goes as far as to describe each of these things in depth.

Riordan continues by emphasizing the importance of being a good writer. According to Riordan,  "If you write well, you have already set yourself apart from 99% of what agents and editors see every day." He continues with these ideas and states specific word sentencing exercises and examples to help me better understand what he is saying. I can use the exercises that he provides to continue improving my writing. Sadly, further research is needed, because he only states four of these. However, it is still an excellent source and I can use it quite a bit for my writing.

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I was actually really productive today. I was able to get my plot down on google drawings, so that I don't forget it. I was also able to figure out the names of some people in my books.

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How can I incorporate these things into my book?

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Introduction or Exposition
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Resolution

Read more at https://penandthepad.com/five-elements-plot-conflict-4472.html
Again, every novelist must have these in order to be a successful writer.

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The Points are:
Number One. The Back Story haunts the central character.

Number Two. The Catalyst gets the character moving. It’s part of the story’s setup.

Number Three. The Big Event changes the character’s life.

Number Four. The Midpoint is the point of no return or a moment of deep motivation.

Number Five. The Crisis is the low point, or an event that forces the key decision that leads to your story’s end.

Number Six. The Climax or Showdown is the final face-off between your central character and the opposition.

Number Seven. The Realization occurs when your character and/or the audience sees that the character has changed or has realized something.

Read more about it at https://www.keepwriting.com/tsc/magnificent7plotpoints.htm

Every novelist must have these things in order to be a successful writer.

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Does Somebody have a plot list like Riordan has a character list?

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Does Somebody have a plot list like Riordan has a character list?

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A lot of these are about characters, but how can I further my plot?

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A lot of these are about characters, but how can I further my plot?

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Here's a character profile worksheet I sometimes fill out if I'm having trouble understanding a particular character I've created:

Character Profile

Name:

Height:

Age in story:

Birthplace:

Hair color, length, style:

Race/nationality:

Regional influences:

Accent: (include voice, style of speech, slang, signature phrases or words)

Religion:

Marital status:

Scars or other notable physical attributes:

Handicaps: (emotional, physical, mental)

Athletic? Inactive? Overall health?

Style of dress:

Favorite colors:

How does the character feel about his/her appearance?

Brothers/sisters:

Relationship with parents:

Memories about childhood:

Educational background: (street smart? Formal? Does he/she read?)

Work experience:

Occupation:

Where does the character live now? Describe home (emotional atmosphere as well as physical)

Neat or messy?

Sexual preferences/morals/activities:

Women friends/men friends:

Pets?

Enemies? Why?

Basic nature:

Personality traits (shy, outgoing, domineering, doormat, honest, kind, sense of humor):

Strongest trait:

Weakest trait:

What does the character fear?

What is the character proud of?

What is the character ashamed of?

Outlook on life (optimistic, pessimistic, cynic, idealist)

Ambitions:

Politics:

How does the character see himself/herself?

How is the character seen by others?

Do you like this person? Why or why not?

Will readers like or dislike?

Most important thing to know about this character:

Present problem:

How it will get worse:

What is the character's goal in the story?

What traits will help/hurt the character in achieving this goal?

What makes the character different from similar characters?

Why will readers remember this character vividly?

You need to plan out each of your characters very, very carefully so that they don't seem to fall apart

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Tells really good answers to all of these questions:

Any advice for young people who might want to be writers?

How can I improve my writing?

How do you develop characters?

How do you write good dialogue?

How do you plot an entire novel?

Tried to put all of it on here, but it was to much information

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I actually was really productive today. I was able to get a lot of good advice from Brandon Mull and was also able to get a few more websites on my checklist. I wish that the school didn't block some authors websites, or else I would've been a lot more productive today.

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Brandon Mull's Most Important Elements in a Book.

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Brandon Mull's Most Important Elements in a Book.

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1) Characters
2) Relationships Between Them
3) Trouble they Must Overcome
4) The Decisions that the Characters must Make
5) Consequences from those decisions.
The main idea of this is that you must include huge decisions that characters must face to overcome some sort of trouble while working together. You need to have the people care about the struggle.

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1) Read
2) Write
3) Observe
4) Get and Listen to Feedback
Pay attention to what is going around you each day, especially as you read, and pay attention to what people say to you.