The unofficial guide to guidebooks

I realized today, while fleshing out some characters, I’m starting to develop a set of guidebooks to help with writing fiction. I want to lean more into this over the next few years as I write.

A few years back Amazon was liquidating some slim Moleskine notebooks and I picked up 35 notebooks for about $50 USD knowing I’d use them eventually. They’re split into six “chapters” so they’re useful for structured notes.

I have three guidebooks started and three more in the works.

• Unclogging Writer’s Block: A guidebook with 35 topics about writer’s block. If I’m feeling blocked I can use the guidebook to help pinpoint a remedy.
• Story Work: A guidebook with 54 story elements and discourse formats used to create narrative. I’m trying to write articles on each of the topics, so the guidebook will be a summary of main points.
• Character Work: A guidebook with 21 topics and related questions to help flesh out a character.
• Dialogue Work: A guidebook that would help characterize a character’s voice. Probably based around an article I wrote about using a dance technique to develop a character’s voice.
• Setting Work: A guidebook that would include questions to brainstorm and imagine settings based around the AEIOU framework.
• Episode Work: I want to start collecting what I call episodic patterns but I need to figure out how to organize them.

It’s hard to create an SOP for writing fiction. But I can leave these guidebooks sitting on my desk and use them as a resource while writing. Over time I would internalize the ideas they contain and wouldn’t need them as much anymore.