
I've seen various "writing worksheets" floating around, but after reviewing what was currently available, I decided to make my own design. The intent here is (as the title says) to give an overall summation of a piece of fiction at a single glance. Useful especially for longer pieces where it can be an herculean effort to flip back through pages and pages to try and figure out if a character's eyes were blue or green, a sheet like this also has the advantage of giving others a quick look at what you're working on.
Note: have included space on left margin to allow for 3-hole punch
Title: working title, series title & number, anything that will identify this particular work
Date: for the purpose of this form, the date you're beginning work
Genre: Is it sci-fi? Fantasy? Dieselpunk? Some combination?
Time Period: future, past, 1972, the year 3000, etc
Moral/Theme/Goal: If there is one, what is it? (Useful to have as a touchstone to go back to as you're writing)
Tone: select one or more (tragicomic, for example) or write in under "Other"
Length: a general intent
P.O.V.: select from both columns (eg 3rd person omniscient)
Setting (space for 3 locations)
Name: what is this location called by the narrator/characters
Description: in general terms
[]: box for quick sketch of an overall view, plan, or map, as needed
O: select from each column what type of location and what time(s) of day (eg exterior evening & night)
Characters (space for 4 characters)
Name: official title, nickname, preferred name(s)
[]: box for quick portrait sketch
O: select from each column what rank and role they have as a character (eg primary antagonist)
O: select which hand is dominant
Species: human, demon, horse, slug-taur, etc
Size: can be general (big, small) or specific (6'3, 300lbs, size 16 feet) as needed
Age: again, general or specific
Eyes: color, glasses, injuries, prostheses, cybernetic enhancements, etc
Hair: color, style, quality
Skin: skin tone for humans, can also cover fur or scales for non-humans
Jewelry: piercings, important necklaces, prostheses, cybernetic enhancements, etc
Description: anything not already described about their physical form and appearance
Relationships: loves, hates, parent of, child of, boss/employee of, etc
Speech: lisps, accents, mispronunciations, etc
Manner/isms: describe their manner (haughty, jovial, businesslike until they have pie and then they get silly, curious) and/or their mannerisms (tics, habits, how many times they have to check that they locked the front door, never liking the feel of polyester)
Job/Role/Hobbies: whatever is applicable to the story at hand (eg carpenter who works at the tv station and smelts gold in his spare time)
Costume/Gear: anything they're likely to be found wearing/carrying (eg 1980s power suit with lockpick kit hidden in left shoulderpad and micro fusion drive hidden in right shoulder pad, high heels function as roller skates)
Plot
1) Write the whole story's plot in a single sentence (eg character A wants B but C prevents so he D)
3) Break that sentence into 3 parts for the standard 3 act structure—or modify as needed—and expand each part to a sentence (1. character A wants B 2. C prevents A from getting B 3. A almost gives up but finally D so he gets B in the end)
Feel free to use this for your own work, cite where you got it, and hey let me know. I'm always interested to see if/how things like this get used by other creators.
Note: have included space on left margin to allow for 3-hole punch
Title: working title, series title & number, anything that will identify this particular work
Date: for the purpose of this form, the date you're beginning work
Genre: Is it sci-fi? Fantasy? Dieselpunk? Some combination?
Time Period: future, past, 1972, the year 3000, etc
Moral/Theme/Goal: If there is one, what is it? (Useful to have as a touchstone to go back to as you're writing)
Tone: select one or more (tragicomic, for example) or write in under "Other"
Length: a general intent
P.O.V.: select from both columns (eg 3rd person omniscient)
Setting (space for 3 locations)
Name: what is this location called by the narrator/characters
Description: in general terms
[]: box for quick sketch of an overall view, plan, or map, as needed
O: select from each column what type of location and what time(s) of day (eg exterior evening & night)
Characters (space for 4 characters)
Name: official title, nickname, preferred name(s)
[]: box for quick portrait sketch
O: select from each column what rank and role they have as a character (eg primary antagonist)
O: select which hand is dominant
Species: human, demon, horse, slug-taur, etc
Size: can be general (big, small) or specific (6'3, 300lbs, size 16 feet) as needed
Age: again, general or specific
Eyes: color, glasses, injuries, prostheses, cybernetic enhancements, etc
Hair: color, style, quality
Skin: skin tone for humans, can also cover fur or scales for non-humans
Jewelry: piercings, important necklaces, prostheses, cybernetic enhancements, etc
Description: anything not already described about their physical form and appearance
Relationships: loves, hates, parent of, child of, boss/employee of, etc
Speech: lisps, accents, mispronunciations, etc
Manner/isms: describe their manner (haughty, jovial, businesslike until they have pie and then they get silly, curious) and/or their mannerisms (tics, habits, how many times they have to check that they locked the front door, never liking the feel of polyester)
Job/Role/Hobbies: whatever is applicable to the story at hand (eg carpenter who works at the tv station and smelts gold in his spare time)
Costume/Gear: anything they're likely to be found wearing/carrying (eg 1980s power suit with lockpick kit hidden in left shoulderpad and micro fusion drive hidden in right shoulder pad, high heels function as roller skates)
Plot
1) Write the whole story's plot in a single sentence (eg character A wants B but C prevents so he D)
3) Break that sentence into 3 parts for the standard 3 act structure—or modify as needed—and expand each part to a sentence (1. character A wants B 2. C prevents A from getting B 3. A almost gives up but finally D so he gets B in the end)
Feel free to use this for your own work, cite where you got it, and hey let me know. I'm always interested to see if/how things like this get used by other creators.
Category Designs / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 850 x 1100px
File Size 181.3 kB
Oh certainly. Though, I've seen plenty of versions of those sorts of charts, done by people who were more experienced with things like D&D, so I hadn't really thought to spend time on them. This form was primarily for my own use, because other similar things I'd found didn't hit all the points I needed—or, if they did, not all on one page.
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