4 Things to Address in Your Character

• Who is the character?
• What does the character want?
• What is standing in the character's way to getting what he wants?
• What does he have to do to overcome the obstacle?

[VIDEO] Starting to Write

Writing Ireland - Starting to Write videos: Watch Now

Getting a Story Started

Here are some great places to guide the inner voice to get a story going

• Outline your Novel In 30 MinutesA quick exercise designed to sketch out the major events of a novel, only giving a map-- you have to make the drive yourself!
• How to Make a Novel OutlineEasy novel outline techniques to plan a book step by step, along with worksheets for planning characters and scenes, and links to related pages on how to write a novel.
• Outlining Your Novel: Why and HowOutlining is a matter of dispute among writers, but if you are just starting out – what is outlining, why should you do it and how do you do it.

And to help support the creative process here is a great parable:
Climbing Mt.Story: How to Survive the Creative Journey

Some Ways to Getting a Novel Done

How to write the first draft of a novel in 30 days
Writing a novel can be daunting. But introducing structure to the process can help you maintain momentum over the course of a month without hampering creativity
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First Draft Secrets: Five Simple Steps
No wonder we sometimes resist writing and finishing our first drafts!   It’s not always easy to split our attention between writing and “mind-management.” To write a useful, “flavorful” first draft, it helps to have a helpful mindset and a few tools to help us focus.
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About Plot Points

Great article over at Script Shadow on plot points

• The emergence of a goal (Indiana must go find the Ark).
• A shocking twist (Cole tells Malcom he can “see dead people”).
• An upping of the stakes (they realize in Inception that if they die in the dream, they could be stuck in it forever).
• A mystery is presented (Why is there a naked Chinese man in their trunk in The Hangover?)
• A key character is introduced (Sgt Powell – the cop – shows up to help McClane in Die Hard).
• A key character is killed (spoiler – Schultz is killed in Django Unchained).
• An unplanned interruption of the hero’s life (Neo gets an urgent phone call from Morpheus at work).
• The emergence of a threat (after the plane crash, the wolves start stalking our characters in The Grey).

Full article

Respect Writers

This was a great video on how to pitch a story and...that writers deserve respect

Save the Cat

They say this is the last site you need to visit for screenwriting http://www.blakesnyder.com/media/

Save the Cat helps to develop motivation and flesh out characters in narrative writing. It's called Save the Cat because when you want the audience to identify with your main character you need to provide something  cute and cuddly that he saves so the audience connects. On the contrary, your villain is more fully fleshed out when he kills the cat.