The Busy Writer's Book of Checklists: The Busy Writer

By M. R. McAlister

The humble checklist can save a writer hours of time and frustration.

From Day One, armed with a checklist to test your initial story idea, you can ensure that you have enough conflict, tension, and challenges to keep readers turning the pages. (That's much better than getting halfway through writing it only to find that your lovely bright shiny idea won't hold up!)

With a plotting checklist at your elbow, you can run through the list of 'essentials' to apply to your novel– like character motivation, plausibility, and crisis points, to name just a few of the things you have to consider.

 

What you will find in The Busy Writer's Book of Checklists:

• Six Foundation Checklists: Getting Ideas, Plotting, Characters, Viewpoint, Dialogue, and Scenes.
• Three checklists for Setting and Subplots
• Four Checklists on Getting Organized: Your time, your workspace, your files, and your projects
• Three checklists for starting and running writer's groups – including a feedback checklist
• Four checklists for social networking and websites (Setting up a website or blog, Facebook, Twitter, and establishing your writer's network)
• Three checklists on getting published (researching publishers, writing a synopsis, and publishing on Kindle)

In total, there are 23 super-useful checklists—and as a special bonus, writers who buy this book are eligible for a full set of printable checklists that they can use again and again!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blue Gem Publishing
• Release date: Aug 8, 2012
• ISBN: 9798201999964

Book preview

Introduction

The idea for a writer's Book of Checklists popped into my head when I was planning the list of titles in my Busy Writer series. Actually, it was more like a blinding flash! 

You see, while I was outlining the series, I was checking items off a list sitting at my elbow. The checklist was related to my business: I wanted to link my new e-books to my website, my writers' e-courses, and my assessment service.

Checklists, I thought. Of course! 

A checklist is one of the most effective tools any writer can use. In the past, I have used checklists for characters, plotting, dialogue, and a whole bunch of other aspects of technique. I have used them for step-by-step processes, such as uploading pages and products to a website, creating sales pages and linking them to PayPal, and editing graphics and photos.

I've also used them for time management, career planning, networking, and dozens of other things. I have, in short, found them to be an indispensable tool. 

It's likely that you already use a checklist in its most basic form—the good old 'to-do' list. (How often do you make a shopping list? A list of household chores? A list of debts to tackle?)

When you make a list, you acknowledge that anything on it has to be dealt with somehow. Calling it a 'checklist' simply infers that you need to tick off the items on it as the desired action is completed. 

Checklists ensure that: 

you don't forget anything important

you know (a) what you've done and (b) what you need to do

you build your skills in an organized way

This book contains 23 different checklists that you can use for your writing and your business, and I can tell you that they are good checklists. (I know that after getting feedback from them over the years. People who have used my checklists in the past have asked me for another copy if they lose them or request a checklist on a different aspect of writing. One author who bought the Busy Writer's One-Hour Character suggested that I add a characters' checklist to the book—which I have now done!)

These checklists have been created to help you check everything from your basic ideas (are they worth developing into a plot?) to your marketing plan for your published book (how can you make sure people see your book? How can you encourage them to buy?) You'll find checklists for plot, characters, scenes, dialogue, viewpoint, and a whole lot more (just take a look at the table of contents!) 

However, as I refined my use of checklists, I realized that the best checklists (that is, the most useful) were the ones I created myself. In the first chapter, I talk about how you can make a highly effective personalized checklist from any one of the checklists in this book.

Let's look at that in a little more detail: I'll delve deeper into how you can create your own checklists and give you a recent example.

1

How to Increase Your Efficiency by Creating Your Own Checklists

With a checklist at your elbow, you can ensure that you don't omit something essential when you write or edit your book (or when you're promoting your published book). 

What kinds of checklists do writers need? Here are some possible topics:

a. Writing Technique and Plotting.

There are many aspects of technique you won't want to forget when you're refining your story ideas, creating plots and characters, and writing your scenes. You'll get off to a great start by using the 6 Foundation Checklists in this book, but it makes sense to create your own—after all, you know your weak points! What would you add to the following checklists?

Getting Ideas

Plot

Characters

Viewpoint

Dialogue

Scenes

b. Grammar and Language.

What causes problems when you're writing? If there are some aspects of grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure that continually trip you up, add them to your checklist. Some suggestions:

Punctuation—commas, colons, semi-colons, quotation marks, exclamation marks, question marks.

Grammar—past tense, present tense, past perfect tense; first person, second person, third person; who/whom

Sentence structure—conjunctions (and, but); run-on sentences; comma splice; sentence fragments 

These are just a few suggestions. Substitute your own particular bugbears, and add more as they are brought to your attention. Unfortunately, you'll probably need feedback from someone else to alert you to errors associated with grammar and language.

c. Career Development.

What do you