Preparing for the "First Date"

 There are some great blog posts out there that compare writing a book to dating. But what about before the dating? The getting to know someone before you go on an actual date? In other words, the preparations you do before you even write a single word down.

I've got some great betas who do certain things before (and during) their writing to keep them on track. Strangely enough, one tackles the plot and the other tackles the character. :) Guess they covered everything so I don't even need to continue, but I will anyway. lol

Meadow's Storyboarding
Shayda's Character Questions

I generally do the same whenever I start a new story. But this time I decided to try something a bit different. To start off, I have a confession to make. I love anime :) But I especially love the process of how it gets dubbed and the voice actors' auditions. One thing they do for their audition is leaf through a binder full of sheets of paper called character sides (correct me if I'm wrong) to decide who they want to audition for. And each sheet had the character's picture and a brief description of them as well as some lines from the anime.

So I thought "Hmm, that's interesting." And since I'm a very visual person, it'll probably work very well for me. For my new project, that will be dubbed ADMITTANCE, I made a kind of character sheet for each of my characters so far with basic information, history, and personality traits. I haven't started writing yet so I don't know if it works but it sure is fun to do! I'll keep you posted on whether it made a difference!

(10 points to the first person who can name all the actors xD I'll give you a head start, the gorgeous creature on the bottom left is Ed Westwick who will be protraying Adrian Blaine)