This may be more of a character exercise, but I think it’s fun. Basically, you’re playing Perquackey or Kangaroo Words with your character’s name.

Make a list of words that can be formed with just the letters in a character’s name. You might be surprised just how many words accurately describe the character and her circumstances. You can use the exercise to flesh out a character’s personality and backstory, but for our purposes, we’re going to use the words to prompt a scene.

Once you’ve got your list, play with the words however you want–select one that stands out, cluster them, distill similar words to specific umbrella words. Play with them until they inspire (i) a scene goal for the character to pursue and (ii) a conflict to oppose her. Now write the scene. It may or may not fit in your manuscript, but it will probably be illuminating.

Book that Inspired this Post

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Well, that’s it for me!

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Also, people have been hiring me to review their loglines with the kind of analysis seen here and here, and I’m enjoying it. So, if you think your logline (or something else!) might benefit from a looksie and want to hire me to review it, email me at writeswithtools @ gmail dot com.

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