Over in the world of FATE, we’d call those “Aspects.” Consider making one of them a catch phrase for the novel, too. (E.g., “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” “I’m all out of bubble gum.” “Whoa.”)

Mostly, I wanted to come over and pimp Whiteyboard. http://www.whiteyboard.com/index.php It’s peel and stick whiteboard. Most importantly, it’s removable and reusable. ThinkGeek has the smallest size for sale now, too.

@Lugh:

First, good tip on the Whiteyboard.

Second, yes, this definitely has an Aspect feel to it.

Actually, I’d argue that writers would do well to study roleplaying games — not only to understand story construction as it unfolds at the game table but also to see how lots of little rules and systems can be ported over to the writing process.

– c.

I cling to my robot butler. You definitely need one of those.

Also, lately I’ve taken to interviewing my characters. Little one-on-one chats in my notebook:
“How do you feel about this whole killer-on-the-loose thing?”
“Fuck you, I’m dead, how do you think I feel about it?”
“Well, why do you think you died?”
“I didn’t really see it coming, but it’s probably because I tried to get that person’s robot butler deactivated.”
That kinda thing. It’s kind of a status check, and will one day be used as evidence in putting me away. But in the meantime, it’s a nice way to focus on what the characters think is happening, which often needs to be at odds with what is actually happening.

Well I came here for advice. I’m the primo supremo of slacker-like focus and I need to learn to stay the course, follow the path, not to be distracted by every piece of shiny dust.

I’ll add this to my bag of non-tricks. It is good to have character keys.

Coming off my first completed novel first draft (What? I’m young and coming out of short story land. Lay off.), I honestly don’t know how I came out of it alive. I have a hazy memory of spinning in my chair while staring at the ceiling and wishing for wolverines to eat me. Next time I’ll go in with a survival plan. This time it was nothing more than grit.

Although I’m going to take your trigger words and apply them through rewrites and edits. Figure it’ll give me a nice frame to stretch everything across. Plus a checklist of what I know characters and scenes should have. I like checklists.

Also, I’ve found my own experiences with roleplaying games (tabletop and otherwise) invaluable to writing, especially the aspect of being a DM/GM/ST. You totally need to do a post on that. No, I’m serious do it.

(On a wholly unrelated note, I am now in love with your man character that I don’t even know and have hardly meant just because he’s blind in one eye. Make it a birth defect and man, you’ve got me hooked. Relatable. Oh, so, painfully relatable.)

Assuming you’re going to have an office-like area in your new house, have you considered painting the walls with whiteboard paint? You could even get some of the magnet-friendly paint and do a coat under it to allow you to pin things up.

One plus is, it would let you scrawl insanities on the wall and still clean up for guests.

Wait. That exists?!

Yep.

Several observations:

1.) I like Lugh’s thought that these trigger words are like FATE aspects. That’s spot on.

2.) I just (finally) saw Inception yesterday and that whole thing is running through my brain, so what popped out at me about the idea of trigger words is that they seem a whole lot like a writer’s totems. The writer knows how these words relate to the characters and they serve as a litmus test to show that you’re still “in the story” that you’re writing. If the trigger words spin (or whatever), your narrative is still on-track.

I like this suggestion. It goes into my toolbox immediately.

As for the white board, don’t stress. They make white board paint, so you can turn a door, a wall, the whole frigging room into a white board. Very cool.

Magnetic friendly paint? Why didn’t someone tell me this before I painted my office?

Ron,
It’s not cheap, but here’s a link for exploration: http://www.ideapaint.com/

You can actually get the Rust-o-leum magnetic primer and dry-erase paint for a lot cheaper than the Idea Paint stuff. Nice stuff.

Character diamond. It works off the same principle as your trigger words. When I first draft the characters (usually, I do this first, but sometimes the setting or plot comes first and then I have to fit a round peg into a square hole—yes, I know it usually works, but that’s the point).

Anyway, when I draft the characters, I fill out a character diamond — 4 to 5 “descriptives”. They might be adjectives (stubborn, bitter, shy) or they might be phrases or habits (ex-smoker, addicted to blood, learns fast). Whatever the case, I keep these nearby and everything the character does, thinks, or decides is influenced by one or more of these things. Even if it’s just in subtle ways.

It helps me bear in mind what the character is influenced/shaped by. The diamond helps me remember what the characters are internally (even if they don’t know it), which then shapes their dialogue and actions, which basically does what your Trigger Words do except from an “inside” level instead of an always omniscient level.

Also, I want that paint. OMG, want, want, want.

@Karina –

Eddy Webb talks up character diamonds at his blog.

Good stuff.

– c.

@Chris,
I didn’t know about the Rust-o-Leum version. Thanks.

@Chuck — Okay, he takes it to depths heretofore unimaginable by my poor brain, but I’m fascinated.

…Right up until he starts talking about Nature and Demeanor, and then I start giggling like the old school gamer I am. Thanks!

I’ll admit, my brain went straight to “ooh, Chuck’s tossing out writing tips?” and got excited, only to be turned on my head. At any rate, like @Kate’s comment up there, I may try the trigger words in the next draft and future stories. Or the diamond method (which I’ll be linking around to writerly friends). Or maybe a cocktail of both, with a nice squeeze of lime.

Totally getting a whiteyboard the next time I actually have money. Or asking for one for christmas. The paint is great, too, but I’m in an apartment, so no painting the walls.

[...] perhaps not as applicable for some of my stories). The estimable Chuck Wendig has also given practical advice on the subject, which I’ve been trying out. The interviewing technique I experimented with [...]