Struggling with something? You’ve come to the right place.
Many of our writing guides contain ingenious tools that help you better understand key aspects of story planning and character building. We’ve turned these into printable “blanks” so you can download them and use as needed.
You’ll find even more handouts, lists, marketing swipe files, and more. We hope these resources help a ton.
NEW! Career Assessment Tool (PDF)
- Choosing a character’s career is no small thing…the job you pick will not only communicate their personality, skillset, morals, priorities, and interests to readers, it can also feed into their character arc and goals. Our Occupation Thesaurus assessment tool looks at all the important story factors to help you choose what career is the best fit for each character.
NEW! Occupation Speed Dating Tool (PDF)
- Oh boy, with thousands of careers to choose from, which one will you pick for your character? Decisions, decisions. Don’t worry, we’ve made it easy and fun, matching 124 iconic and interesting jobs from The Occupation Thesaurus with some of the most powerful Primary Traits your character might have. Start Speed Dating!
NEW! Occupation Thesaurus Job Entry Template (PDF)
- Were you unable to find the exact career you were hoping for in our Occupation Thesaurus writing guide? NO PROBLEM. If you’ve also checked these Contributed Job Entries and the expanded Occupation Thesaurus at One Stop for Writers, we’ve put our OT job template into a handy-dandy printable pdf so you can write your own!
Character Arc Progression Tool (PDF)
- Did you know that a character’s arc is tied to the wounding event from his past? Traumatic events are formative, impacting a character’s basic need, determining his story goal, generating sources of inner conflict, and more. The Character Arc Progression Tool can help you explore all the pieces and see how they fit together. For a deeper understanding of this resource, please reference The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Psychological Trauma.
Backstory Wound Profile (PDF)
- This questionnaire can help you map out your character’s past wounding event and its aftereffects, giving you a clear idea of who he or she is in your current story. For a deeper understanding of this tool, please reference The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Psychological Trauma.
Setting Planner (PDF)
-
Use this handy tool to organize the settings in your story while keeping track of the various elements (such as sensory details, weather elements, mood, and symbolism) that will bring them to life. For a deeper understanding of this tool, please reference The Rural Setting Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Personal and Natural Places.
Emotional Value Tool (PDF)
- Craft emotionally charged scenes by using this tool to determine which settings will have the most impact on your protagonist. For a deeper understanding of this tool, please reference The Urban Setting Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to City Spaces.
Setting Checklist (PDF)
- Build each setting in your story so they do double duty while setting the stage for your reader. For a deeper understanding of this tool, please reference The Urban Setting Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to City Spaces.
Setting Exercises (PDF)
- Hone your description skills and enhance your settings with these exercises. For a deeper understanding of this tool, please reference The Rural Setting Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Personal and Natural Places.
Character Pyramid Tool (PDF)
- Visualize your character’s FLAWS & associated behaviors. For a deeper understanding of this tool, please reference The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Flaws.
Character Target Tool (PDF)
- Organize and group your character’s POSITIVE ATTRIBUTES by category: moral, achievement, interactive or identity. For a greater understanding of this tool, please reference The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes.
Character Profile Questionnaire (PDF)
- Not your average character questionnaire! Get ready to dig deep into who your character is by exploring his backstory & personality (sourced from The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes).
Reverse Backstory Tool (PDF)
- Work backward to find your character’s wound, needs & lie. For a deeper understanding of this tool, please reference The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Flaws).
Weak Verb Converter Tool (PDF)
- Transform all those generic, boring verbs into power verbs
Scene Revision/Critique Tool Level 1 & Level 2 (PDF)
- A ‘light’ and ‘in-depth’ revision checklist for creating compelling characters and scenes
Emotional Movie Scenes (PDF)
- A list of specific scene examples from movies that showcase different intense emotions
Crutch Words (PDF)
- Those little, annoying overused words that hide in our manuscripts…finally a list for Search & Destroy during the revision process!
NEW: The Show, Don’t Tell Pro Pack
Want to strengthen your description but you’re unsure where to start? Or have you heard about our books from other writers and wonder what the fuss is about? This kit contains a descriptive thesaurus entry from each of our writing guides, tips on how that aspect of description will power up your story, and links to our top show, don’t tell articles.
Looking for our Marketing Handouts and Swipe Files?
The best for last…
One Stop for Writers
Writers Helping Writers is proud to bring you One Stop For Writers®, a powerhouse library packed with unbelievable tools and resources, including the largest fiction-focused description database available ANYWHERE.
If you like what we do here at WHW, then get ready to have your proverbial socks blown off. Explore One Stop for Writers for yourself by activating our generous 2-Week FREE TRIAL.