Aisha/Nex Story: My 3 Favorite Story Writing Resources

For the past several days, I’ve been working on my non-Winx Aisha/Nex story “The Thread”. I’m focusing on Nex’s backstory, since he doesn’t have one in Winx Club yet. He’s a more complex character than you might think. It’s hard to tie all his traits and contradictions together in a way that doesn’t feel forced.

Thankfully, I’ve found some great websites and resources to help me. I thought I’d share them with you. ? (No, this isn’t some kind of affiliate marketing plug.)

1. oStorybook

oStorybook is a story writing program packed with features. You can manage your characters, relationships, locations, objects, chapters, parts, scenes, plots, and more, all in one place. It’s mostly typing a bunch of info into boxes, but that’s fine if all you need is organization. And best of all, oStorybook is free. ?

A good alternative is yWriter (which is also free). It doesn’t have as many features, but it’s easier to use.

2. Character Writer

I discovered this yesterday. It lets you develop characters based on Enneagram types. Just pick a type, specify if your character changes or stays the same throughout the story, click “Generate Character Profile”, and poof! It spits out a possible personality, character flaw, backstory, and growth arc for them. You can edit the profile to suit your needs.

It also has a relationship generator, so you can see how two characters might interact with each other based on their types. Obviously, that’s helpful for me, since I’m writing about a couple.

Two downsides to Character Writer:

• It’s not free. I’m using the 14-day free trial right now. The full version is $69.99.
• Maybe I’ve missed something, but it seems to generate one profile per type — no variations. But even if two characters have the same personality type, that doesn’t mean they’re the same in every way. So while Character Writer gives you a foundation to build on, you’re responsible for making each character unique.

3. One Stop for Writers

Unlike other resources I’ve used, this isn’t just a bunch of text boxes. One Stop for Writers helps you develop characters organically. The creators — Becca Puglisi, Angela Ackerman, and Lee Powell — have written dozens of thesauruses and articles to help writers tell better, more interesting stories.

The character builder is amazing. It shows you possible causes of each of your character’s traits. For example, if they’re “adventurous”, it might be because they:

• Are an extrovert
• Have adrenaline-junkie tendencies
• Were encouraged as a child to try new things and experiences

You can also choose how the character shows their trait (participating in extreme sports, having a positive attitude, etc.). It helps you see how their traits fit together and relate to each other.

This has been the most helpful tool for developing Nex. It’s easier to work backwards from his traits and use their logical causes to write a backstory for him.

Unfortunately, One Stop for Writers isn’t free, either. You have to buy a subscription. The cheapest is $9.00/mo., but I think it’s worth it.

For those of you writing fanfics or original stories, I hope this is helpful for you. What other resources do you use?