On writing tools: I have been fiddling with a program that other Nano-ers have been recommending called Rough Draft. It saves everything in rtf format and associated notes in txt format. The upside of this is that the files aren't as bloated as a Word document. Another upside - it doesn't autoformats everything that I type in. This is why I'm pretty happy with it after I typed in my outline yesterday. Also, it has tabs! I love tabs. But as to actual writing? Remains to be seen.
On ideas: I had a really disturbing dream last night. Well, I always have disturbing dreams, so this isn't really new. It was sort of like a murder mystery except I knew who done it and why, but not how. And why was this disturbing? The murder scene was really--gory. Anyways, if anyone is short on ideas, dreams could be another source of inspiration.
On characterization: Threads on characterization keep appearing on the forums asking for how to make a character do this or that if a character's personality is completely counter to those types of actions. Well, anyone could do anything if given the right motivation. And it seems to me that these people just take a character prototype and never bothered to develop the character themselves. I guess it takes a bit of human understanding to write about anyone at all. And if you have to ask somewhat how to make a character three-dimensional, I'd suggest you seriously start people-watching.
