Writing Resources

[Kerusso]

Let's face it, fellow writers, sometimes we just flat-out need help (I know I do), and while there are great tools out there, we may not know all of them. SO! List 'em. At least the ones you know. Be sure to check if someone else has already listed it- we don't need repeats.

I'll kick this off:

Seventh Sanctum: a website with loads of random generators, from fantasy names to plots, it's got just about everything.

TV Tropes: A lot of you probably know this one already, but just to be safe... this site is a gigantic category of "tropes," repeatedly used storytelling elements. The See the Index and How To pages are of particular note.

Character Development List: One is right here on the site, by our very own Darth Kirby, no less. Another one can be found on this site: http://www.bethamos.com/abcs.htm

Your turn!

[Maledicte]

http://writersdigest.com/GeneralMenu/ Lots of general essays and pointers.

http://www.springhole.net/quizzes/marysue.htm and http://www.ponylandpress.com/ms-test.html Mary Sue litmus tests. Do your part to prevent Mary Sues.

[Destroyer2000]

And what exactly is a Mary Sue?

[Maledicte]

From TVTropes:

The prototypical Mary Sue is an original female character in a fanfic who obviously serves as an idealized version of the author mainly for the purpose of Wish Fulfillment. She's exotically beautiful, often having an unusual hair or eye color, and has a similarly cool and exotic name. She's exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas, and may possess skills that are rare or nonexistent in the canon setting. She also lacks any realistic, or at least story-relevant, character flaws — either that or her "flaws" are obviously meant to be endearing.

She has an unusual and dramatic Back Story. The canon protagonists are all overwhelmed with admiration for her beauty, wit, courage and other virtues, and are quick to adopt her into their nakama, even characters who are usually antisocial and untrusting; if any character doesn't love her, that character gets an extremely unsympathetic portrayal. She has some sort of especially close relationship to the author's favorite canon character — their love interest, illegitimate child, never-before-mentioned sister, etc. Other than that, the canon characters are quickly reduced to awestruck cheerleaders, watching from the sidelines as Mary Sue outstrips them in their areas of expertise and solves problems that have stymied them for the entire series. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue

[the_wolfs_howl]

Ye Olde Dictionary When you know how to use it, and know better than to just look for the coolest-sounding synonym that's twice as long as the word you need.

Character-naming books and/or baby-naming books (which you can most definitely find in the nearest bookstore), if you're using real-world names. Alternatively, behindthename.com (personally, I like to browse in the book and look up specific names on the website)

[url=writingexcuses.com]Writing Excuses,[/url] an excellent writing podcast led by three published and famous-in-the-right-circles authors (one is a webcomic artist): Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. They give great advice and are full of laughs. Best of all, their motto is "Fifteen minutes long, because you're in a hurry, and we're not that smart."

http://coyotecult.com/communities/sfandf_critters/references/limyaael.php - Tons and tons of rants about what not to do if you're writing fantasy. Usually it boils down to common sense, but they're good things to think about.

[FllMtl Novelist]

http://writersdigest.com/GeneralMenu/ Lots of general essays and pointers.

You can learn a lot on that site. In particular I remember poring over maybe half the "Tip of the Day" articles they have. (Which I think they stopped updating a while back, unfortunately.)

I only recently heard of this site from and author's blog, and I expect it to be useful when I go to line edit my work.

And if we may mention books, this one is my personal favorite.

Dang, I wish the writing sites I have saved were more useful or weren't already mentioned. XD

[the_wolfs_howl]

And if we may mention books, this one is my personal favorite.

That's the book I have! It's very helpful, isn't it? I find it a great way to figure out how to appropriately name my characters, which is a weakness of mine. Some of the sections are disappointingly sparse, but I guess that's what the internet is for.

Also, [url]grammar.quickanddirtytips.com[/url] is like heaven for Grammar Nazis like me It's a place where you can get real, solid, nitpicky grammar advice in an easy, conversational way. It's got major grammar stuff as well as little fiddly things that most people wouldn't care about, like whether you should say Thomas' or Thomas's when you're talking about something that belongs to Thomas.

[FllMtl Novelist]

That's the book I have! It's very helpful, isn't it? I find it a great way to figure out how to appropriately name my characters, which is a weakness of mine. Some of the sections are disappointingly sparse, but I guess that's what the internet is for.

Yes it is. I actually probably enjoy the naming process a lot, and this book makes it even more convenient and fun for me.

By the way, the list of livejournal rants you posted have been very interesting to read. I'm sure I'll enjoy Grammar Girl as well. Thanks for sharing!

[Esoteric]

If aspiring authors learn nothing else, they should learn this:

http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/2880.html

[ShiroiHikari]

If aspiring authors learn nothing else, they should learn this:

http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/2880.html

Great read; thanks for that. I'm not entirely sure I fully understand the concept of "sequel" as he defines it yet, but I'm working on it.

[FllMtl Novelist]

If aspiring authors learn nothing else, they should learn this:

http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/2880.html

That was a fabulous article to read. Very interesting. I think I'll read his post on scenes as well, it might help me better understand his distinction between them and 'sequels'.

[Destroyer2000]

That was a fabulous article to read. Very interesting. I think I'll read his post on scenes as well, it might help me better understand his distinction between them and 'sequels'.

I agree; very good article. Now, a question: does anyone know of any useful map-creation tools?

[uc pseudonym]

It depends what kind of map you want to create and if you're willing to spend money. I'm inclined to say it's not worth paying for anything unless you're into cartography, since for a professional-looking map you would want it hand-drawn in any case, but some people are very fond of Campaign Cartographer.

If you're interested in the scientific details (temperature, elevation, wind currents, etc) one program I've found easy to use is ProFantasy Fractal Terrains. While not truly accurate (worlds are complicated) it is much better than a "forest goes next to the desert" approach to maps. You can also create a random world from a seed, if you like that kind of thing. This is commercial software, but if you want a map for a story the free edition is probably good enough.

But if you want smaller maps, simplicity of use, or to set up everything yourself, I would recommend AutoREALM. Easy to draw your lines, put up some icons, and so on. Everything is vectored, so you can zoom in and out (the main reason you'd want to map on a computer, in my opinion).

Sorry for no links, but the names of those should all get you to the sites via Google.

[Destroyer2000]

Thanks. Yes, it's for a story. I'm not the best artist...my stick figures beg me to kill them. So, I was hoping to find something useful along those lines.

[the_wolfs_howl]

If aspiring authors learn nothing else, they should learn this:

http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/2880.html

Eso...as ever, you are my hero ^_^

Please excuse me while my brain asplodes and my writing is hopefully revolutionized forever.

[Destroyer2000]

It depends what kind of map you want to create and if you're willing to spend money. I'm inclined to say it's not worth paying for anything unless you're into cartography, since for a professional-looking map you would want it hand-drawn in any case, but some people are very fond of Campaign Cartographer.

If you're interested in the scientific details (temperature, elevation, wind currents, etc) one program I've found easy to use is ProFantasy Fractal Terrains. While not truly accurate (worlds are complicated) it is much better than a "forest goes next to the desert" approach to maps. You can also create a random world from a seed, if you like that kind of thing. This is commercial software, but if you want a map for a story the free edition is probably good enough.

But if you want smaller maps, simplicity of use, or to set up everything yourself, I would recommend AutoREALM. Easy to draw your lines, put up some icons, and so on. Everything is vectored, so you can zoom in and out (the main reason you'd want to map on a computer, in my opinion).

Sorry for no links, but the names of those should all get you to the sites via Google.

I'd like to recommend AutoREALM to anyone, as well. There is a bit of a learning curve, but it is a very interesting program. I've downloaded ProFantasy Fractal Terrains, but have yet to try it.

[Contrarian]

how is there NOT Write Or Die here?

http://writeordie.com/
http://editminion.com/


NaNoWriMo, anyone? Or Script Frenzy?

TVTropes. It is pure joy.