Helpful Writing Links

[disgruntledpeony]

Writing resources are always a good thing to have, and the internet is full of them if you know where to look. (I'm stealing a fair chunk of the links on this list from a thread I made on a previous forum, although I hadn't organized it into categories at that time.)

Character Development Resources

http://www.behindthename.com/ When I need a name, I most often gravitate here. The site, while certainly not all-encompassing, has a wide enough variety of options to get me thinking. While this particular branch of the site is for given names, they also have a website for surnames linked toward the bottom of the page.

http://changingminds.org/techniques/bod ... nguage.htm This is a useful resource for finding ways to show a character's feelings and emotions rather than simply telling them.

Dialogue Resources

http://www.slang-dictionary.org/ This site theoretically has a number of useful resources (although I'm finding it difficult to navigate at present).
It features American slang, Australian slang, London slang, and a lexicon of thieves' cant, among other options. It also has links to several other slang sites.

http://septicscompanion.com/ British slang.

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-slang.html Slang from the American West in the late 1800s. (What can I say? I love me a good weird western.)

http://www.pascalbonenfant.com/18c/cant/ A much more easily navigable source for thieves' cant.

Editing Resources

https://www.dictionary.com/

https://www.thesaurus.com/

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37134 William Strunk's "The Elements of Style" is an excellent guide to grammar, and it's available to read here for free! I think I still have a hard copy from my college days floating around the house somewhere, but I grabbed a digital copy just to be safe.

http://www.etymonline.com/ This is a good resource for learning the origins of English words and when they were first recorded. This is, among other things, a good way to ensure you're using words appropriate to the era when writing a fantasy story.

http://www.babelfish.com/ I've always loved Babelfish. It's not a great resource for translating full sentences (it has little to no concept of grammar or context in my experience, so the translations are always very literal), but if you need a quick translation to or from another language it's highly useful.

https://www.naturalreaders.com/online/ My word processor doesn't have a text to speech function; as such, I've found this to be very useful for things like catching duplicate words and grammatical errors. It also helps me make sure my prose flows properly when read aloud.

http://davidfarland.com/2017/08/stop-po ... anuscript/ In which David Farland discusses how much editing is too much, and also points out that not all writing advice is good.

Research Resources

http://www.pantheon.org/ This site has basic overviews of various mythologies. It's not a good place to go to for serious study, but it is a good place to learn enough of the basics to find out what you need more detail on.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/ There are a TON of public domain religious texts, mainstream and otherwise, to be found here. The format leaves something to be desired, but it's free.

http://calendarhome.com/print-a-calendar/ This will seem silly... until you think about the fact that you can use this site to check what day of the week a specific date fell or will fall any time from year 1 to year 10,000. Sometimes, the little details are useful in a story. I know. I'm a goof.

http://www.forensicpathologyonline.com/ A useful (if grim) resource a friend of mine found when researching what a person's face actually looks like during a hanging. Considering how often characters in stories end up victims, perpetrators, or witnesses of violent acts, this resource can help you get the details right. Intended for use by forensic investigators, but secondarily useful to writers.

Submission Resources

http://www.sfwa.org/2008/11/manuscript-preparation/ Guidelines for manuscript submission! Very useful.

http://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/ This is a great way to find markets for one's stories--and get an idea of how much they pay/how long you might have to wait to hear back from said market.

http://www.publishingcrawl.com/2012/04/ ... -synopsis/ If you're looking to write novels, this talks about how to write a one-page synopsis for someone like your agent.

https://www.sfwa.org/member-links/commi ... committee/ Examples of contracts and lists of things to watch out for that mean you should or shouldn't sign them.

Miscellaneous Resources

https://www.scribophile.com/forums/

While specifically aimed at script writing, the resources listed here are useful. https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/

Delilah S. Dawson has her own collection of writing resource links, included here: https://www.whimsydark.com/resources


https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors ... our-novel/ K.M. Weiland's approach to outlining and writing a novel. Not necessarily for everyone, but at the very least worth glancing over to see if anything might work for you.

Feel free to respond to this thread with additional links of your own; I'll do my best to keep the original post updated with a master list for easy reference.

[Spiraledpen]

Nice!

Thanks for the info! It does take a lot to find good information for writing. Some of us who are...shall we say overwhelmed by life’s circumstances are really grateful for any sources that cut back on having to scrabble around for them. Sometimes It can be very frustrating to hunt for this type of data. It graciously leaves us more time to devote to writing when we have so little spare time to begin with. I look forward to checking many of these out and hope I can put them to good use!


Much appreciated,
Spiraledpen

[OldDarth]

Thanks disgruntledpeony!

Most kind.

[TimE]

I stash away loads of helpful links - then forget where I've put them.
However, I am a member of the Scribophile site (you don't have to pay) - where the articles in the Academy are good, and the Loglines Group has some great information on loglines if you're into that sort of thing. This is Scrib - https://www.scribophile.com/forums/ (I think you have to join to look)

[SCAFontaine]

Thanks for the links!

[TimE]

While this is specific to scripts, it is a good resource for that. And worth considering to get dialogue as good as it can be - when you can tell who is speaking and what their character is without tags etc. https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/

[disgruntledpeony]

Delilah S. Dawson has her own collection of writing resource links, collected here: https://www.whimsydark.com/resources

[TimE]

That's a very good one. Thanks for posting it.

Elements of Style by William Strunk - free download

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37134

[TimE]

Not everyone's cup of tea. But worth a look at least. K.M.Weiland on outlining and structuring a novel etc

https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors ... our-novel/

[disgruntledpeony]

That's a very good one. Thanks for posting it.

Elements of Style by William Strunk - free download

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37134

Awesome find, this! I used it during one of my college English courses, and it was very helpful. Pretty sure I kept my hard copy of that text, but I've nabbed a digital copy just to be safe.

Also, something I found this morning:

https://www.sfwa.org/member-links/commi ... committee/ Examples of contracts and lists of things to watch out for that mean you should or shouldn't sign them.

[TimE]

This is pretty good. https://www.livewritethrive.com/wp-cont ... cklist.pdf

[TimE]

Writing tools
https://writershelpingwriters.net/writing-tools/
and more if you look around the site

[RSchibler]

This http://www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/ is a fun site for story ideas, character names, or funky words.

This https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-7-types-of-short-story-opening-and-how-to-decide-w-5814687 is a format/creation site I like to peruse if I'm having trouble starting a story.

This http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/ is self-explanatory, but an excellent resource.

Finally, https://www.nature.com/ is a good site to check out for story fodder.

[RSchibler]

Found this today, with some great links to folklore info: http://guides.lib.byu.edu/folklore

[TimE]

This is a series of short YouTube vids from The National Emerging Writer Prog in Britain. Each gives tips from authors.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb8aV4 ... a10188454e
This is what they say:
Free Video Tips with The National Emerging Writer Programme!

A few years ago we made a series of DVDs with UNESCO Dublin City of Literature focusing on 'Starting to Write', 'Telling the Story' and 'Revising, Rewriting and Overcoming Obstacles' (snappy title there, I know...) Almost three hours of tips from Carlo Gebler, Sinead Moriarty and Declan Hughes
(Haven't listened to much of it yet, so far it's pretty dull!0

[czing]

Interesting resource especially if you have some historical aspects and need to understand the background of words

https://www.etymonline.com/

[Helge Mahrt]

I think I haven't seen the recordings of Brandon Sanderson's lectures at BYU in this thread yet: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH3mK1NZn9QqOSj3ObrP3xL8tEJQ12-vL. Awesome stuff!

[czing]

I think I haven't seen the recordings of Brandon Sanderson's lectures at BYU in this thread yet: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH3mK1NZn9QqOSj3ObrP3xL8tEJQ12-vL. Awesome stuff!

And if you are after other Sanderson content with a variety of other fantastic authors https://writingexcuses.com/ has been one of the best finds for me. I have learned so much from it!

[TimE]

I must have got this from here or from Scribophile. Can't see it above but I am only a bloke - I'm sure my wife would find it. So I'll apologise in advance if this is above or somewhere else in these forums.
Over 100 podcasts and various aspects of Writing.
http://www.odysseyworkshop.org/podcasts.html

[RSchibler]

https://thetimelinesofslang.tumblr.com/ ... thors-note

Nifty sliding scale of slang appearances. Website can be a little slow, but it's awesomely useful!

[TimE]

If you're signed up to Dave's tips then you've probably already seen him recommend his editor. But if you're not - Her blog on editing is a very good reference source,
https://www.septembercfawkes.com/p/writ ... index.html

[disgruntledpeony]

http://phobialist.com/ I don't know how helpful people will find this in general, but at the very least it's interesting. (I swear, I'll take the time to update the master list again one of these days. )

[JVAshley]

Thanks Peony and all of you! This is fantastic.
Now I just have to be careful to use it 'as needed' and not 'as procrastination'.

[LDWriter2]

If you're signed up to Dave's tips then you've probably already seen him recommend his editor. But if you're not - Her blog on editing is a very good reference source,
https://www.septembercfawkes.com/p/writ ... index.html

I used to be signed up but haven't relied any for quite a while. He still sending them out then? And I saved the link to his editor

[RSchibler]

https://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/SFTerms.html

I don't know if you guys knew this existed, but I'm totally excited about it. Especially if you've got a story going into the Jim Baen awards.

[storysinger]

Especially if you've got a story going into the Jim Baen awards.

I will be submitting to that contest for the first time.
Good luck to all that enter.
Geaux forumites.
Yes that's a shout-out to the LSU Tigers.

[disgruntledpeony]

https://www.alphadictionary.com/slang/ This is a searchable dictionary of American slang. You can even specify which decades you want to search by!

I need to update the first post with the latest new links that have been posted one of these days.

[ellisael]

Hi, I am a new entrant and just went through the complete list of very useful links that I could use. As a reasonable return favour, I would like to also offer some of the links that really have helped me as a writer. Not all of them are functional and useful links as the ones above. This academia link is of a pdf of Darkness Visible by William Styron which discusses depression. I find that proper to share because of the lines he draws between depressive episodes and his identity as a writer. I use this proofreading link for penultimate proofreading of my writing drafts. Finally, this is a list of useful writing prompts that i often use for my morning journalling pages.

[TimE]

This is a free writing course for complete beginners, or those who have written a bit but want to go back to the start – because they know they need to get better.
https://tobylitt.wordpress.com/2020/04/ ... ssion=true
It has plenty of links to good s/s (not fan/scifi), and at the end has links to more lectures from the guy.
There is no signing up to anything, just read and do exercises or not.

[disgruntledpeony]

Just found Shunn's manuscript guide--both classic AND modern! https://www.shunn.net/format/story/