Off-Site Resources
With the fluid, ever-changing nature of URLs, if you find a link in this section that no longer works, please post with a notice about what site it was so the entry can be updated or removed.
Please also note not all services or software linked to have been tested or verified for quality or utility. It is especially advised to research publishing services before committing to them.
For a more comprehensive (and thus potentially more useful) links list, check out
the internet resources site.
Search Engines
Bing ||
Dog Pile ||
Duck Duck Go ||
Google ||
Wolfram Alpha* ||
Yahoo
* Wolfram Alpha is not a search engine in the established sense, but rather a computational knowledge engine, meaning it can answer questions pertaining to known factual information as opposed to providing a list of links to sites that may have the information you're after. This makes it ideal for some queries (visualizing orbits of a four body system or understanding biological processes inside a cell exposed to heavy metals or radiation, for example) but not others (such as relationship advice or spiritual enlightenment). See the about page, example page, and Wikipedia entry for how to use it effectively.
Writing Tools & Programs
750 Words ||
AutoCrit Editing Wizard ||
Character Writer ||
Google Docs ||
Grammarly ||
Libre Office ||
MS Office ||
Notepad++ ||
OpenOffice ||
Page Four ||
Scrivener ||
Sigil (for epubs) ||
Story Weaver ||
White Smoke ||
Write It Now ||
Write or Die v2 ||
Writer ||
yWriter
Writing & Grammar Tools and Reference
Japanese <-> English ||
Latin <-> English Dictionary ||
Merriam-Webster ||
Online Etymology Dictionary ||
Online Medical Dictionary ||
Oxford ||
Reference.com (dictionary and thesaurus) ||
Reverse Lookup ||
Synonym Finder
Active vs Passive Voice
How to tell the difference so you know when to use them most effectively.
Analyze Your Writing
Measure your prose on the
Flesch-Kincaid reading ease & grade level scales and the
Gunning-Fog index.
Cliché Finder
Are you trying to be clever and buck the trend? Or are you just a fish out of water? Test your mettle and make sure you're not falling prey to cliché. (NOTE: Analyzed text may be difficult to discern for most.)
Common Errors In English
Dedicated to illuminating common usage mistakes of the native English speaker.
Dr Grammar
A rich resource of grammar and formatting information run by the University of Northern Iowa, covering everything from basics on up to etymology, English as second language, business writing, and more.
Grammar Monster
From the basics (such as punctuation) to the tricky (identifying and dealing with homonyms), this is useful even for veteran writers.
Grammar & Usage Tool Kit
Covers practically all points of grammar and word usage you're likely to have problems with.
Hemingway App
Useful for quickly finding sticky points in your prose that could be rewritten to make them easier to read and follow.
How to Use an Apostrophe
Read it. It will help.
Online Writing Lab @ Purdue University
Every grammar or structure question you're likely to have can be found explained here, from fiction writing to research papers.
Passive Voice Analyzer
Find out how much passive voice makes up your writing.
Pro Writing Aid
Analyzes your writing for a plethora of common ills, from basic grammar to clichés to redundancy to consistency and more. (NOTE: Free version has a limit of 1k words.)
Tense Exercises
Having a hard time with basic tenses, such as past vs present? Try these short and fast exercises.
Why are verbs so tense?
A useful explanation on the differences among different tenses and how to use them effectively.
Word Counter (basic)
Find out what words you use most often.
Word Counter (more sophisticated)
As above, and also counts total words and characters if your chosen writing tool (pen & paper, for example) doesn't have that feature.
Reading, Posting, & Critiquing
Archive of Our Own (for fanfic)
FanFiction.net
Fiction Press
Good Reads
Munseys
Project Gutenberg
Scribophile
Text Novel
Wattpad
WOWIO
Publishing & Submission
5 Online Resources for Short Stories
If you write short stories and need ideas on where to submit, this list is for you.
6 Tips for Getting Your Work Discovered
If you self-publish, you are your own media platform, and understanding how to do that can be hard. These tips help.
25 Secrets of Publishing, Revealed! (Or: Inside the Bookish Shatterdome)
Insights, tips, tricks, and generally good things to know from author and book marketer Mike Underwood.
Agent-Query Connect
If you need help with queries or finding an agent, this is the place to be.
bookemon
Turn your work into a print-on-demand book or ebook.
Duotrope
If you're at a loss for finding places to submit your work, this site will help.
Holly Lisle
A very good resource from a published writer on how to also get published, along with general writing advice.
Logline vs Tagline
Two important and easily confused elements of pitching your novel, script, or other writing to a potential publisher.
The New World of Publishing: An Idea to Take Shots At
On self-publishing with POD while shopping your novel around.
Preditors & Editors
A resource for sorting through the task of finding an editor who will help you and your works.
Query Shark
Tearing apart bad query letters and reworking them into something that could actually work. Useful for finding out what NOT to do.
Query Tracker
A useful site for tracking your query letters and finding agents and publishers who are likely to look at your work.
Ralan
Looking for up-to-date market listings for speculative fiction? You'll find a good variety here, ranging from the standard fantasy/scifi/horror to more niche markets such as fairy tales.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Probably the best resource ever for US writers, especially those seeking to get published.
Spacejock
Some very handy programs to help in writing that novel and tracking your submissions, along with other writerly stuff.
Submitting to the Black Hole
Ever wonder what to expect for wait times when submitting your works? Here's a good reference point. The list is not, by any means, comprehensive, but it covers most major outlets.
What Every Writer Needs to Know About Copyright
A basic but essential overview of what's important to know about copyright and how it applies to your works.
Word Count Expectations by Genre
Whether you're writing a YA romance or a space opera, every genre has rough expectations for how many words a story will have when it's submitted.
Writer's Relief
If you're having difficulty finding the right places to submit your work or doing it properly, the staff here will do it for you. (NOTE:
This is a paid service and has not been verified to be effective. It is linked solely as a potential solution for help getting work submitted and published.)
Writing Exercises & Challenges
70 Days of Sweat
Write a novel in 70 days. A mere 10 weeks. Same concept as NaNoWriMo, only with a minimum goal of 60k words.
100 Themes
Actually it's 200, but it's split into two blocks: theme/action and emotion. It's also worth checking out the rest of the blog for the other quality posts and material.
Creative Writing Prompts
A selection of over 300 prompts to get you started writing. Note that not all of them are sensible.
Hack your way out of writer's block
A brief but useful list for working through writer's block.
National Novel Writing Month
Because we should all know what it is so we can engage in madness together.
One Word
Need a quick kick start to your writing? This should do the trick. You're given a single word and 60 seconds to write something about it.
Poetry Challenges
Some simple and fast exercises for crafting some practice poems.
RP Generators
The output of these generators is designed for use in text based RPs (such as MUDs) and is unlikely to be of great value for prose. However, if you
are writing for a game, these provide good starting point material.
Short Story Challenges
For when you just need something to practice with. Most of these can be completed within 2500 words.
Short Story Ideas
A generator site covering potential characters, scenarios, titles, first lines, and even plot twists, as well as a random image if none of those work for you.
Write or Die
Need to write but constantly getting distracted? This may be the solution for you. Set a timer and if you don't write anything in the given time, you get reminded with a noise, or if you're hard core, it starts deleting what you've written already.
Writing Fix
Lots of writing exercises, prompts, and games.
Characters & Characterization
10 Tips and Tricks for Creating Memorable Characters
A brief, well-explained list of elements that are important for believable, memorable characters.
365 Character Questions
Useful for writing stories as well as RP characters, one question a day for a year.
Authors: a warning about classifying and categorizing your characters
Why you should worry more about writing your characters as people rather than what social caste or class they belong to.
Charahub
A cloud-based site for characters, allowing you to store and access all information and reference material about any of your characters. (NOTE: Registration required.)
[******** Yeah Character Development
A tumblr dedicated entirely to exploring various aspects of characterization and making sure your characters have enough development and depth to be believable.
The Gender Question
Just because you have a female character doesn't mean they're not also a person.
How Not to Write Female Characters
The flip side to the other you're-doing-female-characters-wrong links in the list.
How to write complex characters
A brief but insightful approach to writing characters that (hopefully) won't come across as 2-dimensional.
How well do you know your character?
A list of 50 questions intended to get you thinking about your character as a person instead of just a driver of action in the story.
Questionnaires for Writing Character Profiles
Questions for characters from modern(ish)/real world story settings.
Rinkworks Random Name Generator
One of the best random name generators out there.
Thousands of Medieval Names
A very large collection of sites with medieval period names, mostly from Europe and the Middle East, with a handful of other areas scattered throughout.
Universal Mary Sue Test
A long list of questions about your characters to determine if they're the much dreaded Mary Sue archetype. This is geared primarily toward fanfic characters, though there are questions for OC and RP characters.
World Building & Language Construction
7 Deadly Sins of World Building
Seven essential and often overlooked aspects of world building that help the setting feel alive and important.
The ConLang FAQ
Long, long list of resources for those interested in creating a language.
Constructed Languages
A few tools for those lazy moments of language creation.
Create a Language!
A simple and effective site with guidelines for how to create your own language.
The Language Construction Kit
A site dedicated to the construction of fictional languages. The
more extensive print edition can be found on amazon.
The Mythopoet's Manual
An impressively thorough guide for constructing a fictional religion and the culture that springs up around it.
Patricia C Wrede's World Building Questions
Things to consider when working on the major aspects of creating a world and culture.
Random Word Generator
Generates a random word from the dictionary and it's definition. While not, in itself, useful for conlang, pair it with the fake word generator also on the site and you have a starting point.
The Rules of World Building
A dozen writers from a myriad of genres give their thoughts, as both writers and readers, on what makes for good world building.
Terraformation: Making a Planet
Information about what to take into account when dealing with writing about terraforming.
World-Building Academy
A whole slew of articles, classes, books, and more relevant to the building of fictional worlds.
On Writing
The 36 Dramatic Situations
A book the discusses all the plot elements it's possible to have in a story. Can be downloaded and read offline if desired.
50 Tools to Help Your Writing
These all fall more or less into the tips-and-tricks category, but much of them can be helpful for boosting your productivity.
Absolute Write
A forum site solely for writers, and a pretty good one, at that.
Anne R. Allen & Ruth Harris
One of the best writing/writer blogs available.
Article from the Medusa
A very good article discussing the assumptions one makes when writing for a specific audience.
Daily Writing Tips
Ranging from idioms to grammar to proper usage of a word, there's a wealth of information on the written word to be had.
Hack Your Way Out of Writer's Block
Tips and tricks for when the words just aren't coming.
How typeface influences the way we read and think
Want your writing to be taken seriously? Want a more scholarly air? What's so bad about comic sans? This explains how to do it and why it works.
Jim Butcher
A series of articles about writing basics.
Language is a Virus
Generators for prompts, names, and even prose and poetry, along with articles, writing games, reference materials, and more.
Limyaael's Fantasy Rants ->
On LiveJournal or
On coyotecult.com
Lots and lots and
lots of rants about how to effectively write fantasy. Extremely useful for those who write in that genre.
LinksAPlenty
A collection of interesting, and useful, links about writing, advice, writer's blogs, and various other informational sites that can be used for writing and story telling. (But then, what information
can't be of use in stories?)
Literary Devices to Improve Your Writing Style
A brief (20 page) ebook about the basics of effective style and crisp writing.
Mythic Scribes
A resource for fantasy writers and artists, including articles about the genre, an art gallery, portfolio management, forums for discussion, and even an ezine.
Politics and the English Language
A brief essay by George Orwell about the nature of political language and the need for clarity and conciseness.
Practical Creative Writing
Created and maintained by a writer and teacher, covers writing basics, exercises, tips, and even has stories written by the maintainer.
Seventh Sanctum
A collection of generators, ideas, and other helpful things.
The Snowflake Method
An interesting and useful approach to writing a novel. Lots of helpful advice to be had here, even if you don't use everything that's covered.
Story Structure Worksheet
For those in need of a rough structure to work with when writing a story, this is what you're looking for. Created by
Kait Nolan.
Supernatural Horror In Literature
One of the keystone texts concerning the writing of horror, written by one of the masters: HP Lovecraft.
Ten Rules For Writing Fiction -
Part One &
Part Two
Some interesting, hopefully useful, and sometimes amusing pieces of advice from a plethora of writers on how to write, stay focused, and get it done.
This is Your Brain on Writing
A scientific study examining what parts of the brain are most active during the writing process.
The Inevitable Mary Sue Essay
Another exploration on what the term Mary Sue actually means and what it entails for you and your story.
The Scriptorium
Another website geared specifically toward writers, with a plethora of resources, editorials, and other assorted usefulness.
The Thinktank
No, it's not the same as the sticky of the same name. This is a collection of various links (in the same style as this list, in fact, and including some of the same sites and threads) that are writing related and which could prove quite useful. Has a nice section of links for writing fan-fiction, as well.
Three Great Resources for Powering Through Writer's Block
Stuck and need a solution for moving forward? Try some of the things here.
TV Tropes and
TV Tropes writing guides
Perhaps the most thorough compilation of tropes (story elements) ever created. Excellent for research, getting ideas, random trivia, or just simple entertainment.
Ursula K. Le Guin
The official site of the renowned author, with much that is insightful about writing and publishing.
WebSpeak: The death of language?
Discussion of the merits and detriments of web/chat/l33t speak, it's impact on language evolution, and the backlash against it.
Whatever: 10 Things Teenage Writers Should Know About Writing
Some tips, pointers, advice, and general words of wisdom aimed at (you guessed it) teen writers.
Write World
Writing advice, prompts, tips & tricks, word-of-the-day, and more can all be found here.
Writer's Digest
One of the leading periodicals for writers and writing, covering everything from the basics to getting published.
Writers Write
A site of essays, guides, tips, and assorted other material related to writing and improving ones works.
General Reference & Research
Behind the Name
Good site for finding the meaning and etymology of names. Especially useful when combined with the language construction sites.
Burial:
Kabayan Mummy Caves,
Paris Catacombs, &
Sedlec Ossuary
These are all places of mass burial or ritual interment, fantastic resources for inspiring similar places in your own works.
The Carolingian Chronicles &
The Life of Charlemagne
The life and times of Charlemagne, the first historical unifier of western Europe after the fall of the Roman empire and effective founder of what would become France. These are primary sources translated to English.
Cold Steel Knives
Ever needed a visual reference for the kind of damage a real sword can do? Cold Steel Knives has a wide variety of demonstration videos.
Curse Words in Other Languages
If you ever need to have a character tell someone to ******** off in Estonian, this is where you'll find it.
Encyclopedia Mythica
A very good resource for mythology research.
Environmental Autism
A news article about the progress a severely neglected girl has been making after being rescued from living in a closet for the first seven years of her life. A case study in what happens with severe neglect and the aftermath.
Factually
Odd, strange, unusual, and sometimes trivial bits of factual information. May not be the most useful site for in-depth information, but it's a great place for inspiration.
GizMag
For all you sci-fi and tech nuts, this is a very useful site for developing your future societies, as there's very regular articles about bleeding edge developments in science and technology.
Glossary of European Royalty
An extensive list, background, and etymology of European titles for royalty and related figures. Very useful for constructing ones own class structure.
Guns and How They Fire
Sad to say, one handing a chain gun just isn't realistic, no matter how entertaining it may be in movies.
io9
Commentary and news about scifi and fantasy films, shows, fiction, and notables, with the occasional sprinkling of science and tech.
Kate Monk's Onomastikon
A fairly extensive list of names from around the world and covering a decent period of time for each region covered.
Mayo Clinic
A good starting place for basic medical knowledge.
Medieval News
Looking for inspiration or information about medieval times? This is a good place to start. (NOTE: Focuses almost exclusively on Europe.)
National Canine Research Council
Focused on the US, but a good resource for finding information about dog care, laws about dogs, and more.
Officer.com
A good source for information about the US's police forces. You may have to do some digging around the site to find some things, though.
Open Culture
Free resources from all fields of culture, from art to film to writing, including free material and courses.
PhysOrg
A great source for articles concerning the cutting edge of scientific and technological discoveries and capabilities.
Polaris Project on Human Trafficking
News about and resources for identifying human trafficking, as well as who to contact and what can be done.
Portraying Mental Illnesses
A broad ranging overview of a whole slew of mental illnesses and how to write them believably.
Realistic Injuries
This a rough guide for practically every type of injury a character is likely to experience: sprains, broken bones, head trauma, cuts and lacerations, blood loss, extreme temperatures, and more. If you're looking for exposure to chemicals, radiation, or biological agents, however, you'll need to look elsewhere.
Sacred Texts
Looking for a particular religious text? This is the place to start searching.
Stages of Decay
Need to know what a dead body will look like a day after death? A week? This is a rough but effective overview.
Weapons Universe
Need information about a weapon that isn't a firearm? This is your go-to resource, covering almost everything you can think of, from Europe to the Orient and farming tools to law enforcement.
Wikipedia
Wikipedia. Duh.
The World Religions Tree Infographic
A fantastic visualization of all the major religions in the world and how they've branched over time.
Writer's Toolbox: Research Beyond Google
A former Big Six editor provides a wide-ranging list of sites useful for researching almost anything, from arts to sciences to pop culture.
Twitter
40k Books
Author Answers
Author News
Booktrust UK
Caitlin R Kiernan
Chuck Palahniuk
Clive Barker
Diane Duane
Fake AP Stylebook
Guardian Books
The Hugo Awards
Laurell K Hamilton
Neil Gaiman
Peter Straub
Poppy Z Brite
RL Stine
Scifi Stories
Shorty Awards
William Gibson