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2. Sep 07:55

 
Links
Information sources
Absolute Write
http://absolutewrite.com/
Lots of information about writing, publishing, and an extensive forum. A bit heavy on the Ads, but looks like it houses some great information.
 
Archetype: The Fiction Writer's Guide to Psychology
http://www.archetypewriting.com
This site offers a FREE service to authors. You get an authoritative psychological break-down of your characters' traits and behaviors.
To check whether person X would act in a particular way, or Y take a particular decision, etc. you write up your question, with extract if necessary, and a detailed reply arrives by e-mail.
 
Authors Register
http://AuthorsRegister.com
This is a site for writers to work together to promote their books, poetry, writing, whatever. Each member gets their own internet webpage. There is a good database of writers resources, an active discussion forum, and other useful tools.

This is a membership site (£12 GB pounds - about $24 a year)
 
Body Language Expert
http://www.bodylanguageexpert.co.uk/
Going in-depth into body language and how it reflects thoughts. Great resource!
 
Brit/American Dictionary
http://www.effingpot.com/
comical AND useful
http://www.effingpot.com/
 
Charlotte's Web
http://www.charlottedillon.com/
Loads of useful info, such as an extensive list of romance publishers, how to write query letters, how to prepare manuscripts etc.
 
Chicklit
http://www.chicklit.co.uk/index.asp
Chicklit is a really nice site with an excellent lay-out. It's got author interviews, writing tips, book reviews and articles about various things.
Check it out.
 
Coroner Stories
http://www.coronerstories.com
The real-life world of death investigation.

Discusses working a death scene, common questions about bodies, and compares and contrasts reality with TV.
 
Create a graph
http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/
A great place to put all of the important events and have them in a easy to read format. Also has a statistical 'chance' roll of the dice counter and some info on what certain grades cover in today's schools.
 
D Marie Time Capsule
http://dmarie.com/timecap/
This day in history. Pick a date and the site informs you what happened that day in history.
 
Dictionary
http://www.dictionary.com
A good author always has a good dictionary handy.
 
Digital Dollhouse
http://www.digitaldollhouse.com
Great way to design the house/ places people stay in your story! Like a floor plan, except visual and virtual. free to use!
 
Engen's Market Search Engine
http://engine.freeshell.org/
Primarily SF and F. But useful for other markets as well.
 
Etymology Dictionary
http://www.etymonline.com/
This is a map of the wheel-ruts of modern English. Etymologies are not definitions; they're explanations of what our words meant and how they sounded 600 or 2,000 years ago.
 
Facial Features for characters
http://face-and-emotion.com/dataface/visage/visage.jsp
Here's where you can find out all you ever wanted to know about facial features, when creating or describing characters. .
face-and-emotion.com/dataface/visage/visage.jsp
 
FBI for Writers
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/oct08/writers_100608.html
The FBI shares information on how this agency works with writers.
 
Find Articles
http://www.findarticles.com/PI/index.jhtml
Finds articles, published on the net, about a chosen subject.
 
Floor Planner
http://www.floorplanner.com
Create floor plans and 3D models for rooms, houses, and other buildings (outdoor space - like patios, pools, parks, and gardens - can also be designed). Helps you visualize the layout of your haunted mansion, mystery house, jail cell, protagonist's room, or any other setting and plot the path of the action. Add furniture, piles of dirty clothes, throw pillows, food, and electronics to help you figure out what your character wants, likes, has, or needs in a given space. Totally free (all you need is email), and totally on the web (no need to take up hard drive space from your manuscripts)!
 
Google Books
http://books.google.com/
A great place to research. Many partial and full books including textbooks.
 
Grammar Snobs
http://www.grammarsnobs.com/
This is a link to a book that might just fall prey to its own title, but worth looking at if the whole subject of grammar and its inherent inflexibility irks you.
 
Holly Black's Writing Resources
http://www.blackholly.com/writingresources.htm
The author of the Spiderwick Chronicles offers advice and links to aspiring writers.
 
Kilts and Scottish Clothing
http://www.albanach.org/kilt.html
Mel Gibson got it totally wrong and it does indeed upset readers. A historical look at when kilts were worn, how they developed, and what was worn in Scotland during various periods with supporting citations.
 
Literary Agents
http://literaryagents.org
A low-tech, straight-forward guide to literary agents. This site is designed to give writers accurate information on literary agents. Here you will find News about Agents , Book Sales and Addresses for Top Agents.
 
Longridgewritersgroup
http://www.longridgewritersgroup.com/
A wonderful site, with contests, and chances to get published!
$10 fee for 8 month trial.
 
Lorem Ipsum Generator
http://www.lipsum.com/
This is useful for creating pro looking boilerplate text.
 
Measuring Worth
http://www.measuringworth.com/ppoweruk/
This is a really good website that calculates how much money was "worth" back in the past - going back as far as 1264 where a pound back then had the same purchasing power of £500 today. Great resource for historical writers, or even when reading those old classics that made out that 50p was quite a lot!
 
Medieval Times Info
http://www.kyrene.k12.az.us/schools/brisas/sunda/ma/mahome.htm
Perfect for those fantasy stories on Medievil times!
Not an exhaustive source but it should give you a decent picture of many subjects.
 
MEEZ
http://www.meez.com
Create and personalize 3D, animated models of your characters. Free! Save images online or download to computer.
 
Melderman's Horse Guide for Writers
http://www.meldermanstables.blogspot.com
Everything horsey from 1700's and up. Famous horses, breeding, colors, foaling, carriages, reactions, little known facts and MORE.
 
Merriam Webster Dictionary & Thesaurus
http://www.m-w.com/
Hey, every writer needs help with words once in a while.
 
Miss Snark, the literary agent
http://misssnark.blogspot.com/
"...In which Miss Snark vents her wrath on the hapless world of writers and crushes them to sand beneath her T.Rexual heels of stiletto snark."
 
OneLook Reverse Dictionary
http://www.onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml
OneLook's reverse dictionary lets you describe a concept and get back a list of words and phrases related to that concept. Your description can be a few words, a sentence, a question, or even just a single word.
 
Our Timelines
http://www.ourtimelines.com
A great site for generating historical concordances. From the home page, navigate to a page that lets you enter the start and end years of a character's life. Then press the button, and presto! a list of historical and cultural events is graphed against the lifespan of your character.

If you are trying to decide which era would be more interesting for a story setting, you can test several timelines very quickly through this site. It will also generate timelines for spans much longer than a human lifetime.
 
Punctuation from both sides of the pond
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001445.html
A site for grammarians exploring punctuation in the English speaking world and its inherent differences between countries.
 
Ralan
http://www.ralan.com
Lots of info on markets, contests etc.
 
Refdesk.com: Ask the Experts.
http://www.refdesk.com/expert.html
This site acts as a gateway to links where you can contact experts in various fields such as music, sports, science or law.
 
Renaissance Learning
http://www.renlearn.com/store/quiz_home.asp
Word count for all books published in the english language.
 
Spelling in the English Speaking World
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004268.html
In examination of spelling from a world-wide viewpoint.
 
Starting a Writing Business (UK)
www.startawritingbusiness.co.uk/home.htm
Great site for a series of articles on everything from gaining a literary agent to royalties, fees, getting interviews and other ways to successfully turn your writing into a business.

Please note the content is from the UK.
 
Technovelgy
http://www.technovelgy.com/
Where science meets fiction
 
The Domesday Book Online
http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/index.html
Information on Medieval England and of course The Domesday Book itself. Much better then buying that hefty tome itself.
 
The Literary Times
http://www.tlt.com/index.html
An e-zin, magazine and a web dedicated to books and writing. Aimed at women. Articles, links, chatrooms etc.
 
The Middle Ages
http://www.learner.org/exhibits/middleages
Looking for info about religion, homes, clothing, and much more during the Middle Ages? Try looking here. Great site for information about it.
 
The Phrase Finder
http://www.phrases.org.uk/index.html
A place to search for the meaning or origin of a phrase, saying or idiom.
 
The Skeptic's Dictionary
http://www.skepdic.com
An online encyclopedia giving fair descriptions on many things from politics to the paranormal. Includes a guide to logic for rational thinking and debate uses.
 
The Urban Dictionary
http://www.urbandictionary.com/
Didn't see this one in the links...

A great resource for finding just the right slang word or phrase. Gritty, raw, irreverent, funny, but most of all HELPFUL!

TIME Magazine named it one of the 50 best websites of 2008.
 
TheWritersSite
http://www.thewriterssite.com
Hundreds of hand-picked links to help writers.
 
Verla Kay's website
http://www.verlakay.com
This is a valuable resource for Children/YA authors. The site features live workshops, archives with all kinds of information about the world of publishing children's lit, editor/ agent interviews, responce times and contact info for gabillions of publishing houses, magazines and agents.

This site is run by the renowned author, Verla Kay. If you need information about this genre or the industry, you will find it here.
 
Visuwords
http://www.visuwords.com
A thesaurus that visual links words and offers definitions. Fun to play with!
 
Which and That discussion
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002189.html
A discussion by grammarians on the rigidity of the "that" and "which" rules for restrictive and non-restrictive clauses and phrases. Worth reading if you have an open mind on grammar.
 
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/Main_Page
Free online collaborative encyclopedia.
 
Writelink
http://www.writelink.co.uk
UK based writers’ resource site for creative writing, linking to paying markets, competitions, reference sites, software, and more ...
 
Writer's Free Reference
http://www.writers-free-reference.com/
This is an extensive list of free reference web pages
on the Internet useful to writers and anyone
looking for free information.
 
Writing World
http://www.writing-world.com
A good website with lots of useful information for authors, articles, columns, newsletter, links etc.
 
WW2 People's War
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/
Personal stories and information on many various aspects of the second world war in Britain.
 

On writing
Bella on-line
http://www.bellaonline.com/Site/fictionwriting
A site with articles, chat and advice for fiction writers.
 
Caro Clark's Advice for Novel Writers
http://www.caroclarke.com/writing.html
Caro Clark has written a series of articles on how to write a novel for one of the leading on-line writers' magazines, NovelAdvice. She reproduces them here, and will add to them from time to time.

Great source for "novice" novel writers!
 
Cliche Finder
http://westegg.com/cliche/
Search for cliches on a keyword. For example, a result for 'sun' is A month of Sundays.
 
Confusing Words
http://www.confusingwords.com/index.php
A collection of 3210 words that are confusing to readers and writers, such as affect and effect or affluent or effluent.

Never be confused again.
 
Creative Writing Prompts
http://www.creativewriting-prompts.com/index.html
Creative writing prompts, creative writing tips, creative writing ideas, creative writing topics, journaling prompts,how to write a journal,writers resources,argumentative essay outline,classic brainstorming,essay help
 
Emotion Thesaurus
http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/
A list of cardinal emotions (fear, happiness, unease, relief, etc) and the coresponding physical reactions to it.

So if you get stuck on how to show your character's fear, unease, etc. in your story, have a look at this thesaurus for ideas. New emotions and physical actions are added each Thursday, so keep checking back!
 
Fiction Addiction
http://www.fictionaddiction.net
A site for both writers and readers. Articles, info about contests, list of publishers, book-reviews etc.
 
Flogging The Quill
http://www.floggingthequill.com
This site provides insight and tips on how to achieve immediacy in a first chapter. Focuses on engagement and launching a story. Writers are able to submit their own work and see if the blogger will turn the page based on the first eighteen submitted lines.
 
For Writers
http://www.forwriters.com
A site for writers and poets. Articles and useful links.
 
HollyLisle
http://hollylisle.com/
Useful articles written by Holly Lisle, published author.
The site is recommended by CC members.
 
How to Write a Great Query Letter
www.lukeman.com/greatquery/download.htm
Noah Lukeman offers a FREE E-BOOK on how to write a great query letter! It's his way of giving back to the writing community.
 
Is Your Hook-line a Stinker?
http://www.susangable.com/i_snooze.htm
A good article on how to make the most of your hook.
 
Market List
http://www.marketlist.com/index.htm
A site with various information for writers, such as a list of competitions, publishers (info on how much they pay and what they're looking for), articles and interviews.
 
National Novel Writing Month
http://nanowrimo.org
You have to write a novel (50,000 words) in the month of November. It's a lot of fun and I believe it is responsible for more fiction every year than every other writing program in America combined. The entire thing is just crazy enough to get people to put out a lot of writing without slowing themselves down with over editing in the first draft.
 
New Novelist
http://www.newnovelist.com
A software that helps you develop and write your story.
 
New York Times - Books
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/index.html
Bookreviews, excerpts, best-seller lists etc.
 
Once Written
http://www.oncewritten.com
Once Written.com is a great site for first time writers and in fact only promotes freshman releases of new books. It offers several quarterly contests, weekly news letters, writing prompts and information for writing, and publishing.
 
Randy Ingermanson's Home Page
http://www.rsingermanson.com
Lots of great information about many aspects of the Writing game. If you have problems plotting out a story, be sure to check out the Snowflake.
 
Rejection Collection
http://rejectioncollection.com
A place to post and commiserate with other authors if you're having the rejection blues.
 
Rhyme Zone
http://www.rhymezone.com/
Resource for poetry.
 
The Burning Void
http://www.errantdreams.com
A site with articles for writers and role-players alike. Links and excercises, blogs and reviews. Have a peek!
 
Write Rhymes
http://www.writerhymes.com/
Helpful little website that will help you find the the right rhyme for your poem.
 
Write to Inspire
http://www.writetoinspire.com
A site with articles for writers and info about publishers.
 
Writer Block
http://www.writersblock.ca/index.htm
A Canadian E-zine published quarterly specifically for writers.

Includes articles and detailed writing tips section.
 
Writer Gazette
http://www.writergazette.com/
An informative website with all kinds of info and stuff for writers. Also a weekly newsletter.
 
Writers Net
http://www.writers.net
Information about agents, editors, publishers, as well as active message boards.
 
Writers on Writing:
http://www.mysteryinkonline.com/2004/11/10_rules_for_wr.html
Elmore Leonard's 10 rules of writing to make the author invisible.
 
Writers write
http://www.writerswrite.com
A site with various things for writers, e.g links for publishers, jobs etc.
 
Writing a great query letter
http://www.zackcompany.com/perfectpitch.pdf
A short article about writing a query letter that will grab the reader's interest.
 
Writing Children's Books @ Write4Kids.com
http://www.write4kids.com
A useful site with advice on your writing career as well as active and helpful forums.
 

About Agents
Agent Query
http://www.agentquery.com
The best place to find agents quickly.
 
Predators and editors
http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors
Look a prospective agent up here...
 

Publishing
Duotrope Market Listings
http://www.duotrope.com/digest/index.aspx
A site which lists allows a search of a variety of print and online markets in different genres.
 
Jacket Flap
http://www.jacketflap.com/
A site with a wealth of publisher information for Children's Lit. Includes a message board and search engine for finding books published according to subject, reading level, publishing date and house/imprint.
 
Jacqui Bennett Writers Bureau
http://www.jbwb.co.uk
A UK based publisher. The site also contains information on writers' markets and writing competitions.
 
James Russell Publishing
http://www.JamesRussellPublishing.com
Free advice for authors, screenwriters and playwrights on how to get published - articles written by a book publisher.
 
List of journals that accept electronic subs
http://www.thejohnfox.com/bookfox/journals-accepting-electronic-submissions.html
This is a list of fiction and print journals that accept electronic submissions. Online journals are not listed because it's the assumed format.
 
Pheadra Magazine
http://www.phaedramag.com
A new Magazine for short stories, artwork and poems. Fiction of the darker kind.
 
Publishers Weekly
http://www.publishersweekly.com
Everything about books, writers and publishing...
 
Seventh Quark magazine
http://7thquarkmagazine.com
The Seventh Quark is a bi-monthly A4-format magazine similar in look to The New Writer, MsLexia and Writer’s Forum. Its aim is to publish short stories but also to teach.
 
Spicy Green Iguana
http://www.spicygreeniguana.com
This is a great list of markets for F/SF/H short stories. It includes both print and online markets, at all levels (pro/semi-pro/zines).
 
Top Short Story Journals
http://perpetualfolly.blogspot.com/2006/11/pushcart-prize-list.html
A list of popular short story journals. The ranking is based on a formula, with points awarded for Pushcart Prizes (5) and Special Mentions (1).
 
Writer's Digest Magazine
http://www.writersdigest.com
Probably the most popular writing magazine out there, Writer's Digest has a broad spectrum of articles each month that deal with a variety of issues, like the state of the publishing industry, to a monthly author profile, to how-to articles.
 

Crit sites
Auto Crit
http://www.AutoCrit.com
AutoCrit is a free online text-analysis tool that automatically identifies weak words and structures in your fiction writing.

AutoCrit can never replace a human critique partner. But AutoCrit is faster, complains less, and never gets tired of seeing the same chapter over and over again!
 
Boot Camp Writing/Critique group
http://p220.ezboard.com/bbootcampkeegan
A crit group that will work in batches of two week schedules with a one week "catch-up" break per quarter.

Stories will have a maximum three-week "life". They will have one week in the Urgent First Crit Section, one week in an interim section and a third week where critiques of the first draft will NOT be accepted, but discussion may continue on REWRITES or rewriting issues.
 
Critters
http://www.critters.org
An American crit circle for fantasy, sci-fi and horror.
 
Free Falling
http://freefallingg.proboards41.com
A new site. Post your stories so other members can crit. A bit of randomness on the site, so if your uptight don't bother. Really looking for some good critters right now!
 
Online Writing Workshops
http://www.onlinewritingworkshop.com
This is a great commercial workshop which specializes in sf/f/h and romance.
 
The Cult
http://www.chuckpalahniuk.net
This site is a fan site for author Chuck Palahniuk but its also a great site for writing, critiquing and learning all there is to know about the craft.
 
Young Writers Society
http://www.youngwriterssociety.com/
A forum for 13-25 year olds. Critique 2 pieces then submit your own, earning up to 50 points for every critique. Get detailed critiques, meet new friends, and read others work!
 
Zoetrope
http://www.zoetrope.com
Submit and critique flash fic, short stories, novellas, screenplays, poetry, short scripts, basically the whole writing enchilada plus music, costumes, photos, storyboards, film scores, and everything else Hollywo-o-o-o-od.
 

Authors and stories
Bibliomania
http://www.bibliomania.com/0/-/frameset.html
An English site with loads of stories, poems, interviews and articles.
 
Booyang
http://www.booyang.com
 
Classic stories
http://mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us/cybereng/shorts/
A collection of classic short-stories.
 
Short stories
http://www.short-stories.co.uk/
An english site publishing short-stories.
 
The Legends of Mernac
http://www.mernac.com
The Legends of Mernac in short is an online never-ending High Fantasy saga expressed by prose, art, music, gaming, and more. For people whose escape into Fantasy is reading, then this site will provide the ONLY truly ongoing saga.
 
The Writer At Work
http://www.thewriteratwork.com/site/index.asp
A Cartoon that describes the work of a writer. The author has amongst other things worked on Star Trek shows.
 

Writer's organizations
American Crime Writers League
http://acwl.org
Membership requirements: one novel or three short stories
Membership fee: $35
 
Book Awards list from the Bauu Institute
http://www.bauuinstitute.com/Marketing/BookAwardsList.html
A complete list of book awards for Authors, Writers, and Publishers.
 
Historical Novel Society
http://www.historicalnovelsociety.org/
The Historical Novel Society, founded in 1997, promotes all aspects of historical fiction.
 
Historical Novel Society--Discussion Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HistoricalNovelSociety/
Discussion of historical fiction, for writers (published and unpublished) and readers.
 
Horror Writers Association
http://www.horror.org
Membership requirements: published work.
Associate membership requirements: anyone can join.
Membership fee: $65
 
Mystery Writers of America
http://mysterywriters.org
Membership requirements: published
Associate membership requirements: open to anyone
Membership fee: $80
 
Novelists, inc
http://www.ninc.com/
Membership requirements: Two published novels
Membership fee: $65
 
Romance Writers of America
http://www.rwanational.org
Membership requirements: Open to anyone published or pursuing a career in romantic fiction
Membership fees: $75
 
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
http://www.sfwa.org/
Membership requirement: One published novel or script OR three published stories.
Associate membership requirement: one published story.
Membership fee: $50
 
Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators
http://www.scbwi.org/
Membership requirements: published work for children
Associate membership requirements: open to anyone interested
Membership fee: $75
 
Writers Guild of America
http://www.wga.org
Membership requirements: Certain amount of publication "credits". See details on website.
Membership fees: $2500

 

Writing software
Evernote
http://www.evernote.com/
This works like OneNote, but is free. I love the interface.
 
SpokenText
http://www.spokentext.net/
Want to 'hear' your work? SpokenText.net allows you to record PDF, Word, plain text, PowerPoint files, RSS news feeds, emails and web pages, converting them to speech automatically. You can download them to share into Mp3's or to an Ipod.

Free to use.
 
Word Web 5
http://www.download.com/WordWeb/3000-2279_4-10003201.html?tag=toprated
This thesaurus/dictionary can be used to look up words from almost any program. In addition to displaying sense definitions and synonyms, WordWeb can find sets of related words. The database has more than 150,000 root words and 118,000 synonym sets, many proper nouns, pronunciations, and usage tags.

WordWeb is a handy utility that gives you the definition, synonyms, and antonyms of any given word without requiring you to go online, though it can connect to the Internet for expanded functionality should you want it.

The interface feels like an expanded version of any major word processing app's dictionary function, giving users an instant familiarity—even if they've never used WordWeb. After you type a term into the Lookup dialog box, the word's definition will appear in the interface's top pane, along with tabs that link to various wiki functions.

The bottom pane offers tabs for such items as synonyms, antonyms, and related words. The app's most notable feature is its hot key support; you simply use a hot key combo when the cursor is pointed over any word, and WordWeb will pop up onscreen with all pertinent information.

There are tools for changing the database to one of several English variations, altering the text size, and disabling WordWeb from recognizing offensive terms. The depth and functionality of WordWeb would be worth paying for, but thankfully you don't have to redefine your budget to get it—it's free.
 
yTimer
http://www.spacejock.com/yTimer.html
This free program lets you run up to 40 countdown timers, with an audio alert and a popup window when the countdown reaches zero. You can also choose to run a program or open a URL in your default browser when the timer goes off.
Timers are specified in days/hours/minutes/seconds, and if you close the program with active timers it will automatically restart them with the correct remaining time when you reopen it.
yTimer runs in the system tray, so you can easily ignore it until the moment comes for it to unleash your reminder.
 
yWriter- now on version 5!!!
http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter3_Download.html
yWriter gives you a working framework similar to an ordinary book. That is, you work in chapters and sections.

By default yWriter is designed primarily for novel writers, so 'sections' are referred to as scenes in all the menus. yWriter is multi-lingual and allows you to customise your own language file, either for translations, or to define new labels for different writing genres. When you select a chapter in the main page, you see all the scenes that make up the chapter. In addition you can add character biographies and input summaries for scenes, chapters and the project (book) description. All these summaries are instantly available for quick reference, so that you know exactly how your work is structured, what you have done, where you are now and what you plan for future sections.

Working in small 'chunks' or scenes is an excellent way to reduce the mass of overall work required into small manageable sections. What yWriter does so well, is to allow you to plan your overall chapter and scene descriptions beforehand, without having to write a word of actual content.
 



 
 
 
 
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