Helpful Writing Links

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

Thanks disgruntledpeony!

Most kind.

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)

Thanks for the links!

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/

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

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

Elements of Style by William Strunk - free download

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

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/

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

https://www.etymonline.com/

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!

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!

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

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

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

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

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. )

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'.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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