Excellent Resources for Writers
The lovely thing about the era we are living is the access to information. These days, you don't have to go to college to get a degree to be a writer. You can learn all you need to know from your own home. (That has it's pitfalls, but that's not what we're talking about today.)
There are so many things out there, it can be difficult to sort through. Which is why in this post, I'll be listing out some of my favorite resources for writers. Next month I'm going to do a follow-up on my favorite YouTube channels for writers because I have enough of those to make it's own post. Without further ado, grab a note making tool and let's get started.
Books
The Elements of Style- William Strunk and E. B. White
This is the classic writing book. I think it's one of those books every writer should read in their lifetime. It's a short book full of straight forward writing and style advice that all writers should know. Like, did you know the word "inflammable" does not mean "unable to be set on fire" but actually "combustible"?
Outlining Your Novel- K. M. Weiland
We are not all outliners, but this book contains a lot for people of all plotting types. It shows you how to build a solid plot and includes lots of fun extras, like how to make a novel playlist or character profiling.
Structuring Your Novel- K. M. Weiland
If you just want to learn more about story structure, then read this book. It contains a wealth of wisdom which even I have barely scratched the surface one. Especially the second half about scene structure, which I really need to work on.
Creating Character Arcs- K.. M. Weiland
Just go buy all her writing books. They're all fabulous and easy to understand. This one has changed my writing for the better. It not only covers positive change arcs, it talks about flat and multiple types of negative arcs (which was a big help in my current editing project). (She also has one on themes that I haven't gotten yet, but need to.)
Revision and Self-Editing: Techniques for Transforming Your First Draft into a Finished Novel- James Scott Bell
Another book that changed my writing life and I don't know why I don't own it yet. James Scott Bell is another author who you should all his writing books because they're easy to understand and wonderful for your writing. I also like how he uses examples from books and movies.
Conflict and Suspense- James Scott Bell
Since he's a thriller writer, you should read this book if you want to increase your writing's conflict. He shows you how to hook readers from the beginning and keep reading until the end.
Websites
K. M. Weiland's website, which means you should subscribe immediately. With almost weekly, deep and well thought out articles, she shares writing advice of all kinds, from theme to structure to characters. If I have any problem I'm trying to fix in my novel, I go here first. She even has a whole story database where she breaks down the plots of books and movies into plot points, so you can see it visually.
This website is dedicated to helping writers get better through deliberate practice. Every one of their articles ends with a quick 15 minute article showing how to implement whatever they talked about. Since they have lots of guest writers, they have posts on virtually ever subject.
One of my long time sites. It's not quite as good as the first one I mentioned, but in a similar vein. Kristen Kieffer covers a variety of topics and shares in depth posts. She also has some books and other resources, if you're willing to pay for them.
The publishing website. She has years of experience and she's sharing it all on her website. Whether you want to traditionally or indie publish, she's got amazing articles on both on everything from email lists to website building, editing to starting your book.
My absolute favorite site for any name I might need. She has created generators for fandoms like Star Trek to fantasy creatures like unicorns and even real world names. She also has generators for flags, maps, guilds, and much, much more.
Do you enjoy ambient sounds while you write? Something to get you in the zone? This website has a huge variety of ambient mixes for almost anything, or you can create your own. You can even play with the pre-made ones and mix them to your personal liking.
Podcasts
If you don't have a lot of time for reading articles, several of the above sites have podcast versions of them as well. I haven't personally tried this one or K. M. Weiland's, but since I read the articles, I'm sure they're just as good.
Again, I haven't listened to this podcast, but her posts are amazing, so even listening to them would be super helpful. Plus, she has a large backlog of posts, so this would help you catch up on all the goodness.
Now, I have listened to this one, albeit not as much as I would have liked. It's Abby Emmon's podcast with her sister Kate and they talk about a lot of good things. Not only writing stuff either. They have a whole episode about their favorite BBC shows.
Programs
Most of us can't afford to pay for Microsoft Word, because it's crazy expensive. OpenOffice is a free alternative to it, with pretty much all the features you can find in Word. I've used it for years and never had a problem. Plus, if you can't figure out how to do something, there are plenty of tutorials out there.
If you know me at all, you know I adore Scrivener. It's my favorite place to write all my novels. The level of organization it gives me, the amazing tools, color coding. It's a organizer's dream. It's not for everyone, and it does cost money, but believe me, it is worth it. (Also, if you've won NaNoWriMo, they give you a code for half off.) Now, if they'd ever release version 3 for Microsoft.
I started playing around with this program last year and while I didn't use it a lot, it was super fun. Basically, it enables you to make sort of a wiki for your own worldbuilding. You can write about all sorts of things and keep it all stored and organized on their site. There is payed options, but you can get a basic account for free.
A lot of writers have done NaNoWriMo. But since they updated their site, they've included a lot of features that you can use any time of the year, not just in November. You can make projects not associated with NaNo, set your own goals, and see all sorts of cool stats.
What are some of your favorite resources for writers? Do you use any of these? Drop your advice in the comments!
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I've been wanting to take my writing more seriously this year, so this post is perfect! I've been thinking about doing NaNo this year, since so many people recommend it.
ReplyDeleteAwesome! I hope it helps. I also have a bunch of posts on NaNoWriMo if you're interested.
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