Those of us participating in the monthly writing challenge are a diverse bunch — from the type of projects we’re working on (novels, short stories, essays, etc.) to our level of experience in writing and/or publishing.
If I had to guess, though, I’d say most of us have already found one or more favorite websites or reference pages online that we go to frequently.
Maybe it’s an article on outlining strategies.
Perhaps it’s a “How to” on world building in speculative fiction works.
Could be that it’s a revisions checklist.
Whatever the case may be, I’m sure we can all learn something from one another!
If you could recommend any one page or website that you frequently visit, how about sharing it in the comments below. You never know, it could be just what one of your fellow writers has been looking for!
Ok, you shy bunch. I’ll start this list with some links on REVISIONS.
I actually have a cluster of links to share from Nat Russo (@natrusso) — they go together, though.
I must admit, I’ve never read his books. Way too dark and creepy for my taste, but I can appreciate the advice he offers as a writer.
Revising your first draft
http://www.erindorpress.com/2012/12/revising-your-first-draft-the-first-read-through/
Revision Checklist – Part 1 of 2
http://www.erindorpress.com/2013/01/revision-checklist-part-1-of-2/
Revision Checklist – Part 2 of 2
http://www.erindorpress.com/2013/01/revision-checklist-part-2-of-2/
I don’t have any articles that I follow. I find that too much information can be overwhelming ! BUT, I do have a few things that I try NOT to do in my writing. (that I’ve learned when I did read articles) Adverbs/adjectives. Makes sure they are really necessary and don’t bog down your writing. And with dialogue tags, adverbs are lazy writing! The words, “just” and “that” are usually not needed, either.
Good advice!
I thought that I didn’t have any go-to websites and then I looked up at the fifty tabs I have open and realized that there is one website I constantly turn to while I am writing my fantasy novel: Keyboard shortcuts for international characters. Very useful for Microsoft Word users. It can be found at:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/keyboard-shortcuts-for-international-characters-HP001230378.aspx
Now see, this is thinking outside the box! This is one of those tools we might not typically associate with our writing process, but can be indispensable!
It’s also extremely useful for Excel users. Although the shortcuts do not work in Excel, you can copy and paste the character you want to use into Excel. For instance, I use a spreadsheet to keep track of characters in my fantasy novel. When I make entries, sometimes I need to use accented letters or something of that nature. If you didn’t copy and paste directly from your Word file, you can easily copy and paste a character over into the Excel cell. It’s helped me immensely!
Oooh! Here are international character keyboard shortcuts for mac: http://symbolcodes.tlt.psu.edu/accents/codemac.html
Also, keep in mind that with the newer OS you just have to press and hold the key of the letter that you want to accent and then click and select the accent you want or hit the corresponding number on your keyboard. The keyboard shortcuts linked above still work, though–and they *should* work on most any program. They can also be a bit faster than the press-and-hold method once you get used to it. 🙂
Writing tips: http://veronicarothbooks.blogspot.com.ar/ by bestselling author Veronica Roth.
For industry news in children’s publishing and other goodies, Kathy Temean’s blog: http://kathytemean.wordpress.com/
For a variety of articles (craft, motivation), The Kill Zone:
http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com/
For craft (geared toward kid lit but can often be applied elsewhere), Mary Kole’s blog:
http://kidlit.com/
For a humor break, I love Slushpile Hell:
http://slushpilehell.tumblr.com.
Yvonne
I feel that this master link is very exhaustive. Even now, I haven’t finish reading it: http://www.nownovel.com/blog/151-important-novel-writing-resources/
I posted this in the FB group, but I’ll post it here, too. I am in love with the writingexcuses.com podcast, hosted by Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells. They all do speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, and horror). Their podcast covers everything from character development to world building to brainstorming to contracts to traditional vs indie publishing to plot structure (not all of them are conventionally published).
I also tend to be a structure geek, and I collect plot talks and lectures by people I respect on plot structure. Here is lecture by Dan Wells, a horror/science fiction writer, covering a 7-point plot structure that I found to be very simple and easy to understand (some stuff I’ve seen goes up to 22 points with sub points)!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL52F337B6BADE070A
Oh! I also recently stumbled on this author’s page with a HUGE range of advice in the form of articles for writers. This page has a large number of links to a host of articles covering everything from how to become traditionally published (if that’s your thing) to productivity under stress and structure and characters. I’ve been devouring it. <3
http://susandennard.com/links/for-writers/
Janice Hardy is the Mr Miyagi to my Daniel San – her Fiction University is all kinds of brilliant: http://blog.janicehardy.com
I love Chuck Wendig’s Terrible Minds blog. All his writing books are terrific too.
Alexandra Sokoloff’s blog. Her book, Writing Love, is also very helpful.
Kristen Lamb teaches social media for writers. I usually find her stuff useful.
My favorite is the Story Wonk Podcast for story breakdown.
I have to admit, my favorite revising tips have come from books. They’re tips I use to create my own checklists. Those books:
Write On by Elizabeth George
Write Your Novel from the Middle by James Scott Bell
The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass
GMC by Donna Dixon
Save the Cat by Blake Snyder
-S.