Links of Interest to Writers

It's NaNoWriMo time! Write like a house on fire!

• Marion Dane Bauer:  Creating Characters

• YALSA - The Hub:  Dealing with Death in YA Lit

• Writer Unboxed:  Newton's Law for Novelists by Donald Maass

• Terrible Minds:  NaNoWriMo Dialogues:  "I Think I Suck and I'm Not a Real Writer" (A great flow chart to help you determine if you're a "real" writer!)

• Positive Writer:  Shattering the Myths about the Midas Touch and Success by Brian Hutchinson

• Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers:  NaNoWriMo Plot and Writing Schedule & Resources for 11/13

• Paulo Coelho's Blog:  Ideal Conditions Don't Exist

Links of Interest to Writers

Read, Write, Publish!

• Time to Write:  How Not to Write the Right Novel or Screenplay by Jurgen Wolff

• Bad Language:  20 Must-Read Blogs for Writers by Clare Dodd

• YA Muses:  Inspiration Days:  Six Ideas for Writers by Joni Kendall

• Children's Book Blog:  Everything You Wanted to Know About Children's Writing (But Were Afraid to Ask) by Rebecca Davies

• Gail Carson Levine:  You, The Narrator, The Character

• HuffPost-The Third Metric:  How Daydreaming Can Actually Make You Smarter by Carolyn Gregoire

• Write to Done:  The 7 People Who Will Help You Fire Up Your Writing by Nicolas Gremion

• ScreenwritingStandard.com:  10 Dead Simple Ways to Make Readers Love Your Characters by Paul Peditto

Links of Interest to Writers

Read, Write, Repeat!

• The Write Practice:  What Do You Do When Your Muse Is On Vacation?  by Debra Elramey

• Write to Done:  Overcome the Limitations of First Person POV:  5 Ways by John Yeoman

• The Creative Penn:  Lessons Learned From 2 Years As a Fulltime Author Entrepreneur

• Project Eve:  Tips on Working from Home by Whitney Weiss

• Angela Booth's Writing Blog:  Pacemaker (Free) Helps You Achieve Your Writing Goals

• California Department of Education:  Characteristics of Middle Grade Students

• Jody Hedlund:  One of the Best Ways to Find Writing Ideas

• Beyond the Margins:  To Establish a Writing Routine or Not, That is the Question

Links of Interest to Writers

Read, Learn, Write.

• LucReid:  Using Gold Coins in Writing

• The Write Now Coach:  Stop Whining and Write by Rochelle Melander

• Writers in the Storm:  Advice for Writers from Literary Agents by Chuck Sambuchino

• Writing in Wonderland:  Starter Kit for Writers

• Critically Yours:  Poking Holes

• Adventures in YA Publishing:  Melissa de la Cruz on Being Fearless

• Huff Post Books:  The Secret to Writing Faster by Karen Dionne

• The Write Practice:  The Only Two Tips You'll Ever Need To Find your Writing Voice by Katie Axelson

GalleyCat

GalleyCat

GalleyCat, a feature of the Media Bistro organization, offers the latest information on publishing deals, books, writing resources, and jobs in publishing. It lives up to the promise in its subtitle: The First Word on the Book Publishing Industry. Whether it’s a video tour of a Scholastic headquarters, the scoop on who is acquiring whom, or info on a big deal just made by Amazon, you’ll find the latest and possibly greatest at GalleyCat. I love the Writer Resources page where you can get motivated, explore a new writers’ service, or find a link to a new writing technique.

Cliche Finder

Cliche Finder

Here's an unusual concept -- find a cliche to add to your writing! Easy to use -- just type a word into the search box and see what cliches pop up.

I tried "rabbit" and got:

a rabbit out of the hat
faster than a jack rabbit
hop like a rabbit
-----

I tried "fast" and got:

thick and fast
play fast and loose
hard and fast rule
hard and fast
fast and furious
Knock you from hell to breakfast
Faster than a speeding crawfish.
faster than a speeding bullet
all over the place like a dogs breakfast
faster than a comet
faster than a jack rabbit
faster than a speeding bullet
pull a fast one

JacketFlap

JacketFlap

JacketFlap is an excellent resource for children's writers, illustrators, librarians, publishers, editors, agents, teachers, parents, booksellers, and anyone interested in children's books. Here you will find:

• 
  
  Links to book-related blogs


• 
  
  A database of 900,000+ children's books


• 
  
  Bookshelves of members' books


• 
  
  A listing of more than 20,000 publishers


• 
  
  A database of more than 200,000 children's book creators


• 
  
  An opportunity to network with people in the book industry

Here's my JacketFlap page:

Deb's JacketFlap Page

Glossopedia

Glossopedia

Maybe I think like a kid too much, but one of my favorite research sites is Glossopedia. You will find articles with information explained in kid-friendly language with lots of pictures to assist your understanding. If you want basic information about a subject, this is a fun place to start.

Topics include :

• 
  Geography & Places
• 
  Technology
• 
  Earth & Space
• 
  Human Body
• 
  Natural Forces
• 
  Nature & Environment
• 
  Animals
• 
  People & Cultures
• 
  Chemistry
  

100 Essential Tips & Tools

100 Essential Tips & Tools for Writers of the Future

I love lists and this website gives you 100 links to articles about writing and publishing.

The list is broken down into categories of:

• 
  Marketing & Branding
• 
  Organization & Project Management
• 
  Business & Career
• 
  Collaboration
• 
  Brainstorming
• 
  Finding Work
• 
  Web Tips & Tutorials
• 
  Niche Writing
• 
  Staying Cutting Edge

Shaw Guide to Writers Conferences & Workshops

Shaw Guide to Writers Conferences & Workshops

At this website you can search for conferences, schools, workshops, camps, and retreats held all over the world. Do you want to get away from home and concentrate on your writing? You’re bound to find a place during your search here.

Writing Exercises & Prompts

The Internet is an excellent source of writing exercises and prompts. Just find a picture on any site and write about it. Or google "writing exercises" or "writing prompts" to see what great sites pop up. Here are three sites to get your started:

Creative Writing Prompts

Run your cursor over the numbers to see the beginning of the prompt.

Meredith Sue Willis Writing Exercises

My Writing Exercises

Mythic Imagination Institute

Mythic Imagination Institute

On the “Who We Are” page the owners of this site state, “Mythic Imagination Institute offers conferences, performance festivals, and lectures as part of its larger purpose: the encouragment of creative response to life, our own individual lives, and our lives as families, tribes, communities, nations and as a world.”

Here you will find archived issues of Mythic Passages: The Magazine of Imagination, “a free monthly e-magazine with articles, essays, poetry, fiction, podcasts, news, updates, events, and reviews written by some of the greatest minds in the international mythic community!”

There are podcasts of radio programs and amazing links to information related to myth. The exploring never ends.

Children's Picture Book Database

Children's Picture Book Database

The Children’s Picture Book Database at Miami University offers:

• abstracts of over 5000 children's picture books;
• search capabilities for over 950 keywords, including topics, concepts, and skills which describe each book;
• weblinks for keywords so you can integrate your up-to-date content knowledge with our picture book resources.

Graphic Organizers

Sometimes a simple chart or cluster map is exactly what you need to organize your mind and your story. There are numerous websites on the web offering story maps, charts, diagrams, and time lines for use of the educational market. If you just need something to jumpstart your writing, you are sure to find a tool that fits the bill. You can do a search of "graphic organizers" to find lots of sites or click on the sites listed below and under the Writing Resources List on the left.

Education Place

Education Oasis

 Freeology

EdHelper

 Teacher Vision

Character Building Workshop

Character Building Workshop

At Writer's University's Character Building Workshop, you will find online character questionnaires. Submit your answers to the multiple choice questions about your character and it will tell you what “type” your character fits into. You can read more about your character’s type. A fun way to better understand your protagonist.

AutoCrit Editing Wizard

AutoCrit Editing Wizard

At AutoCrit Editing Wizard you can receive a free analysis of up to 800 words of your manuscript. All you do is paste a scene or chapter of your manuscript into the Wizard and submit. Your free analysis includes a report of your choice of overused words, repeated phrases, or sentence length variation. Submit it 3 times for all three reports. For a yearly membership fee you can have more of your manuscript analyzed for multiple problems.

OneLook Reverse Dictionary

OneLook Reverse Dictionary

“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.”

For example, I typed in the word “ocean” and got back hundreds of words that had something to do with the ocean. You can narrow down your choices by adding more words.

Feath’s Bookcase

Feath's Bookcase

Feath’s Bookcase offers generators for:

• Fantasy ideas
• Genre-less ideas
• Characters
• Descriptions
• Plots
• Quotes

It also is a great place for writing prompts and ways to use Tarot cards for character development.

Writer's First Aid

Writer's First Aid

Kristi Holl blogs about ways “to ease the pains of the writing life” on her Writer’s First Aid blog at The Institute of Children’s Literature. The last few days she has been blogging about keeping your focus when bad things happen in your life that are beyond your control – a lesson I need to memorize. She blogs about assorted ways that life and your thoughts can intrude on your ability to write. You’ll always find something interesting to read at Writer’s First Aid.

Fiction Writing Rubric

How to Write a Novel: Fiction Writing Rubric

This site offers a downloadable rubric for assessing whether your novel has everything necessary for a well-written novel. There's lots of other great information, but the list of questions on plot, setting, characters, and structure will help you find weaknesses in your story.