- Image via Wikipedia
Prewriting:
Basics:
Snowflake Popular metaphor for completing a novel
150 resources- Almanacs, style and citation guides, how-to’s, organization and more.
100 Hacks to become a better writer- Nice Resource
Cemetery Dance Tips- 14 articles on writing from the long time publisher of dark fiction
Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully – in Ten Minutes, by Stephen King
Brainstorming:
Free Mind- Mind mapping software. Great for brainstorming.
Bubbl.us – Online Mind Mapping service. Allows Collaboration.
KeyNote- “Dead” Software package that’s still extremely useful. Multi-tabbed outliner.
Mindomo – Another online mind mapper. Free basic service. premium is $6.00 a month.
MIND42- Gets credit for “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” reference. Also ability to tag your mind map with links, images and more.
Drafting:
Free Word Processors:
Open Office-Full Featured office suite comparable to MS Office. Too many features to note. I do not list a pdf creator below, because one is built in here. I use either Open Office Professional, or Portable Apps Suite on a USB drive. ALso, There’s a whole host of Extensions and Templates for Novel Writers
yWriter-Software developed for authors. yWriter uses a note card approach-Authors develop an outline of their book or screenplay and enter text into separate files that are later merged. Chapter files can contain scene summaries and character notes as well as the actual text of the chapter.A pretty useful approach that works well. See this post for a Demo of yWriter’s Features.
AbiWord- A popular free office suite. Has been eclipsed in recent years by Open Office, but is smaller and a little easier to use.
Jarte- Champion of the “Less is More”, ADHD Approach. Worth a try if you are overwhelmed by other Processor’s features, or get sidetracked easily by shiny bells and whistles. Ooh- Shiny Bells!
Lyx- Unix based “What you See is what you Mean” Document Processor. Uses LaTex Docbook formatting to allow you to type directly into a finished, formatted document. Has been ported to Windows.
FocusWriter- Free Distraction free Writing Environment. Menus hidden at screen edges. Full Feature set. Nice
Write or Die: Motivator and Word Processor in one. Set A session Goal, and complete it or else. Highly Recommended. See Our review.
Online Word Processors
Zoho- My Current Favorite. Business oriented Office Suite
Google Docs- With the power of Google, the most popular. I still don’t like the formatting, but it’s easier than ever to share your work for critique.
Buzzword- Now part of the Acrobat online suite, unique looking WP that throws away the “Office” Look
Writer- Terminal Style Distraction Free Writing Environment.
Editing:
Style guides
After The Deadline- Online Spelling and Grammar Checker
AutoCrit- Online Grammar Wizard. Try it free with 800 words at a time, or register for full functionality.
Book Doctor- 7 Pass System for revision
EditMinion- Robotic Copyeditor. Great for Passive Voice, OK for Style
Holly Lisle- How to Revise a Novel
Terrible Minds- 25 Things you should know about revising and Editing. Part of a series.
Red Inkworks- Resource page.
Strunk and White- Online at Bartleby in a searchable format. Actually, This site has many good reference books.
Writerisms and Other Sins – Article from SFWA by C.J.Cherryh
Support:
Writing Communities:
#AMWriting- Twitterverse Writing Site
Authonomy- HarperCollins E-slushpile. Writer’s give manuscripts thumbs up, and interns review the reviews for possible publication
CritiqueCircle- Online Workshop
Critters- Longtime Online Workshop specializing in Spec Fic
Forward Motion- Since 1998
Goodreads- Like Facebook, for Book Fans. Reader or Author, You need this now.
Internet Writing Workshop- Well Regarded, um, Internet Writing Workshop
Meetup- The Place to find local offline writers groups
National Novel Writing Month- Community for writers participating in NaNoWriMo.
RedRoom- Pro Writers Site. Connect with fans
WritersCafe.org- Online Community for all writers.
Yahoo Groups- Find or Create your own Group. Among the most popular Novel Writing groups is Mike’s
Selling Your Book:
Markets:
Writer’s Market- The 600 lb. Gorilla
Duotrope’s Digest- Nice free database that’s comprehensive.
Fiction Factor Markets: Fiction Factor’s Site is a good all around Resource, but the Market section is especially well-laid out by Genre and Pay Rate.
The Market List- Umm, A Market List?
Speculations: Online writer’s market. Blog isn’t updated too often, but a good resource.
Story Pilot- Nicely laid out Search Engine
Well-Told Tales- Pulp Fiction Podcasts need writers.
Writer Beware: SFWA’s site listing scams, cons, and dishonest publishers and agents. Good introduction to the business side of writing.
Self Publish your E-Book
Newbie’s Guide to Publishing- J.A. Konrath has left the milist behind by self publishing on the Kindle. Find out how with advice on self publishing, editing and building your platform.
Amazon Kindle Portal- Amazon’s Digital Text Platform
PubIt!- And Barnes and Noble’s Self E-Publishing arm joins the fray.
CreateSpace- Amazon’s POD Arm. Ties your Digital and paper Copies together
Lulu- Another Popular POD. Nice wizards for a semi-pro look, also now an Apple Aggregator to get your work on iPad
Smashwords-Another Aggregator. Get your work published in lots o’ formats.
Bibliocore- Pay once, get your book on iBookstore forever, keep all profits
How To Self-Publish- Nice overview with simple steps to getting your book online
Take Pride in Your Ebook Formatting- Style guide goes beyond the basics
$500 in Design Advice- Michael Stackpole’s Stormwolf guide for DIYs.
Marketing:
15 tab book marketing spreadsheet template
Brogan’s Authors Plan For Social Media
Konrath’s Promo for Books- What Works
Savvy Book Marketer’s Newsletter
Agents
Preditors and Editors- Keeps tabs on Scam artists and Schemes.
Fiction Addiction- Nice Agent List on this emerging site.
QueryTracker- Not only an agent list, but also a database to keep track of your queries.
Free E-Books
279 Days to Overnight Success- How to lose the day job. Actually, a pretty nice guide
FreelanceWriting.com- HAs A collection of Books for the Aspiring Freelancer.
Fiction Factor- Has A good selection of Free Books and Samples.
Juiced on Writing offers fifty odd Free Ebooks and 6 more in seperate posts.
Literary Agent Donald Maas is offering his Career Novelist here.
Humor
101 reasons to stop writing- Monthly demotivators
Turkey City Lexicon- Humorous but true writing terms from a famous Science Fiction Workshop
The Lester Dent Pulp Paper Fiction Master Fiction Plot- THE FORMULA
Other
SONAR- From the creator of yWriter comes a full featured Manuscript and career tracker. Free of course
Luminary- The writer’s database. Online Manuscript tracker with a social networking component.
Remember the Milk – Online ToDo list. Integrates with GMail, Google calendar, Mobile PCs, iPhone and more.
pbWiki- Online Wiki Tool
Celtx- Scriptwriting and Pre-Production package. Free, but for Linux. Offers many Script Templates and storyboarding, breakdowns, and collaboration.
WritersFM- Writer Interview podcasts
Live Writers- You Tube Clone featuring interviews, news and book trailers
Lifehack – Daily resource for Getting more done with your life
How many of Me- Basic statistical analysis showing how common any given name is in the US. There’s only one of Me! check out how your characters stack up
Writing Instruction
These are paid sites that offer writing instruction:
Online Masters Programs- Our List of Distance and Online learning Programs
New Novelist-Popular writing program. If you’ve googled novel writing, you’ve seen their ads.
Novel Writing Made Easy – If you’ve been trying and trying to get your novel done, this 97 page workbook might be just the ticket. Check out the testimonials- I’ve actually heard of these writers!
Murder by Proxy- Mystery E-book selling a new approach to formatting your novel. Heavy on the resources.
Writers Cafe- Popular program that does it all, including track manuscripts. Demo is pretty limited. full version costs $45.
Writer’s Blocks – Another popular note card system.
Visual Mind- Thirty day demo of full featured brainstorming system
WriteItNow -Another full featured program.
