Continuing this month’s theme of writing, Today’s post is a simple list of links relating to writing. There are hundreds of different writing resources out there available for those who want to look, but here are a few that either I or one of my writing friends have tried and liked. Feel free to comment with your own suggestions.
It seems that NANO definately should not be left out of any list of writing resources. National Novel Writing Month (NanoWriMo or Nano for short) is a yearly event where writers gather together for a month and try to write 50,000 words or a small novella. Usually at the end are some good coupons and discounts for those who achieve the goal. It also has forums, pep talks, and other resources to keep you going.
In April and June, Nano holds ‘Camp Nano‘, where writers gather together to write their own made-up goals (I recently edited mine down to 20,000 due to various reasons). The goals can be less than 50k (like mine) or more (one of my cabinmates is doing 100,000.). It’s up to the writer. Like Nano in November, Camp Nano has forums and other resources for writers.
All is free, although they do have an online store to support costs and a charity they run each year.
4Thewords is a writing game. It helps motivate you to write more. You fight various monsters by completing word count goals. I’m actually writing this post on their website. MOstly because I need to fight a monster and ran out of creative parts of the story I was writing. I’m fighting a monster right now that asks for 150 words in 11 minutes, which isn’t too hard. But the monsters vary in amount of time and word count goals, and the developers are constantly trying out new things to add to the game. There are also forums and areas for people to read other’s works. Its really fun, but its not for everyone. This has a free trial and then a monthly fee of around $4 which is paid by buying in-game currency so you can pre-pay for months in advance, or buy a larger package of currently (crystals) for in-game items and subscription. its up to you.
The Hemingway Editor is a browser based editing software that allows you to write in your browser window and receive statistics on your writing. It helps alot with repetitiveness or over use of adverbs. It can also give you a readability statistics. This is useful for writing all sorts of types – non-fiction and fiction alike. Its also Free.
Ok, this isn’t really a writing resource so to speak. Someone created a way of generating polygons that look like islands and put it up on a website for those of us who feel its fun to create your own world to make our own island shapes to work off of. Its fun, and it can be used to help you create a map for your fantasy story, a game, or just to waste some time.
750words has a basic goal: To get you to write 750 words per day. There are badges to be won for the various goals you reach. They include writing streaks, time of day, amount of words written, and many others. It also gives you various statistics on your writing. It also saves what you wrote for the day so if you need to look back, you can. New members to the website are charged $5 in a subscription fee to help cover the costs of upkeep.
Writer: The Internet Typewriter
For those who like the sound of typewriters, and or are easily distracted by various things when using the computer, Writer might be a good app for you. It’s free to register and it has a completely back screen to help keep you focused on what you are doing. It does have a premium account, but I’ve never tried it.
Charahub is an online database for you to use to create and maintain information about your characters. This is good for artists too. It helps streamline your information to one place. Especially useful if you have many characters that you might want to bring back and don’t want to forget what you said about them.
The Periodic Table of Storytelling
Really this is just an infographic that helps you remember the elements of writing. Its useful for remembering, but also learning.
Sokorra Lewis 