[Craig]

We all need a little help here and there. Be it a character's name, a place to jot down ideas or simply sharpen a skill you never even knew you needed work on. Here is a collection of tools, websites and resources designed to help you discover new ways of writing, give you fresh ideas and tap into your imagination as and when needed. Do post if you have any and I'll add them to the table for all to use. At the moment things will look a little bare, but it's early days and I know there's a boat load out there so do share what you dig up. Just don't get any soil in my topic, this is hard to clean, y'know. It takes a lot of scrubbing to keep that big ol' white obnoxious banner gleaming.

Link	So, What Is It Then?
Synonym Finder	Helps you vary your vocabulary and find another way of getting across what you want to write, one word at a time.
Write Or Die	Keep writing spontaneously or face having it deleted. Designed to bring out your quick writing skills.
Bubbl	A brilliant brainstorming tool that shows you exactly what you've already plotted and has a simple interface.
Seventh Sanctum	A treasure trove of writing utensils, including quick name generators, scenario suggestions and other inspiration points.
Glypho	Jot down your basic premise and receive character and plot suggestions.
SynchroEdit	A browser-based editor that allows multiple users to edit the same document at the same time.
Character Questionnaires	Get to know your characters before you write about them with this handy list.
ThinkFree	An online word processor that has 1GB of online storage.
Lexiconcept	A portmanteau word generator that's more for a bit of fun that anything serious. Still, you never know...

This post has been edited by Craig on Tuesday, May 10 2011, 15:50

[Eminence]

Looking for more resources and material?

Take a look at the old topic, which features some more great info!

[Craig]

Updated with a few more I found because I got bored of looking at the same three. Also, I removed the "recommended by" column because it doesn't really matter who brought it up, so long as we all share them and have fun with them.

[Tyler]

This is very handy stuff, Craig. Whenever I get the chance to write a bit more I'll try out Seventh Sanctum, it sounds interesting.

[Craig]

It's a slow-burner because it's not often you find something that helps, and most of the time it's the occasional word generator. Hopefully we'll strike gold more often than not.

[Vercetti21]

This post has been edited by Vercetti21 on Friday, May 11 2012, 19:07

[Craig]

True. I was thinking the other day actually that it needs a bit of work doing at it I think. As it stands, it's a little out of date. It's not a big deal so much as the board moves slow enough for us to catch up and it's not exactly hard to find older stories, but it was a nice little catalogue.

[Canofceleri]

https://docs.google.com

I have finally gotten around to checking it out and now I am hooked. It is quite easy to use, native documents can be translated and transferred to different languages and files easily. It's easy to share work with others or collaborate. The maximum storage is 1GB, but is really essentially unlimited considering you can just upload files and turn them into a google doc... there is no limit on native documents.

http://www.paperrater.com

It's a nice little tool to get a few little pointers. Input your text and it will give you a lot of stats on it, percentage of vocabulary words used, grammar and spell check, word count, some tips, etc. For what it is, pretty good.

http://www.merriam-webster.com

I like this dictionary, gives a lot of information and lists words that are pretty esoteric.

http://www.pbs.org/speak

Great site, not really for writing specifically, but you can learn a lot about language in general, and get some insight into regional dialects for your dialogue.

http://www.forvo.com

Pronunciation guide, useful if you give readings of your work. It's not definitive, but the voting up and down system is helpful. I just found out last night that I've been pronouncing homogeneous wrong for years. (Hint: it's not huh-mah-jin-us).


Post some good ones, I know there are many more. I'll get to some more at some point as well.

[blitz]

Thanks, they're nice. But don't these belong in The Writer's Resource topic?

[Craig]

Thanks to a bit of magic, I've successfully merged the two. Quite proud.

[Canofceleri]

QUOTE (Craig @ Friday, Sep 23 2011, 20:02)

Thanks to a bit of magic, I've successfully merged the two. Quite proud.

Oh. Yeah. Thanks!

[blitz]

Nice work Craig, but why is this unpinned?

[Craig]

Must be a glitch when merging. Thanks.

[Vercetti21]

911 Writer's Block

This is an extremely handy tool for brainstorming to get those 'write' juices flowing. Lack of inspiration? Or just feeling lazy? This detailed idea generator will randomize characters, settings, verbs, endings, even dramatic entrances and deaths. You can even collect and save the tips you find most helpful.

[Craig]

How to write a novel using the "snowflake method".

It's very interesting if nothing else, and it's a fresh approach to writing some may find unorthodox.

[Craig]

Me again. Found this little nugget on StumbleUpon.

QUOTE

Today, we’re heading to the dictionary for a creativity boost. Here’s what I want you to do: You’re going to select six words and use them to write a story of less than 250 words. You will select your six words from: page 52, 11th word down page 111, 2nd word down page 144, 1st word down page 199, 9th word down page 225, 12th word down page 243, 6th word down Now, that you have your six words, open the dictionary at random, close your eyes and select a word. That word will provide the subject of your story. Use the first three words in your opening paragraph. The last three words may be sprinkled throughout the story.

Link

Odd results abounds.

[Craig]

Triple bump. Haters to the left.

25 Insights On Being A Better Writer

[mark-2007]

Great post there Craig. Anything with Kurt Vonnegut quotes in it = a good post, by my standards.

As an aside to the point of the topic, I figured I'd also highlight the need of everyone to read more Vonnegut. Some of his stuff is really moving. I'm not one to be moved by many things ('cos I'm so damn macho), let alone words scribbled on a page, but some of his stuff is so unerringly human I just can't help but be amazed by its simplicity.

[Mokrie Dela]

QUOTE (Craig @ Wednesday, Nov 16 2011, 00:45)

How to write a novel using the "snowflake method". It's very interesting if nothing else, and it's a fresh approach to writing some may find unorthodox.

Interesting. Also sounds challenging. Half the battle i feel is saying what you want to say in as few words as possible. The first couple of steps could be helpful in of themselves.

@Mark-2007: An old topic i made with that intention. It never really got going.

Not trying to plug/bump old topics, it just reminded me.

This post has been edited by Mokrie Dela on Friday, Apr 13 2012, 12:06

[mark-2007]

I recall that topic. It's probably suffered from the existence of a book topic in General Chat, people - I know I have once or twice - will stumble upon that topic and post there, then perhaps later see your topic and figure that, since it's already been posted once, there's no need to contribute the same material to another topic.

That said, I might bump your topic with a few recommendations. I've been getting through a bunch of books since I last posted.