The Writers Room (A list of invaluable resources for the aspiring Writer)

Welcome Ladies and Gents,
In this thread you will find links to sites that i have found to be extremely useful with regards to improving my writing technique and grammar, i will also list excellent sites for reference and information. Please feel free to Post your own favorites and let us know why you found them helpful.

The idea is to use this thread as a Hub of information for all things writing related so that all the members here who are interested in writing and improving their skill can benefit from it.

Lets start with.... Reference sites




1. www.encyclopedia.com...

The premier online library and research Web site, Encyclopedia.com puts millions of articles from some of the world’s most authoritative and highly respected publications at your fingertips.

A free online encyclopedia, Encyclopedia.com features premier titles like The Columbia Encyclopedia, Oxford’s World Encyclopedia, and the Encyclopedia of World Biography.

Encyclopedia.com offers millions of free articles, pictures, facts, and biographies along with information about topics like the arts, science, sports, medicine, accounting, and management. Encyclopedia.com is an ideal online reference source for researchers, students, educators, and professionals alike.

This site is an outstanding resource to utilize, it has just about anything you could ever want without the drawback of the user edited competitors.



2. www.bartleby.com...

The preeminent Internet publisher of literature, reference and verse providing students, researchers and the intellectually curious with unlimited access to books and information on the web, free of charge

Bartleby is a gold mine of information. Quotes, poems, Author information. it isn't the easiest site to navigate but the wealth of information it contains more than makes up for it.



3. The Internet public library

IPL is a university-founded public library with online newspapers, magazines, periodicals and reference books. Resources are reliable, and they are easy to find using the IPL searchable database.

IPL is a website that i haven't had much cause to use but on the few occasions i have used it i have found it to be an excellent source of reference material.



4. Library of congress

This U.S. government site offers access to an online library of books, letters, manuscripts, photos and other printed materials.

The Library of congress digital collection is an amazing resource for all things Related to the U.S.A, be it Legislation, History or anything Else related to the Red, White and Blue.

Now that we have covered Reference Resources lets move on to..




General Writing Websites




The sites in this section will focus on Online writing community sites and sites that deal with Grammar and technique.

1. Writers Cafe

WritersCafe.org is an online writing community where writers can post their work, get reviews, befriend other writers, and much more..
Post your poetry, short stories, novels, scripts, and screenplays
Get reviews and advice from thousands of other writers
Enter hundreds of free writing contests
Join writing groups or start your own
Take and subscribe to free online writing courses
Search publishers, literary agents, and literary magazines
Befriend and subscribe to other writers
Talk about writing in the WritersCafe.org forum
Save your favorite writing to your own library
Easily share your writing with all your friends

Writers Cafe is one of the few websites that i am actually a member of, i have found the courses to be extremely helpful with regards to my understanding of technique and prose, not to mention the huge array of writers who are available to offer advice and opinions on your work and i have found everybody i have conversed with to be constructive in their criticism and extremely polite.




2. englishbiz

Englishbiz is an educational web site created, written and run by an experienced English teacher. It consists of a series of web pages that provide up-to-date help. The focus here is on the skills of analysis and writing, rather than on individual texts.

English.Biz is another excellent site for those like myself whose Grammar isn't perfect, It has lots of information with regards to Writing techniques and is very helpful when it comes to learning analysis of writing.



3. www.dailywritingtips.com...

Whether you are an attorney, manager or student, writing skills are essential to your success. The rise of the information age – with the proliferation of emails, blogs and social networks – makes the ability to write clear, correct English more important than ever.
Daily Writing Tips is about that. Every day we publish a new article, with topics ranging from grammar to punctuation, from spelling to usage and vocabulary.

Daily Writing tips is a Writing Blog. i have found it to be extremely useful for many, many reasons. it is extremely easy to navigate and will be an excellent tool for anyone who is new or looking to improve their skills as writer. i would recommend it to all aspiring writers.






Publishing Law center

This site is devoted to providing quality information for the publishing community – publishers, authors, editors, web masters, and freelancers.

I am hopeful that one day in the future i will get my work published, with that in mind i use this site so that i may learn the legal ins and outs of the literary world so as not to inadvertently stumble into a lawsuit. It's also an excellent resource for those with an interest in the Legal procedures of the publishing world.










As i said before please feel free to post your own favorite resources of information.

Now please, go forth and create diverse worlds of beauty and mystique.


I will end this with my favorite quote..

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”-Albert Einstein

Nice idea.

One thing that you can do now and perhaps for the next decade!

I have set of Grolier Encyclopedias dated 1946. These sort of older sets can be had at garage sales and second hand book shops for not much at all! They are considered dinosaur books.

One thing that these dinosaur books have is some honest history that is not modified by the Politically Correct Gestapo. If you write history or simply want ideas for a new culture, they are a great resource. They also have detailed accounts of older lifestyles very much different from what you find on the internet today.

The older you can go the better in many many cases. In a generation or two, they will also become collectors items so the older the better. You can also find old books on many great subjects that can be a reourse as many people throw them out.

P

I find this software helpful for screenwriting

www.celtx.com...

and

www.writersstore.com...?cid=1820&gclid=CMj65ZjlhrsCFeZFMgodK0cAjQ

reply to post by pheonix358


Thanks 358... i would love to get my hands on some of those old encyclopedia collections, they would be a great resource to have, i always look for stuff like that in 2nd hand book stores and charity shops...however it's rare to come across a complete set.

reply to post by Ph03n1x


Great idea Phoenix.....This one's a keeper.

Other general sites: Writers Weekly

CSU

Guides

Great thread!

It took me over forty years to finally figure out how to complete what I consider a publish-worthy book. My biggest problem was that I would get excited about the story idea and just start writing, without a proper outline. This, of course would lead to dead end and conflicting storylines that after awhile become to overwhelming to try and fix.

With my last two books, I took at least a month to think, dream and talk about the outline. This resulted in intricate, detailed stories with characters that I love.

Part of my problem was that I thought I knew what I was doing. I really didn't. I'm still not positive, but I found some websites that really helped. The following is a link to a site I found that really helped me write a good outline:

Create a plot outline in 8 easy steps

reply to post by westcoast

With my last two books, I took at least a month to think, dream and talk about the outline. This resulted in intricate, detailed stories with characters that I love.

I often wonder if my neighbors think I am quite mad. I often run through the dialog to get it right and to see how it makes me feel. They probably think I am really as mad as the hatter. I don't mind, they don't bother me!

LOL

P

Thank you everybody for your contributions thus far...

lots of useful information so far in this thread, i have been recommended another site by a friend from work.

It seems to have lots of great information with regards to creative writing Style/Technique

here it is.....

Fiction Writing

"A good book is the precious lifeblood of a master spirit."-
John Milton

www.xmind.net... - XMind, mind mapping software. Good organizational tool for world-building and such.

www.literatureandlatte.com... - Scrivener, a program for structuring/organizing your ideas and research; can also write .stories with the built in word processor.

www.spacejock.com... - yWriter, somewhat the same as Scrivener, that is, it's a big organizational/structuring tool for your story. Is also free.

reply to post by TheOneElectric


Wow i never came across these before..

Thanks for contributing....

Here are several writing tools that you can use to help you get going. Some are downloads and some are online.

Downloads:

ywriter - organizes your novel, characters, chapters while you write. Free to download and use, program was invented by a writer. (mentioned above, but worth mentioning again)

Whitesparks - a fun tool to that helps me with writers block. Free download and is easy to use.

Verseperfect with MaGill's English dictionary of rhyme - Free download used for poetry and song writing.

Online sources:

Plagiarism Checker- make sure your work is yours

The four different writing styles- find out what your writing style is

Top ten style guides - Pick from these to get a style guide most suited for your writing

I write like- paste a piece of your work and see what famous writer you write like. (not to be taken as the gospel)

That's all I have atm. There are also free online writing courses that anyone can take to improve their writing. Just Google it!

Thanks,
Blend57

here is another couple of cool resources i have come across in my browsing

Writing centre this is an excellent tool for those like me who occasionally have difficulty with Grammar

Editing Tips i found this to be extremely useful as editing is not my forte....

As always keep letting your imaginations run wild folks, i will be back with more tools and resources in due time

PHNX

P.S ... a huge thank you to all who have participated in this thread thus far, especially Blend57 who's contribution has helped me improve immeasurably in just a couple of months, Dude you rock !

reply to post by Ph03n1x


Great additions to the thread!

P

One book that really helped me see the "bigger picture" and how to weave the elements properly is:

Invisible Ink: A Practical Guide to Building Stories that Resonate by Brian McDonald.

Invisible Ink lays out the essential elements of screenplay structure, using vivid examples from famous moments in popular movies as well as from one of his own popular scripts. You will learn techniques for building a compelling story around a theme, making your writing engage audiences, creating appealing characters, and much more.

I highly recommend it to any aspiring writer.