Ultimate Writing Resource List

Before reporting broken links, please check the updated version which is always located here. Updated: 8/10/13

General Tips

• Joss Whedon’t Top 10 Writing Tips
• 34 Writing Tips that will make you a Better Writer
• 50 Free resources that will improve your writing skills
• 5 ways to get out of the comfort zone and become a stronger writer
• 10 ways to avoid Writing Insecurity
• The Writer’s Guide to Overcoming Insecurity
• The Difference Between Good Writers and Bad Writers
• You’re Not Hemingway - Developing Your Own Style
• 7 Ways to use Brain Science to Hook Readers and Reel them In
• 8 Short Story Tips from Kurt Vonnegut
• How to Show, Not Tell
• 5 Essential Story Ingredients
• How to Write Fiction that grabs your readers from page one
• Why research is important in writing
• Make Your Reader Root for Your Main Character
• Writing Ergonomics (Staying Comfortable Whilst Writing)
• The Importance of Body Language
• Punctuating Interrupted Dialogue

Character Development

• 10 days of Character Building
• Name Generators
• Name Playground
• Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test
• Seven Common Character Types
• Handling a Cast of Thousands Part 1 - Getting To Know Your Characters
• Web Resources for Developing Characters
• Building Fictional Characters
• Fiction Writer’s Character Chart
• Tips for Characterization
• Character Chart for Fiction Writers
• Villains are people too but…
• How to Write a Character Bible
• Character Development Exercises
• All Your Characters Talk the Same - And They’re Not A Hivemind!
• Medieval Names Archive
• Sympathy Without Saintliness
• Family Echo (Family Tree Maker)
• Behind The Name
• 100 Character Development Questions for Writers
• Aether’s Character Development Worksheet
• The 12 Common Archetypes
• Six Types of Courageous Characters
• Kazza’s List of Character Secrets - Part 1, Part 2
• Creating Believable Characters With Personality
• Body Language Cheat Sheet
• Creating Fictional Characters Series
• Three Ways to Avoid Lazy Character Description
• 7 Rules for Picking Names for Fictional Characters
• Character Development Questionnaire
• How to Create Fictional Characters
• Character Name Resources
• Character Trait Chart and Personality Components
• Character Development Template
• Character Development Through Hobbies
• Character Flaws List
• 10 Questions for Creating Believable Characters
• Ari’s Archetype Series
• How to Craft Compelling Characters
• 447 Character Traits
• Writing Characters of the Opposite Sex
• Fast & Easy Guide to Writing Characters of the Opposite Gender
• Making Your Characters Likable
• Do you really know your characters?
• Character Development: Virtues
• Character Development: Vices
• Character Morality Alignment
• List of Negative Personality Traits
• List of Positive Personality Traits
• List of Emotions - Positive
• List of Emotions - Negative
• Loon’s Character Development Series - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
• Phobia List A-L (Part 1), M-Z (Part 2)
• 30 Day In Depth Character Development Meme
• Words for Emotions based on Severity
• Eight Bad Characters
• High Level Description of the Sixteen Personality Types
• 6 Tips for Using Backstory to Create Compelling Characters
• List of Character Traits

Female Characters

• How Not to Write Female Characters
• Writing Female Characters
• How to write empowering female characters
• Why I write strong female characters
• Red Flags for Female Characters Written by Men
• Writing strong female characters
• The Female Character Flowchart
• Eight Heroine Archetypes
• For Men: How to write Female characters 

Male Characters

• Eight Hero Archetypes
• Writing believable male characters
• Writing convincing male characters
• What Women need to know about writing Male characters
• Writing Male characters if you’re Female
• Tips on writing male characters

Tips for Specific Characters

• Writing A Vampire
• Writing Pansexual Characters
• Writing Characters on the Police Force
• Writing Drunk Characters
• Writing A Manipulative Character
• Writing A Friends With Benefits Relationship
• Writing A Natural Born Leader
• Writing A Flirtatious Character
• Writing A Nice Character
• Fiction Writing Exercises for Creating Villains
• Five Traits to Contribute to an Epic Villain
• Writing Villains that Rock
• Writing British Characters
• How To Write A Character With A Baby
• On Assassin Characters
• Writing Mute Characters
• When Writing British Characters

Dialogue

• It’s Not What They Say…
• Top 8 Tips for Writing Dialogue
• Speaking of Dialogue
• The Great Said Debate
• He Said, She Said, Who Said What?
• How to Write Dialogue Unique to Your Characters
• Writing Dialogue: Go for Realistic, Not Real-Life

Point of View

• Establishing The Right Point of View
• How to Start Writing in the Third Person
• The I Problem

Plot, Conflict, Structure and Outline

• Writing A Novel Using the Snowflake Method
• Effectively Outlining Your Novel
• Conflict and Character Within Story Structure
• Outlining Your Plot
• Ideas, Plots and Using the Premise Sheets
• How To Write A Novel
• Creating Conflict and Sustaining Suspense
• Plunge Right In…Into Your Story, That Is
• Tips for Creating a Compelling Plot
• 36 (plus one) Dramatic Situations
• The Evil Overlord Devises A Plot: Excerpt from Stupid Plot Tricks
• Conflict Test
• What is Conflict?
• Monomyth
• The Hero’s Journey: Summary of Steps
• Outline Your Novel in Thirty Minutes
• Plotting Without Fears
• Novel Outlining 101
• Writing The Perfect Scene
• One-Page Plotting
• The Great Swampy Middle
• How Can You Know What Belongs In Your Book?
• Create A Plot Outline in 8 Easy Steps
• How to Organize and Develop Ideas for Your Novel
• Create Structure in your novel using index cards
• Choosing the best outline method for you
• Hatch’s Plot Bank

Setting & Worldbuilding

• Magical Word Builder’s Guide
• I Love The End Of The World
• World Building 101
• The Art of Description: Eight Tips to Help Bring Your Settings to Life
• Creating the Perfect Setting - Part 1
• Creating a Believable World
• Setting
• Character and Setting Interactions
• Maps Workshop - Developing the Fictional World Through Mapping
• World Builders Project
• How To Create Fantasy Worlds
• Creating Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds

Creativity Boosters* denotes prompts

• *Creative Writing Prompts
• *Ink Provoking
• *Story Starter
• *Story Spinner
• *Story Kitchen
• *Language is a Virus
• *The Dabbling Mum
• Quick Story Idea Generator
• Solve Your Problems By Simply Saying Them Out Loud
• Busting Your Writing Rut
• Creative Acceleration: 11 Tips To Engineer A Productive Flow
• Writing Inspiration, Or Sex on a Bicycle
• The Seven Major Beginner Mistakes
• Complete Your First Book with these 9 Simple Writing Habits
• Free Association, Active Imagination, Twilight Imaging
• Random Book Title Generator
• Finishing Your Novel
• Story Starters & Idea Generators
• Words to Use More Often

Revision & Grammar

• How To Rewrite
• Editing Recipe
• Cliche Finder
• Revising Your Novel: Read What You’ve Written
• Writing 101: Revising A Novel
• 20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Makes
• Synonyms for the Most Commonly Used Words of the English Language
• Grammar Urban Legends

Tools & Software

• Tip Of My Tongue - Find the word you’re looking for
• Write or Die - Stay motivated
• Stay Focused - Tool for Chrome, lock yourself out of distracting websites
• My Writing Nook - Online Text Editor, Free
• Bubbl.us - Online Mind Map Application, Free
• Family Echo - Online Family Tree Maker, Free
• Freemind - Mind Map Application; Free; Windows, Mac, Linux, Portable
• Xmind - Mind Map Application; Free; Windows, Mac, Linux, Portable
• Liquid Story Binder - Novel Organization and Writing Application; free trial, $45.95; Windows, Portable
• Scrivener - Novel Organization and Writing Application; free trial, $39.95; Mac
• SuperNotecard - Novel Organization and Writing Application; free trial, $29; Windows, Mac, Linux, portable
• yWriter - Novel Organization and Writing Application; free; Windows, Linux, portable
• JDarkRoom - Minimalist Text Editing Application; free; Windows, Mac, Linux, portable
• AutoRealm - Map Creation Application; free; Windows, Linux with Wine

Specific Help

• Fashion Terminology
• All About Kissing
• Genre Help: Romance
• 187 Mental Illnesses
• Types of Mental Illness
• Eye Color List
• Spectral Groupings
• Rare Words

Genre - Science Fiction & Fantasy

• Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy
• How to Write Science Fiction: 8 steps 
• How to Write Science Fiction
• How to Write Science Fiction
• Writing Advice from Science Fiction author Jeffrey A. Carver
• Science Fiction Writer Robert J. Sawyer
• Science Fiction & Fantasy
• Pitfalls of Writing SF & Fantasy
• 10 Laws of Good Science Fiction 
• Learn to Write Science Fiction
• How to Write Science Fiction on a Post-Colonial World
• Tips on Writing Military Science Fiction
• How to Write a Science Fiction Short Story
• How to Write A Science Fiction Short Story
• Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy