Writers Web Resources
Adam Maxwell's Fiction Lounge
Author Maxwell's website offers a Character Name Generator and a
Writing Prompts Generator which is quite fun if you're stuck on what to
write next, plus short stories and flash fiction, all served up in a
sardonic tone. www.adammaxwell.com/
All Readers
Rather unusual site which allows you to look up books and their authors
by searching on plot lines and other elements. www.allreaders.com
Ask about writing
Useful introduction and weekly newsletter.
www.askaboutwriting.net
Authors on the Web
A labour of love for a group of academics who have compiled
biographies of innumerable authors and links to other authors’
websites. Will you be there one day? (http://www.people.virginia.edu/~jbh/author.html)
BBC World Service
How to Write pages provide pithy insights into writing novels,
screenplays, radio plays and memoirs from authors such as Martin Amis,
Rober McKee and Michele Roberts. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/arts/features/howtowrite/index.shtml
You
might also be interested in their international
playwriting competition and the top
tips for play-writers.
Bizreef
Busy online bureau for freelance writers of all kinds. People post their
projects, which are then bid for online.
http://www.bizreef.com/Services
BookBrowse
'A literary smorgasbord of a site, offering substantial excerpts from
bestselling books which you can browse through before purchasing.' www.BookBrowse.com
Boomer Women Speak
Enthusiastic and supportive site which addresses boomer women,
born between 1946 and 1964, with its stated aim to 'encourage, connect and
support one another online' Book project, book club, writing
critique circle, as well as covering health, travel, retirement and much
else. www.boomerwomenspeak.com
Cambridge University Press
(http://uk.cambridge.org/aboutus/infoforauthors/electronic.htm)
tells you how to submit manuscripts electronically,
but only deals with non-fiction.
Copyright Clearance Center Inc
US not-for-profit organisation which manages rights relating to 1.75
million works. Authors can register their published works free and get
royalty payments less nominal service fee. Also useful if you are
trying to clear permissions/track down rights-holders. www.copyright.com
Copyright Office
The US copyright office has information on its website about how to
register and what advantages there are in doing so. www.copyright.gov/register/
Creativity Games.net
Three times a week this site updates with new creativity brain games, in
the belief that creative thinking is quickly becoming our most valuable
asset. the site exists to encourage you to push the boundaries of your
creative ability.
http://creativitygames.net/
Film Script Writing
Very useful site for all aspiring screenplay writers, with good articles
on things like Story Structure, Script Formatting, Character Development
and Selling Your Script.
www.filmscriptwriting.com/index.html
Free Reference
A veritable cornucopia of lists of useful reference links, from urban
legends
to acronyms, from an online medical dictionary to pseudonyms.
www.writers-free-reference.com
FreelanceWritingCenter
American site providing work for professional freelance writers. The
main areas are academic and professional writing (custom essays, term
papers, research papers, book reports, dissertations), custom reviews and
reports, powerpoint presentations, quantitative projects in accounting and
finance. There's an emphasis on deadlines and qualifications and having
the right experience to do the job, but some may find it a useful source
of fairly well-paid freelance work.
http://www.freelancewritingcenter.com/Guardian Style Guide
Excellent Guardian site has useful up-to-date style British
English style guide. Much recommended, to the probable surprise of
those for whom the Guardian is renowned for its errors. http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide
Howtodothings.com
Enormously wide-ranging self-help site, which covers everything from
How to move an aquarium and How to learn glass-blowing, and includes
useful articles such as How to Jumpstart Creative Writing and How to Come
up with Creative Ideas.
http://www.howtodothings.com/
Keoz.com
Useful portal which takes you to a lot of other links, including
sections of fantasy, fiction and horror.
http://keoz.com
Literary Market Place
This site uses the huge publishing database belonging to the American
publishing bible Literary Market Place, but free access is only to
the small press listings and publishers' names and addresses. To get
access to all the other information and to use of their powerful search
facility, the annual fee is $399. www.literarymarketplace.com/lmp/us/index_us.asp
Megan Kerr
We've included the website of this enterprising writer and ghost-writer
because it includes useful resources such as The Publishing Machine, a
free database to do all your admin for you, and a toolbar to sort out your
layout and styles, useful templates for Word and Excel, and a quick
tutorial on Styles and formatting in Word.
http://www.andrew.kerr.name/megan/Writing/Writing.htm
Playwrights Publishing Co
Husband-and-wife run online publishing company for plays, both one-act
and full-length. They charge a small reading fee but, if accepted,
half of your work will go online to gauge interest and hopefully collect
royalties. You can download their guidelines from the site.
http://www.geocities.com/playwrightspublishingco
Podnova Windows Library
A useful online list of dictionaries and language tools.
http://windows.podnova.com/trends/synonyms_dictionary.html
Projects ETC
ProjectsETC is a growing UK resource for people creating interactive projects in
Education, Technology and Culture. It brings
together practical guidance pieces, case studies and inspiring comment
pieces to prompt debate. You can publish your material on the site to share
your knowledge and help others.
http://www.projectsetc.org
Robert Niles
Expert on web research helps you get started with masses of links to US
information sources. www.robertniles.com
Scribblepad
UK site providing useful articles on writing creatively and
successfully, with subjects like The Nuances of Writing for Kids, versus
Adults and How to Proofread your Writing.
www.scribblepad.co.uk
Film Script Writing
Very useful site for all aspiring screenplay writers, with good articles
on things like Story Structure, Script Formatting, Character Development
and Selling Your Script.
www.filmscriptwriting.com/index.html
Springer Authors’ Forum
Advice on how to prepare scientific texts, some of which is only
accessible to Springer authors. Navigate from http://www.springeronline.com
Some Notes on Self-publishing
Booker prize-shortlisted Jill Paton Walsh and John Rowe Townsend offer
some pithy advice based on their own experience. www.greenbay.co.uk/advice.html
Startlocal
This Australian site offers 30 Resources for writers to improve their
skills and get exposure and is a really useful resource.
www.startlocal.com.au/articles/educational_writers_resource.html
Synonyms for
Useful site if you're at a loss for a word or want to find a synonym.
www.synonymsfor.com/
UK Literary Heritage Working Group
Organisation working to save and retain in the UK the
manuscripts and archives of modern and contemporary UK writers, which are
continuing to be sold to institutions abroad, despite the efforts of
publicly-funded collections in the UK.
Recent acquisitions include the archives of poet Don
Patterson and novelist Piers Paul Read.
http://www.literary.org.uk/index.php#guidance
Wake up Writing
Wake Up Writing is a site that offers a free writing prompt
daily. The tone may be too relentlessly cheerful for some, but others may
like Katie-Anne Gustaffson's ideas and find they help to get your writing
exercises started.
Wisdom
Site with links through Thinkers.net to writing in many categories and
to notice-boards relating to them. A bit impersonal but useful stuff if
you dig around. thinkers.net
New site offering a chance for writers to post their details for free and
employers to post their writing jobs, plus facility to post advertisements.
Writer's Dream Tools
Useful site which offers day-by-day calendar of events and Internet
humour for free, plus a subscription service to a mass of other reference
material, including a slang thesaurus, clichés, humorous quotations and a
handy collection of lists. This is Larry Belling's personal collection,
compiled over 25 years.
www.writersdreamtools.com
Writers Free Reference
Handy American reference site which gives links to a wide range of
different information sources, from bay names to song lyrics, from daily
newspapers to international postal codes. www.writers-free-reference.com
Writers’ Guild resources
Very useful resource
section with agreements for TV, radio, theatre, radio, animation and video
games. Also has useful articles on late payment of invoices and writers’
rights, and audiobooks.
http://www.writersguild.org.uk/public/005_WritersGuil/index.html
Writer's Resource Center
Business-like site created in 1993 and offering a set of resources for
writers, including articles on a wide range of writing, extending from
technical writing to how to compile quizzes and exercises for improving
dialogue. http://www.poewar.com/
Writing Base
Thougtful blog originally set up to provide a central point for all Jo
Phillips's favourite writing sites and to allow her to share these with
others. Useful pieces, including 'Everything you always wanted to know
about ezines.'
http://www.writingbase.blogspot.com/
Words to Inspire Writers
This website offers a free sampler from the book it advertises, which
is described as 'a Perpetual Calendar of classic Writing-related
Quotations of Writers, Writing, Books, Literature and Publishing.
http://fcsachandsonspublishers.com/
