Resources for writers

Resources for Writers

This is a page in progress. I’m often learning about new resources from fellow writers, fellow teachers, and students! Attached is a set of websites for writers collected by Writer’s Digest magazine. You will find some great resources there, but not all are designed for students.

Books

Inspiration:

• Bird by Bird – Anne Lamott
• On Writing – Stephen King
• Writing Down the Bones – Natalie Goldberg

Craft:

• The First 50 Pages – Jeff Gerke
• Plot Vs. Character – Jeff Gerke
• Writing the Breakout Novel – Donald Maass
• Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook – Donald Maass
• The Fire in Fiction – Donald Maass
• The Emotional Craft of Fiction – Donald Maass
• Hooked – Les Edgerton
• 90 Days to Your Novel – Sarah Domet
• Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process – John McPhee
• Save the Cat – Blake Snyder
• Write Your Novel From the Middle – James Scott Bell
• Writing Magic by Gail Carson Levine
• Seize the Story: A handbook for teens who like to write

Genre Resources:

• How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy – Orson Scott Card
• Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy – Ed. of Analog and Asimov’s
• The Tough Guide to Fantasyland – Diana Wynne Jones
• Writing the Paranormal Novel – Steven Harper
• Writing the Great American Romance Novel – Catherine Lanigan
• On Writing Romance: How to Craft a Novel that Sells – Leigh Michaels

Other Resources:

• Revising Fiction: Making Sense of the Madness – Kirt Hickman
• Goal, Motivation, Conflict: The Building Blocks of Good Fiction – Debra Dixon
• Scrivener for Dummies – Gwen Hernandez

Websites

• Creativity Portal – get your ideas going!
• Grammar Girl – Quick and Dirty Tips
• Baby Names – not kidding about this. Deciding on names is really challenging!
• Figment – so many fun ways to get involved with other writers. Lots of great writing prompts and ideas too.
• NaNoWriMo – give it a try! Writing 50,000 words in one month can be daunting. But as Rainbow Rowell said in her peptalk, “that’s a big pile of words.”
• Young Writer’s Program of NaNoWriMo
• Worksheets for Writers – Jami Gold
• Publisher’s Weekly
• Query Shark
• Pitch Wars

You have to check out the archived pep talks from great YA writers posted during the last few years of NaNoWriMo. Also, don’t ignore the dare machine. Click on it a lot. Several random events in my books came from that dare machine.