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Story Analyzer | Young Adult Writers. This tool will check your writing sample for passive sentences, wordy writing, and repetitive phrases. Story Analyzer was designed to be used after checking your work through a standard spelling/grammar checker. This is an evolving project, so new features will be added as I come up with them.

It has been successfully tested on samples of up to 60,000 words. If you get a “Fatal Error”, use a smaller sample. (Also see Best Viewed By recommendations below.) If you find this Analyzer useful then please think about its value to you and donate. 50 of the Best Websites for Writers. There are tons of reference sites on the web that can help you find a job or write a poem, essay or story. Here is a list of the best 50 websites for writers. Reference Websites Merriam-Webster Online - Merriam Webster is the perfect place to look up words and find information.

The site offers a dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, podcasts, word games and a lot of other things that may be of interest to writers and word-lovers. Bartleby - This site is good if you need a quote or if you want free access to encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, and other reference books. High Beam Encyclopedia - This online encyclopedia is a reliable tool that allows you to search for answers in published reference sources like Oxford University Press, Britannica and Columbia Encyclopedia. Other features of the site include access to a library of over 60 million articles and an online dictionary. General Writing Websites Fiction Writing Websites Nonfiction Writing Websites. 10 Free, Open Source Tools for Fiction Writers. Software doesn’t make the writer. Shakespeare did his best work with a quill. Yes, folks, he wrote Macbeth with a feather.

Good writing software can organize your research, check your spelling, and help format your submissions. Everything else is still on you. It can also drive you batty, have high learning curves, lock you into a file format you can’t open on any computer without X application installed, and/or save your precious novel in a binary file format. All for $40-120 of your hard-earned cash…or not. Writing LyX : With a full screen view, minimum formatting, export to rtf, LaTeX, and pdf, it rocks for chapter books. TextRoom Example LibreOffice : A fork of OpenOffice, LibreOffice includes many performance upgrades that never made it into OpenOffice, mostly for political reasons.

Organizing Novel Mind Map (Use Freemind or Freeplane ): If you’re a visual learner, you’ll love this. Zim Novel Notebook Example Formatting AbiWord : If you’re submitting, this is a must-have. Proofreading. TiddlyWiki - a reusable non-linear personal web notebook. Useful references for writers - WestSuburbanWriters. Because there are HUGE misunderstandings about what a copyright is these days and I keep seeing them repeated over and over again. I thought I could help. There's a good start.

So, yes fan fiction is a violation of copyright. Copyrights are made as soon as you make them into apparent form. This post will be invalid in its copyright after I'm dead for EIGHTY years. Also another thing to know is that an official copyright is EXPENSIVE, which is why most publishers will do it for you. Copyright info and Electronic publishing info from the Science Fiction Writers of America. Random Name Generator. About the Writer's Knowledge Base. The Writer's Knowledge Base (WKB) is a searchable collection of articles that are highly relevant to writers. The articles are diverse and cover such topics as the craft of writing, getting published, promotion, etc. How It Started If you use Twitter and follow writers you will find that they post links to articles on writing. You will then quickly find the tweetstream of @elizabethscraig who regularly and frequently tweets high quality links. I (Mike Fleming) realized that all of these links -- useful as they are -- had a very short shelf life due to the nature of Twitter.

In other words, if you don't catch the link when it's posted you'll likely never find it. Elizabeth wrote a blog post called Writing Links Archive—an Experiment where she described her solution for capturing all of the links in a more permanent fashion. Naturally, I took that post as a sign to dust off my previous idea and see if it could help solve Elizabeth's problem.

The Google Factor Who's Behind It Support. Prorogue. Five Open Source Apps For Writers and Authors. By Lisa Hoover - Jul. 17, 2009Comments (9) Even if you have the perfect idea for the next Great American Novel, getting it down on paper is never easy. While you could always use standard word processors like OpenOffice Write or AbiWord, they don't have the bells and whistles that make writing books, manuals, and theses as easy as possible.

Fortunately, there are a few open source applications that help budding authors get stories out of their heads and into the hands of readers. Kabikaboo - This recursive writing assistant is perfect for managing large documents, technical manuals, and long novels. Storybook - Any author or novelist will tell you writing a book is a complicated affair. Celtx - Many scriptwriters swear by Celtx, and with good reason. LyX - If you do a lot of academic writing, theses, or scientific papers, Lyx will make sure the structure of your documents meets formal acceptance requirements.

Software for Writers: Freeware, Shareware, Demos, and Trial Versions | Happily Ever After. EditMinion. Wordnik. Phraseup* Wonk Tools - StumbleUpon. Plagiarism Checking for Students | WriteCheck powered by Turnitin.

Online Fiction Organizer - Hiveword. Literature and Latte. Lost Soul Companion Project. 100 Sites for Fiction Writers: #17 – Tor.com. This is an ongoing series looking at websites that can be of help to fiction writers with their craft and career. Tor.com Longtime fans of science fiction and fantasy reading will be familiar with Tor Books, the publishing company which has its online home at Tor.com.

For more than 30 years Tor has been bringing best-selling fiction to genre fans, along the way earning numerous awards and consistently being recognized as one of the best science fiction and fantasy publishers in the market. But often enough genre fans only know a publishing company by its name on the spine of its books. While Tor offer some excellent reading material, the company’s website offers much more for readers and writers.

Tor has been one of the strongest, most active online communities for fans of science fiction and fantasy. For those with an interest in genre art, there is the Gallery, regularly featuring artwork by different artists in different mediums. Related links 100 sites for fiction writers: #16 – Triond. Welcome - Ommwriter. 20 Must-Read Blogs For Freelance Writers. The idea of this post comes from Steven’s recent post on freelance blogging. Freelance writing certainly has many advantages and can be rewarding too. It goes without saying that in order to become a freelance writer, you gotta love writing. But you should also consistently work on sharpening your skills. And how do you do that?

Reading well-written articles and blogs is a very good start! This can help you write innovative and appealing content. Reading blogs with good writing is a must if you want to improve your skills as a writer/blogger. Note: these blogs are not all about freelance writing or writing for the web. Here’s the list in no specific order (It’s not a top 20 list!)

1. Some other blogs which feature impressive writing are A List Apart, The Writers Manifesto and Success Soul. Which blogs do you read to improve your skills as a writer / blogger? Here to Create & 102 Resources for Fiction Writing. UPDATE 1/10: Dead links removed, new links added, as well as Revision and Tools and Software sections. Are you still stuck for ideas for National Novel Writing Month? Or are you working on a novel at a more leisurely pace? Here are 102 resources on Character, Point of View, Dialogue, Plot, Conflict, Structure, Outlining, Setting, and World Building, plus some links to generate Ideas and Inspiration. Also, I recommend some resources for Revision and some online Tools and Software. Too many links? Pick a few at random and bookmark the rest for later. 10 Days of Character Building Name Generators Name Playground The Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test Priming the idea pump (A character checklist shamlessly lifted from acting) How to Create a Character Seven Common Character Types Handling a Cast of Thousands – Part I: Getting to Know Your Characters It’s Not What They Say . . .

Establishing the Right Point of View: How to Avoid “Stepping Out of Character” How to Start Writing in the Third Person Monomyth. Editing Wizard. 150 Resources to Help You Write Better, Faster, and More Persuasively. It doesn't matter if you're a student or a professional writer: there's always something new to learn and ways to make your writing more refined, better researched, and more effective. Writing is essential for students who want to succeed, whether they're enrolled in one of the top online colleges or an Ivy League university. As essential as it is, learning to write well isn't easy. The best practices for writing and research can sometimes be subjective, and the finer points of syntax and style often take a backseat to looming deadlines and strict citation guidelines.

Luckily, there are many helpful resources that make it easier to build on your existing skills while learning new ones. We've compiled links to sites dedicated to helping students, bloggers, and professional writers improve their techniques while also becoming better editors and researchers. Browse through the following list or focus on categories you need most. Blogs Business and Legal Matters Citation and Style Guides Tools. Write Better, Get Published, Be Creative.

The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations. The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations is a descriptive list which was created by Georges Polti to categorize every dramatic situation that might occur in a story or performance. To do this Polti analyzed classical Greek texts, plus classical and contemporaneous French works. He also analyzed a handful of non-French authors. In his introduction, Polti claims to be continuing the work of Carlo Gozzi, who also identified 36 situations. Publication history[edit] “Gozzi maintained that there can be but thirty-six tragic situations. Schiller took great pains to find more, but he was unable to find even so many as Gozzi.” This list was published in a book of the same name, which contains extended explanations and examples.

The list is popularized as an aid for writers, but it is also used by dramatists, storytellers and many others. The 36 situations[edit] Each situation is stated, then followed by the necessary elements for each situation and a brief description. See also[edit] References[edit] CALLIHOO Writing Idea Generators: The 37 Dramatic Situations. The Thirty-six (plus one) Dramatic Situations Georges Polti says that all stories boil down to just 36 dramatic situations and takeoffs of those situations. Somebody else out there added #37. If you're stuck for a situation, try this. A situation appears below randomly (in bold print). If you'd like more information, or want to see the subplots for the situation, click on its link below. (Note: In several cases, specific gender in the original descriptions has been replaced with non-specific gender. Your situation: 27. Still stuck for plot ideas?

Cosmic Thoughts | Oblique Strategies | Random Science Fiction Story Ideas. Honest Critiques. 50 Awesome Open Source Resources for Writers and Writing Majors. With the popularity of blogging and online journals, writers working in the online realm have a growing number of opportunities all the time to practice and refine their craft, and maybe even get paid for it. And if you’re a writing major, why not take advantage of all the opportunities to get great free and open source resources that can help you to write, edit and organize your work? Here’s a list of fifty open source tools that you can use to make your writing even better. Word Processors Why pay for expensive word processing programs when you can get high quality and open source alternatives for much less? Here are a few programs to try. yWriter: This word processor is designed especially for writers. Reference Everyone needs a little help with spelling and grammar now and again, and these programs can get you on the right track.

Organization Working online isn’t always conducive to organization. Sonar: Getting published can be an uphill battle, but Sonar can make it a little easier. Fifty (50!) Tools which can help you in Writing. Cliche Finder. I Write Like. A Simple Novel Outline – 9 questions for 25 chapters « H.E. Roulo. Just as every tree is different but still recognizably a tree, every story is different but contains elements that make it a story. By defining those before you begin you clarify the scope of your work, identify your themes, and create the story you meant to write. At Norwescon 2011 I sat in on a session called Outline Your Novel in 90-minutes led by Mark Teppo.

I’ll give you the brief, readable, synthesized version. Answer 9 questions and create 25 chapter titles and you’re there. Here are the 9 questions to create a novel: 1.) 2.) 3.) 4.) 5.) 6.) 7.) 8.) 9.) Now, with those 9 questions answered to your satisfaction, try to fill in a 25 chapter, 75,000 word outline. Chapters 7-18 are the middle of your book. Chapters 19-25 depict the heroic act to victory. Wasn’t that easy? Okay, sure, the work isn’t done yet. Using the idea that there are 25 chapters, I outlined my current work in progress.

I hope that was helpful. Tell me what works for you. Related 6 Steps to Masterful Writing Critiques. Visuwords™ online graphical dictionary and thesaurus. Kibin Offers Free Editing and Proofreading for Your Papers and Other Writing. DarkCopy - Simple, full screen text editing. Words Count: Online Readability Analysis. Best Grammar Checker and Proofreading Software by Grammarly. Check Spelling, Style, and Grammar with After the Deadline. Synonyms for | Synonym-Finder.com - StumbleUpon. Write rhymes.