60 Awesome Search Engines for Serious Writers June 20th, 2010 Finding the information you need as a writer shouldn’t be a chore. Luckily, there are plenty of search engines out there that are designed to help you at any stage of the process, from coming up with great ideas to finding a publisher to get your work into print. Both writers still in college and those on their way to professional success will appreciate this list of useful search applications that are great from making writing a little easier and more efficient. Professional Find other writers, publishers and ways to market your work through these searchable databases and search engines. Writing These helpful tools will help you along in the writing process. Research Try out these tools to get your writing research done in a snap. Google Scholar: With this specialized search engine from Google, you’ll only get reliable, academic results for your searches.WorldCat: If you need a book from the library, try out this tool. Reference Need to look up a quote or a fact? Niche Writers
Story Starters Gripping Story starters are essential. They grab the reader’s attention. Make them want to read more and keep them reading. Some of us are born with a unique talent and have a natural flair when it comes to connecting words, some of us don’t. Find below a selection of story starters from a variety of different sources. From A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens) It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way-in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. Recommended Links
Citation Machine®: Citation and plagiarism What you’ll find in this guide This page provides an in-depth overview of MLA format. It includes information related to MLA citations, plagiarism, proper formatting for in-text and regular citations, and examples of citations for many different types of sources. Looking for APA? Check out the Citation Machine’s guide on APA format. We also have resources for Chicago citation style as well. How to be a responsible researcher or scholar Putting together a research project involves searching for information, disseminating and analyzing information, collecting information, and repurposing information. What is Plagiarism? Plagiarism is the act of using others’ information without giving credit or acknowledging them. What is a Citation? A citation shows the reader of your project where you found your information. In-text citations provide us with a brief idea as to where you found your information, though they usually don't include the title and other components. Why Does it Matter? %%Tan, Amy.
Creative Writing Courses and Ideas: An Online Resource for Writers Tinderbox 6 Inspector This article describes the panes of the Inspector window of Tinderbox v6. This is opened/closed from the Window menu or via Cmd+1. 1. Tinderbox colour controls A number of Inspector tabs use the same 'standard' group pf controls for configuring a 'Color' data-type Tinderbox attribute: Pop-up of defined (named) colours in the current document. 2. The top row of buttons set the main Inspector's content: Tinderbox Inspector.Document Inspector.Properties Inspector.Appearance Inspector.Text Inspector.HTML Inspector.Action Inspector. 3. The Tinderbox inspector gives and overview of the document: The title is always the document name, as opposed to the selection.Info tab.Agents and Rules tab. 3.1 Tinderbox Inspector - Info tab This tab gives an overview of metrics about the current (front) document. The left column shows the numbers of notes and other object types in the document. v5 Users: This replaces the v5 Hypertext view. 3.2 Tinderbox Inspector - Agents & Rules tab This is a new report for v6. 4.
Creative Writing 101 RJ Great article. Morning is definitely the time where I am most creative. I think it’s because my mind is the freshest and the least cluttered at this time of day. Doug Rosbury When I write, it is with an emphasis on the sharing of wisdom arising from my life experience. Wether one could reasonably term such writing as being creative or not I don’t necessarily concern myself with. The creative aspect which I believe is part of a writing nevertheless may be found in how I address people with careful consideration regarding how I may come across to them.
How to Write a Killer Research Paper (Even If You Hate Writing) Research papers. Unless you’re a weirdo like me, you probably dread them. When I was in college, depending on the class, I even dreaded these. It’s the sort of project that can leave even the most organized student quaking in their boots, staring at the assignment like they’re Luke Skywalker and it’s the Death Star. You have to pick a broad topic, do some in-depth research, hone in on a research question, and then present your answer to that question in an interesting way. Oh, and you have to use citations, too. How on earth are you supposed to tackle this thing? Fear not, for even the Death Star had weaknesses. Let’s get started. 1. And pick one that interests you. You and this topic are going to be spending a lot of time together, so you might as well pick something you like, or, at the very least, have a vague interest in. Maybe you want to write about “mental health in high schools” for your paper in your education class. 2. Maybe it starts out looking like this: Ok, not bad. Better. 3.
Conseils d’écriture | enviedecrire.com Read These Seven Books, and You'll be a Better Writer Donald Miller I used to play golf but I wasn’t very good. I rented a DVD, though, that taught me a better way to swing, and after watching it a few times and spending an hour or so practicing, I knocked ten strokes off my game. I can’t believe how much time I wasted when a simple DVD saved me years of frustration. I’d say something similar is true in my writing career. • The War of Art by Steven Pressfield: This book is aimed at writers, but it’s also applicable to anybody who does creative work. Pressfield leaves out all the mushy romantic talk about the writing life, talk I don’t find helpful. • On Writing Well by William Zinsser: Zinsser may be the best practical writing coach out there. • Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott: Before becoming a literary superstar, Anne Lamott taught writing, and Bird by Bird is the best of her advice, broken up into chapters. Save the Cat by Blake Snyder: Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell: On Writing, by Stephen King: Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury:
7 ways writing by hand can save your brain It's time to put pen to paper. Our tech-dependent society has put keyboards at the tips of our fingers at all times, from our smartphones to our laptops. But when was the last time you wrote by hand? Science shows that handwriting can benefit our minds in a number of ways. We spoke to Dr. 1. Writing a calming sentence is a form of graphotherapy, Seifer says. "This actually calms the person down and retrains the brain," Seifer says. 2. Writing something in cursive, that beautiful archaic form, can coordinate the left brain and right brain. 3. For young children, writing by hand is an imperative tool in improving cognitive skills. 4. Taking pen to paper inspires more creative thought, because it is a slower process than just typing something on a keyboard, Seifer says. 5. Writing by hand is a great tool for baby boomers who want to keep their minds sharp as they get older. 6. Let's say you're taking notes in class. 7. "One key difference is movement. Have something to add to this story?
Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories By S.S. Van Dine EDITOR'S NOTE S.S. Van Dine (1888-1939, real name Willard Huntington Wright) was one of the most popular American mystery writers of the twenties and thirties, and his wealthy amateur sleuth Philo Vance remains one of the great fictional detectives, if not also one of the most insufferable. Read today, Vance comes off as a pompous, pretentious, insufferable blowhard; an inexplicably popular character whose very existence perhaps helped spur the demand for a tougher, more "realistic" American kind of detective. But it's not just me. And Chandler tagged him as "the most asinine character in detective fiction," while Ogden Nash felt so inspired by Van Dine's creation that he composed a poem, which reads in its entirety: Philo Vance Needs a kick in the pance. Of course, Van Dine felt compelled to share with the world at large his rules for writing detective fiction.
12 Useful Websites to Improve Your Writing by Johnny Webber 1. Words-to-Use.com – A different kind of thesaurus. 2. 3. 4. 5. 750words.com – Write three new pages every day. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. How to write a book – the short honest truth Every author I know gets asked the same question: How do you write a book? It’s a simple question, but it causes unexpected problems. On the one hand, it’s nice to have people interested in something I do. But on the other hand, the hand involving people who ask because they have an inkling to do it themselves, is that writing books is a topic so old and so well trod by so many famous people that anyone who asks hoping to discover secret advice is hard to take seriously. Here’s the short honest truth: 20% of the people who ask me are hoping to hear this – Anyone can write a book. If you want to write, kill the magic: a book is just a bunch of writing. Writing a good book, compared to a bad one, involves one thing. Getting published. 30% of the time the real thing people are asking is how do you find a publisher. The sticking point for most wanna-be published authors is, again, the work. But that said – it’s easier today to self-publish than ever. Discouraged yet?