While doing Nanowrimo, one does need to spend some time procrastinating. So I am finally polishing my list of writing resources.
- TV Tropes is the best inspiration, it also warns you of the worst pitfalls and clichés.
- I write in English, I often have to look up words in the dictionary.
- English has all these beautiful words meaning comparable, similar or even identical things. I love the Thesaurus. Also very useful for colors
- My favorite writing podcast, just 15 minutes long
- Just books.
- Writing Tips and more writing tips.
- Writers Helping Writers. Wonderful resource with the Emotion Thesaurus and many more.
- Names and more names.
- Are your characters all scared of the same something? Fear not.
- Ask Google anything.
- The IMDB is a treasure trove of actor’s pictures (as is Google image search), I – like many others – tend to use actors as faces for characters, at least during the outlining phase
- The single great know-it-all, it may not always be deep enough for a scientist, but for a writer the wikipedia is perfect (and so obvious I nearly forgot to list it)
- And currently (until end of November 2014): Nano Storybundle (includes awesome Shadows Beneath)
Books on Writing that I can recommend. The list might be longer, if only I read more books on writing.
- Stein on Writing
- On Writing
- Shadows Beneath
- The Emotion Thesaurus (and its siblings)
Most important tools I am using:
- Scrivener – writing suite for PC or MAC
- WriteOMeter – a tomato timer for writers
- Evernote – to keep my research
- Still looking for a good mobile writing tool for my tablet
Of course the inter-webs are full of great resources you can use in your writing. These are just some of the things that I use the most …