Media Notes / Writer's Resources

This page is intended to be a collection of resources for writers, whether published or aspirant.

Communities

Places to discuss writing or to get and give feedback

• The Absolute Write Water Cooler
  • An active forum with lots of writers
• Cartographer's Guild
  • A forum dedicated to maps and map-making
  • Also a good place to go for help in producing a sense of place and scale on one's work
• Our own forum
  • Specifically, these two sub-fora:
    • World building
    • Writer's Block

Market information

Where to sell your work

• 2015 Writer's Market
• Ralan.com
  • Lists a variety of markets separated into several categories
    • Includes both paid and unpaid markets
    • Includes markets for works of various lengths, from books through short stories down to flash-fiction and poetry; also includes markets for audio works.
  • Accepts outside market tips
• Writing Career
  • Provides market information for writers of both fiction and non-fiction.
• Screenwriter Resume Example & Writing Guide
• Screenwriter Resume Example
  • If you’re a screenwriter seeking out new career opportunities, this guide will show you how to create resumes that highlight key parts of your background, knowledge, and experience in ways that clients will appreciate.
• The (Submission) Grinder
  • Essentially a search engine for publications to which to submit
    • Allows one to specify a number of parameters: pay-level, genre, story-length, etc.
  • Also provides response information on the listed publications, based on user-provided data

Preparing your submission

Getting your work ready for publication

• First of all, follow the submission guidelines of the market to which you intend to submit.
• A manuscript format for short stories
  • Not universal, but often-linked in magazine submission information.
• Lessons From the Slush Pile: Your Cover Letter and You
  • An article describing what should and should not be in the cover letter of a submission—and describing just how short and simple they can be.

Advice and articles

Guidelines and tips for writing

• "So You Want To..."
  • A series of pages on this wiki providing advice for writers (as well as creators in other media, such as game developers)
• A seminar on Writing Prose
  • By James Alan Gardner
• Climatology for world builders
• Absolute Write's "Freelance Writing" page
• A Way With Worlds
  • No longer active (at time of writing), but nevertheless has an archive of articles to be browsed.
• Limyaael's Fantasy Rants
  • The above-linked wiki page has links to various archives of the "rants".
• Springhole
• The 5 Best Pieces of Writing Advice I Didn't Get in School
  • An article by Gladstone on Cracked touching on how to properly use some writing devices.
• Proofreading, Revising, & Editing Checklists for Self- & Peer Editing

External resource collections

Pages similar to this, but elsewhere

• Writing World
• Reading comprehension tips
• Absolute Write's "Recommended Resources" page
• Cartographer's Guild
  • Specifically, these two sections provide map-making resources:
    • Tutorials
    • Software
• Literotica's resource list
  • Warning! While the page above-linked is itself Safe For Work, its parent site is dedicated to erotic stories, and a number of the resources on the page appear to deal with erotic content. As a result, the articles linked to on that page, and other pages on the same site, may very well be Not Safe for Work.
• Brandon Sanderson's Creative Writing Lectures

Tools and toys

Aids for the craft of writing, or simply writing-related fun

• Writing Exercises
  • A collection of writing prompts, exercises, and miscellaneous generators.
• 100+ Creative Writing Exercises
  • This curated directory of creative writing exercises was conceived thanks to a collaboration between the top writing blogs of 2018. Use the filters to find and practice specific techniques — and show that blank page who’s boss!
• Perlego's Citation Guide
  • This is a handy guide to help with referencing and citations.

Blogging

Make A Website Hub is a great resource for writers interested in creating their own blog.
BloggingBasics101 - blogging and social media tutorials.
Tools For Bloggers - Common Grammar Mistakes & Tools For Bloggers.
SiteBeginner - learn to create your own website or blog for self publishing.
HowToMakeMyBlog - learn how to start your own blog and make it a success.
Podia - How To Start A Blog