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writersources · 3 months ago

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Naming Chapters

I personally think naming chapters beyond the standard “1”/ “I”/“One” is an art we lose after middle school chapter books. And while I do think the minimal numbering fits certain books, I also think detailed chapter names fit others. So how do you name a chapter (and how do you know if it fits your story)?

1. Chapter names can be much longer and break the more strict nature of book titles

Chapter names can be a single word all the way up to a full sentence while still being manageable. They also don’t have to be as catchy or marketable as a book title. This means you have tons more freedom in the name. Which is really fun.

2. How to Name a Chapter

What kind of tone the chapter title evokes is important. It doesn’t have to match the overall tone, but it should mirror the one within the chapter. Just like the book title, you’re telling your readers what to expect. Here are some ways to find a chapter name (P.S. All the examples are made up):

Within the text

Ex. The sentence “The morning was awash with simple pleasures.” can turn into the title “Awash with Simple Pleasures”

Name of a side character who gets their moment in the chapter

Ex. “About Emily”

A question the reader and/or MC may have about their circumstances

Ex. “What Do You Do When the World Ends?”

A chapter’s motif

Ex. If the chapter revolves around a character getting the MC a pearl necklace, the title could be “Pearls”, “A Girl’s Best Friend”, etc.

An allusion

This could really be anything. Some of the most common allusions refer to Shakespeare, mythology, old songs, famous poems, and classic literary works. Of course, you could make an allusion to something niche (or otherwise unknown) that relates directly to the story.

Ex. “Et tu, Brute?” (referring to Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar) could a title after the reveal of a betrayal

An utterance

Anything your MC would think or say, given the opportunity to break the 4th wall, bridges the gap between character and reader a little. It’s not something they’ve said to anyone in the story. And it has an air of self-awareness.

Ex. “So This is Where We Are Now”, “This Wasn’t Supposed to Happen”

Foreshadowing

Use this sparingly and carefully, but you can plant clues and things similar in nature in the title

Ex. The chapter ends with the abrupt murder of a character using a coffee pot that was previously inconspicuous. The tile is “Coffee Pot”.

3. The “Other” Kind of Chapter (AKA The Part)

There are two main ways to split up a novel. The chapter and the part. Chapters are usually a given and can work concurrently with the story also being split into parts. If you read The Hunger Games, among many others, you’ve seen this in practice.

The parts of a novel are usually in 3s. This can (indirectly or inexplicitly) mark beginning/middle/end or childhood/adulthood/elderhood. Or it can mark more story-specific events, like The Hunger Games and its sequels. You mostly see this in sci-fi/fantasy novels, but they can go anywhere.

The titles of these parts are usually short and correlate with each other (similarly to how book titles in series can correlate).

Ex. “The Dawn”, “The Day”, “The Dusk”

Ex. “Spark”, “Flame”, “Wildfire”

Ex. “The Test”, “The Proof”, “The Job”

Ex. “4″, “16″, “25″

Where you place these divisions is up to you. It works best if it feels natural and fits in well with the pacing. You can plot your story around these parts, or add them in later. Either way, whether they work or not is going to be subjective and you might need beta readers/a critique partner to help you out.

4. So, is it right for my story?

That’s totally up to you and all I can really give you for an answer is my opinion. I think chapter titles are a given for stories with a comedic tone. There’s an easy sense of irreverence or goofiness that comes with it when used right.

Other stories can be tricky, though. I think unless your story is super serious (like a thriller), you can effectively use chapter titling. With serious stories, it might be a bit more tricky to maintain the stricter tone with title, but it’s accomplishable.

And of course, you don’t have to add titling. Sometimes the minimalistic nature of “One”/”I”/”1” fits a story better than any other title could.

If you feel so inclined to title your chapters, it can add a whole new layer of mechanics to better tell and represent your story that you can experiment with. And if you don’t feel inclined, don’t worry about it! It’s a personal choice, not something you’re missing out on. And isn’t that what your writing is? Your own style based on what you do and don’t add?

#process #pro:planning

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writersources · 3 months ago

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From Premise to Plot

Anonymous asked: “Do you have any advice for turning an idea into a narrative? I seem to be okay with coming up with a base idea, but I always stumble at trying to figure out how to transform that into a story.”

This is something I love to talk about! So often a writer’s first inspiration for a novel ends up looking nothing like the book that comes out of it but that’s why this is such a process. I know some writers who just know the whole plot right off the bat. I never know the whole plot, especially if it’s a novel. I know something about the conflict usually or at the very least have an idea of what tensions exist in the story.

The first thing you need to do with your inspiration is start expanding it. Try to think beyond it and build it out. Throw around what ifs. Spitball ideas. Take notes. Nothing is true until it’s on the page, so go crazy with these ideas until you can latch onto one you like.

Keep reading

#process #pro:b&i

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writersources · 3 months ago

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I have an ensemble cast of 9 perspective characters. How do I tell all of their stories while also maintaining a cohesive narrative? How do I map this onto a story structure made for one protagonist?

Mapping Multi-POV Story Onto Story Structure

Quick reminder that story structure is just a guide to help you plot your story, and doesn't have to be followed to a tee. Always make the choices that are best for your story. :)

Multi-POV story structure depends on whether the POV characters are working together or working apart, and whether or not they're working toward a shared goal or have individual goals that lead to the same place.

If working together toward a shared goal, you'll follow a singular story structure with each plot point falling into the POV where it makes the most sense. For example, the inciting incident will happen in one POV character's scene or chapter, then the next plot point will happen in a different POV character's scene or chapter. Although they all have their own tasks to complete toward achieving the shared goal, they're still all working together, sharing the same space (most of the time), and experiencing most of the story events together. So, for that reason, you typically want a three or four POV character limit. Otherwise it's too many hands in the pot.

If working apart toward a shared goal, you'll still follow a singular story structure with each plot point falling into the POV where it makes the most sense, but in this case you can afford to have more than three or four POV characters because although they're working toward a shared goal, they are completing their individual tasks apart and are experiencing most of the story events apart.

If working apart toward individual goals that lead to the same place, you'll follow separate story structures for each POV for most of the story. However, as character paths start to merge, you will have POVs sharing the same plot points until eventually (typically for the climax) they're all in the same place/same plot point.

Keeping everything structured and making sure that everyone's story is leading to the same place, either together or apart, is what keeps the story cohesive. Even in a story where everyone has their own goals and own plot points, these individual goals still have to lead them all to the same place. A Song of Ice and Fire is a great example of this... even though all the POV characters had their own individual motivation, goals, and experienced their own (or limited shared) plot points, it's presumably leading them all to King's Landing and the fight for the Iron Throne (as we saw in the TV show) in the end.

I hope that helps!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I've been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I've learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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#plot #plot:pov #plot:structure

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writersources · 3 months ago

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Writing Arguments Between Characters

– Arguments in books are some of the most pivotal and important scenes in a narrative, but they’re also some of the most difficult because fights, in the moment, can seem much more dramatic in our heads than they would seem to an outsider. The great thing about writing is that you have the option to add context you wouldn’t have otherwise, which puts the reader in the characters’ heads and into the heat of the moment. I decided it was worth an article because it’s a very hit or miss kind of scene to pursue and I’ve received a lot of questions on the subject, so I’d like to answer (most of) them here. Enjoy!

Instigation

Which character began the fight? Sometimes fights start days before they actually turn into a heated argument, so if there is a build up to the scene, make sure you’ve taken the time to make that clear in the last couple scenes or chapters.

Sometimes, it isn’t actually clear to the characters what or who started the argument and it just sort of bubbles up over time or as events make the characters more confused, angry, scared, etc.

That’s another thing you need to know before you start writing an argument: what emotion is driving the characters to participate? Fear? Anger? Confusion? Sadness? Frustration? Tiredness? Repression of past feelings? Betrayal? In order to make the characters argue believably, you need to be in their headspace, and you can only do that if you know why they’re fighting in the first place.

Tone and pace

Build up

In order for an argument to be impactful to the reader, there needs to be some substantial escalation. Fights are like stories. There’s something that starts it, there’s rising tension, there’s a climax, and then there’s a cool down period before the resolution. Focus on the way you do the rising action especially, because the climax of the argument should be an “oh sh*t” moment.

Dialogue & Interraction

There are different types of arguments people can have. There’s the slow burn ones that the reader knows are coming, but are still really jarring when they come to pass. There are also the ones that seem like they’re out of nowhere if you don’t have context, but to someone who has been following maybe the past few days of the two people’s lives, they can tell that the actual subject of conflict isn’t what they’re really fighting about, but a deeper underlying issue they’ve both been struggling with. There are many ways an argument can go and feel to a reader, but a huge part of the subtext is how the two characters interact.

If your characters are screaming about a dish that was put away wet and left a ring on the stained cabinets, it will be fairly obvious to the reader, as that sort of interaction, at surface level, wouldn’t serve much of a story-telling purpose, and therefore will lead the reader to assume there’s more to it and search their arsenal of contextual evidence to find the real source of tension between the characters. This can also be accomplished through clues in dialogue, such as sarcasm in response to when something relating to the actual issue is mentioned, or a lull in the argument when the two characters realize that they’re not really talking about a stupid bowl, are they?

Resolution

How the argument ends could be used to shift where the reader believes the story is going from there on. The end could be very insignificant to your story, as fights between characters are often used to get across some key information about characters or context or introduce new conflicts, which brings up my next point.

Integration

Arguments are a really good opportunity to integrate lots of important information for your reader in a way that shows instead of telling. You can use arguments to relay lots of information to your reader, such as:

Character tendencies

Relationships between characters

Smaller conflicts

Foreshadowing

Associations that will be useful in future scenes

Shifts in tone

Changes in the direction of the story

Underlying issues that might come up later

and many more.

Some General Tips To Keep In Mind

Always ask yourself “would so and so really do this?”

During arguments, people’s responses will often be blended with their reactions. Their face will be shocked and their words will be sharp. Try to include these little mixes in order to make the pace faster and more suspenseful.

Most large arguments start with something smaller and less significant

A lot of the time, the reactions won’t be like “i can’t believe he said that to me”, they’ll be defensive and/or a shot back without much thought.

Most arguments, especially between two characters who generally like each other, will end with something like one person walking out of the room, one person deciding to sleep on the couch, or one person avoiding or ignoring the other. Most fights between characters who know and matter to each other don’t end with a punch in the face.

Arguments don’t usually end when they’re no longer yelling at each other.

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#interactions #int:argument

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writersources · 3 months ago

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Is there any way to write FASTER? I feel like I write so little each day compared to other people.

Write faster? Or write more?

If you want to write faster, you have to practice typing and writing.

Otherwise, let’s look at what might make you write less:

Distractions: Television, internet, friends, your phone, and other distractions keep you from writing. Music isn’t always a distraction and it can help stimulate one part of your brain so that you can concentrate on something else. Background noise from the television can do the same, but you might be tempted to watch. Get rid of distractions when you write.

Don’t Know What to Write: Some people are able to write without a plan. Others cannot. Have you tried making an outline? It can be detailed or vague, but it might help you go in the right direction. This way, it’s less likely that you’ll get stuck when writing.

Editing: Some writers have a problem where they edit as they write. Do not edit as you write. This will slow you down. Just keep going and take notes if you want to change something that you have already written. Fix it later.

Perfectionist: You write a sentence. Then delete. Then rewrite it. Then delete it again. Perfectionists need to get everything right on the first try. Once you’ve got a sentence down, keep going. Write whatever comes to mind. Again, you can fix it all later.

Wrong Idea: You might have chosen the wrong idea, character, or plot to write about. Try writing something else and see how that goes.

You’re Not Writing Every Day: Turn writing into a habit. Make it something you do every day. When you do something every day, it becomes more natural to you.

The important thing to remember is that no matter how much you write in a day, it doesn’t matter as long as you’re getting somewhere. Try not to compare yourself to others. Their accomplishments are irrelevant to yours.

#process #pro:productivity

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writersources · 3 months ago

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literary & character tropes (pt. 5)

Tropes - themes, motifs, plot devices, plot points, and storylines that have become familiar genre conventions

All writers manipulate language to create certain effects. At the level of individual phrases and sentences, the skillful use of tropes is key to creating writing that’s fresh, memorable, and persuasive.

Ancient Evil: A character, concept or thing that's old and evil.

The Blind Seer: Are blind, and yet they can see more than we can, metaphorically speaking, by using heightened senses, divination, or some type of magical powers to gain knowledge of the world around them. It is a recurring theme in mythology; Justice is blind, Odin plucked out an eye to gain knowledge, and the Graeae had had only one eye among three of them. Time and time again, the sacrifice of sight is shown to result in greater cosmic knowledge.

Bloodbath Villain Origin: The villain's Start of Darkness began with sudden mass murder.

Botanical Abomination: A strange, incomprehensible organism that looks like a tree or other plant, but they came straight out of a forest from your nightmares.

Changeling Tale: Babies who are abducted by fairies and replaced.

Chronoscope: A chronoscope or time viewer is a device that uses images that show past or future events like a television. They can sometimes also cause time travel. They are common in sci-fi, and often take different forms.

Goo-Goo-Godlike: An all-powerful child who doesn't know any better.

Hide-and-Seek Horror: A game of hide-and-seek is played for horror.

The Omniscient: A character that knows everything. Either literally everything, or simply everything worth knowing under the circumstances. Beings with this ability tend to be background characters that the reader is told little about.

Reading Tea Leaves: Tasseomancy (alternatively known as tasseography or tassology) is a form of divination that interprets patterns in tea leaves, coffee grounds, or wine sediments. The method involves the quarant (the person getting their fortune told) being provided with a cup of a particular drink (Tea, Coffee and Wine being the most common forms). They are asked to drink from a specific cup, leaving a small amount for the leaves and/or pulp to gather. The leaves/pulp then form a variety of shapes, from animals to inanimate objects, even mythical creatures and specific people. These shapes hold symbolic significance, their presence spelling things ranging from good fortune to omens of doom.

If these writing notes helped with your poem/story, please tag me. Or leave a link in the replies. I'd love to read them!

More: Literary & Character Tropes

#c&t #c&t:char

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writersources · 3 months ago

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Writing Notes: Active & Passive Voice

The action expressed by a clause can often be viewed in either of two ways:

The dog chased the cat.

The cat was chased by the dog.

The above contrast is referred to as voice.

The first type of construction is known as the active voice.

The second, which is far less common, is the passive voice.

Most verbs which take an object (transitive verbs) can appear in both active and passive constructions:

kick, jump, eat, break, etc.

There are just a few exceptions, such as resemble and most uses of have: "I had a car" does not transform into "A car was had by me."

The passive is infrequent in speech.

In writing, it is more common in informative than in imaginative prose, especially in contexts which demand an objective, impersonal style, such as scientific and official publications.

When it is overused, it tends to attract criticism, especially from those campaigning for clearer forms of English in official documents, and many writers have been influenced by their arguments.

But passives cannot be dispensed with entirely:

They give writers the option of an impersonal style, which can be very useful in contexts where it is irrelevant to state who actually carried out an action.

That elements X and Y were mixed to form compound Z is usually the important point, not that it was me, Mary, John, or Dr Smith who did the mixing.

How to Form Passives from Actives

Move the subject of the active verb to the end of the clause, making it the passive agent. Add "by".

Move the object of the active verb to the front of the clause, making it the passive subject.

Replace the active verb phrase by a passive one – usually a form of the auxiliary verb "be" followed by the -ed participle.

Source ⚜ Writing Basics & Refreshers

#mechanics #mec:structure

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writersources · 3 months ago

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The Role of Each Plot Point

In film formula, each plot point has a very specific role. This post is a follow-up to the previous you can read here, where we talked about how every plot point should contribute to your protagonist’s arc. Now, we’re going to look into what these plot points are, and how they contribute to your protagonist’s arc.

Intro:

To begin, we can’t see how a character grows by the end if we don’t know how they started. The very first point of your story should be what we call the “normal world”. Within this point, there should be a small conflict for the protagonist to overcome to demonstrate their strengths and hint at their weaknesses, and should ideally foreshadow the inciting incident.

For example, in Tangled, Rapunzel argues with her mother about going out to see the floating lights on her birthday, and we see that she is thoughtful and kind, but also naïve and bullied by mother Gothel.

This smaller conflict foreshadows the inciting incident, where Flynn will break into the tower and she’ll bully him into taking her to the lights.

Inciting Incident:

This point is the beginning of your character’s arc. It is something that happens to your protagonist (so not a choice that they make, yet) and completely flips their world on their head, pulling them outside of their comfort zone. It is the start to conflicts they will eventually have to face, forcing them to change.

Following our example, Flynn breaks into the tower (something that happens to Rapunzel), and agrees to take her outside of her tower (quite literally leaving her comfort zone by venturing out into the dangerous/uncertain world).

First Act Turn:

This is the first choice your character makes. This choice is spurred on by the inciting incident and relates directly to how your character wants to achieve their goals/objective.

Fun and Games:

Rising action, typically with an undercurrent of success. In Tangled, this is the part they’re exploring the world and getting closer. They’re still facing conflicts (running from goons, getting trapped in the cave, etc.) but they are succeeding.

Midpoint:

I tend to think of this as the “beginning of the end”. This point is another thing that typically happens to your protagonist that is a direct result of the choice they made at the first act turn. It looks first like a success—where the protagonist has achieved their objective—before it is reversed and they lose everything. This point is the largest raise of stakes in the story.

In Tangled, this is the point Rapunzel gets to see the lights and is just about to kiss Flynn when the goons catch up to them, and she believes he betrays her. It is a victory, followed by a devastating loss.

Things Get Worse:

Rising action but with an undercurrent of everything going wrong. Rapunzel is brought back to her tower, Flynn is locked in jail and set to be hanged.

Second Act Turn:

This is another major choice your character makes responding directly to what happened at the Midpoint. What’s important here is that the character takes a new strategy to fulfill their goal. This choice should feel desperate and offer a slim chance of success.

In Tangled, Rapunzel confronts her mother and chooses not to return back to her life in the tower.

Crisis:

Responds directly to the choice the character made. It places them in a dangerous situation (high stakes, physical or moral jeopardy) where the probability of their failure is high. This is the point the protagonist recognizes their unconscious need.

Rapunzel is locked up in the tower and Flynn gets stabbed trying to get to her.

Climax:

One last decision! The protagonist is confronted by their worst fear and must act, usually requiring some sort of sacrifice and reveals to us who they have become over the course of the story. This choice will also determine your theme.

Rapunzel tells mother Gothel that if she allows her to heal Flynn, she'll stop trying to get away from her, obvious sacrifice. Then, Flynn decides to cut her hair, sacrificing his own hope of survival while killing Mother Gothel for good to save Rapunzel.

Resolution:

Shows the consequences of the choice made in the climax (good and bad). Draws remaining questions to a close, and demonstrates the way the world has changed due to what happened. How the world is now (good or bad) carries a statement on whether the character made the right or wrong choice—which is the lasting impression of your theme.

In Tangled, Flynn is healed and Rapunzel reunites with her parents and takes on her role as the princess.

#plot #plot:structure

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writersources · 3 months ago

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20 Ways to Show Extreme Fear in Your Writing

As I dive into researching signs of fear for my horror WIP, I wanted to share some of the most compelling and visceral reactions I’ve come across. Whether you’re writing a chilling scene or crafting a character’s panic, these 20 signs of fear can help bring tension and realism to your story.

Physical Reactions

Hyperventilating — sucking in air but never feeling like it’s enough

Chest tightens — feels like a weight or hands pressing down

Limbs shaking violently, knees buckling

Complete loss of muscle control — collapsing or unable to stand

Cold sweat soaking through clothes

Heart hammering so hard they feel it in their throat or head

Tunnel vision — the world narrowing down to one terrifying focal point

Ringing in the ears or sudden deafness, like the world drops away

Dizziness / feeling faint / vision blurring

Dry mouth — unable to speak or even scream

Uncontrollable Behavior

Screaming / sobbing / gasping — involuntary vocal outbursts

Panic run — bolting without thinking, tripping over everything

Clawing at their own skin / chest / throat — like trying to escape their body

Begging / pleading out loud even if no one’s there

Repeating words or phrases — “No, no, no” / “This isn’t happening”

Hiding instinctively — diving under tables, closets, or corners

Desperate grabbing — reaching for someone, anything solid

Loss of bladder or bowel control (for extreme terror)

Total mental shutdown — frozen, slack-jawed, staring blankly

Memory blackout — later can’t recall what happened during the worst moment

#ch #ch:body language

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writersources · 3 months ago

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Awesome Sites and Links for Writers

Just about every writer out there has several go-to websites that they use when it comes to their writing. Be it for creativity, writer’s block, to put you in the mood or general writing help. These are mine and I listed them in hopes that you’ll find something that you’ll like or find something useful. I’ve also included some websites that sounded interesting, but I haven’t tried out yet.

Spelling & Grammar

Grammar Girl – Grammar Girl’s famous Quick and Dirty Tips (delivered via blog or podcast) will help you keep your creative writing error free.

The Owl – is Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL), an academic source from Purdue University (which is in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.). It’s contains plenty of grammar guides, style tips and other information that can help with your writing, it’s especially great for academics.

Tip of My Tongue — have you ever had trouble of thinking of a specific word that you can’t remember what it is? Well, this site will help you narrow down your thoughts and find that word you’ve been looking for. It can be extremely frustrating when you have to stop writing because you get a stuck on a word, so this should help cut that down.

Free Rice – is a great way to test your vocabulary knowledge. What’s even better about this site is that with every correct answer, they donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. So, please disable your adblock since they use the ads on the site to generate the money to buy the rice.

HyperGrammar – is from the University of Ottawa (a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) that offers up a one-stop guide for proper spelling, structure, and punctuation. Being that this comes from a Canadian university, that means that they use standard Oxford English Dictionary spelling. Basically that means you’ll get British English, which differs slightly from formal American English.

AutoCrit – the AutoCrit Editing Wizard analyzes your manuscript to identify areas for improvement, including pacing and momentum, dialogue, strong writing, word choice and repetition. It also provides a number of other writing resources as well. It’s not free, but they do offer 200 characters for analysis at no charge. It’s $29.97 per month or $359.64 for an annual membership.

ProWritingAid – is another automatic editing tool that analyzes your writing and produces reports on areas such as overused words, writing style, sentence length, grammar and repeated words and phrases. They offer a free sample, but you have to make an account to try it out. It’s $3.33 per month ($40 annually, or less if you purchase a longer license).

Writer’s Digest – learn how to improve your writing, find an agent, and even get published with the help of the varied blogs on this site.

Paper Rater – uses Artificial Intelligence to improve your writing. It includes grammar, plagiarism, and spelling check, along with word choice analysis. The basic version is completely free, but they do offer premium subscription for people seeking more advanced features. If you’re interested it’s $14.95 per month or $95.40 per year if you decide to get it.

Syntaxis – it allows you to test your knowledge of grammar with a ten-question quiz. The questions change every time you take the quiz so users are sure to be challenged each time around. It definitely helps writers know if there’s something that they need to brush up on.

Word Frequency Counter – this counter allows you to count the frequency usage of each word in your text.

EditMinion – is a free robotic copy editor that helps you to refine your writing by finding common mistakes.

Proofreading for Common Errors – this is a simple tutorial on proofreading your writing by Indiana University.

BBC – has a section for helping you with your skills, especially in writing, from grammar to spelling, to reading, to listening and to speaking.

Tools

Copyscape – is a free service that you can use to learn if anyone has plagiarized your work. It’s pretty useful for those that want to check for fanfiction plagiarism.

Plagium – is another a copy detection system, that provides a very similar service to Copyscape and uses Yahoo! rather than Google to perform its searches. Just keep in mind that searches for simple text up to 25,000 characters remains free of charge, but any larger requires credits to be purchase.

Write or Die – is an web application for Windows, Mac and Linux which aims to eliminate writer’s block by providing consequences for procrastination. It lets you try it for free, but the desktop version is available for $10. The Write or Die iPad app is $9.99 in the App Store. If you’re really old school, the original web app can still be launched with its modest settings.

Written? Kitten! – is similar to Write or Die, but it’s a kinder version and it’s completely free. They use positive reinforcement, so every time you reach a goal they reward you with an adorable picture of a kitten.

Fast Fingers – offers you an easy way to improve your typing skills. It’s puts you through a quick typing game that tests your typing speed and improves it at the same time. It’s also a great way for writers to warm up.

Information & Data

RefDesk – it has an enormous collection of reference materials, searchable databases and other great resources that can’t be found anywhere else. It’s great to use when you need to find something and/or check your facts.

Bib Me – it makes it easy to create citations, build bibliographies and acknowledge other people’s work. This is definitely something that academics will love. It’s basically a bibliography generator that automatically fills in a works cited page in MLA, APA, Chicago or Turbian formats.

Internet Public Library – is a non-profit, largely student-run website managed by a consortium, headed by Drexel University. Currently this online library is inactive, but it’s still full of resources that are free for anyone to use, from newspaper and magazine articles to special collections. Just keep in mind that it’s not up to date, since they stopped maintaining it on June 30, 2015.

The Library of Congress – if you’re looking for primary documents and information, the Library of Congress is a great place to start. It has millions of items in its archives, many of which are accessible right from the website.

Social Security Administration: Popular Baby Names – is the most accurate list of popular names from 1879 to the present. If your character is from America and you need a name for them, this gives you a accurate list of names, just pick the state or decade that your character is from.

WebMD – is a handy medical database loaded with information. It’s not a substitute for a doctor, but can give you a lot of good information on diseases, symptoms, treatments, etc.

MedlinePlus – is the National Institutes of Health’s web site that contains information about diseases, conditions, and wellness issues in language you can understand. It also offers reliable, up-to-date health information, anytime, anywhere, for free. You can use the site to learn about the latest treatments, look up information on a drug or supplement, find out the meanings of words, or view medical videos or illustrations. You can also get links to the latest medical research on your topic or find out about clinical trials on a disease or condition.

Mayo Clinic – is a nonprofit medical practice and medical research group.

World Health Organization (WHO) – is a specialized agency of the United Nations that is concerned with international public health. Its current priorities include communicable diseases, in particular HIV/AIDS, Ebola, malaria and tuberculosis; the mitigation of the effects of non-communicable diseases; sexual and reproductive health, development, and ageing; nutrition, food security and healthy eating; occupational health; substance abuse; and driving the development of reporting, publications, and networking.

Google Scholar – is an online, freely accessible search engine that lets users look for both physical and digital copies of articles. It searches a wide variety of sources, including academic publishers, universities, and preprint depositories and so on. While Google Scholar does search for print and online scholarly information, it is important to understand that the resource is not a database.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac – this classic almanac offers yearly information on astronomical events, weather conditions and forecasts, recipes, and gardening tips.

State Health Facts – Kaiser Family Foundation provides this database, full of health facts on a state-by-state basis that address everything from medicare to women’s health.

U.S. Census Bureau – you can learn more about the trends and demographics of America with information drawn from the Census Bureau’s online site.

Wikipedia – this shouldn’t be used as your sole source, but it can be a great way to get basic information and find out where to look for additional references.

Finding Data on the Internet – a great website that list links that can tell you where you can find the inflation rate, crime statistics, and other data.

Word References

RhymeZone – whether you’re writing poetry, songs, or something else entirely, you can get help rhyming words with this site.

Acronym Finder – with more than 565,000 human-edited entries, Acronym Finder is the world’s largest and most comprehensive dictionary of acronyms, abbreviations, and initials.

Symbols.com – is a unique online encyclopedia that contains everything about symbols, signs, flags and glyphs arranged by categories such as culture, country, religion, and more.

OneLook Reverse Dictionary – is a dictionary that lets you describe a concept and get back a list of words and phrases related to that concept. Your description can be a few words, a sentence, a question, or even just a single word.

The Alternative Dictionaries – is a PDF, that contains a list of slang words in all types of languages, such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Norwegian and many, many others. There use to be a website, but it’s not there anymore and this is the next best thing I could find.

Online Etymology Dictionary – it gives you the history and derivation of any word. Etymologies are not definitions; they’re explanations of what our words meant and how they sounded 600 or 2,000 years ago.

MediLexicon – is a comprehensive dictionary of medical, pharmaceutical, biomedical, and health care abbreviations and acronyms.

Merriam Webster Online – the online version of the classic dictionary also provides a thesaurus and a medical dictionary.

Multilingual Dictionary – it translate whatever you need from 30 different languages with this easy-to-use site.

Writing Software

Open Office – why pay for Microsoft products when you can create free documents with Open Office? This open source software provides similar tools to the Microsoft Office Suite, including spreadsheets, a word processor, the ability to create multimedia presentations, and more.

LibreOffice – is a free and open source office suite. It was forked from OpenOffice.org in 2010, which was an open-sourced version of the earlier StarOffice. The LibreOffice suite comprises programs to do word processing, spreadsheets, slideshows, diagrams and drawings, maintain databases, and compose math formula.

Scrivener – is not a free program, but it’s certainly a very popular one. It's great for organizing research, planning drafts, and writing novels, articles, short stories, and even screenplays.

OmmWriter – is for Mac OS X, a free simple text processor that gives you a distraction free environment. So you can focus only on your writing without being tempted or distracted by other programs on your computer. They are currently working on a Windows version of their software as well, so keep an eye out for that if you’re interested.

FocusWriter – is a completely free full-screen writing application designed to immerse you in your writing. It keeps your writing space simple and clean without sacrificing functionality. It includes a daily goal tracker, work count and time spent writing. There’s also spell checking, real-time feedback on variables like word and page count, and tabbed document browsing. It's available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Q10 – is a free portable distraction-free writing tool for Windows. The interface includes nothing but a tiny bar at the bottom that displays the character, word, and page count—you can toggle the bar off for a totally distraction free workspace.

Evernote – is a free app for your smartphone and computer that stores everything you could possibly imagine losing track of, like a boarding pass, receipt, article you want to read, to do list, or even a simple typed note. The app works brilliantly, keeping everything in sync between your computer, smartphone, or tablet. It’s definitely a useful app for writers when you have ideas on the go.

ScriptBuddy – is a full-fledged screenplay software program. It handles the proper screenplay format automatically, so you can concentrate on your story. It is easy to use and the basic version is free.

TheSage – is a free application, which is a comprehensive English dictionary and thesaurus that provides a number of useful and in some cases unusual search tools.

Sigil – is ideal for e-book authors because it's a free EPUB editor with a stack of essential features.

WriterDuet – is a collaborative screenwriting app for working with writing partners in real-time. It also lets you copy text written in Fountain, or other screenwriting programs (Final Draft, Celtx, etc.) and paste it directly into WriterDuet with the correct formatting most of the time. They offer the basic version for free, WriterDuet Pro ($9.00 monthly, $79 yearly and $199 lifetime) and WriterDuet Premium ($299 yearly). WriterDuet works on Mac, Windows, Linux, Chromebooks, iOS, and Android. It gives identical page counts on all devices, and PDFs.

ZenWriter – is a program that gives you an open, peaceful place for composing your thoughts without any distractions. It’s a fullscreen text editor that offers customizable backgrounds, music, and a nifty word count at the bottom of the window. It’s not free, but it does offer a free trial for 15 days. It is available for Windows, and after the 15-day trial period you can choose to purchase it for $17.50 if you want.

WriteMonkey – is a Windows writing application with an extremely stripped down user interface, leaving you alone with your thoughts and your words. It is light, fast and free. It’s also an portable app, so you can stick it on a USB drive and use in on whatever computer you happen to find yourself at.

YWriter5 – is a free word processor and is designed for Windows XP, Vista and beyond. It's a small but very comprehensive tool which helps you to plan your story. It breaks your novel into chapters and scenes, helping you to keep track of your work while leaving your mind free to create. You can set up deadlines, for instance, and the program’s Work Schedule report will let you know how much you’ll have to do, each day, to finish on time. You can even enter your characters, locations and items and freely organize them into scenes. This definitely sounds like it’ll be useful for NaNoWriMo writers.

Kingsoft Office (WPS Office) – is an office suite for Microsoft Windows, Linux, iOS and Android OS. The basic version is free to use, but a fully featured professional-grade version is also available. This software allows users to view, create and share office documents that are fully compatible with dozens of document formats, including Microsoft PowerPoint, Word and Excel. In other words, the format is similar to a Microsoft Word document (.DOC or .DOCX file) and supports formatted text, images, and advanced page formatting. Kingsoft Writer documents can be converted to Microsoft Word *.doc files in the software.

Creativity, Fun & Miscellaneous

National Novel Writing Month – is one of the most well-known writing challenges in the writing community. National Novel Writing Month pushes you to write 50,000 words in 30 days (for the whole month of November).

WritingFix – a fun site that creates writing prompts on the spot. The site currently has several options—prompts for right-brained people, for left-brained people, for kids—and is working to add prompts on classic literature, music and more.

Creative Writing Prompts – the site is exactly what it says. They have 100+ and more, of prompts that you can choose from.

My Fonts – is the world’s largest collection of fonts. You can even upload an image containing a font that you like, and this tells you what it is. Just keep in mind that not all of the fonts are free.

DaFont – has lot of fonts as well, most of them are completely free to download. However, some are demo versions or are only free if you used it for personal use and not commercial use.

Story Starters – this website offers over one trillion randomly generated story starters for creative writers.

The Gutenberg Project – this site is perfect for those who like to read and/or have an e-reader. There’s over 33,000 ebooks you can download for free.

The Imagination Prompt Generator – click through the prompts to generate different ideas in response to questions like “Is there a God?” and “If your tears could speak to you, what would they say?”

The Phrase Finder – this handy site helps you hunt down famous phrases, along with their origins. It also offers a phrase thesaurus that can help you create headlines, lyrics, and much more.

Storybird – this site allows you to write a picture book. They provided the gorgeous artwork and you create the story for it, or just read the stories that others have created.

Language Is a Virus – the automatic prompt generator on this site can provide writers with an endless number of creative writing prompts. Other resources include writing exercises and information on dozens of different authors.

Background Noise/Music

SimplyNoise – a free white noise sounds that you can use to drown out everything around you and help you focus on your writing.

Rainy Mood – from the same founders of Simply Noise, this website offers the pleasant sound of rain and thunderstorms. There's a slide volume control, which you can increase the intensity of the noise (gentle shower to heavy storm), thunder mode (often, few, rare), oscillation button, and a sleep timer.

Coffitivity – a site that provides three background noises: Morning Murmur (a gentle hum), Lunchtime Lounge (bustling chatter), and University Undertones (campus cafe). A pause button is provided whenever you need a bladder break, and a sliding volume control to give you the freedom to find the perfect level for your needs and moods. It’s also available as an android app, iOS app, and for Mac desktop. If you go Premium it’s $9 and you’ll get 1 year of unlimited listening to their audio tracks and access to three more sounds: Paris Paradise, Brazil Bistro and Texas Teahouse.

Rainy Cafe – it provides background chatter in coffee shops (similar to Coffitivity) AND the sound of rain (similar to Simply Rain). There’s also individual volume and on/off control for each sound category.

Forest Mood – is background noise of the forest.

MyNoise – is a website with multi-purpose noise generator that is completely free. It helps you to focus while working in a noisy environment or to help settle your anxiety and it’s also useful in cases of insomnia or tinnitus. It has so many sounds to choose from: Fish Tank, Clockwork, Gregorian Chants, Traffic Noise, and so on.

MyNoise: Online Fire Noise Generator – is also from NyNoise, but it’s a short-cut link for those that only want to hear the sound of fire crackling in a fireplace.

Snowy Mood – is a noise generator that plays sounds of boots walking through snow on an endless loop. It’s simple and straightforward, and perfect for those days when you feel like being snowed in.

Noisli – is a background noise generator that helps you to drown out annoying noises in order to create your perfect environment for working and relaxing. You can mix different sounds together, such as rain and a train or fire and the night sound of crickets or with the waves at a beach.

Purrli – is a white noise generator that recreates the sound and the presence of a cat purring next to you.

Ambient Mixer – is a free online audio mixing tool in which you can create and edit your own ambient music or background sounds. You can even listen to other people’s mixes such as Gryffindor Common Room, Riding with the Winchesters, Mr. Tumnus’ House, A Day in Camp Half-Blood, and so on.

8tracks – is an internet radio website and everyone can listen for free, well it use to be completely free. Unlike other music oriented social network such as Pandora or Spotify, 8tracks doesn’t have commercial interruption (that’s if you get 8tracks Plus). Users can create free accounts and can either browse the site and listen to other user-created mixes for as long as they like, and/or they can create their own mixes. It’s a perfect place to listen to other writer’s playlist, share yours or find music for specific characters or moods. Note: Joining is still free, however you’re now limited to 1 hour of free listening for each week (or more depending on how much people like your mixes, but I’ve been told the limitation is for those in the US only). If you want unlimited access it’s $30 per year or $5.00 a month.

Playmoss – with 8tracks no longer having free unlimited listening and no commercial interruptions many people looked for an alternative and Playmoss is what 8tracks use to be. Playmoss is free to join and it has all the same basic features that 8tracks has, only with extra goodies like unlimited skips, able to see the entire tracklist before playing, start at any point in the playlist, see how many playlists contain a certain song and even collaborate playlists with other people.

#tools #tool:site #tool:software

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