Get your piping-hot writing links here!

[chamekke]

Fresh from wrisomifu 2010 (and with piping hot updates from 2011): some goodies!

Wrisomifu stands for "Write Something, You Miserable Fuck". It's an LJ comm that runs every November, and its members promise to write for a minimum of ten minutes a day during the entire month of November and to check in daily to report on the suffering. It's great fun (when it's not absolute agony), and I plan to sign up again in 2011.

Anyway! Although it's a closed community, the moderators kindly allowed me to collect all the links on writing and put them onto Delicious as shared links so that everyone can benefit from their collective hard work.

How to overcome writer's block! Links on beta'ing and self-editing! Tips on writing slash, identifying clichés... it's all here. Need a spot of Britpicking? How about background on the components of men's suits? Oh yeah, baby - and that's just a small sample! Browse and discover.

Link: Wrisomifu on Delicious

The following list contains the same links, but grouped by type.

Dialogue links (from fitofpique on 7-Nov-11):

• The Mechanics of Dialogue by goseaward. A really straightforward guide to dialogue that covers both punctuation and style. Mentioned in 2011.
• Writing Dialogue. This essay also covers some of the technical aspects of writing dialogue, as well as providing some helpful do's and don'ts.
• How to write good dialogue by The Novel Doctor. The handwriting is terrible but, if you can get past that, there's some good stuff here.
• Writing Believable Dialogue by novelist Glenn Patterson. He discusses our job as the writer, how to write dialogue, narrator vs character, conveying character, what's the writer doing?, dialogue as an asset, as well as providing parodies of dialogue, some general tips, and recommended reading.
• A blog on writing dramatic dialogue
• Natural dialogue
• Engaging dialogue
• Writing dialogue that works
• Dialogue workshop (exercises and prompts)
• 12 Exercises for Improving Dialogue (exercises and prompts)
• Story starters with a focus on: writing dialogue (exercises and prompts)
• How to Write Badly Well (exercises and prompts)

Random links (from fitofpique on 25-Nov-10):

• Fifty (50!) Tools which can help you in Writing and The Ultimate Writing Productivity Resource, both on Lifehack.
• Language is a virus. A huge compendium of creativity tools and resources.
• Writerisms and other Sins: A Writer’s Shortcut to Stronger Writing, on the SFWA website.
• Cliché finder. Who knows when this might come in handy?
• Protagonize. This is a collaborative, web-based, creative writing community dedicated to writing in a variety of formats (registration is required).
• My Man Godfrey, by behindpyramids. I don't quite know how to describe this. It's an angry screed, a lament, a relentless pursuit, a plea, and a love story. It's about writing and not writing and everything in between. Oh, Godfrey. You bastard.

Worth a thousand words (from jolielaide on 21-Nov-10):

• Image Spark allows you to collect a library of images as you browse, and then collage them.
• fffound! is a cool image blog - and a good place to start if you're wondering where to start searching for great, random images.

Poking your creativity (from fitofpique on 18-Nov-10):

• creative writing prompts. just what it says on the tin.
• one of us. a creative writing website with articles on every subject (links in sidebar). the page i've linked you to has a handful of writing exercises, if that is something that would interest you.
• prompt romp! a blog with a frillion multifandom and original fic prompts.
• TV Tropes. a wiki with articles on narrative, genre, topical, and other tropes. i don't know if it will work for you, but this site makes me want to write all the tropes!
• For inspiration and a creativity jog: How to steal like an artist by Austin Kleon. A good way to shake something loose. (from fitofpique on 13-Nov-11)
• One of the most wonderful and inspiring things I've ever read: Write like a Motherfucker by Sugar. (from fitofpique on 9-Nov-11)

More favourite resources from mifus' comments:

• fic_promptly - a Dreamwidth comm featuring daily prompts

Writing sex scenes (from jolielaide on 14-Nov-10):

• Steve Almond's 10 Tips for Writing Sex
• Jeff Vandermeer on Writing Sex Scenes
• Minotaur's Sex Tips for Slash Writers
• Eliade's Master List of Fanfiction Kinks, Tropes, & Cliches
• The Literary Review's Bad Sex in Fiction Awards (Link goes to the 2009 awards; Googling will get you plenty more from previous years, if you - like me - just can't get enough of cringe-tastic sex writing by famous authors who should know better.)
• Queering SF: Writing Sex, To Do or Not To Do? (An article published at Tor.com about writing sex in the sci-fi/fantasy genre)
• Psychology Today: How Creative Flow is Like Sex (Interesting! And you thought it was all just wanking.)
• Nerve.com's "Best of Craigslist" (Not really a writing resource per se, but it's kind of amazing to see strangers' desires articulated so plainly. And who knows, maybe that whole "crotchless panda suit" ad will give you just the inspiration you're looking for!) Nerve.com in general is a pretty good site for sexy stuff - erotic writing, photography, funny stuff like their "Position of the Day" series, etc.
• Sex-Lexis: The Language of Love, Lust, & Sex

General writing resources (from fitofpique on 11-Nov-10). These are split into three sections:
On writing (grammar, punctuation, language usage):

• The Purdue Online Writing Lab. Free writing resources and instructional material from the Writing Lab at Purdue.
• Get It Write. A collection of really helpful articles on various aspects of writing.
• The Guide to Grammar and Style, by Jack Lynch. A miscellany of grammatical rules and explanations, comments on style, and suggestions on usage.
• The Mechanics of Dialogue, by goseaward. A quick guide to punctuating dialogue.
• Grammar Girl: Quick and dirty tips for better writing. Exactly what it says on the tin.
• How to use a semicolon, the most feared punctuation on earth, by The Oatmeal. Hee.

On editing (self-editing, working with a beta):

• Tips on Self-Editing, at The Blood-Red Pencil. A blog full of resources for self-editors.
• Ten Mistakes Writers Don't See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do). A list of common errors to check for before sharing your writing with anyone.
• On the beta process and how to get the most out of it, by synecdochic.
• On Being Betaed, by angiepen.
• ...and as a bonus, don't miss the delightful YouTube video The The Impotence of Proofreading!

Indispensible research resources (from tarteaucitron on 9-Nov-10):

• hp lexicon: surely the fandom resource to end all fandom resources. every plant/potion/deatheater redshirt/quidditch legend you could wish for, plus timelines, quotes, random jkr bullshit. perfection.
• hp_britglish! oh man. i love this comm. i love it mainly for the bonkers brits who advise on canon, and the hilarious regional/class fights you can watch unfolding. if you're canny, you can get any brit research question answered here - just make sure you pretend it's about draco malfoy.
• supernatural wiki: ridiculously useful for fps or rps, or even fanthropology. you need to stop just looking at the pretty pictures.
• blood at the source: an incredible, no-frills collection of forensic and thriller-type resources.
• slang dictionary: you know it! also, as much as i love urban dictionary, i can't find a way to search bilingually.
• romance authors' resources: resources not just for romance authors!
• and! just for fun: if like me, every kitchen in every fic that you write is the kitchen in the house where you grew up, try design-a-room!
• solid mifu rec = little_details. multi-fandom (or non-fandom) interactive resource. check it out! and make sure you check out other top comments for some awesome suggestions.

More favourite resources from mifus' comments:

• Online etymology dictionary: great for those times when you want to know if a word was around in the year your story is set (and find out what period-appropriate words you might be able to use instead)
• Dictionary of Victorian London
• ask_a_cop
• Characterization and Body Language
• Journal of a rentboy
• Writing and Fandom Resources List
• 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, by Francis Grose
• Amnesiacs show that emotions linger long after memories fade (article)
• Vanderbilt Television News Archive (1970s)
• Mr. Pop Culture (1970s)
• Stuck in the '70s (1970s)
• List_of_British_words_not_widely_used_in_the_United_States (Wikipedia)
• The writer's guide to guns
• How to dress your man/character (in suits)
• Separated by a Common Language blog
• dues_research
• whumpers_guide
• UK vs US spelling (1,700 words!) - a Britpick resource
• Ted Duckworth's A Dictionary of [UK] Slang - wonderfully searchable
• How To Write Better Fan Fiction
• JSTOR
• a dictionary of prison slang (American)
• various resource tags over at sherlockbbc (especially good for clothing details, but there's also Brit-picking, etc.)

Rules of writing fiction (from fitofpique on 8-Nov-10):

• Ten rules for writing fiction, inspired by Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing
• fitofpique's rules (in the style of McSweeney’s Lists)

Dealing with writer's block (from jolielaide on 7-Nov-10)

• Hack your way out of writer's block list from 43 Folders
• Stefan Sagmeister's Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far
• Miranda July's great Learning To Love You More project (especially the "assignments" section) is a terrific source for creativity-boosting prompts
• Brian Eno's wonderfully inspiring Oblique Strategies is a great tool for mixing things up in your creative process-- there's even a random Oblique Strategies Generator you can use if you don't have the deck!
• Things We Forget blog

Writing something - anything! (from fitofpique on 4-Nov-10):

• One Page Per Day is a very simple web typewriter that presents you with a single blank page each day, "freeing you from the tyranny of the infinite page." You will also receive a very polite daily reminder to write a new page, so this might be a good one to bookmark and try when wrisomifu is over for the year.
• 750 Words is another online tool you can use to establish a daily writing practice, but with 750 Words you'll be writing a very impressive 3 pages per day.
• Write or Die, a web application that encourages writing by punishing you when your fingers stop moving. Not for the faint of heart.
• If you're not a fan of writing online, you could try downloading Q10, a free, minimalist, customizable, full-screen text editor for writers. If you need help resisting the siren song of the internet (and who doesn't?), this might be just the thing for you.
• Lots of writers report using Google Docs so that they can write both at home and from work.
• Scrivener (for Mac)

Welcome to wrisomifu (from fitofpique on 1-Nov-10):

• How we roll.