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This page is still a work in progress, view the full list of resources on this google doc.
Writing Resources
Planning and Visualizing
- https://wonderunit.com/storyboarder/ (Wonder Unit Storyboarder - what it says on the tin, a tool for storyboards. They also have Characterizer and Script Assistant tools. Wonder Unit is targeted towards film, but the Storyboarder and Characterizer can still be very useful tools.)
- https://www.are.na/ (Are.na - a platform for organizing content and ideas)
- https://tiddlywiki.com (TiddlyWiki - a nonlinear notebook with a bit of a learning curve)
- https://www.mrinitialman.com/OddsEnds/Sizes/compsizes.xhtml(height comparison in ft or m, limit of 6 people)
- https://www.heightcomparison.com (height comparison in ft or m, limit of 6 people, editable objects)
- https://hikaku-sitatter.com/en/ (Hikaku-Sitatter - height comparison in m, limit of 10 people)
- http://hannahheath-writer.blogspot.com/2016/03/7-tips-for-choosing-your-characters.html (tips for character appearance)
- https://www.worldanvil.com/dashboard/ (World Anvil - world-building resources, you can basically make your own wiki for your world)
- https://donjon.bin.sh/ (Donjon - several resources geared toward tabletop rpgs but works fine for general worldbuilding, I’m especially fond of the Medieval Demographics calculator)
- https://azgaar.github.io/Fantasy-Map-Generator/ (Azgaar Fantasy Map Generator - my favorite map generator)
- http://arcadia.net/Cruinne/DnD/Articles/worldbuilding.html (a world-building checklist. Very extensive. From experience, don’t try to force yourself to get through all of it, you’ll just burn yourself out, but it is very fun and interesting if you enjoy world-building)
Files & Writing Software
- http://www.openoffice.org (Apache OpenOffice - free office suite software)
- https://mega.io/sync (MEGAsync - has 20GB of free storage, cross-platform)
- https://sourceforge.net/projects/scribus/ (Scribus - open source program for page layout and desktop publishing)
- http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter.html (yWriter - writing software that makes it easy to plan and track scenes)
- http://www.theologeek.ch/manuskript/ (Manuskript - an open source tool for writers geared toward organizing and planning)
- https://www.shaxpir.com/ (Shaxpir - writing software with tools for world-building notes, comments, attaching concept art, etc. and overall a nice program but lacks manual save)
- https://gottcode.org/focuswriter/ (FocusWriter - designed to be simple and distraction-free)
Words Are Hard
- https://www.powerthesaurus.org/ (Power Thesaurus - thesaurus, synonyms, antonyms, examples etc)
- https://readable.com/text/ (Readable - scored the readability of your writing)
- https://sourceforge.net/projects/graviax/ (Graviax - a grammar checker for English)
- https://www.verbix.com/languages/english (Verbix - conjugates verbs for English because English is a weird, weird language)
- https://relatedwords.org/ (find words related to each other)
- https://www.onelook.com/thesaurus/ (OneLook Reverse Dictionary - find that specific word you can't remember)
- https://chir.ag/projects/tip-of-my-tongue/ (Tip of My Tongue - helps you find that word you can almost remember by searching length, letters, and meaning)
- https://wordcounter.net (WordCounter - a website that counts your words, what words you use most often, how long it takes to read, and more.)
- http://www.writerhymes.com (Write Rhymes - finds rhymes for words)
- https://referenceforwriters.tumblr.com/post/74945313275/words-to-describe-someones-voice (describing voice)
- https://introvert-unicorn.tumblr.com/post/656997589088108544/words-to-describe-facial-expressions (describing facial expression)
- https://thewritepractice.com/vivid-verbs (using vivid verbs)
- https://www.fbiic.gov/public/2008/nov/Naming_practice_guide_UK_2006.pdf (A Guide to Names and Naming Practices - a guide to names from various cultures around the world)
- https://imgur.com/a/T7fT4km (screenshots of a post from the Linked Universe discord server on white room syndrome, i.e. showing location. Names have been crossed out for privacy.)
Writing is Hard
- https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/ (writing prompts by genre)
- https://your-fluffy-murder-writer.tumblr.com/post/653362213225119744/why-you-should-continue-writing-that-story (you should write that story)
- https://incorrect-quotes-generator.neocities.org/ (incorrect quotes generator)
- https://hannahheath-writer.blogspot.com/2016/11/9-different-descriptive-settings-to-use.html (irl settings that make you realize we've been living in a fantasy world all along)
- https://hgk477.tumblr.com/ (HGK477 Tumblr - the posts can get surreal or creepy, but for the most part it's like getting a hug from a positive cryptid)
- https://artprompts.org (ArtPrompts - prompts for art that can just as easily be used for writing)
- My own tips for writer's block:
- Browse Pinterest or somewhere else with lots of images for a while
- Listen to music
- Think of a scene from a book or movie you like, and imagine what your character would do if they were in that situation in addition, or instead, of the main characters
- Similarly, try picturing the scene as a movie
- Watch a good movie
- Just spend some time outside. Smell flowers, touch grass; not doing anything in particular, just be outside for a while
- Give yourself permission to be a bad writer, it'll take away a lot of the pressure
- Step away for a moment and do something completely unrelated
Reading
- https://www.instapaper.com/u (Instapaper - intended to save articles from websites. I use it to save fanfic from livejournal or tumblr)
- https://calibre-ebook.com/download (Calibre - an e-book manager)
- https://github.com/JimmXinu/FanFicFare (FanFicFare - a plugin for Calibre that downloads fanfiction from the url or updates fics you already have downloaded that have been updated since. Works with several sites including Ao3 and FFN. The plugin EpubMerge can be used with FFF to download an entire series as one book)
- https://github.com/JimmXinu/FanFicFare/wiki/BrowserCacheFeature (how to download fics with FFF that are from FFN or other sites that use CloudFlare)
- https://github.com/JimmXinu/EpubMerge (EpubMerge - a plugin for Calibre that merges multiple epubs into one)
- https://github.com/alexadam/save-as-ebook (Save as eBook - a browser extension to save a webpage as an ebook.)
- https://z-lib.org/ (Z-Library - the largest e-book collection)
Knowledge & Research
- https://sci-hub.41610.org (Sci-Hub - free access to scientific papers)
- https://scholar.archive.org (Internet Archive Scholar - research articles and scholarly documents saved in the Internet Archive)
- https://search.marginalia.nu (Marginalia Search - a search engine that favors text-heavy sites that aren’t cluttered by a lot of modern elements)
- https://amaecying.tumblr.com/post/59282734581/google-like-a-boss (advanced Google search tricks)
- https://www.wolframalpha.com/ (Wolfram|Alpha - a bot that will find answers to math & science questions)
- https://archive.org/details/Where_There_Is_No_Doctor_A_Village_Health_Care_Handbook_David_Werner/mode/2up (Where There Is No Doctor, David Werner - a book intended for areas where healthcare is not readily available, but is also a great resource for if you want some medical accuracy without going through a lot of medical jargon, and just useful stuff to know in general)
- https://bear--hearted.tumblr.com/post/187419929698 (different types of campfires and what they’re used for)
- https://lukewarmorangejulius.tumblr.com/post/661137767209828352/these-are-such-good-tips-its-crazy-how-many (basic cooking tips)
- http://lexicity.com (Lexicity - resources for ancient languages. I am in love)
- https://archive.md (an archive for web snapshots, also a convenient way to get around paywalls)
- https://cachedview.com/ (CachedView - search Google cached sites)
- https://github.com/nathan-149/hover-paywalls-browser-extension (Hover - a browser extension to remove paywalls)
- https://www.khanacademy.org/ (Khan Academy - tons of free online courses on various subjects)
- https://archive.org (Internet Archive - host of the Wayback Machine, but there’s a lot of useful and interesting stuff here to find aside from that)