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ForumThe Library: Reference DeskWriting Basics

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Writing Basics

#1 · September 7, 2016, 7:47 pm

Plot and World Building

Keira Marcos Podcast
How to Build a Fiction World by Kate Messner (TED Talk)

Articles on World Building

7 Deadly Sins of Worldbuilding
25 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT WORLDBUILDING
Tips on World Building for Writers — How to Make Your Imaginary World Real
Five Foundations of World-building

Templates & Worksheets for World Building

A World-Building Template for When You're on the Go by Belinda Crawford
Creating Your Magical World Workshop
World Building Worksheets from FutureImperfect
Fantasy World Building Questions
World Building Worksheet by Tanya Gold

Character Development, Plot and World Building Worksheets

Character Charts
Character Development
World Building Questions
Foundations of World Building
Plotting and Character Worksheets
Outlining Plot
Plot and Structure
Characters, Emotion, & Viewpoint

Spelling and Grammar

Grammar Girl - Quick and dirty tips delivered via blog or podcast
The Owl - Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
Tip of my Tongue - Helps you find the word that is eluding you
HyperGrammar - Provided by University of Ottawa
Writer's Digest - Various blogs and article to help improve your writing
Word Frequency Counter - Check for frequency of word usage in your text
AutoCrit - check for grammar errors, cliches and writing no-nos
The Elements of Style by Strunk & White

Point of View

Third Person Limited
Third Person Multiple
Third Person Omniscient
First Person

Punctuation

Quotation Marks
more coming soon...

Other

Bib Me - create citations and build bibliographies. Also acknowledge other people's work.

#2 · October 25, 2016, 4:09 pm

The Link for "Outlining Plot" now gives some sort of database error. Seems like maybe the forum it was on was cleaned off.

#3 · October 28, 2016, 12:39 pm

A couple more links that may be useful:

12 Questions to Ask Yourself About the System of Magic in Your Fantasy Novel

Five Simple Ways To Write Convincing Fight Sequences

How To Write About Sex Without Being Boring

#4 · October 29, 2016, 2:46 pm

While the link for "Outlining Your Plot" is dead it is available via the Wayback Machine:

Outlining Your Plot

#5 · October 30, 2016, 4:46 pm

I've found this very useful following your last two podcasts:

http://www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com/plot-outline.html

Daisy

#6 · August 14, 2017, 11:39 pm

The link for The Five Foundations of Worldbuilding is broken but it's here

https://www.malindalo.com/blog/2012/10/five-foundations-of-world-building?rq=World%20Building

#7 · August 21, 2017, 9:23 am

Here are some links I've found helpful. The "Most Common Writing Mistakes" is a goldmine - it has really helped me to improve my writing and recognize issues in places where I knew something in my scene was not working, yet I had previously been unable to pinpoint out why.

Mistakes and issues in your writing

Most Common Writing Mistakes

Five Signs Your Story Is Sexist

Five More Signs Your Story Is Sexist

Five Signs Your Story Is Racist

Four Behaviors Fiction Needs to Stop Glorifying

Improving the story structure

Breaking the Curse of Distant Perspective

Five Ways to Make a Great Story Even Better

Five Steps to a Great Plot Twist

Six Cliches to Watch Out for

What to consider while creating characters