Resources for Writers

I’ve put together a list of resources I’ve used or that have been recommended to me by great authors to help me with my writing, editing, and submitting. What others do you use? Share in the comments!

Books

• On Writing by Stephen King
• The series of writing thesauruses by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi (and their blog)
• Writer’s Market (expensive – borrow it from the reference section of your library)
• Elements of Style by Strunk & White
• Writer’s Digest books and website
• Chicago Manual of Style
• Conan the Grammarian
• The Writer’s Toolbox by Jamie Cat Callan
• The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler
• Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder
• Book Architecture by Stuart Horwitz
• Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell

Blogs & Websites

• Career Authors
• Kristen Lamb’s blog
• Query Shark
• Nelson Literary Agency/Pub Rants
• Evil Editor
• Agent Query
• Writers Helping Writers
• Terrible Minds
• Writers in the Storm
• Writing Forward
• Blood Red Pencil
• Grammar Girl
• Thesaurus.com
• Blog.reedsy.com/Worldbuilding Guide
• Dictionary.com & Merriam-Webster

Writing Groups

• RMFW (duh!)
• Sisters in Crime
• Mystery Writers of America
• Rocky Mountain Mystery Writers
• Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI)
• Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA)
• SFWA Middle Grade and Young Adult Writers
• Western Writers of America
• Horror Writers Association
• Romance Writers of America (RWA)
• Passionate Ink (special interest chapter of RWA for erotica writers)

Copyright articles

• https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf
• https://fairuse.stanford.edu/2002/03/11/basic-copyright-principles/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright
• https://copyrightalliance.org/news-events/copyright-news-newsletters/copyright-small-claims/
• https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/books/nora-roberts-plagiarism.html

Editors and agents, submitting, queries, synopsis

• Preditors and Editors: https://pred-ed.com/
• https://www.publishersmarketplace.com/ (paid)
• https://agentquery.com/publishing_mp.aspx
• http://www.writersmarket.com/ (paid or library)

Filler/crutch words to watch out for

That               Just                Only               Really             Slightly          Almost         Seem(ed)

Perhaps         Maybe           Simply            Somehow       Absolutely    Basically        Actually

Now              Sort of            Kind of           A little            Very              So                  Some

Like               Think              Feel/Felt         Then               Back             Turn               Look

Stuff              All                  Sudden(ly)      Literally          Quite            In order         Rather

A little/bit/lot

Sit down/Stand up (can’t sit up or stand down)

Nodded/Shook head (can’t nod/shake anything else)