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Summary

The website provides a comprehensive master list of writing resources, including grammar guides, writing exercises, story development tools, and tips from renowned authors, aimed at helping writers enhance their craft and overcome writer's block.

Abstract

The author of the website, a writer who has experienced the challenges of the craft, shares a curated list of writing resources that they have compiled over three months. This list encompasses a wide range of tools and advice, from grammar and punctuation references to creative writing exercises and story perfecting techniques. It also includes resources for fiction writing, such as character name generators and world-building guides, as well as insights from famous writers like Stephen King and Paulo Coelho. Additionally, the list offers guidance on outlining, publishing, marketing, and combating writer's block. The author emphasizes the importance of reading and writing regularly and provides recommendations for books with exceptional prose to inspire writers. The goal of this extensive compilation is to assist writers of all levels in improving their skills and making the writing process more manageable and stress-free.

Opinions

  • The author believes that their personal list of resources is uniquely helpful, though they acknowledge that usefulness is subjective.
  • They suggest that writers should bookmark the article for future reference, implying its long-term utility.
  • The author values both learning from instructional content and from the prose of fiction, considering the latter to be primary for improvement.
  • They recommend a mix of free and potentially paid resources, including websites, YouTube channels, and books, indicating a comprehensive approach to writing improvement.
  • The author admits that while the list won't inherently make someone a better writer, it can support the consistent practice and reading that are essential for growth.
  • They highlight the importance of reading fiction with beautiful prose as a means to enhance one's own writing.
  • The author's personal experience with writer's block and the struggle to remember helpful resources motivates the creation of this master list, suggesting a practical solution to common writerly issues.

I Made A Writing Master List and Writing Has Never Been This Stress-Free

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

When you start out as a writer, it is common to be overwhelmed by the amount of content, information, and resources that are out there. Personally, when I was an amateur writer (I still like to consider myself one because there’s no end to learning), I wanted anything and everything that’d help me improve my craft.

I came across YouTube channels with informative videos about writing my first draft or blogs that provided helpful tips and tricks for getting published. Even some specific videos and posts that improved my grammar or made the outlining process a breeze. However, I’d usually forget I had access to these resources when I needed them the most. The worst part? I never bothered saving links so that I could find my way back to these posts and videos in the future.

A few months back, I had a bad writing day. Bad writing days or writer’s block are pretty common for writers, and that went for me as well. However, this was the first time in ages when I was super motivated to get some work done, and when I sat in front of my laptop, I went completely blank. I couldn’t put the ideas in my head on paper no matter what I did.

I remembered coming across a website that was a great tool to battle writer’s block, and I decided to give it a try. When I went to the search bar of my browser to type in the website, I was blank again. I kept looking at the blinking line on the search bar, trying my very best to recall the website but, I couldn’t.

I’m not proud of what I did after-I shut down my laptop went to the living room to play Spider-Man PS4.

What I am proud of, though, is that first thing the next morning, I opened my notes app and started listing all the tools and resources that I found earlier, and also researched for more new and helpful content. I started making this list back in October, and after three months of hard work, I finally have a list of blogs, youtube channels, specific posts, and videos that I found helpful when I first started out that is still helpful to me after all this time. Now I want to share that list with the rest of the world.

There are four things to keep in mind before I proceed and give you the juicy part-the part you came here for:

  1. I’m not sponsored by any of the blogs or YouTube channels that I’ll be mentioning here.
  2. This isn’t the first master list of writing guides on the internet. There are many more out there. However, none of them mentioned all the websites that I found helpful. Obviously, what I find helpful or informative will not be useful for everyone, but I genuinely believe that you’ll find something-doesn’t matter if it’s only one that will help you improve your craft.
  3. Maybe you don’t need this list of resources. Maybe you do. I would suggest you bookmark this article because it doesn’t hurt to have a guide just in case if you ever need it. It’ll only make the writing process less stressful when you know you’ll have a power-packed guide ready to help you if you’re ever stuck.
  4. Many subcategories in this guide will be specific to fiction writing. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing to take away for a nonfiction writer. Go through the entire article; there’s plenty here for you folks as well.

Now that we have these four pointers out of the way, here is the only list of writing guides you’ll need:

Photo by Kevin Bhagat on Unsplash

Grammar, Dictionaries & Punctuation

  1. Dictionary.com or Cambridge Dictionary
  2. How To Use English Punctuation Correctly
  3. How To Use A Semicolon
  4. How To Use A Semicolon-Ted-Ed (Video)
  5. How To Use A Comma In Compound Sentences
  6. When to use “me”, “myself” and “I”-Ted-Ed (Video)

Writing Exercises

  1. 100+ Creative Writing Exercises for Fiction Authors
  2. 50 Fantastic Creative Writing Exercises (Recommended)

Perfect Your Writing

  1. 9 PROSE WRITING TIPS FOR PERFECT PROSE STYLE
  2. 5 Easy Steps To Avoid Purple Prose
  3. Hemingway Editor or Grammarly

Perfect Your Story

  1. How to Write A Shippable Romance Novel
  2. How to Write Natural Dialogue in 11 Steps
  3. How Many Characters Is Too Many?
  4. How To Write A Killer First Page For Your Novel
  5. Creative Writing 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Creative Writing
  6. White Room Syndrome & How To Fix It (Video)
  7. How To Achieve Good Story Pacing (Video)
  8. How To Show, Not Tell: The Complete Writing Guide (Video)

Fiction Resources

  1. Generate Character Names
  2. Fantasy Name Generator
  3. Worldbuilding: The Master Guide (with Template)
  4. Plot Twist Generator
  5. How To Write A Magic System

Tips from Writers

  1. Stephen King’s Top 13 Writing Tips
  2. 7 Lessons on Writing and Creativity by Paulo Coelho
  3. Five Great Writing Tips from J.K. Rowling
  4. Neil Gaiman’s Top 13 Writing Tips

Writing Courses (Recommended)

  1. Brandon Sanderson’s 2020 Creative Writing Lectures BYU
  2. Hugh Howey’s Writing Insights

Outlining

  1. The Pros And Cons Of Plotting And Pantsing
  2. 7 Steps To Plan & Organise Your First Draft
  3. How To Plan Your Novel Using The Three-Act Structure
  4. Freytag’s Pyramid 101: Dramatic Structure Explained
  5. How Many Drafts Should You Write For A Novel?

Publishing & Marketing

  1. How to Market an Ebook on a $10 Budget
  2. How to Promote Your Book: 8 Sales-Boosting Steps for Authors
  3. How to Publish a Book in 2020: A Step-by-Step Guide for First-Timers
  4. Start Here: How to Get Your Book Published

Writer’s Block

  1. The Most Dangerous Writing App
  2. Freewrite
  3. 10 Ways to Beat Writer’s Block

Blogs About Writing

  1. Reedsy
  2. The Writing Cooperative
  3. Writer’s Edit

YouTube Channels

  1. Writing with Jenna Moreci
  2. Abbie Emmons
  3. iWriterly
  4. Alexa Donne

Books About Writing

  1. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
  2. Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content
  3. Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury
  4. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Books With Beautiful Proses

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”

― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Reading books that aren’t related to writing also helps improve writing. I believe that reading fiction with beautiful prose is much more important than reading books on writing. Reading fiction with beautiful prose is primary.

So, I went to Goodreads and read as many books on the ‘Beautiful Prose’ shelf as I could.

Here are my favorites:

  1. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
  2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  3. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
  4. Circe by Madeline Miller
  5. Beartown by Fredrik Backman
  6. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This list has everything you need, not only as a beginner but even if you are a writing veteran. To be blunt, this list will not make you a better writer. Sure there are guides to improve and enhance what you’ve written, however, that’s not what’s needed to become a better writer. You need to write and read every day for that.

The biggest advantage of this list is that it keeps me stress-free while I write.

If you have made it to the end of the article, make sure to bookmark it and get to work!

Writing
Writing Tips
Fiction
Freelance
Nonfiction
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