Recommend your favorite writing reference sites
- Thread starter TerriO
- Start date
A few references for general writing a.k.a Writing 101
Writing 101- collected by MI6 member Lethal Weapon
11,000 baby names- a site for names. Note that they are not always accurate on nationality.
Wikitravel- A good resource for (real life) locations.
The Universal Currency Converter- This currency converter even converts obsolete currency(like francs).
The CIA World Factbook- This site has a lot of info, but it is a useful resource if you know what you are looking for.
Merriam-Webster Online- A dictionary that seems to also embrace "queen's" English as well as American English.
Free online Thesaurus
The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr.
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association of America Articles on Writing
Writing 101- collected by MI6 member Lethal Weapon
11,000 baby names- a site for names. Note that they are not always accurate on nationality.
Wikitravel- A good resource for (real life) locations.
The Universal Currency Converter- This currency converter even converts obsolete currency(like francs).
The CIA World Factbook- This site has a lot of info, but it is a useful resource if you know what you are looking for.
Merriam-Webster Online- A dictionary that seems to also embrace "queen's" English as well as American English.
Free online Thesaurus
The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr.
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association of America Articles on Writing
Quick question, does anyone know where to find the movie script to Star Trek 2009 film? I dont want to have to keep watching the movie over and over again. I mean I would enjoy that but it makes my writing slow.
http://www.chakoteya.net has transcripts of everything.
THANK YOU!!!! I was looking for this! If you were here, I would definitely give you a big hug! -Squeeze- =]
This character sheet generator is quite useful and suprisingly detailed
:
http://www.cthreepo.com/writing/character.shtml
The rest of the site is pretty good also
:http://www.cthreepo.com/writing/character.shtml
The rest of the site is pretty good also
goofy
Lieutenant
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OK...so you'll actually have to get a BOOK, a real, paperback book...but trust me, it's worth it.
It's called Checking on Culture, by Lee Killough, and it is an amazing (yet concise) worldbuilding guide for sci-fi and ANY type of writing you could do, that helps you get a handle on your world so that it's internally consistent and you know what may be different from our world. It has a "checklist" of areas to go through, that are an awesome help for brainstorming.
It's sold by a small press--Yard Dog Press--in Arkansas, but don't let that fool you. It's GOOD.
http://www.yarddogpress.com/Checking%20On%20Culture.htm
It's called Checking on Culture, by Lee Killough, and it is an amazing (yet concise) worldbuilding guide for sci-fi and ANY type of writing you could do, that helps you get a handle on your world so that it's internally consistent and you know what may be different from our world. It has a "checklist" of areas to go through, that are an awesome help for brainstorming.
It's sold by a small press--Yard Dog Press--in Arkansas, but don't let that fool you. It's GOOD.
http://www.yarddogpress.com/Checking%20On%20Culture.htm
The plot thins:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1069369.ece
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1069369.ece
Free writing tools:
I love this dictionary/thesaurus. ctrl/right click on any word in any application, instant meta-lookup:
http://wordweb.info/free/
Note Tab Light: free notepad editor that does heavy duty fast:
http://www.notetab.com/
Never want to go back to how it was before I started using these.
I love this dictionary/thesaurus. ctrl/right click on any word in any application, instant meta-lookup:
http://wordweb.info/free/
Note Tab Light: free notepad editor that does heavy duty fast:
http://www.notetab.com/
Never want to go back to how it was before I started using these.
Trelane
Lieutenant Commander
I'd like to recommend this site. It has some great stories there and the writers are pretty awesome in my book.
http://startrekspd.proboards.com/index.cgi
http://startrekspd.proboards.com/index.cgi
The Mary Sue Litmus Test further up the page is very witty.
Those can be fun.
Of course, whether or not your character is well written and sympathetic to the reader is not necessarily a factor of how a character scores on that test. Even the "dreaded" Author Insert can be done with style...especially if the character who is inserted into the story has to face real challenges, take the consequences of his or her actions, and even fail sometimes.
One of the two latest writing resources I've spotted recently have been...
How To Break A New Story From Scratch, a great series of videos by Dan Wells summarised by Neil Mossey (who has some great writing resources of his own) http://neilmossey.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/how-to-break-new-story-from-scratch.html
K
How To Break A New Story From Scratch, a great series of videos by Dan Wells summarised by Neil Mossey (who has some great writing resources of his own) http://neilmossey.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/how-to-break-new-story-from-scratch.html
K
This is a bit of tooting my own horn since I am one of the administrators, but the Star Trek Expanded Universe wiki has been going for the better part of the past ten years.
http://stexpanded.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
It's available for all of your fanfic needs without any of the canon restraints of Memory Alpha or Memory Beta. If you want to archive your story, go right ahead.
Seriously, go right ahead. Unfortunately, with Abrams' film being the only major Trek production in the past five years, our membership has seen better days and we could always use more members.
http://stexpanded.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
It's available for all of your fanfic needs without any of the canon restraints of Memory Alpha or Memory Beta. If you want to archive your story, go right ahead.
Seriously, go right ahead. Unfortunately, with Abrams' film being the only major Trek production in the past five years, our membership has seen better days and we could always use more members.
A search tool for the transcripts of all Star Trek episodes and movies on Chakoteya.net:
http://scriptsearch.dxdy.name/?page=info_content
This one can be pretty useful:
Mistakes to avoid when writing TOS
Amazingly, nobody's mentioned this one:
http://www.behindthename.com
(Also, the subdomain http://surnames.behindthename.com for, well, surnames.)
It's obviously only (mostly?) useful for human names, but it's really great for it. Drill down to specific ethnicities, look up meanings/origins/variations/derivatives, etc. There's also a random name generator which you can filter however you like, and the results are even clickable so that you can see the entry for that particular forename or surname.
[Edit: Compiled multiple posts into a single post.]
http://scriptsearch.dxdy.name/?page=info_content
This one can be pretty useful:
Mistakes to avoid when writing TOS
Amazingly, nobody's mentioned this one:
http://www.behindthename.com
(Also, the subdomain http://surnames.behindthename.com for, well, surnames.)
It's obviously only (mostly?) useful for human names, but it's really great for it. Drill down to specific ethnicities, look up meanings/origins/variations/derivatives, etc. There's also a random name generator which you can filter however you like, and the results are even clickable so that you can see the entry for that particular forename or surname.
[Edit: Compiled multiple posts into a single post.]
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