NILTOY Resources for Writers
Quick Links:
Authors
Resources
World-Building
We have all been there; would-be writers, looking for guidance, as well as motivation to craft the best work that is within us. We ached and longed for help, support, advice, someone who has been there to show us the way.
Well, your dreams are about to come true! Step into the private worlds of published authors and teachers of writing, and discover the steps to crafting a fine novel or work of non-fiction. Everything you will need to know can be found within the pages below. Step through the portal and learn the arcane secrets to successful writing.
The links below have been carefully gathered and painstakingly researched to bring the best information together in one place. If you have suggestions for additional sites or other resources, please feel free to send them to us.
Authors
- Pamela Cleaver
- The late Pamela Cleaver's site, which will stay up indefinitely as a tribute to her talent and friendship. She strongly believed in helping others to become the best writers they could be, and selflessly gave of her knowledge. The founder of the CherriesNoMo group, she is the reason Jennifer, Ish and Terie got together in the first place. Here you will find an A-Z of writing tips for authors, as well as information about Pam, her work, and even some of her favorite recipes.
- Terie Garrison
- One of the founding members of NILTOY, Terie is a technical writer, has published some short stories, and has just signed a deal for a four-book series, the first of which is due for release in September 2006. Have a peek through her extensive site, which includes excerpts, synopses and tips for writers.
- Jennifer Crusie
- This lady's books are the original reason the Cherries got together! Big fans of Jenny Crusie, the CherriesNoMo idea originally sprung from a group of her fans who are also writers wanting to support each other through NaNoWriMo. Jenny writes romance. Find out everything you want to know about her here.
- Diana Gabaldon
- Author of the Outlander series, she kindly offers advice to would-be authors. Also excerpts from some of her books.
- Barbara Rogan
- Author of suspense/mysteries, she also offers a Writer's Corner with tips for writers.
- Holly Lisle
- After perusing her site for about 30 seconds, I came to the conclusion that I simply *had* to include this site in the NILTOY links page! She has everything! Sample chapters, resources, even a personal counter for her WIPs! Not to be missed!
- Lisa Gardner
- A best-selling author of mysteries and suspense, Lisa Gardner also offers "Tricks of the Trade," a section for writers. Well worth the visit!
Resources
- NaNoWriMo
- National Novel Writing Month - a project begun in July 1999 by Chris Baty, this concept has grown from a group of 21 friends to almost 60,000 participants in just 6 years! The main idea of this project is to write 50,000 words of a novel between 1 November and 30 November each year. With very few rules, and lots of enthusiasm, motivation and caffeine, anybody can participate, and almost anybody can hit the mark by the end of the month. Give it a try next November!
- NaNoEdMo
- National Novel Editing Month - a follow-on project to NaNoWriMo. Edit 50,000 words of a novel in the month of March.
- Writer's Digest Magazine
- The official Writer's Digest Magazine website. Full of all sorts of resources for writers.
- The 101 Best Websites for Writers
- Writer's Digest list for 2005. Links for just about any writing purpose, from resources to grammar tips to creativity nudges to how-tos.
- Preditors and Editors
- A guide to publishers and publishing services for serious writers
- On Thud and Blunder
- Poul Anderson's famous essay on writing.
- The “Snowflake” Process for Designing Novels
- An interesting concept for planning a work of fiction, especially useful for a project like NILTOY, since you actually have ten full months to complete the work. Based on the concept behind fractals, geometric progression, and other math-type stuff. "That’s how you design a novel—you start small, then build stuff up until it looks like a story.... part of the work is just managing your creativity—getting it organized into a well-structured novel."
- Fiction Factor
- Writer's site with many different resources and articles.
- Pegasus Nest
- Another nice site with various resources for writers, including a page on world-building tips.
- Fantasist
- Another nice site with various resources for writers, including a page with world-building resources.
- Writing-World.com
- Another site for writers with many tip and tricks for writers to improve their writing and get past writer's block.
World-Building
- Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions
- A set of questions by Patricia C. Wrede on all facets of creating a realistic world for your work of fiction. Not all questions will apply to your work (ex: religion, magic, "not earth at all," depending on your genre). A very interesting exercise, and the perfect tool for any author.
- Questions About Worldbuilding
- Another world-building resource page, mainly about why and how. But I had to include this site here simply because of all the other resources on this site! This will take some time to dig through all the good stuff. There is also a section on character creation on the site.
- Worldbuilding From The Ground Up
- Several authors discuss in a question/answer format questions on worldbuilding. Interesting insight into how different authors deal with creating worlds and writing stories.
- Open Directory: World Building
- Several links to additional world-building pages.
- The Ethics of World Building
- An interesting article, with excellent points to keep in mind while world-building.
Character Creation
- FARP: Character Creation Form
- A long list of questions to answer in order to describe your characters and make them more realistic people.
- Planet Neverwinter Character Creation
- A basic list of traits for RPG (Role Playing Games) character creation, which can be adapted for use with creating characters for a novel
- Argh Ink: Characters, Sharing Of
- Jenny Crusie's blog, this entry features another list of character-building questions.
- Character Creation Checklist
- Another great list of descriptors, this one specifically geared toward writers. Very thought-provoking!
- Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
- A list of basic human needs based on Abraham Maslow's famous pyramid diagram. This list may or may not apply to your characters, depending on how "human" they are (ex: an alien race may not need oxygen, but may need lots of iron in their diet to survive, so they tend to eat lots of iron-based clays or metal shavings mixed in their food). Note: Physical needs appear at the base of the pyramid, with safety, love, self-esteem and self-actualization appearing in order from lowest to highest set of needs. Important for figuring out what makes your character or a population tick.
- Create Believeable Characters
- About.com's Creative Writing for Teens offers many links to articles on creating believeable characters for creative writing and fiction. Although the site is directed at teen writers, the information should be applicable to just about anyone.
- Creating a Character
- Although this page relates to creating a character for a specific RPG, the method and information can certainly be adapted to creating characters for a work of fiction. Just ignore the points that don't apply.
- Character Creation by Jeff Heisler
- An interesting article on character creation for writers.