Places to Start
The Procrastinating Writer's Blog is also a pretty useful tool and although it's now it's anthologised rather than active, it still holds a ton of guidance tools that can help you scribbulous few up into the lofty world of productivity.
Helium is another good platform for people who are interested in journalism and reviews and reviewing as well as creative writing. It's only as rewarding as you make as they give you credits for ever review you make of other people's work and you can only have your writing looked at if you earn those credits. It's a great place for article writers, however, and those who are willing to dedicate their time to the place.Once You're Writing
Storyfix - is a blog for those who want to 'get real about their writing'. It offers tough-love advice on the process that a novel has to undergo in order to even consider publication. It also gives advice on what sells, which publishers may be best for your work and other such important details that the inexperienced Scribbler hasn't yet come across yet.
Publishers Weekly - is a great place for book reviews and information on what's going on in publishing news. For example, as I write this there's a headline story about how Barnes&Noble are going to refuse to shelve books published by Amazon... and nor will Books-A-Million. It also offers information on competitions, authors and much more so it's a great place to bookmark especially if you want to keep ahead of the game and understand who you're going to be publishing with in the future.
The Writers Digest should be on every aspiring writer's list of places to visit. In fact, it's probably smart for every writer out there to check it out. Their tagline is 'Write Better. Get Published.' and if you think about it, they're not promising anything, they're stating a fact. However, their site is geared towards encouraging and aiding people like you into doing just that. There's so much that's useful on there it's hard to actually put into words. A MUST VISIT to anyone seriously considering publication.
Writer Unboxed is another one about the 'craft and business' of fiction writing. It was voted one of The Writer's Digest's 101 top writing websites so you can see that it has credentials. It's a practical site founded and produced by like-minded authors who wanted a place to voice their opinions on our wordy world. It's entertaining and considers many of the implications of the modern on the literary.
Publishing Trendsetter - although it's aimed at those who want to become publishers rather than writers, it can be really useful to read up on what publishing houses are looking for. We're the next generation to strike out in the world of books and it's a constantly moving industry. Make sure you're not left behind by staying alerted to what they're looking for. Genre and Style
Many sites, like Writing.com will offer you newsletters and group discussions where you can find out more about your preferred genre/s but here are a selection of blogs and sites from around the internet for people who prefer a more exclusive source. Remember, when it comes to genre, there are two main types: Fiction and Non-Fiction, the first step is to decide what angle your going for.
Discovered through my sister, there's Chick Lit is Not Dead, which dedicates itself to the world of 'it'-crowds, happy endings and high fashion. It's highly entertaining and gives you some insights into the writing of this particular genre. Even better, it has a tonne of links to other blogs that are also all about Chick-Lit.
One to help you with style would have to be Wordplay. Claiming to 'help writers become authors', this is a blog after my own heart. I found when I was trying to figure out how I could improve when I felt my writing was stagnating. Kim Weiland, the writer who started it all, offers brilliant advice and you can use her other site too if you want a bit of mentoring. A great article is 'What Non-Fiction Writers can Teach Novelists'.
My personal perusal favourite is TV-Tropes. Whilst not originally about writing per se, it's developed to encompass many different media, giving you humorous examples of the 'tropes', NOT cliches, commonly found in our favourite shows as well as examples from fiction and non-fiction. You can literally bounce from idea to idea, looking at character types such as the Anti-Hero, which might then lead you to Foe Yay (a term meaning sexual tension between enemies ie Sherlock/Moriarty) which might lead you to Byronic Heroes (think Lord Ruthven of The Vampyre or The Count of Monte Christo or even Mr Darcy and you've got it) and then you might become intrigued by that weird phrase in the side bar and discover an entirely new brand of awesome. It'll give you insights into what sort of plot your creating, what sort of character you're developing and hopefully alert you to the presence of terrible crimes such as Mary-Sue/Stus. A word of caution for the wise, however, pretty much anyone can add to this site (I say pretty much because there are a number of computer-less people in this world and a greater number of illiterates so they're unlikely to contribute, if they did it would likely look like skdhfsidufhruIOFHSODIFHAO), so use wisely young Scribblers. Also, much of if has been tinged with the bright smiles of anime so don't be too put out if you find lots of references to obscure Japanese characters. By Authors and Agents
 |
| Elizabeth The Red Pen of Doom Richards |
The Red Pen of Doom is a blog written by Elizabeth Richards author of The Black City Chronicles. She offers tips on writing as well as giving interesting observations on publishing and the writing process. A must read is her account of 'how to write a second novel'.
Janet Reid, Literary Agent. remains one of the best blogs about writing out there. She's a 'tough-talking' literary agent sharing anecdotes and advice from her experiences in the big bad world of book publishing. A must read.
 |
| Jane Friedman's Electric Life |
One of the most useful ones that I've come across and one of the blogs I make the most of is Jane Friedman's blog. She has a great page dedicated to Other Literary Fiction Blogs which was how I found her. A lot of what she writes about is the future of publishing and the influence of media, technology and the internet. Well worth reading. She's a well-travelled speaker too so if she's in a town near you, no harm in attending. Another great thing about Friedman is that she has a resources page that links you to self-help pages for writers, because let's face it, many of us are quite happy to hide behind out screens and sheets of paper.
Competitions
COMING SOON.
Other Helpful Blogs To Get You Going
PhD in Creative Writing by Kelcey Parker is quite a handy one as she offers her own experiences and stories for your perusal.
