Resources
From Category: General Resources for Writers
19th Century Character Trope Generator
Whether you're writing a real or parody 19th-century historical melodrama, or seeking some levity while studying English literature, this algorithm will make you smile, and possibly alert you to cliché tropes in your work. What happens when the Troubled Squire who is in Love with a Duke meets the Mysterious Governess with Homosexual Tendencies? Let your imagination run wild.
500 Letters
Straddling the line between satire and a useful marketing tool, 500 Letters is a bot that generates "artist statements" based on your genre and minimal biographical details.
98 Free Online Writing Courses
The website CouponChief compiled this list in 2020, with links to numerous free online mini-courses and full semester classes in business communications, creative writing, technical writing, and journalism. Sponsors include well-known universities like Yale, Wesleyan, MIT, and UC-Berkeley, as well as online workshop providers like Creative Writing Now and The Crafty Writer.
A.Word.A.Day
Hosted by Anu Garg. Follow AWAD on Twitter.
Aesthetic Generator
This fun program on the website of informatics student Claire Purslow generates descriptions of niche styles that you can try out in your creative writing. Is your fictional character a "retro dad", a "futuristic skeleton", a "slime overlord", or something else that no one has ever seen before?
American Writers Museum: Literary Links
Based in Chicago, the American Writers Museum hosts exhibits and events to educate the public about great American writers, foster a love of literature, and mentor young writers. Their resources page features links to many reputable contests, book festivals, and literary societies.
Best Websites to Download Free Audiobooks
This list of the eight best sources for free audiobooks was posted in 2021 by the tech review magazine Make Use Of. Their recommendations include StoryNory, which specializes in kids' books, and Lit2Go, which offers public-domain books in text and audio versions.
BookLender
Like Netflix for books, BookLender (formerly Booksfree) allows customers to rent up to 15 books at a time, with no late fees, due dates, or shipping costs. Members can choose from more than 250,000 paperback titles or 36,000 audiobook titles.
Brain Pickings
This free, donation-supported website curated by Maria Popova collects links to the week's best articles on literature and culture. Sign up for their email newsletter to be notified when new pieces are posted.
Christopher Fielden’s Links to Writing Critique Services
Fiction writer and digital marketing expert Christopher Fielden's blog features a list of links to services, both free and paid, where you can get feedback on your writing.
Colrain Poetry Manuscript Conference
Unique conference designed to set poets with a manuscript-in-process on a path towards publication. Led by award-winning poets Joan Houlihan and Fred Marchant. Includes meetings with editors from leading poetry presses such as Tupelo Press and BOA Editions. The conferences are held several times a year in Harvard, Mass., and Colrain, a town in Western Massachusetts. Visit the Concord Poetry Center website for news of upcoming readings, seminars, workshops and conferences.
Critique Speak
This website aims to teach writers and readers how to give and receive constructive feedback, using short animated videos. They offer a contest to submit your own video script for their characters.
Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
Word-lovers will appreciate graphic designer and filmmaker John Koenig's list of words he's invented to express subtle, familiar, as-yet-unnamed feelings. Some are illustrated with video clips. What imaginative person hasn't experienced "onism: the frustration of being stuck in just one body, that inhabits only one place at a time"? E-books have their merits, but they'll never evoke "vellichor: the strange wistfulness of used bookstores".
DutchCulture/TransArtists
The website TransArtists posts listings of artist-in-residence programs from around the world. There are opportunities for writers, performers, visual artists, graphic designers, fashion and applied arts practitioners, and more. It is a project of DutchCulture, an Amsterdam-based center for international cooperation.
ECRITUREartefacts
Looking for a stylish, quirky gift for a literary friend? Award-winning poet and ceramics artist Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingde's online store features a wide selection of objets d'art with conversation-provoking lines like "A Good Poem Beats a Dollar Burger", "Chief of Your Own Conscience", "Dadaism Rules/Stinks", "Easter Bunny in Animal Soup", "Madder Than Plath", and "What Gender Performance". Available products include journals, glassware, aprons, totes, t-shirts, pencil cases, iPhone covers, MacBook sleeves, and fine art prints. See more products by Desmond at Lulu.
Elegy for a Dead World: A Game About Writing
Created by Dejobaan Games, Elegy for a Dead World features three beautiful post-apocalyptic landscapes based on poems by Shelley, Keats, and Byron. Gamers explore and restore the world by completing writing challenges. In this positive review at Big Think, screenwriter Laurie Vazquez shares how the game helped her overcome writer's block.
English in Progress
Written by educator and translator Heddwen Newton, English in Progress is a monthly Substack newsletter that tracks trends in slang, neologisms, and accents in English around the world. Each newsletter links to articles on quirky topics such as the year's most creative use of swear words in media, fake words created by AI, and how to win a spelling bee.
Found Polaroids
The website Found Polaroids is a curated collection of over 6,000 anonymous photos from the past. Readers are invited to submit a short story (250-350 words) based on one of these images. Or use them as the seed of inspiration for your own writing projects.
Getting Along with Grief
"Grief is more a recovery process than a traditional 'healing' process. It is not something we get over, as much as it is a set of experiences and emotions that we learn to live with, as we live on in our own lives." Check website for monthly themes for submissions.
Good Show Sir
This humorous blog based in the UK showcases examples of terrible book cover design for fantasy and sci-fi novels. Come for the laughs, stay for the ideas about what to avoid when designing your own indie book cover.
Hedgebrook Writers in Residence Program
Hedgebrook's motto is "Women Authoring Change". This retreat for women writers is located on Whidbey Island near Puget Sound, 35 miles from Seattle, WA. Each year, the retreat hosts about 40 women writers from all over the world for residencies of 2-6 weeks, at no cost to the writer.
Inked Voices
Inked Voices connects writers who are looking to form small groups (5-15 members) for critiques or accountability in meeting deadlines such as NaNoWriMo. Their software facilitates sharing of drafts and mark-ups. Each group has its own private online workspace.
Killer Nashville Writers’ Conference
Founded in 2006 by writer/filmmaker Clay Stafford, the Killer Nashville Writers' Conference provides unique educational and networking opportunities for genre and non-genre writers whose work contains elements of mystery, thriller, or suspense. Held in Nashville, TN in August, this four-day event boasts 500+ participants annually. Three crime-writing honors (Claymore, Silver Falchion, and John Seigenthaler Legends) are awarded during the conference.
Maralys Wills
Writing instructor, speaker, and memoirist Maralys Wills is the author of 12 books, including the writers' manual 'Damn the Rejections, Full Speed Ahead'. Visit her website and blog for writing advice and pithy anecdotes about juggling work and family life.
National Novel Writing Month
Jump-start that book you've been meaning to write, with this fun project that dares participants to write a 50,000-word novel between November 1 and November 30 each year. Read your fellow scribblers' work online, share ideas and encouragement in the forums, and write without looking back. NaNoWriMo's philosophy is "quantity over quality": what matters is that you overcome your fear of getting started.
Novel Writing Advice from Caro Clarke
Fiction writer Clarke offers helpful tips on plotting, pacing, revising, and other nuts-and-bolts aspects of creating a novel, in a series of 30 articles originally written for the online magazine NovelAdvice.
Origami Poems Project
The Origami Poems Project features instructions for creating your own mini-collection of poetry that can fit on a single sheet of paper, to be folded origami-style into book form. Participants' books, with folding instructions, are available for free download from the website. The project was founded by Rhode Island poets Lynnie Gobeille, Jan Keough, and Barbara Schweitzer, who also distribute the featured books as free gifts at local libraries, coffee shops, art centers, and bookstores.
Quarantine Public Library
In response to the closure of public libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, artists Katie Garth and Tracy Honn created Quarantine Public Library, a free digital collection of mini-books by illustrators and writers. Books can be printed on one sheet of paper and folded into 8-page folios, similar to 'zines.
Queer in Color
Queer in Color is a site to showcase fiction books featuring LGBTQ characters of color. The founders are romance writers but the site is open to all genres. They will add books to the website for free, and charge a small fee to promote them on social media.
Reedsy’s 50 Best Writing Websites of 2023
Publishing-services company Reedsy names its favorite sites for the inspiration and business of writing, in this list updated in 2023. Included are sites for self-publishing guidance and services, finding agents, craft advice, industry news, and scam-busting.
ScreenplaySubs
Compatible with Chrome or Firefox, ScreenplaySubs is a browser extension that lets you stream the screenplay alongside the Netflix film you're watching. It's a real-time way for budding dramatists to learn how the printed page is translated into acting and directing. Good for viewers who like closed-captioning, too.
Seaside Writers Conference
The Seaside Writers Conference for poets, fiction writers, and screenwriters is held annually in May in Seaside, FL, an environmentally conscious planned community. Applications are due in February. It features a full week of intensive writing workshops, one-day seminars, school outreach programs, and social events, with well-known authors as headliners.
Self Editing Blog
Brief articles by professional editor John Robert Marlow offer advice on spotting and fixing common problems with your novel, screenplay or nonfiction book. Topics include character names and the proper use of flashbacks and coincidences.
Serial Box
Launched in 2018, Serial Box is an app delivering specially-written novels in installments that take about 40 minutes to read. Rather than chopping up existing full-length works, Serial Box features fiction that was designed for the serial format, like episodes of a TV show. Their catalogue of diverse and best-selling authors includes Mary Robinette Kowal, Michael Swanwick, Malinda Lo, Barbara Samuel, Ellen Kushner, and Delia Sherman.
SlashGear’s List of Best Websites to Find and Download eBooks for Free
SlashGear, a technology news site, compiled this list in 2023 of their favorite sites for free and low-cost e-books and audiobooks. These include OverDrive, an e-book lending library, and LibriVox, which offers free audio versions of public-domain books.
Small Press Economies: A Dialogue
In this 2023 article in Chicago Review, CSU Poetry Center director Hilary Plum and poet Matvei Yankelevich (co-founder of Ugly Duckling Presse) examine the barriers to small press books being carried in bookstores or featured in major review outlets. Among other recommendations, they call on independent bookstores to do better at supporting small press titles.
Standard Ebooks
Standard Ebooks is a volunteer-run nonprofit that converts public domain literary classics to attractive, professionally formatted e-books that are compatible with the most popular e-reader platforms (iBooks, Kindle, and Kobo). If you don't see the book that you want, look for a plain text version at Project Gutenberg and contact Standard Ebooks for help converting it to their format.
StoryADay Writing Prompts Archive
StoryADay is a twice-yearly writing challenge where participants complete one short story per day in May and September. This website is the online hub for participants, offering inspiration and tips to keep the momentum going. The site includes an archive of prompts from past challenges, going back to May 2010.
Storymatic
Storymatic is a box of writing prompts that doubles as a party game. The box of 360 cards has a shape and layout similar to Trivial Pursuit clue cards, with each card featuring a short phrase for a character trait or situation. Pull random cards from each section to generate an impromptu storytelling session or ideas for writing a scene. Other products in this series inclue Storymatic Kids (simpler language and concepts for ages 5+) and Rememory, which can be used for memoir-writing or icebreaker conversations at a party or reunion.
Tania Pryputniewicz: Author, Teacher, Tarot Muse
Poet Tania Pryputniewicz is the author of Heart's Compass Tarot. She offers critiques and online workshops that combine ekphrastic poetry, Tarot journaling, and creating visual art.
The Character Therapist
Having trouble with your fictional characters' motivations? Wondering how to depict mental illness accurately? Jeannie Campbell, LMFT, will sit your imaginary friends down on the couch for a diagnosis.
The Choosing America Project
Award-winning writers and filmmakers Ricky and Lia Friesem are compiling authentic dramatic anecdotes (1,500-3,000 words) from immigrants who chose to live in America. They hope to turn some of these stories into short films that will be shown in the movies and broadcast on TV. "We are looking for those special moments, encounters, surprises, experiences, disappointments, which vividly convey what it's like to be an immigrant in America. The good, the bad, the sad, the miraculous, the joyful—every anecdote is welcome as long as it's authentic and well told." See submission guidelines on website.
The Literary Handyman
Fantasy novelist Danielle Ackley-McPhail's blog shares practical advice about structuring a story, marketing your work, and polishing your prose.
The Short Story Reading Challenge
This group blog features reviews of short stories and story collections, plus essays on the form.
The United States of Queer Bookstores
This 2024 blog post from Red Hen Press, a prestigious publisher of literary prose and poetry, recommends 50 independent bookstores—one in every state—that are owned by LGBTQ folks or active allies to the LGBTQ community.
The Write Life’s 100 Best Websites for Writers in 2019
The Write Life, a writing resource site, compiles this annual list of their favorite websites in 10 categories: freelancing, inspiration, writing tools, blogging, creativity and craft, editing, podcasts, marketing and platform building, writing communities, and publishing.
The Writer’s Hotel at The New Guard
The Writer's Hotel is the teaching and editorial arm of the literary journal, The New Guard. The Writer's Hotel hosts a writing conference in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry each June at a "floating campus" in Midtown Manhattan between three hotels with a literary history: The Library, The Algonquin, and The Bryant Park Hotel. The conference includes virtual pre-study with Editors Shanna McNair and Scott Wolven and on-site workshops, lectures, agent speed dating, literary events, and student readings in the city at KGB Bar Lit, The Bowery, and Book Culture. Via The Writer's Hotel, TWH editors also offer a year-long course called "Private Study", which functions much like a low-residency creative writing course.
Tweetspeak Poetry
Tweetspeak is a friendly online poetry community with a clean, sophisticated design. They offer a variety of features to help people engage with poetry, including writing prompts, book clubs, audio recordings, and craft essays.
Where to Find Free Short Stories Online
This 2019 list from the literary website BookRiot links to high-quality online sources for free short fiction, including prestigious journals such as Granta, Guernica, Virginia Quarterly Review, and American Short Fiction, as well as leading sci-fi and fantasy sites like Tor.com and Lightspeed Magazine.
Writecorner Press
Online publisher and writers' resource site offers a selection of well-crafted short fiction and nonfiction by emerging and established writers, including the winners of Writecorner's E.M. Koeppel Short Fiction Award. The site seems to have ceased being updated in 2014 but the archives are worth reading.
