Resources - Writing Advice

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"…there were definitely a few moments where I had to seriously question why I was researching 10th century Norse trade routes at 1 AM to write a fic for a canon that thought you could get to Malta from the Indian Ocean in the time between episodes, without going around Africa."

 

— Nonny, Jan. 3, 2014 

 

Except where noted, these are resources from outside FFA.

 

Legal Issues with Fanfic

 

• Intro to Copyright for Fic Authors
• Meme discussion: Fanfic and plagiarism (FFA thread)
• The Importance of Citation
• Legal Age of Consent
• Zoophilia and the Law

 

Advice for All Writers

 

General

• Reference for Writers
• Josh Vogt's Writing Resources - The Fiction Writer's Virtual Toolbox
• How Not To Write A Novel - chapter "Gibberish For Art's Sake"
• Writing Help Links
• Gaining more confidence in one's writing (FFA thread)

 

Beat Sheets

• Blake Snyder's Beat Sheet
• Jami Gold's Worksheets for Writers
• Storyfix's Beat Sheet Basics

 

Specific to Fanfic Writers

• Giant Writing and Fandom Resources List
• The Big List of FanFic Peeves
• Bad Fanfic! No Biscuit!
• DMOZ links list on writing fic
• So You Want to Write a Successful Fannish Essay
• How To Write Better Fan Fiction
• How to Write Almost Readable Fanfiction
• Fanfiction FAQs
• Dr. Merlin's Guide to Fanfiction
• A Guide to Understanding Fluffy Fanfiction
• Coming Out as a Fanfiction Author

 

Motivation

• Hourly Writing Prompts (Yes, one new prompt per hour.)
• Picture Writing Prompts (Only 1 daily update, but you get 3 images per post.)
• Darcy Pattison
• Juliette Wade: TalkToYoUniverse
• Janice Hardy: The Other Side of the Story
• Write or Die
• Writing Meters

 

Technical Skills (spelling, grammar, etc.)

• LousyWriter.com
• Guide to Grammar and Writing
• General grammar and punctuation FAQ
• Common errors in English language
• British-English homophones
• Purdue Online Writing Lab
• Overwriters Anonymous
• Taming the "Telling" Dragon
• Visuwords online graphical dictionary
• Daily Writing Tips
• How to Not Suck
• Writer's Knowledge Base
• Ways to vary your sentence structure (FFA thread)
• How to punctuate multi-paragraph monologues (FFA thread)
• “My prose is awkward and I don't know why.” (FFA thread)
• Writing non-abrupt endings (FFA thread)

 

Point of View (FFA threads)

• POV writing advice (Jan. 16, 2012)
• Writing question: 3rd person limited (Mar. 10, 2012)
• Writing outsider POV

 

Dialogue

• Punctuating dialogue
• Describing setting in dialogue (FFA thread) 

 

Plotting

• Prompt generators: Bleep0Bleep, Creativichee
• Timeline Generator
• Seventh Sanctum: Story element generators
• Chris Pound's story element generators
• Workshop/guide for writing casefic
• Various plot generators
• Randomly Generated Plot Ideas
• Hatch's Plot Bank
• A Dastardly Plot
• The Significance of Plot Without Conflict
• Pseudo-historical fantasy plot (FFA thread) 
• Where do you come up with plot ideas? (FFA thread, Dec. 21, 2011) Possibly the best response: "Stories are everywhere, nonny. All you have to do is stop judging yourself for where you find them." 

 

Titles

• Choosing a title
• The Theory and Practice of Titles

 

Etiquette

• Fanfic Etiquette
• Feed Me! Feedback and the Art of Zen

 

Betaing/Editing

• Hardcore Critique Advice
• Beta Readers' Bible
• The Sugar Quill: Beta Reader Responsibilities
• Perfect Imagination: Beta Reader Discovery
• Copyediting 101: The Style Sheet
• Proofreading Tips - Grammar Girl - Quick and Dirty Tips
• Proofreading

 

Submissions

• What not to submit to sf/f journals (early 2014)

 

Research, General

 

• Little Details LJ community
• Research: How to Do It: How to get the most out of Google searches, and where to find experts to ask (Little Details, yay!).
• Hit the Source: Research, bibliographies, and databases