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The Ultimate Creative Writing Resource List

After writing for quite nearly my entire literate life ~and~ getting a creative writing degree, I've put together a comprehensive list of the sites and blogs that I've found most useful! Check it out, we've got—

An Insanely Detailed Character Creation Sheet: use this page to learn everything you've ever wanted to know about your character and more. It never fails to make me consider something about them I wouldn't have thought of otherwise.

A Character Avatar Creator: if you know what your character looks like and want a visual of them for notes/cork boards/Google Docs, this site will let you personalize them almost as much as a Sims game.

Pinterest: if you don't know what your character looks like and need inspiration, search for pictures of people who inspire you. Definitely have done this more often than not because I can never seem to pin down (pun intended) my character's exact appearance. Really helps with things you might forget while writing, like the shape of their eyebrows, how their hair lays or even how they stand.

A Map Creation Website: it's meant for fantasy worlds but I've used it for my historical fiction novels! Super customizable even without paying for it. It also saves your work in the free version, which has saved me when I forgot to upload copies to where I keep all my story stuff.

Grammar Girl: have any questions about where to put that semicolon or when to use italics? Grammar Girl is literally used by English teachers because it's that accurate. Check your work or put as many commas in that manuscript as your heart tells you to anyway. I've done both!

Grammarly: this is another way to check your grammar, especially if you use the Chrome extension. It automatically checks your basic grammar, spelling, and readability while you type in Google Docs or another browser-based text document. Note that it isn't foolproof and sometimes will suggest things that don't make sense. Use your best judgement when it highlights things!

Word Hippo: do you feel like you've used one word too often in your story? I use Word Hippo daily for both my creative and professional writing to avoid repetition. When I can't think of a synonym or antonym on my own, it has a billion suggestions for adjectives, verbs, nouns, etc. It can even help you find words that rhyme! Make your character a poet. Nothing can stop you.

Text-to-Speech Reader: it's always easier to catch minor line errors when you read something out loud, but if you don't feel like doing that, this site will read your story for you. There are multiple voices to choose from, so have fun listening to your hard-won stories while you edit.

Background Noise—Coffee Shop: I always lose myself in stories when I have this video playing in the background. It's like I'm in a coffee shop or cozy restaurant booth, but without spending money.

Background Noise—Tavern Fireplace: same vibes as a coffee shop, but with fireplace crackling.

Background Noise—Rain Shower: listen to rain patter against your window with some thunder in the background.

Background Noise—Cozy Fireplace and Rain Shower: combine your favorite sounds in this extra long video of a wood-burning fireplace and a distance rain shower. Perfect for anyone who doesn't want to hear extra loud thunder.

Background Noise—Forest Sounds: is your story taking place outdoors? These sounds will make you feel like you're in the woods with your characters.

Background Noise—Blizzard Sounds: constant blizzard winds may easily make you feel removed from the world so you can focus on your work.

Background Noise—Interior Plane Cabin White Noise: the pleasant hum of a plane cabin is what I often write to. There are no loud take-off, landing, or passenger sounds either.

Background Noise—Christmas Music From Another Room: I found this video when quarantining for Christmas with my husband in 2020. It ended up being one of my favorite writing background videos of that year. It features lyric-less songs on vinyl, plus muffled talking, which was a definite perk for the year+ we spent inside.

Background Noise—Lo-Fi: when I'm not sure what I want to write to, I use this playlist. It has the perfect low-key beats for writing less-intense scenes or working on plot, characters, mapping, etc.

Tumblrs With Fantastic Writing Tips: I have a few favorite tumblrs I loooooove and have followed on various blogs for many years. They regularly answer submitted questions and have organized tags, so if you're wondering about something, you'll likely find an answer by searching their blogs! Check out @fixyourwritinghabits @heywriters @wordsnstuff for expert-level help, guidance, and inspiration.

Tumblrs With Writing Prompts: while there are many prompt websites and blogs, my favorite prompt tumblrs are @daily-prompts and @creativepromptsforwriting for their variety and creativity!

Other resources...

Goodreads: consistently reading is part of exercising that creative muscle in your brain. Goodreads will help you keep track of everything you've read, are reading, and want to read. Find your next inspiration and the latest updates on what's coming out soon from your favorite authors.

Poets & Writers Contests: this site is always posting the latest creative writing contests for all genres. It also has free submissions, so don't worry if you can't afford entry fees for now.

The Writer: you'll also find great contests (both free and paid) at The Writer. Explore their site to discover other great resources too, like writing getaways and publishing tips.

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Enjoy and I hope this helps! Feel free to reblog and add other resources that you use for your writing. I'd love to find more!

#resources

random-questions-fairy

Oh my gosh. I just found this website that walks you though creating a believable society. It breaks each facet down into individual questions and makes it so simple! It seems really helpful for worldbuilding!

theredscreech

Heads up that this is a very extensive questionnaire and might be daunting to a lot of writers (myself included). That being said, it is also an amazing questionnaire and I will definitely be using it (or at the very least, some of it).

smitethestate

This is exactly the kind of thing I need because I’m not so much interested in worldbuilding, I just need a cool place for my characters to grow and interact in. Gonna try it another night when it’s not almost my bed time.

#for writing

wild-west-wind

You know what fantasy writing needs? Working class wizards.

A crew of enchanters maintaining the perpetual flames that run the turbines that generate electricity, covered in ash and grime and stinking of hot chilies and rare mushrooms used for the enchantments

A wizard specializing in construction, casting feather fall on every worker, and enchanting every hammer to drive nails in straight, animating the living clay that makes up the core of the crane

An elderly wizard and her apprentice who transmute fragile broken objects. From furniture, to rotten wood beams, to delicate jewelry

A battle magician, trained with only a few rudimentary spells to solve a shortage of trained wizards on the front who uses his healing spells to help folks around town

Wizarding shops where cheery little mages enchant wooden blocks to be hammered into the sides of homes. Hammer this into the attic and it will scare off termites, toss this in the fire and clean your chimney, throw this in the air and all dust in the room gets sucked up

Wizard loggers who transmute cut trees into solid, square beams, reducing waste, and casting spells to speed up regrowth. The forest, they know, will not be too harsh on them if the lost tree’s children may grow in its place

Wizard farmers who grow their crops in arcane sigils to increase yield, or produce healthier fruit

Factory wizards who control a dozen little constructs that keep machines cleaned and operational, who cast armor to protect the hands of workers, and who, when the factory strikes for better wages, freeze the machines in place to ensure their bosses can’t bring anyone new in.

Anyway, think about it.

wild-west-wind

Construction wizards to turn back time to root out wood worm and strengthen old buildings.

A wizard tailors who transmutes cloth into fully made clothes without seems and leaving behind no scraps

A wizard who works in public transit, timing out teleports with detailed schedules, time magic, and enchanted communications, sending dozens of people to far away cities for a day or work or leisure

A team of wizard gardeners tend to trees grown far outside their native range, and ideal climate, encircled with runes and fed potions to grow none the less

A wizard sits in their office in the aqueduct, re-casting the spells that allow its precious water to flow to the city uphill

A wizard fisher casts water repelling spells on the sailors and the stairs, keeps the hoist on the anchor from rusting, casts balls of heat that keep everyone warm below decks. Their real job is to herd fish together so they can be caught in single huge nets, and keep them cold as the boat returns to land.

There are so many possibilities outside of “stodgy academic who wears ugly robes” and “Very good holy man who helps everyone and the fact they’ve never had a job is never brought up” and “evil wizard toiling away on great evils in his evil tower in the evil country.”

ethanrayne

Wizards who come out and ward your home for you, like the magical equivalent of a home security system.

lierdumoa

See also:

[x]

can-i-make-image-descriptions

[Image ID/ Text reading: So tired of fantasy wizard boarding school where is the fantasy community college show??? No more teenaged magic savants I want mediocre adult wizards trying to reinvent themselves. /End ID]

#for writing

malglories

for all you writers out there:

donjon has tons of generators. for calendars. for demographics of a country and city. for names (both fantastical and historical) of people, nations, magics, etc.

this site lets you generate/design a city, allowing you to choose size, if you want a river or coast, walls around it, a temple, a main keep, etc.

this twitter, uncharted atlas, tweets generated maps of fantasy regions every hour.

and vulgar allows you to create a language, based on linguistic and grammatical structures!!! go international phonetic alphabet!!!

#for writing

heywriters

My collection of clothing references for writing.

floraone

Ya know what , I’m adding. Here are more useful references that I use;

#for sewing #kinda I guess?

yi-gege

Currently using patterns available on https://www.newhanfu.com/guide-turorial | making blog for troubleshooting and tutorial on the patterns

上面的鏈接是我縫衣服用的網站^^

因為網站上有某些東西沒有說明所以我希望我能幫忙一點，或者只是記錄我在做什麼

#sewing

hanfu-asks-deactivated20220126

How I Store and Clean my Hanfu

*Disclaimer!* This is the system that works for me. Depending on your closet space and the quality of your hanfu, there may be better methods. I don’t own anything super expensive (I think the most expensive piece I own cost ~650 yuan and I’m so afraid to wear it TT_TT) so if you have any really valuable hanfu, I recommend keeping it in a separate container.

General tips for storing hanfu (and most clothing tbh)

Keep the humidity in your closet low. A lot of textiles are susceptible to mold and bugs if placed in humid environments

Keep away from sunlight

Hang tops on hangers with curved shoulders to prevent hanger bumps. My fav hangers are these ones from Target

General tips for washing/caring for hanfu

Don’t over-wash! Most of the time I only need to wash the inner layers/zhongyi of my outfits and can wear outer garments many times before needing to launder them.

Use a lingerie bag when washing and use the delicate or hand wash cycle. You can even wash by hand in the tub or sink.

Use mild detergent in liquid form. I think pods are a bit too strong. Softener is not necessary but if you want you can.

Hang dry! Hanfu often has delicate embroidery that can snag in the dryer. Plus the fabric can discolor or even melt under high heat.

Wash with like colors. Despite the advances in textile dyes and color fastness, color bleeding still happens. Perhaps I’m old fashioned but I still prefer to sort my laundry, especially for hanfu.

For regular quns, mamianqun, and baidiequn, there are several ways you can hang them.

First, you need to decide how strong the waistband is compared to the heaviness of the rest of the qun. I used to hang all of my quns with regular skirt clips until I found out that the waistbands on my more delicate pieces were being stretched from the weight. I had to rethink my strategy.

Now to store some waist-high quns or badiequns, I first fold the waistband ends together inside out so the colorful layer is on the inside. Fold it in half again so the waistband is quartered. Then I drape the entire skirt over a hanger with a pant bar to keep the waistband in shape. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword as it’s possible to get a line across from draping it over the bar, but it’s easier to iron and fix that than a permanently distorted waistband. If you have drawers, you can also fold light-weight qun and place them in a drawer. Remember this is only done when the waistband is thin compared to the weight of the skirt. Quns with sturdier waistbands can be hung normally, although I do recommend the inside-out idea.

For mamianqun, I do the same thing where I fold the piece together inside out and then fold it again. Next I used index cards to add an additional layer between the clips to prevent clip markings. Mamianqun usually have strong enough waistbands to hang upright. However, if you have something very heavy, consider folding it and storing in a drawer.

The pink side is the outer side when worn.

Accessories like yunjian (I only have one) can be stored flat in a plastic bag. I put mine under the bed.

There’s a helpful post from NewHanfu about storing and caring for hanfu here

#for sewing #kinda

worldwithinworld

When you are writing a story and refer to a character by a physical trait, occupation, age, or any other attribute, rather than that character’s name, you are bringing the reader’s attention to that particular attribute. That can be used quite effectively to help your reader to focus on key details with just a few words. However, if the fact that the character is “the blond,” “the magician,” “the older woman,” etc. is not relevant to that moment in the story, this will only distract the reader from the purpose of the scene.

If your only reason for referring to a character this way is to avoid using his or her name or a pronoun too much, don’t do it. You’re fixing a problem that actually isn’t one. Just go ahead and use the name or pronoun again. It’ll be good.

roane72

Someone finally spelled out the REASON for using epithets, and the reasons NOT to.

futureevilscientist

In addition to that:

If the character you are referring to in such a way is THE VIEWPOINT CHARACTER, likewise, don’t do it. I.e. if you’re writing in third person but the narration is through their eyes, or what is also called “third person deep POV”. If the narration is filtered through the character’s perception, then a very external, impersonal description will be jarring. It’s the same, and just as bad, as writing “My bright blue eyes returned his gaze” in first person.

cimness

Furthermore,

if the story is actually told through the eyes of one particular viewpoint character even though it’s in the third person, and in their voice, as is very often the case, then you shouldn’t refer to the characters in ways that character wouldn’t.

In other words, if the third-person narrator is Harry Potter, when Dumbledore appears, it says “Dumbledore appears”, not “Albus appears”. Bucky Barnes would think of Steve Rogers as “Steve”, where another character might think of him as “Cap”. Chekov might think of Kirk as “the captain”, but Bones thinks of him as “Jim”.

Now, there are real situations where you, I, or anybody might think of another person as “the other man”, “the taller man”, or “the doctor”: usually when you don’t know their names, like when there are two tap-dancers and a ballerina in a routine and one of the men lifts the ballerina and then she reaches out and grabs the other man’s hand; or when there was a group of people talking at the hospital and they all worked there, but the doctor was the one who told them what to do. These are all perfectly natural and normal. Similarly, sometimes I think of my GP as “the doctor” even though I know her name, or one of my coworkers as “the taller man” even though I know his. But I definitely never think of my long-term life partner as “the green-eyed woman” or one of my best friends as “the taller person” or anything like that. It’s not a sensible adjective for your brain to choose in that situation - it’s too impersonal for someone you’re so intimately acquainted with. Also, even if someone was having a one night stand or a drunken hookup with a stranger, they probably wouldn’t think of that person as “the other man”: you only think of ‘other’ when you’re distinguishing two things and you don’t have to go to any special effort to distinguish your partner from yourself to yourself.

undertailsoulsex

This is something that I pretty consistently have to advise for those I beta edit. (It doesn’t help that I relied on epithets a lot in the earlier sections of my main fic because I was getting into the swing of things.) I am reblogging this so fanfic writers can use this as a reference.

A good rule of thumb: a character’s familiarity with another character decreases the need for an epithet (and most times you really don’t need one at all).

fierceawakening

Okay, so I scrolled through a lot of notes but gave up, so I may just not have found it, but:

Where is the reblog of this addressing when both MCs use the same pronouns and you feel weird about

“Bob looked at Phil a long moment. Then he reached out to take his hand.”

(This is a bad example of the thing. Although both instances of “he” refer to different people it flows naturally. I couldn’t think of a better one on the fly.

But I know I’ve run into sentences or paragraphs where it’s unclear who’s doing what, but it feels jarring to repeat the name so soon after you wrote it just before, as if your POV character somehow forgot who he was talking to/kissing/whatevering.)

I’m pretty sure that’s where the overuse of epithets actually came from—that when writing slash (and femslash but people write less of that, sadly) started to become a popular hobby, stories about gay couples were even less the default than they are now. So where the professional writing they were familiar with could just say “he did x and she did y” and not run into a problem, ficcers had to figure out whether “he did X and Phil did Y” felt smoother even if you said Phil three words ago, or if it felt less jarring to say “he did X and the astronaut did y” or whatever.

It’s a clunky solution and usually causes more annoyance than it solves. I’m not defending it (well, I kind of am. I think a few epithets can be okay, as long as they’re really few and far between.)

But I think it’s important to say not just “fanfic writers have mistakenly trained themselves to do an annoying thing,” BUT ALSO to finish the sentence with, “because heteronormative creative work and style guides didn’t teach them how to handle what would become a common problem. Fuck heteronormativity.”

#for writing

creativepromptsforwriting

Romance Masterpost

How to write it

How to write romance

Love Language - Showing, not telling love

Love Language - Showing you care

Honeymoon

Slow burn

Forbidden Romance (+ prompts)

Reasons for a break-up while still loving each other

How to create quick chemistry

How to write enemies to lovers (+ prompts)

How to write lovers to enemies to lovers

Arranged matrimony for royalty (+ prompts)

Date gone wrong

Academic rivals to lovers

Romantic Fall Date Ideas

How to write a polyamorous relationship

Milestones in a relationship

How to write age difference

Fluffy Kiss Scene

Reasons a couple would divorce on good terms

Prompt Lists

Romance Part I

Romance Part II

Bad ones, unrequited, break-up Part I

Bad ones, unrequited, break-up Part II

Two smart and also stupid people in love

Push and pull romantic prompts

Co-workers - Hate to love

Lovers to enemies

Love to hate relationship

Jealousy + Things said during sex prompts

Moving in together

OTP Christmas Prompts

Prompts about kissing

Romance Sentence Starters

Romantic Question Prompts

Fake Dating/Marriage/Engagement Prompts

Domestic Fluff Prompts

Fluff Prompts

OT3 Prompts

OT3 ideas

Royalty Prompts - Loyal companion x Princess Romance

Royalty Prompts - Knight x Princess

Roommates to lovers - Spending time together

Introducing partner(s) to family

Flirting Prompts - Oblivious and flirty

Unrequited Love Prompts

Romance Dialogue Prompts – Uncomfortable with affection

Matchmaking Prompts

If you like my blog and want to support me, you can buy me a coffee! 🥰

#for writing

thecaffeinebookwarrior-deactiva

Resources For Writing Deaf, Mute, or Blind Characters

Despite the fact that I am not deaf, mute, or blind myself, one of the most common questions I receive is how to portray characters with these disabilities in fiction.

As such, I’ve compiled the resources I’ve accumulated (from real life deaf, mute, or blind people) into a handy masterlist.

Deaf Characters:

Deaf characters masterpost

Deaf dialogue thread

Dialogue with signing characters (also applies to mute characters.)

A deaf author’s advice on deaf characters

Dialogue between deaf characters

Mute Characters

Life as a Mute

My Silent Summer: Life as a Mute

What It’s Like Being Mute

21 People Reveal What It’s Really Like To Be Mute

I am a 20 year old Mute, ask me anything at all!

Blind Characters:

The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Blind Characters.

@referenceforwriters masterpost of resources for writing/playing blind characters.

The youtube channel of the wonderful Tommy Edison, a man blind from birth with great insight into the depiction of blind people and their lives.

An Absolute Write thread on the depiction of blind characters, with lots of different viewpoints and some great tips.

And finally, this short, handy masterpost of resources for writing blind characters.

Characters Who Are Blind in One Eye

4 Ways Life Looks Shockingly Different With One Eye

Learning to Live With One Eye

Adapting to the Loss of an Eye

Adapting to Eye Loss and Monocular Vision

Monocular Depth Perception

Deaf-Blind Characters

What Is It Like To Be Deafblind?

Going Deaf and Blind in a City of Noise and Lights

Deaf and Blind by 30

Sarita is Blind, Deaf, and Employed (video)

Born Deaf and Blind, This Eritrean American Graduated Harvard Law School (video)

A Day of a Deaf Blind Person

Lesser Known Things About Being Deafblind

How the Deaf-Blind Communicate

Early Interactions With Children Who Are Deaf-Blind

Raising a DeafBlind Baby

If you have any more resources to add, let me know! I’ll be adding to this post as I find more resources.

I hope this helps, and happy writing! <3

thecaffeinebookwarrior-deactiva

Updated with more resources, specifically for characters who are blind in one eye.

#for writing

nanowrimo

Opposition Research: Where to Get the Best Info for Your Novel

Now that you’ve written the first draft of your novel, you may find that you need to do some extra research to fill in those plot holes and polish up your story. Today, author Jodi Compton is here to shine some light on researching elements of your story between drafts:

I’m a crime and mystery novelist. It’s a genre which requires a good deal of research—a daunting task many Wrimos will be tackling for the first time in December and beyond. Many of us research between drafts, writing the first version straight through as a ‘proof of concept’ rough draft. Writing “[research tk]” at strategic points in a first draft can be an essential part of getting to 50K.

For that reason, I want to share a secret I’ve learned about good research. At first, I’ll be using crime fiction as my example, but the lesson is applicable to all genres, which I’ll address. (Hang tight, you hordes of fantasy writers!)

Keep reading

#for writing

flythesail

Brainstorming for your wip:

everythingfox

Petting a mighty fine duck

ruby-white-rabbit

That is the most flawless duck I’ve ever seen

airportrunwaymodel

S M O O T H

learnchinese1

Chinese copybook generator

a simple tool to generate Chinese copybook

https://www.cchatty.com/tools/chinese-copybook-generator

chineselanguageblog

free copybooks generator for Chinese characters writing practice.

#other resources #chinese

dicksmasher

hazelbeewitched

expectation: i leave these browser tabs open, and they serve as a reminder to do the activities on those sites

reality: i become very good at ignoring browser tabs

keycrash

apparently ppl don’t know about waifu2x??? despite its… concerning name it’s literally the most convenient website i’ve ever come across as an artist

it allows you to resize artwork without it becoming pixellated. this is a MASSIVE help if you, for example, make lineart too small or something. it works best with things that 1. have no textures 2. have smooth lines 3. have cel shading, but it still works really damn well for things that don’t fit that profile

here’s an example: