Ten Things for the NaNoWriMo'ers
Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.
1. Characters: Novel I: Imagine -- my post about the three questions I use to create characters and conflicts; Holly Lisle's article How to Create a Character; and Kleimo's Random Name Generator, aka my favorite character name generator on the web.
2. Dialogue: Peder Hill's article on writing effective dialogue; Holly Lisle's Dialogue Workshop; John and Marcia tackle the problems with overly-polite dialogue in my post Protagonism.
3. Linkage: Freeware & Online Tools for Writers -- my lengthy link list of freeware, shareware and online tools; Margaret Fisk's massive and enormously helpful library of writing links; and Seventh Sanctum, my favorite online generator/writing tool site.
4. Miscellaneous: generate your own languages and a lot more with the scripts over at Chris Pound's Language Machines; break a writing block with The Bonsai Story Generator; get free writing software designed by a writer (science fiction author Simon Haynes) over at Spacejock Software; and for those moments when you've got a concept but no word for it, stop by Onelook's Reverse Dictionary.
5. Notebook: Another ten list for the Writer's Notebook; also my own Revised Novel Notebook -- a how-to project that still needs some revising and refinement, but that has my plot templates, character worksheets, example synopses, etc. To download directly in .pdf format, click here.
6. Outlining: Novel Outlining 101 -- a simple method I use to create a novel outline by timelining events as they will happen in the story.
7. Plotting: my virtual workshop Plotting with Purpose also has some links to other online articles, workshops and so forth on plotting; this ten list has plotting links and freeware.
8. Scenes: Scenes: The Building Blocks of Novels by Kim Kay; my post Scene Building 101 on how I compose novel scenes.
9. Setting: My post about online generators for Place Names; my post World Check on worldbuilding and how much I do.
10. Writing Inspiration: my post Courage; Creativity Portal's page of writing prompts.
Showing posts with label writing links. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing links. Show all posts
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Monday, April 02, 2007
Dic Ten Ary
Ten Things for the Dictionary Lovers
1. The Biographical Dictionary contains the names and short biographies of "more than 33,000 notable men and women who have shaped our world from ancient times to the present day."
2. Author Craig Conley offers a number of unusual dictionaries online, including ones with All-Vowel Words and All-Consonant Words.
3. If you need a specific type of dictionary but can't find it, check out Glossarist.com -- they collect links to different dictionaries, glossaries and such on the web.
4. When a stun gun just won't do: the Gun Dictionary, the Knife Glossary, the Japanese Sword Visual Glossary and (sort of) a dictionary/encyclopedia of explosives, Flash! Bang! Whiz! - An introduction to propellants, explosives, pyrotechnics and fireworks.
5. Dragging 9,000 obscure English words kicking and screaming into the light of day: Luciferous Logolepsy.
6. The Phrontistery's collection of word lists includes some obscure ones over at the International House of Logorrhea.
7. There are a ton of quotation dictionaries out there, but I like Mark Fryer's Quotez.
8. Get your slang on with the Urban Dictionary
9. Words = art: The Visual Dictionary.
10. The last word in words, YourDictionary.com, has a great page of links to specialty dictionaries.
Finally, if you'd like to simultaneously search 931 dictionaries with a total of 7,563,812 words, try the dictionary search engine OneLook.
1. The Biographical Dictionary contains the names and short biographies of "more than 33,000 notable men and women who have shaped our world from ancient times to the present day."
2. Author Craig Conley offers a number of unusual dictionaries online, including ones with All-Vowel Words and All-Consonant Words.
3. If you need a specific type of dictionary but can't find it, check out Glossarist.com -- they collect links to different dictionaries, glossaries and such on the web.
4. When a stun gun just won't do: the Gun Dictionary, the Knife Glossary, the Japanese Sword Visual Glossary and (sort of) a dictionary/encyclopedia of explosives, Flash! Bang! Whiz! - An introduction to propellants, explosives, pyrotechnics and fireworks.
5. Dragging 9,000 obscure English words kicking and screaming into the light of day: Luciferous Logolepsy.
6. The Phrontistery's collection of word lists includes some obscure ones over at the International House of Logorrhea.
7. There are a ton of quotation dictionaries out there, but I like Mark Fryer's Quotez.
8. Get your slang on with the Urban Dictionary
9. Words = art: The Visual Dictionary.
10. The last word in words, YourDictionary.com, has a great page of links to specialty dictionaries.
Finally, if you'd like to simultaneously search 931 dictionaries with a total of 7,563,812 words, try the dictionary search engine OneLook.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Argh
The winner for the VW#4 Mega Left Behind Goody Bag is Zillin, who should e-mail me at LynnViehl@aol.com with your full name and ship-to address.
As for the argh, no, it's not talk like a pirate day or anything. In the last three days:
--Two of my cats, Jak and Jeri, have the uber-hairball blues and both are completely silent when they leave a deposit for me. Usually in a high-traffic area where I step on it first. Neither will swallow the treatment stuff the vet prescribed without use of claws. My forearms look like I've gone ten rounds with a Cuisinart.
--My car A/C went bye-bye and nearly took out the compressor (thank you, Ford, for putting that florescent dye in the freon charge at the factory, but next time do you think you could make it a color that doesn't look exactly like antifreeze?)
--My dryer has stopped drying clothes. It makes a new, kinda catchy thumping sound, though. The dead garage door opener makes a nice clothesline anchor. The appliance repair service may or may not get here before we run out of clean towels.
--The garage door opener died because it blew out a coupling that takes a week to get from the only parts place in town. Which must be changed out while I stand on a ten-foot ladder and hold a flashlight in my teeth, because the appliance repair service doesn't do garage door openers.
--I have one week to finish school shopping, no school supply lists yet, and two kids who are between sizes, have my duck feet and must wear wide-toed shoes of a very specific color and style or "everyone will think I'm a dork, Mom." P.S., they both utterly loathe trying on things.
I don't mind managing a crisis or two. Even three. But five? Calgon better take me away tonight or else.
I will catch up with the VW questions this week and add links to them to the sidebar. In the meantime:
Required reading for all submitting writers: How Not to Piss Off An Editor.
ABA, BookSense and booksellers: The Written Nerd's guest bloggers have some cons and pros.
Amazon.com rank watchers can now go seriously nuts while comparing the 2% of their sales to someone else's 2.1% with Title Z.
And one for Scott Oden and the other ancient history lovers out there: Michael (no relation) Kelly's Alexander the Grate.
As for the argh, no, it's not talk like a pirate day or anything. In the last three days:
--Two of my cats, Jak and Jeri, have the uber-hairball blues and both are completely silent when they leave a deposit for me. Usually in a high-traffic area where I step on it first. Neither will swallow the treatment stuff the vet prescribed without use of claws. My forearms look like I've gone ten rounds with a Cuisinart.
--My car A/C went bye-bye and nearly took out the compressor (thank you, Ford, for putting that florescent dye in the freon charge at the factory, but next time do you think you could make it a color that doesn't look exactly like antifreeze?)
--My dryer has stopped drying clothes. It makes a new, kinda catchy thumping sound, though. The dead garage door opener makes a nice clothesline anchor. The appliance repair service may or may not get here before we run out of clean towels.
--The garage door opener died because it blew out a coupling that takes a week to get from the only parts place in town. Which must be changed out while I stand on a ten-foot ladder and hold a flashlight in my teeth, because the appliance repair service doesn't do garage door openers.
--I have one week to finish school shopping, no school supply lists yet, and two kids who are between sizes, have my duck feet and must wear wide-toed shoes of a very specific color and style or "everyone will think I'm a dork, Mom." P.S., they both utterly loathe trying on things.
I don't mind managing a crisis or two. Even three. But five? Calgon better take me away tonight or else.
I will catch up with the VW questions this week and add links to them to the sidebar. In the meantime:
Required reading for all submitting writers: How Not to Piss Off An Editor.
ABA, BookSense and booksellers: The Written Nerd's guest bloggers have some cons and pros.
Amazon.com rank watchers can now go seriously nuts while comparing the 2% of their sales to someone else's 2.1% with Title Z.
And one for Scott Oden and the other ancient history lovers out there: Michael (no relation) Kelly's Alexander the Grate.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Alfred's Ten
An observation for those of you expecting Madam's imminent return: considering the amount of profanity being issued from behind a certain locked door at this hour, I would not place a serious wager on it.
So that your stop here was not a complete waste of your valuable internet time, here are
Ten Items Madam Would Find Hard to Resist
1. For those of you with a street credibility deficit, or merely unadorned knuckles, do have a go at the GlassGiant.com's Bling Generator.
2. The mind boggles over the Automatic Prose and The Emily Dickinson Random Epigram Machine at Logopoeia.com.
3. Correct nature's unfortunate mistakes -- or give a nemesis a poufy blonde afro and Carmen Diaz lips -- with Getmakeovers.com's free virtual makeover.
4. Write your name or phrase as would an ancient Egyptian at Hieroglyphs.net.
5. Add quite nifty dimensional special effects to your image online at Chami.com's Image Embellisher.
6. GlassGiant.com also offers a random maze generator (Madam is inordinantly fond of labyrinths.)
7. Incompetech.com offers an interesting Name Generator.
8. Language is a Virus provides the instant muse gratification of an automatic Poetry Generator.
9. Especially for Dr. Hoffman, who shares Madam's love of cooking, meal suggestions from Random Food Generator.
10. Finally, why should one work when one may generate Work Haiku?
I am in debt to Gerard at The Generator Blog for all of the above links. Now I must return to the armament area and assure that the automatic weapons are fully operational and that Madam has not again exhausted the supply of nitro. I trust your week will be equally as pleasant and productive.
Yours Faithfully,
Alfred
So that your stop here was not a complete waste of your valuable internet time, here are
Ten Items Madam Would Find Hard to Resist
1. For those of you with a street credibility deficit, or merely unadorned knuckles, do have a go at the GlassGiant.com's Bling Generator.
2. The mind boggles over the Automatic Prose and The Emily Dickinson Random Epigram Machine at Logopoeia.com.
3. Correct nature's unfortunate mistakes -- or give a nemesis a poufy blonde afro and Carmen Diaz lips -- with Getmakeovers.com's free virtual makeover.
4. Write your name or phrase as would an ancient Egyptian at Hieroglyphs.net.
5. Add quite nifty dimensional special effects to your image online at Chami.com's Image Embellisher.
6. GlassGiant.com also offers a random maze generator (Madam is inordinantly fond of labyrinths.)
7. Incompetech.com offers an interesting Name Generator.
8. Language is a Virus provides the instant muse gratification of an automatic Poetry Generator.
9. Especially for Dr. Hoffman, who shares Madam's love of cooking, meal suggestions from Random Food Generator.
10. Finally, why should one work when one may generate Work Haiku?
I am in debt to Gerard at The Generator Blog for all of the above links. Now I must return to the armament area and assure that the automatic weapons are fully operational and that Madam has not again exhausted the supply of nitro. I trust your week will be equally as pleasant and productive.
Yours Faithfully,
Alfred
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