• Basic Writing questions is not a crit forum. All crits belong in Share Your Work

Writing Tools for Authors? (Online)

rachel0d

Registered
Joined
Jun 19, 2018
Messages
36
Reaction score
3
Location
Canada
I'm curious to see what tools and websites everyone uses for both writing and world building, I haven't seen any other posts other than a master post of words that other users have read in books. I'm sorry if this is a repeat of a post / has been placed in the wrong section but I thought this was a good fit.

These are some of the sites I use:



English phonemes and sound analogies * Probably more helpful to those working on Sound Effects in comics / Graphic

Writing Realistic Injuries * I use this for suspenseful and detailed scenes

Word Bank * Best way to describe this is a Thesaurus/ Dictionary. But for a thing- like different types of clothing. (but in alphabetical order)

Non-Sexual Forms of Intimacy * Basically a Tumblr Masterpost of cute things to do with your S.O. Most likely best for those writing Fluffy scenes

Polygon Map Generator 2.0 * Use Buttons and Sliders to make a land mass!

List of Character Personality traits * I really only use this when creating new characters

Comparing Heights * Some of you probably know about this one. I use this all the time, especially when trying to picture how large a creature/ building is compared to someone. AND if you hold "CTRL+SHIFT+I" to open the HTML you can swap out the silhouettes for your own pictures (just make sure they don't have a white border above or below your silhouette.)

Body.Mass.Index 3D Visualizer * Only really used for a reference in drawing characters

Medieval Fantasy City Generator * Instead of Land this one randomly creates a town for you from Small to Large!

Favourite Narrative Trope * I've used a few of these ideas before, might be useful for practicing.

RhymeZone * Words, Rhymes, Synonyms and Descriptive words

Nose Shapes and Profiles *Illustrated by Macawnivore on DeviantArt. Often used to describe a character's facial features.

Grammarly *Free to use / Can upgrade account for "an improved writing assistant"

Medieval Occupations/Jobs *Tittles and Descriptions of Common Jobs in medieval times.



That's about all I got- Please add your own links! :>

* I'll be updating this every now and then when I find other helpful links!
 
Last edited:

Woollybear

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 27, 2017
Messages
9,723
Reaction score
9,704
Location
USA
(Bookmarked a couple of those, thanks!)

Word frequency counter http://www.writewords.org.uk/word_count.asp

Agent query: https://www.agentquery.com/publishing_ip.aspx

Scenes and sequel analysis: https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/writing-the-perfect-scene/ (he's wearing a lab coat! I love it!)

Analysis of different fiction metrics like dialog length: http://creativityhacker.ca/2013/07/05/analyzing-dialogue-lengths-in-fantasy-fiction/ (Analysis! Yay!)

One way to think about building characters: http://www.writersdigest.com/writin...first-chapter-get-started/hooked-on-a-feeling
 
Last edited:

rachel0d

Registered
Joined
Jun 19, 2018
Messages
36
Reaction score
3
Location
Canada
Ooh, I love them~ Thank you! I'm already a fan of the Word Frequency Counter
 

Enlightened

Always Learning
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 5, 2018
Messages
4,863
Reaction score
167
Location
Colorado
Below is a link someone else on AW posted (I think back in 2005, and on the Writing Exercises, Prompts... forum). The programmer of the site is an AW member. He posted it so long ago, I do not know where the thread went.

Random Story Title Generator....

http://www.mcoorlim.com/random.html

I use Generational Differences Charts.

21st Century Pedagogy (might be useful for people involving students of a school).

Weavesilk (updated link) Weavesilk (might be able to use for Cover Art; click "?" in upper right corner, then click Creative Commons for copyright rules).

Emotion Wheel (play on Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions). I won't go into it, because it is complicated and convoluted, but I devised a means to use Plutchik's Wheel as a plotting method, where to use pinch and plot points, and what emotions the protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) feel at the time. I also devised a means to facilitate creating magical spells with Plutchik's. Plutchik's is fantastic for a lot of things.
 
Last edited:

bearilou

DenturePunk writer
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 5, 2009
Messages
6,004
Reaction score
1,233
Location
yawping barbarically over the roofs of the world
Emotion Wheel (play on Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions). I won't go into it, because it is complicated and convoluted, but I devised a means to use Plutchik's Wheel as a plotting method, where to use pinch and plot points, and what emotions the protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) feel at the time. I also devised a means to facilitate creating magical spells with Plutchik's. Plutchik's is fantastic for a lot of things.

Thanks for posting that. I had been looking for a version of that exact wheel!

And now you have me intrigued how you plot with it.
 

Enlightened

Always Learning
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 5, 2018
Messages
4,863
Reaction score
167
Location
Colorado
Bearilou: Here is a list of more Emotion Wheels. Each has their own way of utility. The one I used is not the one I posted, but it helps me best with the way I create spells and so forth.

Briefly, for plotting method,....

The emotion wheel I chose has only 32 entries; 24 subcategories and 8 greater categories (outside the wheel). It turns out, if you build tables in Word and color code them like the wheel (adding each of the 32 entries individually), you see these emotions on levels instead of in a wheel. Levels as in set in different rows on Word pages. If you get thesaurus.com links for synonyms for each of the 32 entries and hyperlink them in the document (for each of the 32 words), coupled with loose organization of mental notes you make above each table section in Word (ways you can re-word what Plutchik's fails to do), you can see that if one event happens in one color, it has an equal and opposite action in another color. When the first to act (protagonist or antagonist) acts from whatever emotion he or she feels, and the opposite character reacts, the first actor's emotion changes to another level (color row). The reactor then changes to another color row too (that is one level lower or higher, depending on how you made the rows, than where they started). The synonyms tell you, exactly, what emotions they should feel during each transition (pinch and plot points; try-fail cycles).

You can use this method, although a pain in the backside to set up, to work out scenes or entire chapters. I'd follow more traditional plotting methods (e.g. hero's journey), but this method helps to get one through the three acts of the hero's journey and other plotting methods. I think this would be most beneficial for people who write strong first and third acts, but have a miserable time with act II.

I may create a blog post of this (a blog I won't start till next month), so I won't go into more detail for now. This can give you an idea what I meant.
 

Woollybear

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 27, 2017
Messages
9,723
Reaction score
9,704
Location
USA
I also like this and have a sagging middle.
 

DanielSTJ

The Wandering Bard
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 3, 2017
Messages
5,410
Reaction score
368
Age
34
Location
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
LOVE this thread.

I'm going to check all this out.

So far, all I use is my dictionary/thesaurus-- but I consult them often. I also google things about syntax/grammar/etc when they arise. Besides that, it's just me and the pages, but I read articles on how to improve craft before sitting down for a writing session.

Cool beans! :)
 

Cobalt Jade

Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 21, 2015
Messages
3,289
Reaction score
1,441
Location
Seattle
Last edited:

Enlightened

Always Learning
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 5, 2018
Messages
4,863
Reaction score
167
Location
Colorado
I went to this site and it started drawing something that looked like a diagram of a uterus, complete with fallopian tubes.

LOL! I updated the Weavesilk link (just click the "draw something" link at the bottom). Controls (blue dot, top left); click for controls. The purple slider allows for more or less intricate design features. Click and drag to draw. You can mix tow colors by dragging one on the other.

That was my design (first link I posted), given as an example. I thought it looked like a supernatural overlord (with orange legs) standing over a defeated Spider-Man! Oh well, I need more practice.
 
Last edited:

greendragon

Registered
Joined
Jan 20, 2015
Messages
4,217
Reaction score
475
Location
Beacon Falls, CT
Website
www.greendragonartist.com
Since I write historical fiction, I rely heavily upon Etymonline.
For editing, I use ProWritingAid. The online platform is a bit buggy (worse with Explorer) but I like the Word Addin.
Writing contest ratings
Medieval Price List
Scribophile - a place to get feedback on your work
Betabooks - get feedback from targeted readers

I have dozens more, but they're specifically related to medieval Iceland and Ireland. Probably not much use outside of those parameters :D
 

Clovitide

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 29, 2017
Messages
554
Reaction score
385
Location
Dark Side of the Moon
https://charactergenerator.autodesk.com/ - this one lets you work with a 3D model of a character that you create. It's free so it's pretty cool

https://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-char.php - this one is funny. It's a random generator of appearances, personalities, jobs, superpowers, equipment, basically anything you can imagine. I go to it when I need some inspiration.

Also, I always browse this: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NarrativeTropes - It has narrative tropes, from dialogue, characters: ensembles, con man, hero; setting, conflicts... and you can see the tropes of each. Great time killer
 
Last edited:

alkin

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 17, 2018
Messages
58
Reaction score
0
Hey, I'm loving this post! It got me checking links for the last half an hour :)
 

Enlightened

Always Learning
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 5, 2018
Messages
4,863
Reaction score
167
Location
Colorado
Mind mapping is helpful. The site I used in the past turned into a pay site. This one looks okay, but I only played with it a few minutes....

https://www.mindmup.com/

When finished, hit PrtScrn (Print Screen) button on keyboard and paste into an image editing program like Microsoft Paint for Windows users (save as a jpg or other image type).
 

Jennie

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 16, 2018
Messages
209
Reaction score
13
Location
Here and now
And if you want to be sure of the chronology in your story (or need to know how old a character is at any given time) check out Aeon Timeline: https://www.aeontimeline.com/ You can even create custom calendars and print all sorts of graphs by character, location...
 

Enlightened

Always Learning
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 5, 2018
Messages
4,863
Reaction score
167
Location
Colorado
CPI (Consumer Price Index) Inflation Calculator (Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site for American currency).

You can enter amounts up to $10,000,000.00, but only up to the last month (not current month) of the current year.

If you want to know what $5,000,000 (January of 1965) is worth today, based on inflation, this site provides the information ($40,382,852.56). $10 million (01/65) to June 2018, $80,765,705.13.

"Jack bought a house in 1965 for $5 million. His daughter just sold it for $40 million last month," said Winston.

Lots of fun ways to use this data. Check your country for a CPI Inflation Calculator.
 

Enlightened

Always Learning
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 5, 2018
Messages
4,863
Reaction score
167
Location
Colorado
Help for writing queries....

https://querytracker.net/forum/index.php
http://queryshark.blogspot.com/

Below are sites I used to help me generate 700+ spells and potions (Latin names)....

https://translate.google.com/#la/en/
https://www.thesaurus.com/
https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/the/latin-word-for-eb7ada766135202f9c3f1d2ee04f80a8f757c13c.html

Wordhippo.... Scroll down to the pink pig. Type in a word, English, and find its nearest Latin translation. Sometimes this si more accurate than Google translate, or helps to find words that Google does not (words easier for spells).

https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/

Type in a word and see if an idiom exists. I was able to create a lot of fun spells with idioms.