BY indefiniteloop

November is all about NaNoWriMo for me, since I’ve been planning to finally complete my first novel this year, and NaNoWriMo is the reason, and motivation I found to do just that.

With November just around the corner, I have been busy hunting down, and reading a lot of novel writing material - everything from writing software to general tips, etc.

I thought I’d share some of the resources that I took some fancy to. Maybe it’ll help some of you out there.

Just a note: Some of them are more fantasy fiction centered. Since my first novel falls under the genre of fantasy fiction.

Start Writing Your Novel Online, With These Tools:

  • Novlr: Novlr is a great tool to use for writing novels. It’s online, and you can virtually write your novel from anywhere. Read my review of Novlr.
  • Novelize: Novelize is great. It’s better than Novlr; in the sense that Novlr is relatively new, and they’re still working on it. Thus Novelize has more to offer. Read my review of Novelize.
  • My Writing Nook: An online resource for writing. It’s an online editor, free to use. You’ve to have a google account to be able to start using My Writing Nook. It’s relatively simple, and easy to use. Feature set is kept to a minimum; no fancy features. It works just fine!
  • Protagonize: Another tool just like My Writing Nook above. Let’s you create, share, and publish your writings. You can collaborate with other authors, and connect with your readers. It’s just like wattpad, mentioned below.
  • Wattpad: Wattpad is a mashup of writing tools, and social media. It’s the largest online community of readers and writers. And it’s free.

Getting To Know Your Characters:

  • SeventhSanctum: The place for name generators (and other random generators). Fun, easy to use. Great tool for generating character names. Tons of options. It also hosts a Writing prompt generator, and a plot twist generator.
  • What’s in a Name?: A great post by Moira Allen that walks you through why coming up with the right name is key to your novel. This post is more for SF writers, but don’t let that stop you from reading it.
  • Fantasy Name Generator: As the name suggests- it’s a fantasy name generator. Easy to use. Old. But still works just fine.
  • Everchanging Book of Names: A shareware app for Windows that generates Random names on the fly for you. It’s every changing. The downloads page has zip files that plug into the software to generate more names based on some famous fantasy books, etc.
  • Name Playground: Popular names, and other name based lists.
  • 10 days of character building wrap up: Exactly what the title says. Spend 10 days on character building. The post is essentially a list of other posts that help build you character.
  • All Your Characters Talk The Same — And They’re Not A Hive-mind!: It’s a problem when all your characters have the same voice, and speak alike. It flattens out your entire novel. A great read by Charlie Jane Anders over at io9.com, about how to give your characters the voice they deserve.
  • Seven Common Character Types: A great post on seven common character types.
  • Give Them Some Wants: A small tip about giving your characters some wants. When your characters have wants, it adds to their definition. Definitely give it a read.
  • Questionnaires for Writing Character Profiles: Some questionnaires for writing your character profiles.
  • the character therapist: An online therapy service for fictional characters. Great read for some great inspiration. You can send in your character for a “detailed character assessment” for $49.99. Or just read the blog!
  • Character and setting interactions: Just as the name suggests, it’s a post on how your setting and characters should interact. Great read by Alicai Rasley, 1999.
  • Characters- Motive Generator: Generate a motive for your character. Great fun to get going those mind mills of yours.

World Building:

Plots In Your Story(s)

  • No Plot? No Problem! Revised and Expanded Edition: A Low-stress, High-velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days- A great book by Chris Baty, who’s had a ton of NaNoWriMo experience.
  • Organising Your Plot Structure: A how-to on organising the structure of your plot. Old article, but still worth the read. By Apryl Duncan.
  • Plot Whisperer Blog: A blog about everything plots by Martha Alderson.
  • Plot Generator: A quick, and on the fly plot generator to get some inspiration for your story.
  • Pacing: A long, old, and awesome read on what’s pacing, and how to pace your story using plots, and current performances- by Dr. Vicki Hinze.
  • Effectively Outlining Your Plot: Another article on outlining, and organising your plots- by Lee Masterson.
  • One-Page Plotting: A great worksheet that helps you create your plot, while simplifying it.

Dialogues:

Everything Else, And Then Some:

Some Personal Ideas That May Help With Your Novel Writing:

  • Use Workflowy for that novel! Worflowy is a great resource, for everything that you need to do. Read my review on workflowy.
  • Use Free, hosted CRM softare to keep track of your characters, just a thought. Sign up for something like Highrise (they have a free plan you could use), etc. Alternatively just create a contact group in gmail, etc. An excel sheet also does wonders. Alternatively you can use Novlr’s, or Novelize’s character panels.
  • Start a history blog: This is something I am inclining towards. To learn more about history, and as such learn more in terms of research for my novel writing. Just an idea from the top of my head.
  • Use Mindmapping tools. There a lot of options to choose from, and most of them are for free. Here’s Bubbl to get you started.

Last But Not The Least

Here’s a video by David Shiyang Liu which is basically audio and typography. It’s Ira Glass talking about Storytelling. Definitely worth your two minutes.

Ira Glass on Storytellin

PS: If you guys find any non-working links, let me know please! Thank you!

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