Writers' Tools and Support Services

Research Resource--Writers' Tool and Support Services

by Sandra Chevalier-Batik

This is the sixth in a series of articles exploring on-line sources and search strategies for writers. This month, by member request, additional writers' tools and support services are featured.

General Reference Sites

http://www.themestream.com - Themestream is great for quick reference checks. It is a central source for information on personal interests, topics from Aromatherapy to Zinfandel wines. Authors, specialty publishers, experts and enthusiasts provide the site's content.

http://www.babyzone.com - Need some naming inspiration? Try BabyZone. They offer a Shakespearean name list, baby names from around the world, logical names for twins, and celebrity baby names. Trying to get into an about-to-be-mom's head? Check out their chat room. Additionally the amazing birth stories might give you some plot ideas.

http://4crime.4anything.com - All Crime - All the Time. This site has the information you need organized into easy-to-navigate sections. Check out criminal profiles and unsolved crimes. Learn about classic, chilling crimes and criminals. Explore the lives and crimes of the most notorious serial killers--in-depth accounts may help you understand what makes these murderers tick. Site offers historical summaries, biographies and current news headlines on mob bosses and crime families. Or, check out my favorite - Dumb Crimes, Criminals & Laws. Crimes committed by these dim crooks are just too funny not to use in a plot. Their sheer stupidity will help give your readers the tension release they need in a tightly woven suspense.

http://www.policewriter.com/ - The Police Writers Club provides police writers with the knowledge, resources and networking capabilities to share their expertise with others through the written word. Both fiction and nonfiction writing and publishing are covered. A quarterly newsletter, The Police Writer, keeps members informed of news and opportunities in police writing. Current members include writers of magazine articles, technical books, true crime articles, books, and novels. The Club welcomes both published and unpublished writers. They currently offer a new online course for aspiring writers.

http://www.foodstuff.com/cgi-bin/glossary.cfm?alpha=A - Food Lover's Glossary. Have a hero that loves to cook? Or a heroine at home in the kitchen, but you are confused about capers? Bemused by béchamel? Look them up in this glossary listing food terms and definitions. For inspiration a step beyond a loaf of bread, a jug of wine and Thou, go to http://www.globalgourmet.com/; or click on Food & Wine Online http://www.pathfinder.com/FoodWine/. This site serves up recipes, menus, planning tips, wine reviews, ideas on pairing wine and food, and articles about innovations and innovators in the food world.

http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/ - NOAA photograph and image collection. As a visually oriented person, I find it easier to write a scene or describe a situation once I can see it. To me, this site is a banquet of inspiration. The Ends of the Earth Collection shares the wonders of our planet as scientists, sailors, pilots, divers, and other members of the NOAA team lead you on a journey to the ends of the Earth. Check out Islands in the Sun - images of North and South Pacific, the Caribbean. See breathtaking images of America's coastlines from the Aleutians to Maine. Follow surveyors, scientists, sailors, weathermen and fishermen charting and surveying America.

http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/LibraryLand/ - LibraryLand's focused search engine allows you to search the contents of web documents at major sites dedicated to the practice of librarianship. The search result screen will list the number of hits for your subject at each one of those sites. Truncate words using an asterisk (*); use Boolean "or" and "not" to narrow searches. LibraryLand Link Lists are bookmarks to sites of interest to librarians, with emphasis on public libraries. These are arranged in the broad categories of traditional library disciplines.

Usage, Style and Grammar

http://www.yourdictionary.com/ - YourDictionary.com is structured to be the premiere web portal specializing in language. Not just for word-mavens, scholars, and translators, this web site indexes on-line dictionaries, thesauruses, and anything containing words and phrases. Additionally the site offers on-line grammars, vocabulary aids, specialty dictionaries, morphology, multilingual dictionaries, specialty English dictionaries, language identifiers and an index of dictionary indices.

Writers' On-line Support: Zines, Chat and Critique

http://www.writenews.com/ - The Write NewsTM Weekly - Subscribe to this new free newsletter that contains a weekly summary of the week's top writing and publishing news stories.

http://www.paintedrock.com/ - Painted Rock Writers and Readers Colony reviews in all genres, offers an online magazine with articles and interviews with editors, agents and authors; and subscription colonies for romance, mystery and young adult with critique groups, goal groups, Artist's Way study group, libraries, private message-boards, nightly workshops. Painted Rock also offers classes.

http://woods.bianca.com/shacklet/Aphrodite/writer.html - Aphrodite's Writers Chat is a place where writers can read, post, and discuss, poetry, short stories, prose, and everything in between. As well as the forum, there are links and resources for writers and poets. All types of writers are welcomed.

http://www.angelfire.com/ks/kingwrit/ - Kingdom Writers is a great resource for writers of the 'inspirational' sub-genre of romance. They offer an email critique group and fellowship for Christian writers. You may also initiate discussion on topics related to writing and the writing life. There are both professional writers and beginners in this group.

http://www.coffeehouseforwriters.com - Coffeehouse for Writers, a resource for writers featuring email newsletters, discussion lists, author interviews, writing contests, critique groups and writer's workshops. Their Writer-Buddy board is a unique on-line support tool, find a mentor, and share your writer's journey with a friend.

Retro Search

Sources you can touch, index with sticky tabs, and mark with highlighters.

The Writer's Guide to Character Traits: Includes Profiles of Human Behaviors and Personality Types by Linda N. Edelstein;
Writers Digest Books; ISBN: 0898799015. Ms Edelstein has created a Psych 101 for Writers - a handy reference for those who want to create believable characters and need accurate information about personality and behavior. From serial killers to business tycoons to politicians, this book profiles the mental, emotional and physical qualities of dozens of different personality types. Using a highly accessible format it profiles, complex characters, unique personality styles and types, including psychopaths, cult members, overachievers, addicts, amnesia victims, social climbers, and career criminals.

The Key: How to Write Damn Good Fiction Using the Power of Myth by James N. Frey; St Martins Pr (Trade) ISBN: 0312241976. In his previous 'Damn Good' books, fiction-writing coach James N. Frey showed writers how - starting with rounded, living, breathing, dynamic characters - to structure a novel that sustains its tension and development and ends in a satisfying, dramatic climax. Now, in The Key, Frey takes his no-nonsense, "Damn Good" approach and applies it to Joseph Campbell's insights into the universal structure of myths. Myths, the basis of all storytelling, and their structures and motifs are just as powerful for contemporary writers as they were for Homer. Beginning with the qualities found in mythic Heroes, such as the hero's special talent, his or her wound, and so on, Frey then demonstrates how the hero is initiated. He or she is sent on a mission, forced to learn the new rules, tested, and suffers a symbolic death and rebirth, before he or she can return home. Using dozens of classical and contemporary novels and films as models, Frey shows how these motifs and forms work their powerful magic on the reader's imagination. The Key is designed as a practical step-by-step guide for fiction writers and screen writers who want to shape their own ideas into a mythic story.

Save yourself some typing. These, as well as other sources not listed here are located on my web site:
http://www.pleiadespublishing.com/research/writerstools.html

Correction Notice: The URLs given for both Heroes and Heroines had a typo. The address string ended in /html instead of .html. I've included the corrected URLs here.
http://www.pleiadespublishing.com/reseach/heroes.html
http://www.pleiadespublishing.com/reseach/heroines.html

Sandra Chevalier-Batik is senior researcher and technical writer for Pleiades Publishing Services. She develops content and information design for web sites and corporate communications.