Writers in the Storm

A blog about writing

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May 4, 2010

Writer's Toolbox

by Laura Drake

At Stephen King’s suggestion (no, he’s not a personal friend – it’s in his book, On Writing), I created a file on my computer entitled “Toolbox”.  In it, I keep my tools for writing.  One section is for websites that come in handy for reading or writing.  I’ll share the best with you here.  More can be found at: http://www.writersdigest.com/101BestSites/

Here are my favorites:

 Reading-

http://www.amazon.com/ - (of course)
http://www.bookspot.com/reviews/ - For reviews by NYT, and many others
http://bookmooch.com/ - A free online used book sharing site – Did I say FREE?!
http://www.biblio.com/ - find/purchase out of print books

 Writing -

http://thesaurus.reference.com/ - The best online thesaurus I’ve ever found
http://dictionary.reference.com/ - The best dictionary I’ve found
http://babelfish.altavista.com/ - Online translator – popular languages (no Swahili-sorry)
http://baby-names.adoption.com/ - Names – listed by country as well.

· Quotations:
http://www.quotationspage.com/
http://www.bartleby.com/100
brainyquote.com

· Slang:
http://www.slangsite.com/

· Movie Cliches
http://www.moviecliches.com/

· Rhyming Dictionary
http://www.rhymezone.com/

· Lyrics
http://www.azlyrics.com/index.html

Urban Dictionary
http://www.urbandictionary.com/

Slang Dictionary
http://www.alphadictionary.com/slang/

Language Dictionary
http://www.alphadictionary.com/langdir.html

Alpha Agora: A forum for discussions on dialects, slang, accents, etc.
http://www.alphadictionary.com/bb/

Internet Acronym Server
http://silmaril.ie/cgi-bin/uncgi/acronyms

RhymeZone Rhyming Dictionary and Thesaurus
http://www.rhymezone.com/

Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online
http://www.merriam-webster.com/

 Word Spy - The Top 100
http://www.wordspy.com/topwords.asp

Words
http://www.answers.com/main/words.jsp

A.Word.A.Day
http://wordsmith.org/awad/

WA’s Curious Words Page
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/WarrenAllen/words.htm

· Grammar
http://www.grammarlady.com/
http://www.junketstudies.com/rulesofw/
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
http://www.bartleby.com/141/index.html
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/cws/wworkshop/writer_resources/grammar_handbook/gram…
http://www.bartleby.com/141/index.html

· Ask Jeeves
http://www.ask.com/#subject:ask|pg:1

Agent Query
http://agentquery.com/
http://firstwriter.com
http://writersmarket.com - I use this - its’ the BEST!
http://longstoryshort.us - critting queries free!

Check out agents - scams
http://agentresearch.com/agent_ver.html
http://anotherealm.com/prededitors
http://sfwa.orge/beware

· Thesaurus
http://thesaurus.reference.com

· Maps
http://geology.com/state-map

 Critiquing

http://writing.com -great, especially for new writers.

Inspiration/ideas
http://refdesk.com
http://book-in-a-week.com
http://smithmag.net/sixwords
http://thestorystarter.com
http://writingfix.com

Romance sites
ghttp://groups.msn.com/romancewritingtips
http://rwa.com
http://coffeetimeromance.com
http://romancedivas.com

Market/event listings/writer organizations
http://forwriters.com
http://www.wga.org/
http://writing.shawguides.com - writing conferences

Just plain interesting!
http://coolstuff4writers.com
http://eighteenquestions.com
http://writersfm.com
http://writesideout.com

 I collect these like baseball cards – you can’t have too many!  I’m always looking for new helpful sites, so I’d love to hear your favorites.

Laura

0 comments on “Writer's Toolbox”

  1. Hi Laura,

    Thanks for sharing the wealth! I have a few of those saved already, but had no idea there so many other useful sites.

    Cheers,

    Vince

  2. TvTropes.org is great for silly trope fun, in TV and non-TV flavours. It's like Wikipedia but waaaaaaaay more casual and fun to read. They even give writing prompts and trope scrambling.

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