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Resources for writers; New writers, start here

panzergulo

panzergulo

canTANKERous individual
Resources for writers; New writers, start here or Collection Of Collections; From Beginners' Guides To Publishing

Inspired by the administration's great step to get rid of all the unnecessary stickies, I decided to make a list of every useful thread that is not a sticky. And oh boy, there are quite a lot of them. Here goes:

For all furry writers here:

Furry Writers' Guild [by] Duroc - http://www.furrywritersguild.com/ (NEW!)
Furry Writers' Guild Forum [by] Duroc - http://forum.furrywritersguild.com (NEW!)

For beginners and others seeking general help:

A tip when uploading stories to FA... [by] Poetigress - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=15783
ATTENTION BEGINNERS: Common errors thread [by] M. Le Renard - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=20272
Computer tips for the writers and readers of FA [by] panzergulo - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=45373
Fresh ideas [by] M. Le Renard - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=18668
Handling Critique [by] kitreshawn - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=37535
Learning to write, A newcomer's guide [by] kitreshawn - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=27661
Toonces asks you to please: UPLOAD IN .TXT; THANKS [by] TooncesFA - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=69159

For writers who need more specific help:

Active vs. Passive Verbs [by] kitreshawn - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=56937
An easy way to generate more views. [by] Aurali - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=49155
Has anyone covered writing in different languages yet? [by] makmakmob - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=44377
How to read your work aloud [by] M. Le Renard - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=32171
Length [by] foozzzball - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=43117
On Drafts [by] M. Le Renard - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=22002
Rules for Dialogue [by] kitreshawn - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=57333
Show, Don't Tell [by] M. Le Renard - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=14014
Story Openings [by] obsidianobelisk - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=49712
The Art of Porn Writing [by] Xadera - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=42000
The danger of Pornographic writings...(?) [by] MrParaduo - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=49921
The Importance of 'The Hook' [by] PhoenixStar - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=57580
Writers Block [by] Iburnaga - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=46071

Collections of helpful links:

Places to send furry fiction [by] foozzzball - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=36594
Recommended websites for writers [by] Poetigress - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=14353
Writing centered websites [by] Bladespark - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=45808
Writing Exercises and Memes [by] Murphy Z - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=48131(I really do recommend these to any starting writers. Prompts are a great way to meet other writers.)

For those who have empty dreams:

Getting published [by] Poetigress - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=18658
Information On Publishing [by] kitreshawn - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=32384
Writing From A Publishers View [by] kitreshawn - http://forums.furaffinity.net/showthread.php?t=26323

Helpful collections of writing guides and tutorials in FA:

Artwork Gallery for OokamKasumi, every submission [by] Ookamkasumi - http://www.furaffinity.net/gallery/ookamkasumi/
Gaid 2 riting gud: Srsly [by] foozzzball - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2018052/ (first episode, ten in total)
Compiled Writing Tips [by] kitreshawn - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1234868/

Books and guides about writing:

Comment [by] M. Le Renard - [post]1103867[/post]
Comment [by] Poetigress - [post]1103921[/post]
Comment [by] WriterWren - [post]2659805[/post]


Almost all of the forum threads are quite long and extensive, but as I have read most of them through, I can guarantee they have some useful help. It's the destiny of all threads to become sidetracked, but amongst all that drama and bitching are great jewels of help, hints, tips, tricks, guidelines, for all of us to start writing, continue our hobby and hone our writing skills, maybe even to the level of publication. Only if every beginning writer had the patience to read through them all...

Also, as I actually trudged through the whole sub-forum, reading only the titles for most part, fortunately, I can say that the newbie writers who ask critique when they actually need a grammar book, people asking for characters and ideas and attention whores aren't a new phenomenon. They have always been here. Trust me. I laughed at some threads, and I was only reading the titles.

Also also, special thank you for foozzzball, kitreshawn, M. Le Renard and Poetigress, in alphabetical order, the forums need more people like you and less people like me. If I removed all threads not written by you... the list wouldn't really suffer at all. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

If anyone wants to add some other useful thread or other resource, just comment. If you want to contribute for the topics discussed in the threads, post in the corresponding thread.

Final thing... I propose this thread is made sticky. We can afford a fourth sticky and I think this gathers nicely all useful stuff under one thread. Edit: And I received a reply to my request in less than two hours. Who says administration is all bad?
 
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M. LeRenard

M. LeRenard

Is not French
Re: Collection Of Collections (covers all help, from beginners' guides to publishing)

Thanks, Panzer.
Here: something else potentially useful (to make this the be-all useful information thread). I'll link to the Amazon pages of various books that are good to read if one wants to learn fiction writing, plus a little review.

1.) On Writing, by Stephen King
It's a narrative, autobiography, and how-to book all in one, with tons of great tips from one of those mega-bestsellers we all would like to be. It's fun to read even if you don't give half a crap about writing, so a writer really has no excuse not to read it.
2.) How to Grow a Novel, by Sol Stein
Discusses writing from a publisher's perspective: things publishers look for, common beginner mistakes (both in writing and in sending out manuscripts), tricks to get your work noticed, and just general good writing advice from an old guy who's been doing it for a really long time.
3.) One Way to Write Your Novel, by Dick Perry
As the title indicates, this is just one method for writing a novel. It's short and very to the point, and it just might have something useful in it for you. And it's not at all pretentious.
4.) The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White
If you haven't heard of this, you shouldn't be a writer. Go read it, now.
5.) Eats, Shoots and Leaves, by Lynne Truss
Funny and useful guide to proper punctuation, giving many examples of where incorrect punctuation can make your sentence mean something you really don't want it to. It's an easy read for a grammar book, but you should also think about studying it.
6.) Writer's Digest
If you want to spend money for a subscription, get this one. It has publisher's markets, advice, essays, happy stories, exercises, you name it. Maybe go see if your local library gets it.

Somebody else please add to this list.
 
Poetigress

Poetigress

Panthera tigris libris
Re: Collection Of Collections (covers all help, from beginners' guides to publishing)

Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King -- Includes detailed exercises for various aspects of storytelling, with chapters on Show and Tell, Point of View, Dialogue Mechanics, and more.

Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell -- Just what it says -- an excellent breakdown of effective plot and structure. As I recall, it may be focused slightly more on novel-length works, but the basics can adapt to any length fiction.

In terms of magazines, I've preferred The Writer over Writer's Digest lately. Writer's Digest seems to take more of a fast-food approach to writing, and I think the articles and information in The Writer go a little more in-depth, but that may just be me.

And I'd just again point people to the 'Recommended websites for writers' thread that Panzergulo gives the link to in the first post. There's a lot of very good info available for free online, so if you can't easily get to a library or bookstore, you still don't have an excuse. :)

(Edited to add: My only quibble, by the way, is that I think this thread might be better titled something like "Resources for writers" or even something like "New writers start here" to steer people this way if they're new to the forum. Just a thought. And my thanks to Panzergulo for going to all this trouble.)
 
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panzergulo

panzergulo

canTANKERous individual
Re: Collection Of Collections (covers all help, from beginners' guides to publishing)

Thank you for M. Le Renard and Poetigress again, I added links to your posts into the collection of collections.

Poetigress said:
My only quibble, by the way, is that I think this thread might be better titled something like "Resources for writers" or even something like "New writers start here" to steer people this way if they're new to the forum. Just a thought. And my thanks to Panzergulo for going to all this trouble.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had many titles in my head... but I suck in titling. Resources for writers (new writers, start here) could be the best title, actually. And now, I think I will use it...
 
panzergulo

panzergulo

canTANKERous individual
Inspired by PhoenixStar's new thread, The Importance of 'The Hook', I decided to update this list... so, I went through all the threads posted since last July and picked all the threads I thought are helpful. For those who don't remember or know, this list is here to prevent the situation we had before, that is, some couple dozen threads stickified, some because of a reason, some not... Also, you can recommend any thread if it's especially helpful in your opinion. You can post a comment and I can add the thread when I have time... or MLR with his super mod powers can add it in, if I for some reason can't...

So yeah... suggestions are welcome... there has been no recommendations since this list was created... and I don't have eyes everywhere, you know? Anyway, I hope you find this helpful.

Wait... wasn't there another mod in this sub-forum too? ;P
 
panzergulo

panzergulo

canTANKERous individual
panzergulo said:
For all furry writers here:

Furry Writers' Guild [by] Duroc - http://www.furrywritersguild.com/ (NEW!)
Furry Writers' Guild Forum [by] Duroc - http://forum.furrywritersguild.com (NEW!)
Click to expand...

Added these two into the list. I suggest you familiarize yourself with the front page and 'About Us' page of the main FWG site to figure out what this all is about. That said, the main site has some membership criteria. If I have understood right, Duroc's idea is to promote and support quality writing among the fandom. Therefore, he doesn't quite take people in with open doors, you have to be able to show you're good at what you're doing. The forums, however, are open for everybody. But again, I recommend you read the main site's front page and 'About Us' first as well as the forum rules to figure out if this is really what you're looking for.

My own opinion is that Duroc might have something quite good coming together here, and I hope the site and the forum become a good source of knowledge, help and inspiration. What I have seen this far has been mostly good.
 
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duroc

duroc

Member
For the Guild Forum, you could put down http://forum.furrywritersguild.com instead of the other one. I'm not sure why, but I can't get my subdomain to replace that god awful hostingphpbb url. :/
 
panzergulo

panzergulo

canTANKERous individual
duroc said:
For the Guild Forum, you could put down http://forum.furrywritersguild.com instead of the other one. I'm not sure why, but I can't get my subdomain to replace that god awful hostingphpbb url. :/
Click to expand...

Replaced the links with that one. The link works just as well... although, the URL redirects to that "god awful" hostingphpbb URL...

Anyway, give Duroc's site and forum a chance. Check them out and see if they are what you're looking for.
 
Shouden

Shouden

When in doubt: C4
One GREAT resource that I've used for a while is this Common Errors in English Usage site. It has a lot of commonly mis-used words and is really useful for when you're trying to figure out if you're using a word correctly or not.
 
WriterWren

WriterWren

New Member
I just wanted to add Orson Scott Card's How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy to this list. He discusses some of the pitfalls scifi/fantasy writers fall into and about how to create a complete story. The advice is good for any kind of fiction writing. Just change "aliens" to "Nebraskans".

Tusen tukk!
 
Kamatz

Kamatz

Member
I found this link while stumbling around on the internets and I thought it was pretty useful.

Advice on Novel Writing by Crawford Kilian
It includes a little bit of advice on a whole lot of different subjects from writing style, to narrative voice and scene construction (and a whole lot more). It's aimed at novel writing, but I think the same principles apply to just about any kind of fiction writing.

Edit: Looks like the original link is dead. Here's another that has everything in parts: link
 
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panzergulo

panzergulo

canTANKERous individual
M. Le Renard said:
Thanks! I'll edit panzer's post to include that, since he's been out of commission for some time now.
Glad to see you visiting the forums, by the way.
Click to expand...

Out of commission; Become a pillbox. Out of ammo; Become a bunker. Out of time; Become heroes. (Pulls the pin off of a grenade, pressing the hot grenade against his chest.)

[Daskal, from the movie 'The Beast Of War']



Out-of-commission-time is kinda alright, in my opinion. I haven't experienced out-of-ammo-time, yet. Hero-time sucks, though.
 
miskey

miskey

Member
I do have one question that I couldn't find: How do you upload stories but not make them a .doc? I don't want people to have to download it because it makes no sense...
 
M. LeRenard

M. LeRenard

Is not French
I'm guessing you're using Word? Use the Save As option. There's a dropdown menu below where you type in the file name where you can pick the file type. The only one that just shows up on the site is .txt, so pick that.
 
TrinityWolfess

TrinityWolfess

Well-Known Member
What about poetry? I am writing a story... slowly but surely. Also It's not furry related so I wasn't going to post it up here. Anyway any websites for possible poetry?
 
Shoiyo

Shoiyo

Smartass skunk
To writers with busy schedules (like myself) I'd like to suggest a little more Instant gratification as far as guides and such go in the form of my favorite media outlet - Podcasts.
I've listened to all of these and would recommend them:

http://www.stormwolf.com/thesecrets/podcasts/ - The Secrets Podcast with Michael A. Stackpole. This podcast gives some amazing pointers to writing better plot lines, characters, and more wholesome stories.

http://www.writingexcuses.com/ - Writing Excuses! Fifteen minutes long, because you're in a hurry, and the hosts aren't that smart! Or so goes their tagline. These four Award winning authors give great tips on anything you can imagine. From world-building, to character flaws, to Jack Black on an island full of tiny people. It's funny, entertaining, and you'll learn a ton about writing.

Also, if you can find any episodes from a podcast called "I Should be Writing" by Mur Lafferty, it also was an amazing podcast. I, however can no longer access the episodes, because for whatever reason, it's no longer available in Canada.

I prefer using the podcast method because I work a lot, and can simply plug my Mp3 Player into my radio and listen to the tips on long drives around my district. Hopefully this helps out some of you guys too.
 
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