Writing School

Over the years of my co-editing TSAT*, I've written a number of essays discussing writing. As I believe they're of use to new writers, I've also archived them here for ease of access. Hopefully you'll find them useful.

I've also added useful writing tips from others. Read them and take notes -- I found them useful.

Additionally, there are links to other web pages with useful writing tips that I've found, and web pages with useful technical information (formatting, dictionaries, etc.) that I've also found useful.

In other words, consider this a general index to resources on writing fiction.

*Here's a link to the mirror site for TSAT.

Bardlings
As You and I Both Know	What is "infodump" in fiction and how to avoid it.
Creating Worlds to Share	Creating shared universes that people want to write in. An examination of why some shared universes are successful, and why others aren't.
Keeping the Editor Happy	Three common errors I see in fiction submitted to TSAT: Repetitive Sentence Structure, Narrator Changes, Unnatural Sounding Speech
Learning from the Masters	Some recommended Science Fiction TF novels to read and take notes from.
Research: It's not Just for School Anymore	Getting your facts straight!
SF101: Writing Technological SF	An introduction to writing technological or "hard" SF explaining that it's not really as tough as it sounds.
SF102: Learning the Basics	Recommended SF reading to see what's been done in the genre and how things work.
Technological Transformation Methodology	Some technological methods of inducing transformations.
Thinking Things Through	If you want to toss in a neat technology or ability into a story, think about what else could be done with it before actually inserting it.
Uses Your Senses Dammit!	Don't just describe things visually in your writing.
Writing in Groups	Success and failure about writing groups formed to write co-authored novels.
Writing in the TBP Universe	Important things you should be aware of before writing a story set in :"Tales From The Blind Pig"
Writing Organization	Different methods of writing work for different folks. Outlines, sequential/non-sequential writing, etc.
Fish Writing Notes
Character	Some basics about where characters come from, how and when to describe them, and what kind of characters you really need.
Dialog	Punctuating dialog properly and making it sound real, but not too real.
Syntax	Everything you needed to know about grammar and punctuation and then some.
Word Choice	Choosing the right words for your story.
Writing Links
Cambridge Dictionaries Online	A good online dictionary. Always handy to verify things if a printed version isn't on hand.
Critters Workshop	The premier online writing workshop. Basically one submits a story and it enters the cue. You then need to send two critiques in on other stories every week. Lots and lots of critiques result once your story gets processed.
QuentinsList.com	A slowly growing site of various essays and links about writing techniques and resources.
The Dialectizer	An online resource that converts entered text into accented text. It has a limited selection of accents, but the results can be interesting if you want to play around with writing accents.
William Shunn: Manuscript Format	Everything you need to know about formatting a manuscript for submission.
Inkspot Writing Resource	A general resource of writing documents.
Jamie Hall - Author. Personal Web Page	If you scroll down there are some articles on self-publishing and other things of interest to perspective writers.
Meriam-Webster Online	An alternate online dictionary.
Writing Research Sites
20,000 Names	A massive archive of human names. Always handy if you just don't know what to name that important character!
Atomic Rockets	Everything you could ever want to know about current and near future space fleet. Indispensable for any kind of SF writing.
The Grand List of Overused Science Fiction Cliches	Before you write it check here and make sure it hasn't been done to death.
Wikipedia	The premier open online encyclopedia. Be aware that it can be updated by anybody. The staff is really good about it, but still...
Online Submission Guidelines and Markets
Analog	The oldest of the big SF magazines. Hard SF or don't bother.
Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine	Takes softer SF and the odd bit of fantasy.
Challenging Destiny	A Canadian magazine -- doesn't pay as much but takes SF, Fantasy, and Horror
Ralan's Webstravaganza	An online list of writing markets.
Recommended Books
Characters and Viewpoints	By Orson Scott Card (Published 1998 by Writers Digest Books). The most browsed book in my writing library with all kinds of interesting bits on character and character development, and just about everything else.
Revising Fiction: A Handbook for Writers	By David Madden (Published 1988 by New American Library). Although designed for novel writers, this book lists 185 things to check whilst revising with examples and discussion. Most are just as applicable to shorter works as to novels.
Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy	By the Editors of Analog and Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (Published 1991 Davis Publications Inc.). A collection of essays by various SF&F authors about various facets of writing.