As a dictionary of compound words, homophones, colloquialisms, etc., the Grammarist sheds light on the grayer corners of the English language.
The title may seem a bit harsh but this list is a good overview of tricky words that can trip up even seasoned writers.
Michael Hauge’s storymastery.com ultimately exists to sell his services as a writing consultant. Nonetheless, his “Articles for Novelists” section offers good, digestible analyses of key plot elements and storytelling techniques.
Word processing programs have offered basic spelling and grammar checks for years. Bookworks reviews a new generation of software that critiques style and prose, checking for cliches, redundancies, abstractions and more.
Rachel Bach is a fantasy author who has done her time in the trenches. She has a blog covering the spectrum of the indie-writing experience with posts on things like plotting, increasing word count and planning ad campaigns.
The Phrontistery is a logophile’s dream: an online dictionary of weird and exotic words. If you’ve been wondering what a maggotorium is (or a “phrontistery,” for that matter), this is the place for you.
Futurebook, a collection of articles, discussions and manifestos, argues that the digital age has brought about a unique set of possibilities and opportunities for both self-published and industry supported writers.
Much of TIPM is aimed at industry wonks, but their section on marketing is quite useful for self-published authors. Recent articles discuss effective book promotion sites, obtaining reviews and the thin line between promoting and spamming.
Tip of My Tongue is a very useful search tool that uses several parameters to track down those elusive words you know exist but can’t quite recall.
Martha Alderson is a “plot consultant” who’s been hired by successful authors and Hollywood directors. While her blog posts clearly exist to sell her services, they do prompt rumination on the subtle threads that hold a good story together.
Are you making the move from writing non-fiction to fiction? Larry Kahaner, a successful journalist and reporter, has a blog focused on this specific challenge.
Now Novel is an online writing program providing step-by-step instructions for finishing a novel. The site’s blog is rich in advice relevant to specific elements of the novel-writing task.
While no posts have appeared in a year, SIMF looks at sciencey topics (e.g., GMOs, holograms, cloning, sex with aliens) and explores how they can be harvested for interesting stories and characters.
Something of a Dear Abby for the writing world, this blog offers concise answers to questions about grammar, series writing, targeting a word count and more. Readers can browse posts chronologically or by topic.
Jackie Weger focuses on a specific promotional plan: temporarily offering books free on the Amazon KDP platform and then reaping sales and paid borrows when the books return to full price. She reports specific numbers as seen by authors employing this tactic.
The correlations seem weaker than I would have expected, but reviewing the literature on the topic will certainly get one’s mind musing on what, exactly, defines a “hero.”
The New York Times’ blog on writing is as you might expect: dense, focused essays on various esoteric aspects of the craft. Recent posts have discussed anxiety about unintended plagiarism, writers’ introversion and writing to rhythm.
Judging from her blog, Landry appreciates staid design (and tiny fonts). But she performs in-depth analysis of the art of storytelling, as it is found not only in fiction but also in journalism and politics.
The Write Practice is your college Advanced English/Creative Writing professor transmogrified into blog form, filled with useful tips on grammar and storytelling.
If you can look past fantasy author Nat Russo’s excessive use of stock photos, and the curiously slow loading time of the main page, you’ll find he covers many topics of interest to authors, particularly storytelling and book marketing.
Resnick, a fantasy author with numerous books under her belt, delivers thoughtful, article-length blog posts. Readers may want to skip past the fluff on pets and foibles and peruse the entries categorized under writing- and publishing-related tags.
The entire Blue Ink blog is worth examining, but this series of posts compiling authors’ expenses for their self-published book projects is especially interesting. Numbers vary widely, from a couple hundred dollars to tens of thousands.
Prolific author Farland has been offering bi-weekly writing tips since 2011. He covers a wide spectrum of topics, from storytelling to scene-crafting to writers’ block.
The WPID purports to use “linguistic analysis” to “extract a spectrum of cognitive and social characteristics” from a person’s text. It might be a load of nonsense, but it could be an entertaining way to use first-person POV text to generate a character profile.
An interesting collection of long-form blog posts by a variety of fantasy, horror and sci-fi authors. Recent topics include collaboration, small press horror, and the challenges of writing franchise fiction.
True to its tagline “for all things writing,” WIP offers a melange of writing-related posts. Topics include MS Word advice, grammar gripes and the delicate (or hammer-handed) craft of self-editing.
Who loves to insult writers? Other writers. This post, in the dreaded list format, captures the rancor and spite and in all its glory.
The web site’s “Craft Essays” section is home to substantive pontifications by modern lit heavyweights such as Chuck Palahniuk. Recent posts contemplate morally grey characters, writing out of sequence, and effective use of Scrivener.
Akers, a fantasy author and logophile, has only recently starting blogging; but his thoughts on world building, the financials of a writing career, and his early, disastrous experiences in publishing are worth a read.
Spann, author of mystery novels set in feudal Japan, blogs on a variety of topics of interest to writers: character development, copyright law, and publishing scams that target the inexperienced.
YA author Ava Jae offers thrice-weekly posts on a gamut of authorly topics. Recent posts have dealt with managing multiple POVs, the madness of the publishing industry, and tips and tweaks for Scrivener.
Tara Sparling’s unique blog analyzes past and current book-selling trends to identify the next big thing…a little like “Moneyball” for books. Much of her writing is of a more personal bent, so some exploring is necessary to find the more “data-focused” posts.
Like many of its peers, the SPR blog exists to sell the goods of the parent web site (in this case, the questionable service of paid reviews). That said, the actual posts tend to be very informative, addressing writer-relevant topics such as pricing an indie book, sound SEO practices, and choosing the right keywords to sell a book on Kindle.
In tackling the question of what name to saddle a baby with (one which authors naming characters can relate to), the somewhat OCD, always entertaining “Wait But Why” blog offers extensive analysis of naming trends over the years. Make sure your teenage female lead doesn’t end up with a “Your Mom’s Friend’s Name” which happens “when lots of middle-aged people have a name that no young or old people have.”
A teacher and self-published author, Chris McMullen has spent several years creating an extensive repository of articles on book marketing, editing, cover design, Kindle Unlimited (as it pertains to authors) and more. His attention to detail is what you’d expect from a guy with a PhD in phenomenological high-energy physics.
A Cyclopean homage to the master of the macabre, this web site features its own weird fiction, plus analysis of H.P. Lovecraft’s work and influence, non-Euclidian podcasts, eldritch videos and more.
The Brain Pickings web site is a compendium of intelligent and in-depth writing on a variety of subjects. Picking through the site's content-packed section on writing will keep readers' neurons firing at full speed (best-case scenario: upwards of 200 Hz, according to the Internet).
The numbered list is the earmark of lowest common denominator, gimmicky web marketing; but here it dispenses some genuine wisdom, courtesy of the pros at Writer’s Digest. Who really should know better.
Sci-fi author and blogger Scalzi weighs in on the controversy surrounding Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited service, which enables Kindle users to freely borrow digital books. His thoughts, along with others’ posted in comments, offer a variety of opinions on whether KU is good for indie authors.
Overlooking the web design from the early nineties and occasional typo, one will find the TOWMSF site offers an in-depth look at hand-to-hand combat and military strategy relevant to futuristic or contemporary scenarios. Authored by a former marine and Desert Storm veteran.
The Thought Catalog site operates as its name states, collecting ideas on a variety of topics. Its section on writing (linked here) will be of particular interest to, well, you know. Recent posts discuss writer’s block, work habits, and the mysteriously perennial appeal of coffee shops.
The esteemed magazine, curiously enough, casts a critical eye towards the work of the patriarch of pulp horror. Their take is not without complaint, but does help to further cement the Lovecraft legacy.
Totally irrelevant bonus link: H.P. Lovecraft Honey Ale.
This site covers all things related to ebooks, the publishing industry and self-pubbing (as it is often, unfortunately, termed). For indie authors, the posts tagged “self-pub”, linked here, will be of special interest.
