Free Online Writing Conference? I'm So There!

If you write kidlit (YA, MG, Picture books, Chapter books) you HAVE to be online August 16-18 for the WriteOnCon. It's a totally free, completely online conference. I'm talking blog posts, vlog posts, Live Chats, and Query Critiques. Feedback on your first few pages, your synopsis, and the watchful eyes of agents and editors in the forums.

Seriously. Published authors, agents, editors, and a ton of writers. Why on earth would you miss it?

Get Yourself to a Conference (How About A Free One?)

I can't tell you how amazing writer conferences are. You seriously need to just go to one. Pennwriters is fantastic, and I'd love to see you there, but if you can't make it, look for another one.

There's also WriteOnCon. It's a totally free, online conference that happens in August. They have regular live events and will have a bunch of agents and writers at the big event. Check it out!

Free E-book for Writers

Just a quick post today, but it should keep you busy. Here's a free e-book download of The Career Novelist: A Literary Agent Offers Strategies for Success.

Endings Are Beginnings - How to Write an Ending for Your Book

I realize that my post about Endings may have been confusing. I found a video that elaborates a little more on how endings should be connected to your beginnings:

What Every Writer Needs to Know About Plot and Structure, Part 3

When I first got bitten by the writing bug, I found an excellent series of articles, the first being: Does Your Novel Have a Heartbeat?, by Holly Lisle.
They're directed at those who already have a novel written out, but it would be helpful, in my opinion, to read them before you've typed 100,000 words and devoted a year of your life to a piece of your soul.

Read these articles, and create something with a heartbeat from the beginning. Create something real and meaningful to you. Love your work before you even start writing it.
You can find the other articles of this series at this page (scroll to the bottom).
Yes, it's a lot of reading.

As if that wasn't enough, I have some free resources for download. These tools (along with others from the same source) have made a bigger impact on my writing than anything else.

Holly's Create Your Professional Plot Outline Mini-Course is a free, completed mini course on developing a plot, starting from any number of places: a character, a twist, world building, a structure (like the ones I listed in Part 1 of this series), or questions. This is a rough sketch of one of the techniques you can use to create a workable plot. She explains the process, gives a demonstration, and then provides an exercise for you to build part of your plot.
You can download this mini-course in PDF format here.

If this is something that works for you, you can get more in-depth instruction from Holly's Create a Plot Clinic. I have the first 52 pages of it here for free.
The full course can be found here: Create A Plot Clinic, by Holly Lisle

Seriously, this has everything you need to know in order to plot out an entire novel. Last I checked, she had an updated version of this for $9.95. But she also has it available at a discount in a bundle, with building characters, cultures, and languages: Clinic Writing Bundle. They're all good, but the plot and character ones are the best (unless you do a lot of world building).

Part 4 will cover beginnings, middles, and endings.

Part 1 was on classic plot structures, and Part 2 covered getting down to creating a story that matters to you, but will keep your readers interested.

Links: Organizing, Creating, and Marketing

So, here I am, twiddling my thumbs as I wait to add to my manuscript. I understand why I need a break from it before diving in again, but sometimes it's hard! So, to occupy my time, I've been searching for good resources and advice from the pros. Here's what I have so far:

The number one link I think I can ever give you is :
How to Start a Novel
Read it, explore the links, and explore the side bar for more articles. This site covers everything.

Organizing:
Plotting Under Pressure
How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method - this provides an excellent checklist that an agent (or intern at an agency) will go through to see if they should take you on as a client. Very helpful.


Creating:
One Word - a 60 second writing exercise
Deeper People: Putting Yourself into Your Characters
Pacing Scenes
How to Write the Perfect Scene
How to Finish a Novel
5 Evergreen Editing Tips - When you're done with your manuscript and think it's ready for submission, make sure you've gone over this checklist before you do.


Marketing:
Advanced Fiction Writing E-Zine
How to Query an Agent
When Reading Submissions

Track Your Progress As You Write

Using the NaNoWriMo Report Card by Eric Benson, I adapted a spreadsheet that will track your word count goals and progress. This is a helpful motivation tool, especially if you're goal-oriented or like a visual representation of your progress.
Click Here to Download.
Cameron Matthews has a much more high-tech version, found here.

Free Intro: Create a Plot Clinic

I found a nice little freebie from Holly Lisle. Her Think Sideways course is a bit pricey, although I can say from personal experience it's worth every penny. Still, for those of you on a budget, she has a number of writing clinics, which I've mentioned before.
For those of you on a tight budget, I found a free intro to her Create a Plot Clinic:
Click Here To Download

I've bought and used the entire clinic and it is fantastic. It takes you through the ins and outs of plotting a novel no matter where you are in the process. She gives a number of techniques and gives lots of examples. Anyway, hope you find it helpful.

Links for Writers: from Funny to Informative

As I was catching up after the fourth of July weekend, I stumbled across some new writing-related sites:

Many of you have heard of National Novel Writing Month in November (NaNoWriMo), but what about the other 11 months of the year? (Yes, I'm aware of NaNoFiMo and NaPlWriMo, but still...)

If you need motivation, you may like The 500 Word-A-Day Challenge. Easier, more achievable goals is the key. (I won't be posting their banner yet, since I'm done with my first draft and won't actually be getting word counts this month. :( But for the record, I was averaging about 630 WPD. )

There's a cute comic called Will Write For Chocolate that has some great writer humor. It makes my day.

I found a great article by Margaret Fisk. (It's actually a free workshop, since she gives an assignment.) It's called All the Way to the End. She addresses a common problem for writers : not knowing how to end your story.

And finally, Chip MacGregor's blog had two informative posts: Basic, Basic, Basic Questions and More on the Basic Basics. In the first, he explains a few terms used in the publishing world. The second is more about querying and agents.

Helpful Software for Writers

Okay, I have scoured the internet and I think I have a pretty good list of helpful software for writers. A special thanks to Sue on the How to Think Sideways message boards. She posted a majority of these links on our writer's forum. (Click to read How Think Sideways has helped me with my writing.)

First, the free stuff:

AbiWord
Bubbl.us web-based mind-mapping software. Good for brainstorming.
Google Notebook - a simple, but effective processor that you can access online and export onto any computer.
Dark Room: much like the mac's White Room, this is a simple processor that eliminates distractions.
Evernote - take a picture of something on your iPhone or Blackberry and sync it with your computer and the web. Pretty cool software.
Journler - journal and organizer (includes audio and video capabilities) (for Mac)

Langmaker - helps with language building (only works on Windows XP or under.)
Lotus Symphony: a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation application.
Page Four - a simple but intuitive word processor. It's like Word, but for writers. Nice little tools and other additions make this worth a look. In my opinion, this is the best out of the free stuff.(for the full version: $34.95, but the free version includes a lot.)
PlotCraft
Q10 - saves in a plain text format and comes with a timer. (Windows only)
Rough Draft
Scripped and Zhura - for script writing (This is a link to a blog that talks about it.)

Storybase Online
Write Sparks ($0 - $77)
Write This
yWriter 4
Writer's Café - has multiple tools including plotcards that you can move around. Great organizational tool. Works on Linux, too. ($45.00 for full version)
Writertopia - has Work in Progress meters you can use for blogs and other websites so others can follow your progress (see my widget).

Microsoft Office Suite has a program called OneNote. It isn't free, but you may find that you already have it on your computer. It's quite nice. You can get a 60 day free trial here, or if you're a student or teacher, you can get it at a discount here.
MacJournal may be on your computer right now, if you're a Mac user.


Now the less-than-free-but-good products:

Book Writer 5.01 ($89.95)
Dramatica Pro ($244.00)
Dramatica Writers DreamKit ($49.95)
IdeaWeaver ($49.95)
Jarte Plus ($19.00)
Liquid Story Binder XE - best creative writing software on the market (for Windows). See my post about it here. ($49.95)
New Novelist ($54.99)
Novel Writer ($61.00)
Power Structure ($179.00)
Power Writer ($129.95)

Story Wizard ($54.99)
Storybase Software ($99.00)
StoryView ($179.95)
StoryWeaver ($29.95)
SuperNoteCard ($29.00)
Text Block Author ($49.97)
Typing Chimp's Character Pro ($69.99)
Typing Chimp's Character Writer 2 ($39.99)
Typing Chimp's QuickStory ($49.99)
WriteItNow ($49.95)
Writers Blocks - great for note card plotting, among other things ($149.00)
WriteWay ($79.00)

And of course, Holly has tons of excellent classes, workshops and clinics! See my review of those here.