18 replies to this topic

[Sanji Himura]

I have decided to put together a list of sites that will actually help you to improve your writing. This list was compiled by me back in 2007 from a list initially compiled by the fan site mi6.co.uk.

Writing 101- collected by MI6 member Lethal Weapon

11,000 baby names- a site for names. Note that they are not always accurate on nationality.

Wikitravel- A good resource for (real life) locations.

50s and 60s fashion- This site is for 50s and 60s fashion for women. A good resource for period pieces.

Firearms- This wikipedia article explains the basics of firearms, how they work, etc.

Assault Rifles- A list of assault rifles.

Machine Guns- A list of machine guns.

Semi-automatic Pistols- A list of semi-automatic pistols.

Submachine Guns- A list of submachine guns.

The Universal Currency Converter- This currency converter even converts obsolete currency(like francs).

The CIA World Fact Book- This site has a lot of info, but it is a useful resource if you know what you are looking for.

Merriam-Webster Online- A dictionary that seems to also embrace "queen's" English as well as American English.

Free online Thesaurus

The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr.

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association of America Articles on Writing

Dr Wicked's Write or Die

Conversion.ws- Converts anything that you want from Length, distance, weight, speed, temperature, Morse code to and from text, and even currency.

Book Recommendations:

Ambler recommends:
The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker

Edited by Sanji Himura, 19 December 2009 - 12:49 AM.

[Jim]

Alternatively, one could try to live many of these things, rather than vicariously through Wikipedia.

[Sanji Himura]

That is always true.

[Ambler]

You don't seem to have anything about plot development or stories on that list.

I recommend The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker, the high priest of climate change deniers. Not a site but worth a tenner.

EDIT: link added

Edited by Ambler, 15 December 2009 - 10:26 AM.

[Zorin Industries]

How useful. A list of guns... Now my writing will have less of those plot holes and now a few more bullet holes.

[Trident]

You don't seem to have anything about plot development or stories on that list.

I recommend The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker, the high priest of climate change deniers. Not a site but worth a tenner.

EDIT: link added

Never heard about that. I may check that out one day.

The only website that I feel helped me with writing also doesn't concern itself with plots, characters or storyarchs. Generally, I know pretty much what I want to write, where to go, how the thing unfolds and where it will end. My problem is the actual writing part, the hard work of facing the screen or paper and write it. For this kind of problem there is only really one solution: the Nike-way to 'just do it!'. And there is no better help than Dr Wicked's Write or Die. If you already know what you want to write, how you want it written and so on, then the only thing you really need is a kick to your behind. Write or Die provides just that. Priceless.

[double o' nothing]

Here I was thinking that a good story was about characterisation, narrative and writing style.

A character should not only believable, but should also develop throughout the narrative. This arc is achieved through the events in the story that change them. Essentially a good story is a lesson about life and humanity, and, through identifying with the characters, enables you the reader to learn that lesson too.

The narrative is essentially the plot and its purpose is to put the characters into situations that force them to change and to confront themselves. A basic narrative structure that achieves this can be broken down into three stages. Firstly, you need to start off introducing your characters, so that we know what they're like. Then something needs to happen to them that changes their lives and causes either internal or external conflict. Finally you resolve the conflict by allowing the character to change and accept themselves in the new circumstances. Essentially they learn the lesson, and in learning the lesson they become different people. They ultimately better themselves by accepting their new situation. The context often changes, but this structure remains true for most stories.

You writing style is your unique personality. It's your way of defining the story as your own, but also, as the author, putting your voice into the head of your reader.
With good writing you can really place yourself in the world of the characters. The author allows you to slip into the world by describing it to your senses. For example, they tell you what it looks like, how it sounds, or if there is a particular smell in the air. However, to transcend simply describing environments, people and events, the author needs to inject something of themselves into the work. It is perhaps their sense of humour, or the way they see things that give them that voice and extra dimension. Putting a part of yourself on the page is as important a part of writing style as the character is to the narrative.

Still, if you just wanna write that Bond uses a Heckler & Koch UMP .45 with a LAM module on the picatinny rail and sound suppressor fitted to the barrel, then fine. But you have to admit it sounds a little flat. I'd suggest creating your own character, sending them on their own journey and having them develop themselves along the way. That's the basis of a good story, and all the minutiae are mere incidentals.

Edited by double o' nothing, 15 December 2009 - 11:43 AM.

[Trident]

Here I was thinking that a good story was about characterisation, narrative and writing style.

A character should not only believable, but should also develop throughout the narrative. This arc is achieved through the events in the story that change them. Essentially a good story is a lesson about life and humanity, and, through identifying with the characters, enables you the reader to learn that lesson too.

The narrative is essentially the plot and its purpose is to put the characters into situations that force them to change and to confront themselves. A basic narrative structure that achieves this can be broken down into three stages. Firstly, you need to start off introducing your characters, so that we know what they're like. Then something needs to happen to them that changes their lives and causes either internal or external conflict. Finally you resolve the conflict by allowing the character to change and accept themselves in the new circumstances. Essentially they learn the lesson, and in learning the lesson they become different people. They ultimately better themselves by accepting their new situation. The context often changes, but this structure remains true for most stories.

You writing style is your unique personality. It's your way of defining the story as your own, but also, as the author, putting your voice into the head of your reader.
With good writing you can really place yourself in the world of the characters. The author allows you to slip into the world by describing it to your senses. For example, they tell you what it looks like, how it sounds, or if there is a particular smell in the air. However, to transcend simply describing environments, people and events, the author needs to inject something of themselves into the work. It is perhaps their sense of humour, or the way they see things that give them that voice and extra dimension. Putting a part of yourself on the page is as important a part of writing style as the character is to the narrative.

Still, if you just wanna write that Bond uses a Heckler & Koch UMP .45 with a LAM module on the picatinny rail and sound suppressor fitted to the barrel, then fine. But you have to admit it sounds a little flat. I'd suggest creating your own character, sending them on their own journey and having them develop themselves along the way. That's the basis of a good story, and all the minutiae are mere incidentals.

Some very good points here. This is a phenomenon often seen with Bond fanfic, a devious trap one walks into far too easily. The writing often concentrates on all the tiny minutiae, what kind of gun, of car, cigarettes, gadgets, cloths, brand-dreck, all that stuff that is just decoration, icing on the cake. The priority should be to develop the plot itself, the characters and only then find the details to stuff into it, giving it more substance.

[Ambler]

there is no better help than Dr Wicked's Write or Die.

The site appears to be as dead as MI6.

[Trident]

there is no better help than Dr Wicked's Write or Die.

The site appears to be as dead as MI6.

Sorry, link seems to lead to 404 once you want to start. Worked for me only recently, mainpage of Dr Wicked claims issues with provider.

[Scrambled Eggs]

Good pointers. Not much to add, but personally i find the following invaluable:

CasualRacism.com Know your Korean jibes from your African American phobia.

Nevertrustahomosexual.net Essential advice concerning them that can't whistle.

How to turn a lesbian. Good primer for the beginner.

Lesbian Custard Wrestling Excellent resource.




Some of these links might be fictional.

[volante]

I do hope your links are NOT fictional - They're the most sensible suggestion I've seen today.

Info, I am whistling whilst writing this

PS, honest

[zencat]

Helpful links. Thanks Sanji.

[AMC Hornet]

Just one bit of advice from someone who has read several fanfics but never bothered to write one:

Be unique and DON'T pepper your 007 story with constant references to characters and events from Fleming's original novels. EVERYONE does this in an effort to make their stories 'more authentic' or to establish their place in the Bond canon. Fleming seldom did it; Gardner did it only once that I can remember (a list of old lovers in FSS).

If you're writing about your own characters good on yer, just remember: publishers were inundated in the late 60's with submissions about John Bains and Jack Brock, etc., all with some variation of a groovy code number. And who triumphed and went on to have follow-up adventures published? John Gardner's Boysie Oakes, code-letter 'L' for 'Liquidator.' Why? Because he was different.

[Sanji Himura]

New "serious" links are now in the OP. I will check out the book when I can find it, Ambler.

[Eric Stromberg]

I have decided to put together a list of sites that will actually help you to improve your writing.

And my writing needs a lot of improvement. Among other works may I offer up David Mamet's Three Uses of the Knife: On the Nature and Purpose of Drama. I refer to it often especially when I have plot difficulties.

[Harry Fawkes]

I have parachuted in and out of hot spots during times of conflict; I have killed on numerous occasions (sometimes with my bare hands - the feel of a neck in ones' grasp, squeezing hard, your thumbs digging into his/her Adam's apple, watching the victim's eyes bulge out, that awful look of complete helplessness in them whilst you listen to that horrible choking sound, that rush of blood inside your body that fills you with an unmanageable thrill); I have loved countless beautiful women in many exotic places; I have seen the world twice over; played the devil’s game twice for Queen and Country(once in Russia and the other in my own country's so-called backyard where I was stabbed and shot in the stomach, twice); I am an actor (which is why I have survived for so long and never seen the inside of a jail I must add); have lived the life for the ultimate pursuit of excitement; have trained with the best of the best, fought with the hardest of the hard...

My name?

Just call me William Styx.

Just a bit of play that's all.

[Sanji Himura]

Added what I think is a useful tool to the OP.

[Trident]

'Write or Die' is back up and also sports a desktop version (although that one not for free) now!

Check it out, in my experience it's exremely useful.