Resources for Writers

Reference Books

• CREATING CHARACTERS How To Build Story People, by Dwight V. Swain
• SEE JANE WRITE: A Girl's Guide to Writing Chick Lit, by Sarah Mlynowski
• FLIP DICTIONARY, by Barbara Ann Kipfer, Ph.D.
• WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL, by Donald Maass
• WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL WORKBOOK, by Donald Maass
• THE FIRST FIVE PAGES, BY Noah Lukeman
• ON WRITING by Stephen King
• TELLING LIES FOR FUN AND PROFIT, by Lawrence Block
• SPIDER: SPIN ME A WEB, by Lawrence Block
• THE NOVEL WRITER'S TOOLKIT, by Bob Mayer
• THE LIVES OF THE KINGS AND QUEENS OF ENGLAND, edited by Antonia Fraser
• ETIQUETTE, by Emily Post (1951 Edition)
• WEBSTER'S NEW COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY
• THE SYNONYM FINDER, by J.I. Rodale
• NAMES THROUGH THE AGES, by Theresa Norman
• ENGLISH THROUGH THE AGES, by William Brohaugh
• THE COMPLETE WRITERS GUIDE TO HEROES & HEROINES, by Tami Cowden, Caro LaFever and Sue Viders
• GOAL, MOTIVATION & CONFLICT, The Building Blocks of Good Fiction, by Debra Dixon
• BIRD BY BIRD, by Anne Lamott
• ENGLISH WITH EASE by Deirdre Honnold
• STRUNK AND WHITE'S ELEMENTS OF STYLE
• WRITER'S DIGEST CHARACTER NAMING SOURCEBOOK, by Sherrilyn Kenyon
• SCRABBLE DICTIONARY
• RANDOM HOUSE WORD MENU
• DESCRIPTIONARY: A THEMATIC DICTIONARY, by Marc McCutcheon
• THE LAUREL INSTANT SYNONYMS AND ANTONYMS
• THE WRITERS DIGEST SOURCEBOOK FOR BUILDING BELIEVABLE CHARACTERS, by Pam McCutcheon
• THE WRITERS JOURNEY
• FIRST DRAFT IN 30 DAYS
• WRITING FROM THE INSIDE OUT
• STORY STRUCTURE ARCHITECT: A WRITER’S GUIDE TO BUILDING DRAMATIC SITUATIONS AND COMPELLING CHARACTERS
• BLOCKBUSTER PLOTS: PURE AND SIMPLE, by Martha Alderson
• STORY: SUBSTANCE, STRUCTURE, STYLE AND THE PRINCIPLES OF SCREENWRITING
• NO PLOT? NO PROBLEM! A LOW-STRESS, HIGH-VELOCITY GUIDE TO WRITING A NOVEL IN 30 DAYS, by Chris Baty
• THE ARTIST'S WAY: A SPIRITUAL PATH TO HIGHER CREATIVITY, by Julia Cameron
• ROMANCE WRITER'S PHRASE BOOK

SVR Recommends these Websites

• http://www.rwanational.org
• http://www.romantictimes.com
• http://www.aar-online.org/mc/page.do--Association of Authors' Representatives
• http://www.agentquery.com/

RESEARCH/WRITING

• http://www.crimelibrary.com
• http://www.writing-world.com
• http://www.agentquery.com
• http://www.behindthename.com
• http://home.insightbb.com/~d.lawson/
• http://www.wikipedia.org/
• http://www.etymonline.com/
• http://diarysearch.co.uk/index.html
• http://www.tammyschubert.com/technical%20column.html
• http://www.usno.com
(has phases of the moon for any year in which you have set your book, back to the Roman Empire)
• http://www.lorraineheath.com/articles.htm#Reviews

WRITING/AUTHOR BLOGS

• http://www.allisonbrennan.com/blog
• http://www.murdershewrites.com
• http://fogcitydivas.typepad.com/dishing_with_the_divas/
• http://www.romancingtheblog.com/blog/
• http://runningwithquills.com/
• http://www.squawkradio.com/

INDUSTRY BLOGS

• MJ Rose's Backstory
• Buzz, Balls and Hype
• Agent Kristin Nelson
• Miss Snark (Agent)
• Agent Nadia Cornier
• Agent Jennifer Jackson
• Evil Editor (Editor)
• Bookends Lit Agency (Jessica Faust)
• Dystel & Goderich Literary Agency
• Agent Jenny Rappaport
• Agent Rachel Vater
• Jason Pinter (Writer & Editor)

NON-PUBLISHED MEMBER SITES

• http://www.jolewis.com
• http://www.susanhatler.com