writing tools

Where is your character going?

~ Rosemary Armel ~ Leave a comment
Black and white picture of the sea
Raging Sea

 

 

It was a dark and stormy night. Ok, that was a great start, but now where is your character going from there?

The last time I blogged I showed you a few places to name your character now I have a few that will help you find the place they are going.

This website has from soup to nuts in helping you name person, place or things. You can get lost for hours naming things.

http://fantasynamegenerators.com/town_names.php#.V4JVgMJzWUk

I found this next one to be simple and straight forward. If you need a name for a town they have it.

http://www.namegenerator2.com/town-name-generator.php

This one next one is kind of techie, but comes up with some interesting results. Play around with it and see what you can come up with.http://www.mf2fm.com/RaToNaGe/

 

Finding names for your characters

~ Rosemary Armel ~ Leave a comment

One morning you wake up and there is this character walking around inside your head. He or she is begging you to tell their story, but what should you call them and who are they really? They must have some sort of back story  and history to make the story complete.

Here are few websites that will help you flesh out your character and maybe find a side kick for them too.

Warning searching for names can be addicting.

http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/

http://www.behindthename.com/random/

http://www.rinkworks.com/namegen/

http://character.namegeneratorfun.com/

 

Writing and Recipes

~ Rosemary Armel ~ Leave a comment

Do your characters eat in your story? A lot of readers love to have the recipes. Especially book clubs. When they get together to talk about your book, they also like to prepare foods that are described in the story. In my book Let The Good Times Roll, two young boys squabble over a left piece of blue berry la tart.

blueberry la tart

 

To give the reader a more tangible connection to my story, I add pictures and music clips too on my website page for that book.
old car with title

Using Your iPhone As A Writing Tool

~ Rosemary Armel ~ Leave a comment

youngbusinesman

Have you ever been out and about and thought of a great line to add to your story, but have no way to write it down at that particular moment?

Recently I found a free app that has helped with my writing in a few ways. The app is called Smart Voice Recorder. I can record a moment of inspiration or a quick reminder to change a scene. I also found it useful to record bits of conversation that I would other wise forget. I especially like to capture realistic dialog from other people that I might hear while walking in the mall or other public places.

Reference Tools For Writers

~ Rosemary Armel ~ Leave a comment

research

It’s  good to have a few reference tools at your fingertips when you are writing. When you include accurate details to your story, the story becomes more vivid and feels more authentic.

There is nothing more exciting to a reader than to find something they can relate to because they have experienced, saw, or remembered something similar in their own life. Below are three resources that I find useful from time to time.

Purdue OWL

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/738/
This site has links to dictionaries, manuals, handbooks, libraries, journal and online magazines.
This page contains links and short descriptions of writing resources including dictionaries, style manuals, grammar handbooks, and editing resources. It also contains a list of online reference sites, indexes for writers, online libraries, books and e-texts, as well as links to newspapers, news services, journals, and online magazines.

Refdesk
http://www.refdesk.com
This site has links from soup to nuts information. The list goes on and on. Automated news feeds, facts at a glance, dictionaries, calculators and a large list of other categories.
The American Society for Indexing

http://www.asindexing.org
This site has gathered many reference resources and list has them listed in an A to Z format.