Best of the Best: Free Resources to Power Up Your Writing

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It doesn’t take many visits to see that providing writers with what they need to succeed is pretty serious business around here.

And because the ‘ol pocketbook can be a bit flat this time of year, we wanted to shine a light on some of the great FREE knowledge-building resources we know about.

 

[image error] Story Structure Database

Chances are, you’re familiar with Helping Writers Become Authors, run by the brilliant K.M. Weiland. But you may not be aware that she has this amazing database that breaks down the story structure of hundreds of popular movies and books. If you find yourself struggling with 3-act structure and the turning points of a successful story, visit this resource because it will help you grow your knowledge exponentially.

 

[image error]A Year of Creative Writing Worksheets

Eva Deverell challenged herself to creating a crazy-huge amount of worksheets on all different sorts of writing topics, and she’s kindly linked to many of them so writers can access them.

Stop by and find what you need, and then give her a big thank you for her generosity!

 

[image error]Jami Gold’s Worksheets for Writers

If you like worksheets AND struggle with story structure, you will especially love Jami’s Beat Sheets. She helps you through the turning points and stages that can often trip writers up, and there’s a ton of other terrific advice on this site, too. Definitely make her blog a regular pit stop in 2018.

 

[image error]LitCharts

After going on a writing retreat with Margie Lawson, I sort of fell hard-in-love with Rhetorical Devices. (It is amazing how they add sophistication and can deepen the meaning of your writing!) Litcharts is made by the creators of SparkNotes (another excellent site) and it’s filled with examples and descriptions of figures of speech and literary terms. Well worth prowling through.

Take one of your scenes and try inserting an Anaphora, Asyndeton, or play with Parallelism. I bet you’ll like the result!

 

[image error]The Writers’ Knowledge Base

This impressive search engine for writers is the brainchild of Mike Fleming and Elizabeth S. Craig and has curated over 40,000 writing articles to date. Searching by topic just got a whole lot easier, so give it a whirl!

 

[image error] Reedsy Learning Courses

Reedsy is dedicated to making writers successful, and they have a great collection of free courses to help you do just this. You can not only brush up on your writing craft through a series of free email-delivered mini-courses, you can also learn the ins and outs of design, marketing, publishing, and more!

 

[image error]One Stop for Writers Tip Sheets

Originally these tip sheets and checklists were hosted on Pinterest, but they became so insanely popular we moved them to a special page at One Stop for Writers (our other site).

Need help with showing emotion, character motivation, plotting & pacing, body language, or meaningful setting description? You’ll find it here. Or if you want ideas on choosing a character’s secret, need to know how to write Deep POV, or even the best ways to juice up a scene with conflict, we have a checklist for you. Download, print, export, share these sheets. We hope they help!

 

[image error]Writers Helping Writers Tools Page

If you are looking for truly unique finds like a Reverse Backstory Tool, a Character Arc Progression Tool, or a Backstory Wound Profile, visit our Tools for Writers page. We specialize in bringing you tools you can’t find anywhere else so we can help you in new ways. Everything is listed as a PDF so you can link-share, pin, or download and print as needed. (You’ll find many marketing handouts and other goodies there, too.)

Our mission is to make 2018 a terrific year for you. Growing your craft is a big part of that.