WRITE - OR WRONG? A FEW AUTHOR-FRIENDLY WEBSITES...
Like most authors, I'm always thrilled (and willing to share) when I come across, or a fellow writer introduces me to, a new online tool. Some of these tools are necessary to good writing. Some are simply great fun.
The following, in no particular order, are a few of the online sites I've found interesting and helpful:
The Purdue Online Writing Lab, or OWL - The mission of the OWL at Purdue University is to assist writers at all skill levels. Mechanics, grammar, punctuation, this site provides a wealth of information and resources. I frequently haunt the area addressing comma use. However, there are also pages to assist clients in understanding and completing specific types of writing assignments (i.e., argument and research papers, annotated bibliographies, book reports and reviews, exam essays and proposals). The OWL is definitely worth a visit. Novice or seasoned author, it seems we can never get enough structural help.
Wordcounter - This neat site created by Steven Morgan Friedman (morgan@westegg.com) allows a writer to insert text and find out which words he or she uses redundantly. Quick and simple. I love it.
Grammarly - This is another neat site serving as an automated proofreader. Grammarly instantly finds over 250 types of grammatical errors, improves word choices and checks an author's inserted text against over eight billion documents to avoid plagiarism. Grammarly offers a free trial of its product but does require a membership fee once that trial period expires. Fees can be paid monthly, quarterly or annually.
Grammarly Lite - Designed for the web, this tool is free and helps writers find and fix contextual spelling mistakes, as well as detect basic grammar errors (i.e., punctuation, article use, capitalization, misused words). Currently available for Google Chrome, Firefox and Safari - not Internet Explorer. PLEASE NOTE: I haven't been able to try Grammarly Lite yet but hope to soon.
Free Online Spell Check - This site, powered by JSpell HTML, is free and allows a writer to check text for spelling errors. Simple and easy to use, the site also provides word and character counts.
Guide to Grammar and Writing - This site, sponsored by the Capital Community College Foundation, is free but also a bit more complicated to navigate than some of the others. It does, however, cover a vast array of writing topics.
- This site is free and provides a simple writing tool to generate hundreds of fictional character first and last names using the database of the US Census.
- This free and fun site, created by Samuel Stoddard, aides writers in generating names suitable for fantasy. People, places, fantastical things. Pretty cool.
The Gender Genie - This is a simple, free and fun site sponsored by http://bookblog.net/ where an author can insert text and the GG will predict whether the writer is male or female. Have to admit, I've tried this one a few times. It's great fun.
The Writer's Diet Test - This page, created by author Helen Sword, is a free, automated feedback tool (and not meant to assess the overall quality of an author's work). It is, however, great fun and suggests how "fat" or "lean" the inserted text might be.
Sounddogs.com - This is, IMHO, a very cool site. Sounddogs.com offers free, downloadable sound effects (since 1997) and also provides an author the opportunity to listen to a particular sound (via 600,000+ online tracks) before describing it in his or her writing.
INCOMPETECH.com - This site offers royalty-free music in a variety of genres: blues, classical, horror, modern, silent film. Great for book trailers.
Copyright - This site, sponsored by the Library of Congress and US Copyright Office, covers just about every aspect of the copyright process an author could think of. And we're a pretty imaginative bunch.
NOTE: I sincerely tried to get this information and the corresponding web sites correct. If you discover an error, I apologize in advance.
