Intro
When it comes to writing, there are a lot of writing tools. Websites, books, or programs, there is an overwhelmingly amount to find out there. Like everyone I have my favorites. I will list my top 7 writing resources and tools for you and hopefully you will be able to find something that will work for you! So let's dive into the list! They are in no particular order, cause I don't know how to rank them. I just like using them.
Disclaimer: I am not sponsored by any of these tools and I am not paid to advertise. These are just tools I love to use myself and want to bring to your attention. Whether you will like it or not, is your choice, just as much as these are my opinions.
1. Fantasy Name Generators
Ever needed a name for your fantasy character? A name for a specific place like a forest, village or even weapons? Looking for inspiration on spells, or clothing descriptions? Potions that you could use for you book?
Definitely check out this website. This website has anything you need on random generators. They even have a second site that goes with it, which is also linked in the menu. The menu is neatly organized in Fantasy Names, Real Names, Places and locations and much more, all in alphabetical order. I use this a lot just to find a name for something. Some names are weird and it can take a while to find the one you are looking for, but it is definitely worth a try. You can mix and match, or just find inspiration for your own stuff.
https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/
2. Springhole
Springhole.net is a bit of an older website, and hasn't been updated recently if I have to believe the front page. But they do have some good and fun articles for writers with tips for worldbuilding, characterization and a lot more. Also just some things for fun like quizzes, or a 'Fantasy book excuses' bingo. They're pretty fun to read and have some good resources.
https://springhole.net/index.html
3. 4TheWords
If you'd ask me to pick one of these tools as my favorite, it would be 4TheWords. This is an rpg game for writers. You have a very large main quest story, with a LOT of side quests. You fight monsters by writing. The monsters each has a specific word count to reach, or a specific time you have to keep writing or you will fail defeating that monster.
There are a lot of items that are just for cosmetics and crafting, but also a lot of items that can help you fight monsters. For example, something that gives you extra strength will allow you to write less words per monster. Something that gives you extra defense, will give you more time per monster, and something that gives you luck, will give you more resources or a higher chance on rare resources.
While I do have a pro membership, you don't need a pro membership to use this website. Of course, there will be features locked for you on the free version, like a room to decorate, or limited events, but the main thing you can still do.
So, if you want to play games while you write and make your writing more fun and interactive, this is one I can recommend for you to get!
4. Word Crawls
The only thing I miss about the NaNoWriMo Website is the amazing word crawls that people have been creating and posting on the forums. They have helped me through NaNoWriMo several times and made the experience a lot more fun.
Word crawls are writing games, often with a theme or a story. There is Harry Potter, DnD, Disney... A lot of stuff. How do they work? I have created a blog post on it before, which you can find here, but I will quickly run you through with a short explanation.
Each word crawl has a few short challenges, for example "Write X amount of words" or "Write for X amount of minutes." Even things like the three digit challenge (take the last three numbers from your total word count and write that) or a 50-headed hydra (Write 500 words in 5 minutes). Most of them are short, but some are longer. They get you through writing and before you know it, you will have written over 2000 words in one day.
Sadly, NaNoWriMo is gone and so is their wiki page. But there are some people who have saved a lot of word crawls. These documents are full of word crawls. Make a copy, and save what you like, while deleting what you would never use, because these word documents are huge
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n0uTkm7kY_U1oLjpUiDjcsqLExM2XTgjSe_MmN3Uumw/edit?tab=t.0
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XMjMOeKk5OzxxuQ5okLiRGe2-4xgcCVga5PzuP6B-5w/edit?tab=t.0
With that being said, I might actually make my own word crawls if I can find the time and inspiration for it!
5. Campfire Writing
This website is for novel writing and organizing. I used to use this a while back, and it honestly worked very good for me. You have the freedom to design your novel in any way you want. There are sections for characters, worldbuilding etc. You will be able to create different blocks and fill in only the information that you need. There is of course a default template for everything, but you don't have to use this. You can create your own, or use templates that others have shared.
The only down thing about Campfire is that it can be very pricey, but you can choose sepperate modules. For example, if you're never going to use magic in your novels, you c\an skip this module. If you don't need more than ten characters, then you don't need to buy that module either. You can set up a custom package for yourself. You would also be able to get a life time package, but that one is VERY expensive.
https://www.campfirewriting.com/
6. Scrivener
This is right now the one writing program I use. It works very well and is very flexible. You can honestly do anything with it and create your novel bible. All you have to do is add folders and documents. You can also create your own templates and easily create a new document with them. This isn't just for characters or worldbuilding, but literally anything you want. Add a document to your template folder and you have a template.
With this you can also use other people's templates if you'd like or save and share your own.
What I like most about scrivener, is that you can 100% customize it to your liking. Not just change the font, but change the background, colors and everything to match your aesthetics. This is an example of how I have it for me right now.
It requires a bit of coding to get the menu bar changed, but you will be able to change a lot in just the settings. I will be creating a scrivener blog post in the future and if you're all interested, then I can explain in detail what to do to change your Aesthetic like this.
If you are interested in buying Scrivener, consider getting it through my affiliate link. I will get a small amount and it won't cost you any extra money.
https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview?fpr=miriam52
7. Writers Helping Writers Thesauruses
These are the only books on my list I would recommend as resources. I have them as E-books myself and they are very helpful to figure out my characters.
These books provide a lot of things for characters and world building. For example, they have a book for good traits and a book for bad traits separately. They have emotions, emotional trauma and a lot more. They don't just list off character traits or emotions, they go into deep, explaining how a character would act, what they could be thinking and how the positive traits have negative aspects, and negative traits have positive aspects.
There are also two books for conflicts in a story or emotional wounds. If you want to buy books about writing, these are books that I would recommend without a doubt.
If you are interested in these books, consider buying them through these affiliate links. You will be able to support me with no extra cost.
The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus
Conclusion
So these are the seven writing tools I use the most. Have you used any of these? Did you like them or not at all? Are there any writing tools you would suggest? Let me know, and I will see if I can check them out. Perhaps you have something that works really well for others!
I hope you enjoyed the blog post, and see you next time!
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