Top 10 Writing Resources You Need to Check Out

HEY GUYS!

Have you ever had a writing problem that you couldn’t fix and didn’t know where to turn to for help? Today I’m going to be recommending to you 5 writing websites, and 5 writing books which will up your writing game like nothing else.

Let’s get started!

*Also, a HUGE thank you to Tori for requesting this post!!! (I’m not sure if you have a blog-if so, let me know and I will 100% link to you!)

Websites

1. Helping Writers Become Authors

I have been following K.M. Weiland for YEARS. She was has always been this, like, endless source of eye-opening content for me. I remember spending a literal summer just diving deeper and deeper and deeper into her posts every single day. I learned so much!

Her posts are sometimes quite long and slightly more advanced to understand as it’s geared towards adults, but she shares SO much great information every Monday! I highly recommend checking her out. Got a writing problem? Type it into her search bar and you’ve got at least a 90% chance it’s going to come up.

• I recommend to you her post: How to Use Your Outline When Writing Your First Draft

2. Abbie Emmons

Although I have not been following Abbie for as long as K.M., she is definitely the second longest super reliable blogger on writing that I know.

Currently she has not posted on her blog for a long time as she’s coming out with YouTube videos now instead! But her blog still contains a lot of good resources, and if you can’t find what you’re looking for there, I highly recommend her videos just as much as they are information FILLED.

• I recommend to you her post: How to Write a Love Triangle (Without Being Crucified By Your Readers)

3. Madeline Bartson

Although Madeline has not posted for a bit on her blog, her older posts don’t lack any quality or truth just because they’re from a while ago!

Her posts are always so information filled and super well formatted.

• I recommend to you her post: An In-Depth Look at My Color-Coded 3-Level Revision Process

4. Julia’s Creative Corner

Alright, guys.

Let’s be honest.

If I didn’t include my sister’s blog…she would kill me.

^Julia dragging me away

Nahhh I’m just kidding *laughs nervously under Julia’s glare* her blog is solid. Plus, she includes gifs, so everything’s great.

OKAY GOTTA MOVE ON BEFORE SHE FINDS ME-

• I recommend to you her post: How to Write Realistic Introvert Characters in 7 Steps {Collaboration!}

(for those of you who don’t know, she’s my sister, and I’m teasing her, she wouldn’t do this)

5. Wild Writing Dreams

Guys, I…I have no words. I just love this blog. The blogger, Mary, is, like, SO incredibly talented and epic and you HAVE to check out her stuff, and-

*you guys start dragging me away*

yeah I know it’s the same gif, but it explains things well enough

Books

1. Plot vs. Character: A Balanced Approach to Writing Great Fiction (Jeff Gerke)

• I have, cover to cover, read this book.

A few years ago I TORE down my entire novel. 99.9% of it? Gone. The only thing that remained? A few names and a plot twist at the end. So, I was searching for ANYTHING to help me start up my book the right way. Which is when I found Plot vs. Character!

I found this book really helped me with Character more than Plot. (It did balance the two very well, though).

I was able to take a cardboard robot Will who never did anything wrong, and craft him into a personalized human being. The simplified Plot explanations were helpful, although I found I couldn’t plot much of anything using this book.

My favorite thing about this book was how Jeff Gerke simplified things, made it seem real easy, and then in the next chapter told you: Guess what? Because you did THAT before, now you’re already done half of this huge-looking problem. But it was so easy! You really can do this.

I’m sharing this one with you guys first because it’s a fantastic first book. The first book to read before you start plotting your book, or maybe if you’ve never ever read a writing book, this one is a good one to start out on. 

• I found that I left this book with a personalized protagonist, and a readiness to start plotting my book!

Check Out the Book!

2. Creating Character Arcs: The Masterful Author’s Guide to Uniting Story Structure, Plot, And Character Development (K.M. Weiland)

• I have, cover to cover, read this book.

Yup, guys, K.M. Weiland made it on the list twice! (’cause I love her content obviously).

Okay, guys: this book was mind-boggling opening.

Sometimes it’s hard to understand everything she’s talking about, sometimes it’s hard to remember that these are guidelines, not dead-set rules-BUT.

Please, please, please, read this book. It will change your writing life, and your book, like how it changed mine. Your writing is going to explode in greatness after this.

• This book expanded my knowledge into the writing world. I’d never heard of such a thing as ‘Character Arcs’ until this book, and it’s changed my whole writing game for the better.

Check Out the Book!

Check Out the Workbook!

Check Out her Blog!

3. Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Novel Writing You’ll Ever Need (Jessica Brody)

• I have, cover to cover, read this book

No, her title isn’t that much clickbait on it being ‘the last book on novel writing you’ll ever need’. Out of every book I’m sharing to you today, this book is my favorite.

First, I highly recommend reading K.M. Weiland’s book before this. That way you can get a solid, detailed, in depth look at where the points actually go, as Jessica Brody occasionally morphs a few points into one long one.

Otherwise…she explains things in this awesome, simplified, understanding way. Every sentence matters, and she rarely ever uses big words, and it’s really easy to understand. I’m literally finishing up a rough skeleton of a plot for my book using this very book right now. 

• This book would leave me inspired as well as bring out SO much inspiration. An idea would hit me suddenly and I would be chicken-scratching all over my notebook in my haste to write down EVERYTHING.

10/10 you must read this book.

Check Out the Book!

Check Out her Blog!

4. Fight Write!: How to Write Believable Fight Scenes (Carla Hoch)

• I have not cover to cover read this book, although I have read about 3/4’s of it.

Alright, this is a very specific book, as it only focuses on writing fight scenes. So, if you’re a contemporary writer: this book is not exactly for you unless you’ve got some bullies or epic back-ally brawls that you need to write in.

For fantasy writers who write fight scenes, though? This book is for you.

I thought I wasn’t half bad at writing fight scenes-looking back, I will admit, I actually wasn’t.

But there was SO much I was still missing. If you have literally any fight scene in your book, you’ve got to read this.

• Every time I pick up this book and read it, I feel energized and ready to write an epic fight scene. Some of my most realistic fight scene snippets have come out of reading this book, as well as some of my best how to write fight scenes blog posts.

Check Out the Book!

Check Out her Blog!

Check Out her Channel!

5. Troubleshooting Your Novel: Essential Techniques For Identifying and Solving Manuscript Problems (Steven James)

• I’ve read a good amount of this book, but I will admit I have probably not even read half.

Okay guys, this book is epic for editing. I’ve read a good chunk of it, and basically it’s this whole book with a trillion chapters. Each ‘chapter’ is based off of a subject (ex: Suspense, or Backstory, or Foreshadowing) and the chapter can range from 2-5 pages, although they’re usually about 3 to 4 ish I find.

This book is supposed to be used for when fixing your manuscript flaws. Feel like your foreshadowing is cringey? Pop open this book, flip to the chapter, do a quick read-through, and fix it! Viola!

(I will admit that I have never used this book editing anything before, but I’m quite sure this technique would work).

• This book is super awesome to just open up and quickly read up on a problem that you can fix in a few minutes. Perfect for editing, but also if you’re struggling with something while writing, it can be an awesome resource to use as well.

Check Out the Book!

These aren’t the only writing books these authors have written! I know for sure some of these authors have multiple ones out. I have not gotten my hands on all of them yet, but they’re definitely solid authors.

Plus, make sure you check around the blogs I recommended! (Especially #5’s content, she’s, like, the literal BEST-)

And on that totally 100% humble note, I’m just gunna go before things get weird and Julia finds me to drag me away somewhere.

^me hiding from Julia and totally pretending she isn’t reading this post right now

Have you ever heard of/read these blogs and/or books?

Interested in checking any of them out?

Got any reliable blogs/books you would add to this list?

*I hoped this helped you, Tori! Let me know if this was any good!!

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I hope you enjoyed this post! If you have any questions or thoughts, leave a comment down below.

Thanks for reading!

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