Improving Your Writing

Building Worlds, Characters, and Other Details

Uncle Orson's Writing Class - Orson Scott Card has some unusual political and religious beliefs, but his views on writing are at the very least well-considered. Agree or disagree, each of his "writing lessons" is worth at least one read. As a warning, they sometimes contain spoilers for one or more of his books.

Holly Lisle Official Author Home Page Although it's not exactly the easiest site to navigate, it can't be faulted for information - the author goes out of her way to describe the writing life and process in detail. Of particular interest are her articles on writing and her freebies. Her article Having the Contracts to Quit On is must-read for any author considering quitting his or her day job.

Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust The late great Ms. Bradley's advice and works continue here; her articles are intelligent, humorous, and exceptionally useful (indexed on the lower left side of the home page), particularly the excellent Why Did My Story Get Rejected?

The Market List (sci-fi/fantasy/horror) After extended hiatus, the website is undergoing a thorough update - it's well organized and easy to navigate. Articles, interviews, and reviews as well.

Poewar.com [Writing] The articles section is stellar, covering a wide variety of subjects (fictional craft, poetry, technical writing, book reviews, business, etc).

The Rose and Thorn E-zine Don't be mislead by the fiction - this site covers a great deal, especially in its Craft of Writing section (menu is located at the bottom of the page). Don't miss the author interviews.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. has dozens of articles on how to improve your writing and how to sell it, many written by well-known authors. This site is interested both in helping published authors negotiate better contracts and in nurturing new writers.

The Romance Writer's Handbook is a no-nonsense guide to getting your Romance novel written and published.

Word Painting, subtitled "a guide to writing more descriptively," is foremost a book about how to use your senses and translate them to the page - an area of weakness for many otherwise great writers.



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