Helpful Websites & Other Resources

Sunday a lot of people mentioned various websites and other good information. I'm going to try to get these out there for those of us with short memories and those who missed the meeting. I'm also adding some sources I've discovered through the forums that have been helpful to me. Please feel free to expand and add any books, websites, etc. you feel have helped either in the planning, procrastinating, or actual writing of your wrimo novels!

Supportive:
http://www.writing.com - "Free memberships are available to everyone. Each membership includes an online writing portfolio, numerous writing tools, email services and the chance to meet and bond with fresh creative minds, just like you! No other website services the Writing world better than we do."

One of our wrimos is mostly involved with short story fiction and mentioned this was a great site for peer reviews. The quote is from the site itself.

Outlining:
Snowflake Method - "Before you start writing, you need to get organized. You need to put all those wonderful ideas down on paper in a form you can use. Why? Because your memory is fallible, and your creativity has probably left a lot of holes in your story -- holes you need to fill in before you start writing your novel. You need a design document. And you need to produce it using a process that doesn't kill your desire to actually write the story. Here is my ten-step process for writing a design document. I use this process for writing my novels, and I hope it will help you."

I hope this is the correct link. I don't use this method, but it seemed like the most obvious one from the list given in a Google search =)

It's Just a Phase - Article by Wrimo Lazette (who usually top 100k in Nov. Granted, she writes all the time during the year too, so it's not a battle of fatigue as much!) that describes Phase Outlining. I think this is very similar to the Snowflake Method, but I'm not sure. Anyway, sometimes it's better explained from a different view.

Kelley Armstrong's Outline Technique - I used this outline a little more for my story. It eases you into your idea and your characters nicely. I didn't realize she was an author until later =X This tutorial was written specifically for NaNo, too, so it's more focused on popping out some plot, conflict, etc. quickly and leaving some other stuff behind.

Tools:
http://www.babynames.com/character-names.php - This is the specific page that has hints for writers on how to use the database. A mix of this and Google (if you're looking for region-specific names) work well. I think you can even search the census bureau if you feel like stumbling through usa.gov! (Or there's a link on the babynames page! =P)

http://www.stumbleupon.com/ - someone mentioned this as a nice refresher when you're running out of ideas or need a little inspiration. Playing with it right now, you put in some interests and it spits out random websites. Somehow I got to manipulating a parallelogram. And then I got this. Which seems kinda cool for anyone interested in steampunk :D (Not really sure how I got that from my choices though! =P)

http://answers.yahoo.com/ - a source of disputable repute. =) But it might be good for sneaking away from your writing :D

Freeware:
http://writeordie.drwicked.com/ - Forces you to write or your words may suddenly start erasing themselves or finding homes in other sentences.

There are a few others that do the same. I have them bookmarked on a different PC that I'll have to get to tonight. Don't forget the NaNo forums are a great source for all kinds of information! You may want to grab some of that incite now, before the servers get completely swamped the beginning of November =)

Everyone feel free to add any other sources you have! I know Phillip said these forums are usually pretty dead, but that doesn't have to be the case this year :D
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