Thanks to Anne Gilbert for showing me this site. The Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England is a database which aims to cover all of the recorded inhabitants of England from the late sixth to the end of the eleventh century. It is based on a systematic examination of the available written sources for the period, including chronicles, saints’ Lives, charters, libri vitae, inscriptions, and coins. It’s a great resource for determining names for your characters if you’re writing a historical fiction piece based on the medieval, Anglo-Saxon England time period.
Authonomy and Backspace
Authonomy and Backspace are online writing communities for authors, readers, agents and publishers. Authonomy — developed by book editors at HarperCollins — invites aspiring writers to submit their works and build their online profiles. Readers, agents and publishers are also invited to join the community and support the best new writings.
In similar fashion, Backspace’s mission is based on writers helping writers. This is accomplished through forums, guest speaking engagement from agents and editors and best-selling authors, and how-to articles from publishing experts.
Both sites have forums, but you have to pay for access to Backspace’s forums.
Anyone a member of either of these two? If so, what have your experiences been like?
Discussion Topic: Writing Groups
Are there any writing groups you’re involved with that you use on a regular basis to share your writing for critiquing and feedback?
I’ve used Critique Circle for some time, and have found the reviews to be mostly useful and constructive. I tried Writer’s Cafe too, but there wasn’t a point system that made you critique others’ works before you could post your own stories. Maybe, it’s changed now, but that wasn’t the case when I tried it last year. Also, there aren’t any groups locally that I know of, so I have to stick to the online groups.
WEbook
WEbook is an online book publishing company that fosters an environment for writers, editors, reviewers, artists, and readers to come together to meet, write and collaborate on works of fiction and non-fiction, short stories, essays, and more. WEbook is a place for creative writing groups, aspiring novelists, and readers who want to dicuss and discover new titles and select the next books for publication. There are dozens of projects for you to discuss and review, including: novels, short stories, historical fiction, christian books, children’s books, and science fiction and fantasy. Or you can submit your own work and have others provide feedback. Group forums and writing resources are also available.
I’m not involved with WEbook yet. A friend of mine sent me the link today. Has anyone tried it out, and if so, how was your experience?
*image retrieved from webook.com
Name Generators (Includes Medieval and Fantasy Name Generators)
Nine.frenchboys.net – An interesting site with all kinds of random generators, including:
- Medieval Name Generator
- Fantasy Name Generator
- Character Description Generator
- Place Name Generator
- City Generator
- Stronghold Creator
- Fantasy Place Name Generator
- Fantasy Novel Titles
- Plot Twist Generator
- And more …
Some of these could be good starting points for writing exercises.
Is Associated Content a Scam?
I’ve been reading up on sites like Associated Content to determine if it’s worth a writer’s time and effort to submit content to these types of sites. Associated Content (AC) is a Web site where you can earn money by submitting content, whether text or photos or video or whatever. They accept pretty much any kind of content and then post that content for you and place relevant ads around that content. You then receive a dollar amount based on how many users click on the ads. The main problem I see with this system is that the you only receive a $1.50 for every 1000 pageviews, so it’s obvious AC is pocketing an overwhelming majority of the ad profits. Seems like you’d be better off writing good content and posting to your own site, and then setting up ads through something like Google AdSense.
Has anyone ever tried submitting to Associated Content, and if so, how was your experience?
911 Writer’s Block
911 Writer’s Block: An interactive site to help you break writer’s block. Press a number for help with a particular area of writing. Exercises include: settings, characters, dramatic entrances, dialogue, commiserate, verbs, calisthenics, killing off a character, endings, and more.
*image retrieved from associatedcontent.com, credit to Writer’s Association
The Historical Novel Society
The Historical Novel Society promotes all aspects of historical fiction, providing a community for authors, aspiring writers, readers, agents, and publishers, as well as the latest information on new historical fiction novels.
Every quarter, the society publishes the Historical Novels Review magazine. Historical Novels Review is the best place to find out what’s happening in the historical fiction market. The magazine attempts to review every new work of historical fiction released in the US and Britain, with selected titles from Canada and Australia also reviewed.
The society also publishes the magazine Solander twice a year. Solander features interviews with respected historical fiction authors and also publishes fiction by new and established authors.
Conferences are also held every year by the Historical Novels Society, one in the UK and another in North America. For 2009, the North American conference will be held June 12 – 14 in Schaumburg, IL.
Additional Writing Resources
I’ve added a couple of more writing resources to my bookshelf. The Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market and the Guide to Literary Agents are essential resources for any writer looking to publish his/her work. Writers Digest Books publishes both of these reference guides. Guide to Literary Agents provides a listing of agents and their specialties, and Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market contains information on book publishers, magazines, literary agents, writing contests and conferences. A new guide is put out each year by the publisher.
Updated Bookshelf
I’ve updated my bookshelf with more fiction titles (mostly medieval historical fiction and fantasy titles though others are included), more medieval non-fiction resources, and more writing resources. Please send me your recommendations as well. I’m always eager to read authors I’ve never read before.