This website is designed to be a simple, approachable starting point for first-time novelists, allowing access to a range of advice in a single space. But for visitors who’d like to get more in-depth information, there are so many great options out there! Feel free to browse this list and explore whichever topics you’d like to learn more about.
Books:
- Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly by Gail Carson Levine
- Writer to Writer: From Think to Ink by Gail Carson Levine
- The Making of a Story: a Norton Guide to Creative Writing by Alice LaPlante
- Mastering Plot Twists by Jane K. Cleland
- Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody
- On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Steven King
- Story Genius by Lisa Cron
Other resources:
- iDeas for Writing, a great app for inspiration, with different prompts and exercises to try.
- National Novel Writing Month, or Novel November, a challenge where writers from all over the world attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. Although the official nonprofit no longer exists, many people still participate, and there are forums such as r/NaNoWriMo where you can still enjoy the community during the challenge!
- Gail Carson Levine’s blog, where she shares writing advice, prompts, and information about her workshops.
- Scrivener, a great platform for organizing notes and drafting.
- Word Hippo, a free online thesaurus.
- Reedsy, a website with a plethora of resources for writers, as well as prompts, exercises, and character name generators.
- Writing Exercises, a website with different prompts and generators to help with brainstorming/writer’s block.
- 4theWords, a website that turns writing into a “game”, with timed challenges and enemies to defeat.
- Zen Pen, a website that eliminates distractions to help you write.
On publishing:
For someone beginning their first novel, publishing is often a long way off. However, if it’s something you plan to eventually pursue, these resources might be helpful to explore. Remember that you have options, and that independent publishing and traditional publishing both have their own pros and cons.
An important note on traditional publishing: no reputable publisher or agency will ever charge you money to publish/represent your novel. If you encounter a company that wants you to pay to “publish” your novel, be aware that they may be a vanity press preying on new writers.
- Querytracker, a website with an extensive database of literary agents. This site massively simplifies the process of querying (submitting your novel to seek representation).
- Manuscript Wishlist, a website where literary agents can post a “wishlist” of books/genres they’d like to represent. This is a great resource for researching which agents might be right for you!
- r/PubTibs, a community where agented authors will often post the query letter that helped them find representation. Writing a query letter can be daunting, and it’s helpful to get some insight into what’s working for others. This is also a good place to get more familiar with what the process looks like for many writers.
- Publisher’s Marketplace (publishersmarketplace.com), an excellent place to get more insight into the publishing world.