jims-fabulous-carnival:

 here’s some of my favorite things to use when writing!! several of my friends and prob lots of my followers are writers/fanfic authors, and maybe you’ll find some of these to be super helpful!

Apps/Programs

• Evernote: a great notebook app that keeps short notes handy! you can tag them them to keep them organized, so this is useful for jotting down ideas or scenes for different stories!
  
• Hiveword: an amazing online novel organizing program! it lets you organize characters (and input all kinds of misc info about them like hair/eye color, religion, aliases, and goals), scenes, plotlines, items, and settings! I recommend this 100% to anyone writing a novel-length work or anything with a long plot to keep organized!
• Write or Die: an app that forces you to get thoughts down as a rough draft. you can set a timed word goal and various levels of reinforcement: the kindest mode just gives you a popup warning reminding you to keep writing if you pause for a while, but the strictest mode will delete your writing letter by letter if you stop! this works great for getting creativity flowing without the intrusion of an inner editor!
• Prowriting Aid: this is an AMAZING tool for editing!! it catches adverbs, diction, style, homonyms, sentence length, eloquence, you name it, and even gives suggestions for correcting the errors! (you have to sign up for a free membership for editing over 1000 words, but still, free!)
• Internet Typewriter: a simple but fantastic typing program! you can choose from several fonts, text and background colors, and set word goals for yourself! there’s also the option to give your typing that nice clacky sound of either a manual or electronic typewriter! (you can also save your documents directly on the site after signing up)
• editMinion: another simple but useful program! it searches your text for common errors such as passive voice, cliches, weak words, and adverbs. bonus: highlights words of latin, greek, and germanic origin!
• Hemingway Editor: an incredibly useful online editor! not only does it catch adverbs and passive voice, it also measures the grade level readability of your writing and estimates how long it would take to read!
• Yarny: an easy-to-use novel software! lets you organize notes for “people,” “places,” and “things,” and also keeps “snippets” of your story organized!
• PenZen: an incredibly distraction-reducing text processor! activate the full screen option, and all there is is a white box in which to type. no tempting toggles or buttons to play around with!

Creativity Boosters

• Writing Prompts: offers not only prompts, but lots of generators such as random words, random subjects, character names, and others! really great for challenges and/or sparking ideas!
• Creative Writing Prompts: prompts from all different categories including children’s, easy exercises, practical, abstract, and prompts that can be finished in 5-10 minutes for a quick jump into the writing mood!
• Rainy Mood: the comfy sound of rain is pretty, non-distracting background noise that helps keep attention on your work!
  
• Coffeetivity: offers the white-noise ambiance of coffeeshops, universities, and diners! good for when you need some noise to keep you alert, but not distracted!

Other Useful Sites

• Phrontistery: a dictionary full of unusual/obscure words. not only does this increase your vocabulary, but a lot of these words can also be used as prompts!
• Reverse Dictionary: here’s where to go if you know the meaning of a word, but can’t think of the actual word! just input the definition or related concepts, and it will show you a list of similar words!
• Written? Kitten!: cutesy positive reinforcement for writing! input word goals, and every time you hit another 100, 200, 500, or 1000 words, a new picture of a kitten, puppy, or bunny will appear at the side of the word processor!

Tools for Writing