Resources for Writers

The links under each category below will take you to external sites that are not managed by or associated with Dobson Ranch, the HOA, or the Dobson Ranch Writers’ Club. We are not responsible for the content of these sites. These links are provided as a resource for writers who may find them useful.

Writing Advice

Writer's Digest

Writer's Digest University

The 5 Biggest Fiction Writing Mistakes (& How to Fix Them)

5 Things Novelists Can Learn From Screenwriters

David Morrell On the Key to Settings

How to Pick Character Names

What to Look for When Editing Your Manuscript

Copyright Litigation Blog: Epigraphs, Fair Use and Poetry

Purdue OWL® - Online Writing Lab - Purdue University

Stephen King's Top 13 Writing Tips

Word Count: Why Your Book Should Be This Long — Tiffany Hawk, Writing Coach

Books

Goodreads

Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer by J. Michael Straczynski

The Complete Book of Scriptwriting by J. Michael Straczynski

On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft by Stephen King

The Chicago Manual of Style

The Elements of Style - Wikipedia

Wikibooks

Writing Tools

Scrivener | Literature & Latte

Thesaurus.com

Kindle Publishing Guidelines

The Publishing Industry, Agents, and Editors

WRITER BEWARE® by Victoria Strauss

Jane Friedman | Reporting on the Publishing Industry

How to Write a Novel Synopsis

How to Write a Query Letter That Gets Manuscript Requests

Questions to Ask Your Publisher Before You Sign

Manuscript Format: How to Format a Novel, with Examples (2024)

QueryTracker

destigmatizing self-publishing - by Leigh Stein

Association of American Literary Agents - AALA

Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association

Independent Editors Group

Editorial Freelancers Association

Publishers Marketplace

Writer’s Guide

The Official Manuscript Wish List Website

Events, Contests, and Symposia

Writer in Residence | Mesa Public Library

Pipeline Media Group

Book Pipeline

2024 Unpublished Contest Deadline 9/20/2024

2024 Adaptation Contest Deadline 9/20/2024

Script Pipeline

Symposium, from Pipeline Artists - A year-round conference in the arts.

Hackney Literary Awards

Independent Publisher Book Awards

Author Quotes

Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first act that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third act it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there.

— Anton Chekhov

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.

— Stephen King

Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

— Kurt Vonnegut

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.

— Oscar Wilde