Young Writers Society

I've become fairly addicted to these:

www.agentquery.com

^ for those who desperately want to be published but have no idea where to start - "writing for dummies" if you will.

www.hollylisle.com

^ this woman is hilarious and has tips on every aspect of writing you could possibly imagine.


www.babynames.com

^ need a name with a meaning? need a meaning to go with a name? check out this site!


I'll post more as I think of them. Anyone have any other sites that have been particularly helpful?

Gah, Sunny! Now you have me addicted to that agent query site!

I used to love FictionPress.com, but that website just kind of makes me want to hit myself with a hammer. I mean, there are some good stories on it, but you can never get constructive criticism, which really bites.

Oh, sheep.

You got me on the Molly Lisle site... this will take some time... and rereading.

*tackles* thanks.

As for sites that are helpful. Here... here... and, um... here. Yeah, rather pathetic, aren't I?

Oh, I use Squid.org for a fantasy name generator. Does everything from street names to people names. Pretty nifty. Though I tend to rearrange names once they come in my grasp. *winks*

THIS WOMAN IS MY HERO!!!!




http://hollylisle.com/fm/Articles/feature6.html

There's a section for link-sharing. Feel free to add those in there.

I think the article is [s]a little[/s] biased. Can you write without going to college? Yes, of course. However, college is not all about "seeking the approval of experts," it's about learning from people with more experience than you, whatever the subject is, and gaining access to some pretty spiffy resources that you might not be able to get to.

(& sunshine, could you just link to the article instead of copy+pasting the whole thing?)

I'm with Meep on the article. While there is certainly some truth to the notion that you don't need college, the truth is that you're not going to go much of anywhere without a college degree. Whether it truly is useful or not is besides the point; you aren't going to make it much past entry level in any career without a degree. It really has nothing to do with what you learned, but rather a college degree demonstrates to an employer that you have the maturity and the ability to devote yourself.

Besides the author's basic point, there are way too many holes in her argument. Roman engineers didn't have college degrees? Duh. The university did not come into existence until the 9th century.

What really got me is the author's statement of never open a textbook. Can textbooks be political? I suppose they can, but I can't remember a textbook that was political. Even if they were, it seems to be an extremely poor argument for not attending college.

And the author is advocating that engineers, architects, nurses should not have degrees? That's just utterly ridiculous.

As for the author's basic point that you don't need to go to college in order to become a writer, that's quite true. You don't need to. However, you're going to have a much tougher time. But that's also not to say that going to college will open publishing doors for you; that's just foolish to believe. What college does do, though, is it opens up other doors for you, whether that be into journalism, business, medicine, shopkeeper, etc. Then as a result of the experiences you have, the publishing door becomes a little easier to open.

Okay, sorry, I'll edit that and make it a link. And I realize that college isn't evil, I just appreciated the fact that she was encouraging those who never went to college or who couldn't afford to go to college. Yes, it is ridiculous that doctors should not have degrees lol. I agree with that.

www.booksie.com its an easy and free place to post writing, if you wont to see go to my booksie page www.booksie.com/reaper

The Holly Lisle site is fantastic. There are some really helpful work shops. I've been using it for a couple of months now and i'd reccomend it to everyone.

It's awesome.

Ok, one place you don't want to go: http://www.writing.com
Trust me, it's no good.

If, on the other hand, you like fantasy: http://www.dragonhame.com
Tell 'em Dragonlore sent you.