journals and pens for your sword and your gun

AutoREALM is a free computer program that will help you generate maps for your various worlds.

It was recommended by a few posters in the NaNoWriMo fantasy forum, I am strongly considering downloading it for some playtime.

If you have it, do tell me what you think of it.

A Few Words to a Young Writer

Socrates said, "The misuse of language induces evil in the soul." He wasn't talking about grammar. To misuse language is to use it the way politicians and advertisers do, for profit, without taking responsibility for what the words mean. Language used as a means to get power or make money goes wrong: it lies. Language used as an end in itself, to sing a poem or tell a story, goes right, goes towards the truth.

A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. By using words well they strengthen their souls. Story-tellers and poets spend their lives learning that skill and art of using words well. And their words make the souls of their readers stronger, brighter, deeper.

~Ursula K. Le Guin, from her Official Website

http://www.burningvoid.com/write/

We provide articles, exercises, and links with an emphasis on fiction, but you'll find a bit of everything here. Our experience is primarily in the areas of freelancing, roleplaying game-writing, short stories, and web articles. We've also done a lot of reading about writing, as well as book reviewing, so we think we have some insights to share. Obviously every writer works a bit differently, so you won't find all of these articles suitable to you. But we hope you'll enjoy looking around and sharing the information we've provided.

We provide some general articles on writing, as well as a series of writing warm-ups and exercises. We also have a handful of articles on psychological issues for writers, such as criticism, burnout, inspiration, and so on. We have a small handful of articles on specialized writing topics. If you're interested in the possibilities of writing roleplaying material, then visit our roleplaying resources for an entire section on writing roleplaying material, whether for yourself or professionally. We also have plenty of links to writing sites and research sites.

~excerpt from Burning Void: Writers' Resources

reply to comment asking where the essays were that i read before i wrote love in daylight
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there are a wealth of essays here, which i found through this post by wayfairer. one of the essays i remember in particular was this one, by tinderblast, asking about fans' opinions on character attractiveness.

hope this helps ^_^