Writing is a means of creative expression which requires very few tools; if you have a word processor, you’ve got everything you need. You may, however, wish to supplement that bare bones toolkit with a few other useful bits and pieces.
Here’s our list of online tools you can use to help improve your writing, find a home for your completed works, boost your inspiration when it’s lacking, and keep track of your burgeoning career. Best of all, most of these are either free or very inexpensive. Take a look and bookmark the ones you might find handy…
AgentMatch
Looking for an agent? Try AgentMatch. Sign up and you’ll gain access to a huge database of literary agents in the UK and the US. You can search and filter to find agents that represent the kind of work you’re seeking to publish.
Capitalise My Title
[ Capitalise My Title Website ]
Capitalise My Title does exactly what it says on the tin: paste in a title, select the style guide you wish to adhere to, and it’ll instantly apply the correct capitalisation.
Critique Circle
This online writing workshop is one of the best. Join, offer critique on the work of others, and build up credits that can then be used to submit your own work for critique. You can even run a whole novel through the process if you have enough credits.
Duotrope
[ Duotrope Website ]
When it comes to finding places to submit your work, there’s nothing quite like Duotrope. This dedicated resource is updated on a daily basis, and tracks thousands of markets. You can even use it to log your own submissions and keep everything in order. Duotrope does require a small monthly fee, but it’s definitely worth the cost.
Grammarly
[ Gramarly Website ]
This free, AI-powered grammar app plugs into your web browser, and highlights potential spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors. It also flags up redundancies and overlong sentences. Although aimed at copywriters, it’s still often a valuable tool when writing fiction.
Literistic
This monthly newsletter serves up a curated selection of literary deadlines, including prizes, publications, and fellowships. Sign up for the free “Shortlist”, or pay a small fee for the enhanced “Longlist”, which contains a huge number of deadlines.
The Grinder
The Grinder is a submissions tracker and databse of markets for fiction and poetry. Although the interface may look a little basic, it’s nonetheless an excellent resource both for discovering new markets and keeping track of stories and poems as you send them out.
The Writing Challenge Generator
[ The Writing Challenge Generator Website ]
Need an idea (or ten) to kick-start your imagination? The Seventh Sanctum Writing Challenge generator has you covered. Simply set the complexity and the number of ideas you’re seeking and hit the button. The machine will serve up a number of brilliantly bizarre writing challenges to get the words flowing.
Write or Die
This eyeball-kicking website/app allows you to set a target wordcount. Fail to hit it within your self-imposed time limit and there’ll be consequences; everything from wriggling spiders to blaring klaxons. It’s mostly a bit of fun, but you may find it useful to get you out of a writing rut.
Thanks for publishing this, I shall share with my writing group.
Merry Christmas and keep up the good work.