Years ago, I joined a writing guild on Neopets. It seemed like it might be a good way to meet fellow writers, and chat about writing. The guild eventually became inactive, but in the years I was in it, that writing group helped me improve as a writer and introduced me to a lot of new things.
NaNoWriMo
First of all, there's NaNoWriMo. Short for National Novel Writing Month, it's a website dedicated to the awesome wonders of writing. And in November, writers are challenged to write 50,000 words in a month. Hence the name, 'National Novel Writing Month'. People create a project and track their progress, trying to write as much as possible.
The site also has Camp NaNo, occurring in April and July. In this one, you can create cabins with up to twenty people, and set your own writing goals. Some of the online friends I've made, and other writing groups I've joined since then, occurred through Camp NaNo.
And they have a forum, in which people can chat about their writing, ask for beta readers, get advice, and any other helpful writing-related thing you can think of. It's a great website, if you ask me.
Habitica
We also have Habitica, formerly called HabitRPG, which encourages people to build habits. Players have an avatar, and as they check off tasks, they gain experience points, gold, and items. They can fight bosses, gain armor, get pets and mounts, and many other fun things. And let's face it, dressing up your avatar and riding a pterosaur is fun.
ProWritingAid
Another great tool I discovered was a site someone recommended, called ProWritingAid. You can put some of your writing in it to be analyzed, and it suggests ways the excerpt can be improved. It points out potential spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors, overused words, lengthy sentences, and other things.
Admittedly, I haven't used ProWritingAid in years. But for a while, I was using it all the time, and it helped to improve my writing. I never realized how many extraneous adverbs I used until a program highlighted every danged one, and then suggested that I remove about half of them. I also overused words like 'just', and started multiple sentences in a row with the same word.
Or how bad I was about long, rambling sentences that never end, just go on and on forever when they ought be split up into multiple sentences, and how bad I was about repeating myself, saying the same thing multiple times but in different ways, and phrasing things in the most wordy way possible, and making nightmares like this run-on sentence. (Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit. But some of my sentences were bad.)
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| For perspective, the program suggests anything over 30 words may be too lengthy. |
Admittedly, I haven't used ProWritingAid in years. But for a while, I was using it all the time, and it helped to improve my writing. I never realized how many extraneous adverbs I used until a program highlighted every danged one, and then suggested that I remove about half of them. I also overused words like 'just', and started multiple sentences in a row with the same word.
Or how bad I was about long, rambling sentences that never end, just go on and on forever when they ought be split up into multiple sentences, and how bad I was about repeating myself, saying the same thing multiple times but in different ways, and phrasing things in the most wordy way possible, and making nightmares like this run-on sentence. (Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit. But some of my sentences were bad.)
New Information
Also, talking with the people in my old writing group introduced me to some new concepts.
For example, I was developing a character, and was trying to figure out some aspects of their personality and character arc. At some point, one member mentioned something I hadn't heard of, and I thought, "Oh my gosh, that explains my character!" I realized I had been looking at things the wrong way, and trying to move my character in a direction they didn't want to go in.
Besides that, our conversations, and the things members shared about themselves, expanded my understanding in some ways. And by extension, it helped me figure some stuff out about myself.
To conclude, a random thing I learned when someone was discussing their writing project. The animal in the above picture is a binturong, or bearcat, an animal found in parts of Southern Asia. And it's so cute and furry.
Also, talking with the people in my old writing group introduced me to some new concepts.
For example, I was developing a character, and was trying to figure out some aspects of their personality and character arc. At some point, one member mentioned something I hadn't heard of, and I thought, "Oh my gosh, that explains my character!" I realized I had been looking at things the wrong way, and trying to move my character in a direction they didn't want to go in.
Besides that, our conversations, and the things members shared about themselves, expanded my understanding in some ways. And by extension, it helped me figure some stuff out about myself.
To conclude, a random thing I learned when someone was discussing their writing project. The animal in the above picture is a binturong, or bearcat, an animal found in parts of Southern Asia. And it's so cute and furry.
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