Every writer needs a toolkit.

This is mine.

Over the years, I’ve collected a series of resources to help keep me on the literary straight-and-narrow.

More or less. They include books, software, and other goodies that have helped make me a better (or at least more efficient) writer.

Please note, I don’t use affiliate links or receive any compensation for my recommendations; these are simply tools that I’ve used and liked.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Stephen King gives some very practical advice to writers, backed by the millions of words he’s written that have been read by zillions of happy book-lovers.
Check it out
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Anne Lamott’s musings on the practice of writing and the writing life is a classic for a reason. This book combines Lamott’s thoughts on the art with practical advice on the craft of writing.
Check it out
How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method
I’m not much of a “writing method” person, but Randy Ingermanson’s “snowflake method” is close to how I naturally work. It’s also helpful if you find yourself with a vague idea for a story but no clear thoughts on how to get started fleshing it out.
Check it out
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers
From Renni Brown and Dave King, a practical guide to avoiding some of the common pitfalls in fiction writing. The authors provide exercises you can do to hone your ability to spot and eliminate problems.
Check it out
2,000 to 10,000: How to Write Faster, Write Better, and Write More of What You Love
Rachel Aaron’s methods for productivity can be useful if you find yourself in a writing rut.
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Louise Harnby’s “Making Sense Of” Series
Louise Harnby’s “Making Sense Of” books (available as a bundle she calls The Fiction Editing Collection) are concise and accessible how-tos for punctuation, point of view, and the dreaded “show, don’t tell” tenet of fiction.
Check it out
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Writing & Editing Books

A few books I’ve found helpful on the crafts of writing and editing.

Cambridge Dictionary (online)
This is the online dictionary I use for my HP fanfic. You can search of American or British English terms, which is dead useful for this Yank.
Check it out
Chicago Manual of Style
The granddaddy of U.S. style guides, ChiMan is the guide of choice for academics and publishers. In the online version you can bookmark sections and create a personalized guide.
Check it out
The Copyeditor's Handbook
Available only in hardback, this handbook is a good adunct to ChiMan, and many find it more accessible.
Check it out
The Oxford Dictionary of Reference & Allusion
Another dead-tree book, this is the guide to reach for when you need the perfect idea to round out your 300,000-word Drarry fic with some hot references to Greek mythological characters.
Check it out
Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style
This guide by Random House's copy chief, Benjamin Dreyer, is less style guide than general tretise on concise writing. It's a witty and enjoyable read even if you aren't looking for specific guidance on commas.
Check it out
Conscious Style Guide
A terrific online resource for writing about others without marginalizing or giving offense. Includes info on writing about disability, age, race and ethnicity, religion, gender and sexuality, and much more.
Check it out
Writing with Color
A Tumblr devoted to writing resources centered on racial, religious, and ethnic diversity.
Click Here
Etymonline - Online Etymology Dictionary
I hate anachronisms—especially when I commit them. To combat them, I sometimes turn to this dictionary to ensure the language my characters use is consistet with the time setting of the story.
Click Here
Sex-Lexis
When I need help finding a particularly colorful word, I turn to this online dictionary of sexual terms.
Click Here
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Dictionaries & Style Guides

The two most important tools for any writer are a good dictionary and a style guide.  Or several.

Potterwords
This site groups terms into helpful categories, such as spells, food and drink, and magical transportation.
Check it out
Sycophant Hex's Canon List of Words
This is an alphabetical listing of terms that also helpfully indicates where US and UK editions differ and where the editors couldn’t make up their minds.
Check it out
Harry Potter Wiki
This is a comprehensive wiki, but be aware that it includes as canon everything from the books, films, video games, and Pottermore and can be somewhat inconsistently referenced.
Check it out
Harry Potter Lexicon
This authoritative is very useful for its categorical listings of Magical Beasts, Potions, Quidditch, and its timelines.
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Potter Search
Use this site to search for a word or phrase in any or all of the 8 Potter books.
Check it out
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Harry Potter Reference Tools

There are 1,084,170 words in the seven Harry Potter novels. These sites help me keep track of them.

Glossary of American terms not widely used in the United Kingdom
I use this Wikipedia page to double-check for glaring Americanisms. It also has the reverse: a list of British words not used in the US.
Check it out
The Britpicker’s Guide
This has relatively in-depth explanations of important cultural aspects of British life, such as “things Britons eat at breakfast” and “British townscapes.”
Check it out
Britpickery
This archive has an alphabetical index of somewhat eclectic topics related to British terms, usage, and culture.
Check it out
HP Britglish
If you can’t find the answer elsewhere, you can search the category tags or post a question on this site to get answers to Britpicky questions.
Check it out
International Dialects of English Archive
I find it helpful to know how a particular character would sound when he or she speaks. For that, I often turn to this archive, which houses recordings of a wide variety of accents and dialects..
Check it out
Peevish’s Dictionary of Slang & Colloquialisms in the UK
What it says on the tin.
Check it out
Scots Online
This site has an extensive reference on Scottish language, including an English-to-Scots dictionary, Scottish idioms, and Scottish proverbs.
Check it out
ChatGPT
Give it a prompt like, "I need a British slang word for 'jerk'," and it will oblige, often with context that can help you avoid offending people.
Check it out
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Britpickery

Separated by a common language indeed. When I need help with the oddities of British English or society, this is where I turn.

Google Translate
When I need an incantation, I start with Google’s English-to-Latin translator to get an idea of the words I’m looking for.
Check it out
English-to-Latin Word Search
This site, at Tufts University’s Perseus Project, has a much more robust (but somewhat complex) translator.
Check it out
ChatGPT
This AI-powered bot can help you translate words and phrases with a simple prompt.
Check it out
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Latin

I don’t know why witches and wizards in the Potterverse use Latin for their spells. Presumably it’s because JKR was subjected to Latin classes in school. Anyway, here’s where I find help for inventing spells.

Behind the Name
It has alphabetical listings of first names by country or ethnicity and their meanings.
Check it out
Random Name Generator
Also at Behind the Name, this tool allows you to select from an wide range of ethnicities,as well as names from mythology and genres like “fairy” or “goth.”
Check it out
Legion XXIV.org
For those pseudo-classical names that purebloods seem to favour in the Potter books, I turn to this site and its list of Roman names and nomenclature.
Click Here
Electric Scotland
This site has information on clan names, both registered and unregistered.
Click Here
Name Nerd Scottish Name Lists
I get ideas for Scottish names here.
Click Here
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Names

I admit it: I’m pants at coming up with good names for original characters. So I cheat, using these websites.

CalendarHome.com
I’m a stickler about dates—as in, “did Christmas 1957 fall on a Wednesday?”—so I often use this site, which has yearly and monthly calendars for 10,000(!) years.
Check it out
Hyperhistory.com
I use this site for its overview charts of historical eras, which can be customized to look at science, culture, religion, and politics.
Check it out
eHistory
Lets you search for historical events by era, region, or topic.
Check it out
World War II History Info
The timeline on this site was invaluable when I was writing Epithalamium.
Check it out
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History

I use history (too) liberally in my stories, but I don’t want to get too liberal with the facts. Here’s what helps keep me on track.

Microsoft Word
Still the publishing industry standard, with more robust editing tools than Google Docs. I’ve created a custom dictionary including many “Potterwords,” which helps make spellcheck more useful.
Check it out
ProWritingAid
This software is great for basic editing tasks like checking for repeated words and phrases, sentence variation, and overused words.
Check it out
TextFixer
Word sucks at converting text to html, so I use this site to convert stories for uploading to sites like AO3.
Check it out
Notepad++
I use this advanced (and free!) text editor for tweaking my html as needed (e.g., removing < p > tags for uploading to The Petulant Poetess or LiveJournal) and for writing CSS for this site.
Check it out
PerfectIt
This is professional-grade software I use for editing. It contains more robust checkers than ProWritingAid, and when integrated with a Word installation, it has powerful tools like custom stylesheets that make editing for a variety of styles easier.
Check it out
FamilyEcho
When Epithalamium started getting long, and the cast kept growing, I began to use Family Echo’s free and simple online family-tree maker to keep track of everyone. The interface is extremely intuitive and user-friendly, and the visual layout is just what I need when I’m trying to visualise how character A might be related to character B.
Check it out
Notion
I use this to keep organized notes of all my ideas and research materials. You can use it for almost anything, thanks to its integrated database feature.
Check it out
Airtable
I use this online relational database to keep track of worldbuilding details like character lists, relationships, and, really, everything. I also maintain a master list of fic and art recs there.
Check it out
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Software

Some writers are old-school and write with notebook and pen. I’m not one of them.

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