Braincandy for Writers Post #1

Hi all,

As I’ve mentioned in past posts, I’m away in Africa on holiday. My Zombie Crew will be taking care of stuff while I’m gone, as it’s pretty unlikely I’ll find Internet service in the Ngorongoro crater.

After they devour all the Jello brains I keep in the fridge here at The Bookshelf Muse, I’m sure they will prowl through my secret stash of super helpful links for writing to share with you. Who knows what treasures lie below?

The Grimace Project: Minute facial detail for the cardinal emotions. Great for figuring out an expression for anger, disgust, joy, etc.

Specialty Dictionaries: Need to know more about a specific subject like boats, wine, music, Oil and Gas, mythology, etc? OMG, awesomeness, right here.

ISBN: Looking for a book and want to know who published it? Is your book similar to something on the market and you want to see what other books are published on the same topic? Want to look up a publisher or imprint to get an idea of what they currently publish? Great way to research!

Glossary of Space Weather Terms: Thought I’d forget about my Sci-Fi friends, did you? I might not write it, but this resource can’t be beat for terminology for all things to do with space conditions and weather patterns. Heliosphere, Plasma, Solar Flares, Solar Winds, Radiation Belts… Credible terminology = credible writing.

Titanic Phobia List: Remember those quirks, fears and tics that make our characters unique and interesting? Waiting here is a treasure trove of flaws and conflict pressure points for your character. Bogyphobia (Fear of bogeys or the bogeyman)…tell me that isn’t a story waiting to happen! Or maybe you want to go for something a bit more juiced up, like Geniophobia (Fear of chins), Hylophobia (Fear of forests) or Pupaphobia (Fear of puppets). I could spend HOURS pouring over all these fears and come up with a dozen plot lines for each one. Good times, people. Good times.

Zombie’s Pick: Frawsome (freaking awesome) Generators

Cuss-o-matic
Apocalypse Generator
Dungeon Room Description Generator

Look for Post #2 in a few days, and in the meantime, enjoy! If you want to pass these on, feel free to link to this post, tweet, etc!